The Grand Canyon of Arizona [90]
villages of that province remained peaceful, since they were never visited again, nor was any attempt made to find other peoples in that direction."
Place Described by Cardenas Unknown. There has been some attempt on the part of students who are familiar with the country to locate the spot where Cardenas and his men gazed down into the depths of the Canyon of the Colorado River. The long distance travelled, according to Castaneda's narrative, was totally unnecessary to bring the Spaniards to the banks of the river. Twenty days' journey, through a desert region, away from Tusayan in the direction of the Colorado River, would have brought them as far down as Yuma or Mohave. But at these points there is no canyon. It is well known that the Canyon system terminates near the Great Bend, some miles beyond the Grand Wash, hence this could not have been the objective point of the guides of Cardenas.
Dellenbaugh's Opinion. Dellenbaugh, in his "Romance of the Colorado River," argues that the Tusayan of Castaneda could not have been the land of the Hopis, for, as he truthfully remarks, "an able-bodied man can easily walk to the brink of the Marble Canyon from there in three or four days." He also says that it has usually been stated, without definite reason, that Cardenas reached the Grand Canyon about opposite Bright Angel River, or near the spot where El Tovar Hotel now stands. I have never heard this statement made by any one who has any knowledge either of Castaneda's narrative, or of the relative locations of the Hopi towns and the Grand Canyon.
Evidently a Hopi Stratagem. The Hopis of to-day, with whom I have talked, insist upon it that Cardenas was taken to the barren and desolate point near the junction of Marble Canyon, the Little Colorado Canyon and the Grand Canyon. Here, the river may be said to come from the northeast and turn toward the south-southwest, and the conditions are not at all like those described by the historian. But if one accepts this modern statement of the Hopis, he is met with the questions: Why make Cardenas travel fifty leagues to see an inaccessible river that could be reached in three or four days? Did Cardenas really travel fifty leagues? I do not know, but I hazard the conjecture that the Hopis gave Cardenas as much wandering about as they could, took him to this terribly bleak and barren spot where even to-day one can scarcely prevail upon a Hopi or Navaho to guide him, in order that he might be discouraged from making further explorations in the neighborhood. The Hopis had no use for explorers or strangers. They had suffered too much from foes, for too many decades, to welcome any one who seemed eager to possess anything of theirs, and, in my judgment, their treatment of Cardenas was a deliberate ruse to get rid of him. They had a trail over which they habitually traveled, that brought them to Huetha-wa-li, the White Rock Mountain,--opposite Bass Camp,--and on to the Havasupai villages. Several times a year they went to and fro over this trail. It crosses the Little Colorado where it would have been easy to show the Spaniards the Salt Spring, to which Castaneda later refers. There is another point on the river, some miles beyond Bass Camp, where the Hopis used to visit the Havasupais, and that is just beyond the Great Curve, where the river may be said to flow from the northeast to the southsouthwest. But both at Bass Camp and at this point, the Havasupais had made trails down to the river, of the existence of which the Hopis may, or may not, have known. So I freely confess that, as yet, I have not settled in my own mind at what point Cardenas and the Spaniards gazed into the depths of the Great Canyon.
Alarcon's Discovery of Colorado River. While the main portion of Coronado's army had been advancing eastward, a sea force sent out to cooperate with Coronado, under Alarcon, had sailed up the Gulf of California, and had entered the Colorado River, thus solving the problem of its exit into the Gulf. To Alarcon, belongs the discovery of the Colorado River, which he named the Buena Guia.
Place Described by Cardenas Unknown. There has been some attempt on the part of students who are familiar with the country to locate the spot where Cardenas and his men gazed down into the depths of the Canyon of the Colorado River. The long distance travelled, according to Castaneda's narrative, was totally unnecessary to bring the Spaniards to the banks of the river. Twenty days' journey, through a desert region, away from Tusayan in the direction of the Colorado River, would have brought them as far down as Yuma or Mohave. But at these points there is no canyon. It is well known that the Canyon system terminates near the Great Bend, some miles beyond the Grand Wash, hence this could not have been the objective point of the guides of Cardenas.
Dellenbaugh's Opinion. Dellenbaugh, in his "Romance of the Colorado River," argues that the Tusayan of Castaneda could not have been the land of the Hopis, for, as he truthfully remarks, "an able-bodied man can easily walk to the brink of the Marble Canyon from there in three or four days." He also says that it has usually been stated, without definite reason, that Cardenas reached the Grand Canyon about opposite Bright Angel River, or near the spot where El Tovar Hotel now stands. I have never heard this statement made by any one who has any knowledge either of Castaneda's narrative, or of the relative locations of the Hopi towns and the Grand Canyon.
Evidently a Hopi Stratagem. The Hopis of to-day, with whom I have talked, insist upon it that Cardenas was taken to the barren and desolate point near the junction of Marble Canyon, the Little Colorado Canyon and the Grand Canyon. Here, the river may be said to come from the northeast and turn toward the south-southwest, and the conditions are not at all like those described by the historian. But if one accepts this modern statement of the Hopis, he is met with the questions: Why make Cardenas travel fifty leagues to see an inaccessible river that could be reached in three or four days? Did Cardenas really travel fifty leagues? I do not know, but I hazard the conjecture that the Hopis gave Cardenas as much wandering about as they could, took him to this terribly bleak and barren spot where even to-day one can scarcely prevail upon a Hopi or Navaho to guide him, in order that he might be discouraged from making further explorations in the neighborhood. The Hopis had no use for explorers or strangers. They had suffered too much from foes, for too many decades, to welcome any one who seemed eager to possess anything of theirs, and, in my judgment, their treatment of Cardenas was a deliberate ruse to get rid of him. They had a trail over which they habitually traveled, that brought them to Huetha-wa-li, the White Rock Mountain,--opposite Bass Camp,--and on to the Havasupai villages. Several times a year they went to and fro over this trail. It crosses the Little Colorado where it would have been easy to show the Spaniards the Salt Spring, to which Castaneda later refers. There is another point on the river, some miles beyond Bass Camp, where the Hopis used to visit the Havasupais, and that is just beyond the Great Curve, where the river may be said to flow from the northeast to the southsouthwest. But both at Bass Camp and at this point, the Havasupais had made trails down to the river, of the existence of which the Hopis may, or may not, have known. So I freely confess that, as yet, I have not settled in my own mind at what point Cardenas and the Spaniards gazed into the depths of the Great Canyon.
Alarcon's Discovery of Colorado River. While the main portion of Coronado's army had been advancing eastward, a sea force sent out to cooperate with Coronado, under Alarcon, had sailed up the Gulf of California, and had entered the Colorado River, thus solving the problem of its exit into the Gulf. To Alarcon, belongs the discovery of the Colorado River, which he named the Buena Guia.