Writing for school

I am taking a course about Utah history this summer, and it has been quite interesting. I have had to read a journal written by a girl who crossed the plains in the Martin handcart company, as well as the journal by the first Spanish explorers in Utah. It has been fun to read about their experiences.

Here is the essay I had to write about the Dominguez/Escalante journal:


When Fray Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Fray Francisco Silvestre Velez de Escalante went on an exploration in late July 1776, they had no idea that they would be among the first men of European descent to enter the area of the United States now called Utah. They traveled with a number of companions each of whom became part of a historic group of explorers. These explorers discovered and recorded things about the land that proved invaluable to those settlers who came after them. While their main purpose was to spread Christianity which in their minds they failed at, their ultimate result was to document a land that would eventually lead to the safe harbor of one group of Christians. The information they collected proved invaluable in the years to come.

The first English translation of the Dominguez/Escalante journal was not published before 1909.[1] While this translation was made much later than Utah was settled, stories of the journey must have spread letting early settlers of Utah, like the Mormons, know that Utah was suitable for settlement. The expedition was the first of many journeys by Europeans to the land now called Utah.

While the group set out to discover a possible land route to California, they marched over a large area and walked over a large portion of Utah. Fray Escalante wrote the most about the trip in his diary, and, thus, gets most of the credit for it, but a careful study of it shows that both Dominguez and Escalante had a part in its writing. The maps found in the journal were drawn by Don Bernardo Miera[2]. Unfortunately, they were unable to accomplish their goal of reaching California.[3]

The journal is important because is it the first primary source we have about most of the state of Utah. The traveler’s route took them across eastern Utah, to Utah Lake,[4] and south along the I-15 corridor. They found and then named the Virgin River, and discovered a way across the Grand Canyon.

The Dominguez/Escalante journal was important for several other reasons. The journal gives us a glimpse of what Utah looked like in 1776. Sometimes we can forget that the landscape of an area can change over time. The land has since been mined for precious metals, and houses have filled up many valleys in Utah, making it hard to see the original landscape. It is the first known account of the land, geography and latitude of much of the state. It describes areas that would be ideal for settlements, should the Spanish want to start one.

The journal describes what the natives lived in, what they ate, and what they dressed like. “Their dwellings are some sheds or... huts of hollow willow. They are very poor as regards to dress.” “They gather the seeds of wild plants in the bottoms and make gruel, which they supplement with the game of jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits and fowl.”[5]

The journal describes the geology of the land,[6] native plants that are edible,[7] and where there is good timber for building, rivers and good soil for crops. This information must have helped those who came after them, such as the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, who later considered the area to be a place where he could take his followers. “There is good land along these three rivers, (Lower Duchesne, Lake Fork and upper Duchesne rivers) that we crossed today, and plenty of it for farming with the aid of irrigation - beautiful poplar groves, fine pastures, timber and firewood not too far away, for three good settlements.”[8] The journal describes many features of the land that are distinctive to southern Utah: mesas, the Virgin River was known as “Rio Sulfureo”, which is Spanish for Sulphur River and red rocks.

The travelers fell into hard times as they approached and went through the area of Southern Utah, called Dixie today. They ran out of water and food. They had to kill horses to survive.[9] The journal describes canyons that were difficult to traverse by house, and by foot.[10]

The expedition was significant because it was one of the first groups of Europeans to cross the Grand Canyon. The group had a hard time finding a way through, and they were unable to cross it for several days. They tried floating down the river,[11] (page 114) and climbing steep cliffs. Finally they found a way out. The climb was a “very sloping sand dune for a start, and afterward extremely difficult stretches and dangerous ledges.”[12]

The expedition was significant at the time because it helped open a trail from California to New Mexico. This enabled the Spanish to begin trading and have contact with Indians. There was once a thriving overland trade between landlocked New Mexico and California. This trail was the principle route for most goods that went from east to west. It led to a significant decrease in time taken to move goods from Santa Fe to Los Angeles or San Diego.

The journal and expedition impacted Utah’s history later by introducing the native tribes to white men, and making them familiar with them. Most Indians were probably unfamiliar with white men before Dominguez and Escalante came. Establishing good relations among the Indians surely would have helped the later Mormon settlers.[13]

The stories comprised in this journal provided important information to the Mormons who learned people could survive in the Rocky Mountains, where they could live their lives free of religious persecution and fear. They knew that there were few hostile Indian tribes, and that there was land where they could grow crops. Before the 1900’s, most food people ate they grew themselves, so this was very important.

The friars Dominguez and Escalante wanted to help spread Christianity.[14] “The motives of our coming [were explained], and the principal one was to seek the salvation of their souls and to show them the only means whereby they could attain it - the chief, primary, and necessary one being to believe in a single true God, to love Him and obey Him wholly by doing what is contained in His holy and spotless law.”[15] This was their main purpose for undertaking this journey that took them across Utah. The friars were unable to come back to Utah to teach the natives,[16] and it would be several years before any Spanish came back to the region. However, long after their deaths their goal was ultimately realized in the information they provided to save one group of Christian Mormon pioneers.



[1] Ted J. Warner, editor, The Escalante Journals, (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 1995). Intro, xi
[2] Ibid, intro xii
[3] Ibid, intro xv
[4] Ibid, page 63
[5] Warner, page 72
[6] Ibid, page 6
[7] Ibid, page 7
[8] Ibid, page 58
[9] Ibid, page 99
[10] Ibid, page 99
[11] Ibid, page 114
[12] Ibid, page 116
[13] Warner, page 65
[14] Ibid, page 66
[15] Ibid, page 66
[16] Ibid, intro xv