Expeditions Head North Into N.M.

The Journal is publishing a biweekly series of history articles to commemorate the settlement of New Mexico by Juan de Oñate in 1598. This one covers the expeditions of Espejo in 1582 and Castaño de Sosa in 1590.

By Miguel Encinias
For the Journal
Antonio de Espejo came to New Spain with Chief Inquisitor Pedro Moya de Contreras, who had come to the viceroyalty of Mexico to establish a separate Inquisition for the New World.
But Espejo and his brother Pedro de Espejo soon developed wanderlust and headed to the northern frontier, where they became fairly wealthy cattle ranchers.
After making their fortune, the Espejo brothers became implicated in a killing, after an argument with a cowboy employee. Pedro, who had actually done the killing in a gunfight, was jailed. Antonio was assessed a fine, which he refused to pay. Instead he fled even further north to the remote mining outposts near San Bartolome.
There he met members of the returning Rodriguez-Chamuscado expedition, a small group of soldiers and friars that explored New Mexico in 1581.
The returning soldiers expressed concern about the friars who had stayed behind at a pueblo near Albuquerque.
The Franciscans at San Bartolome demanded a rescue mission. They became impatient with delays in such a mission being planned by the viceroy and attempted to get permission for one of their own from their superior in Durango.
Permission did not materialize, but a permit of sorts was obtained from an alcalde mayor of a small frontier town.
Espejo, who was helping organize the mission and paying expenses, became the leader, but without portfolio, because the expedition was illegal.
A small band accompanied by only one friar, Bernardino Beltran, left San Bartolome on Nov. 1, 1582. They followed what had by now become the usual route to the Conchos River, then headed on to the Rio Del Norte (Rio Grande).
After crossing the river, the group continued on northward to the Tiguex area, near present-day Bernalillo, where they looked for traces of friars Francisco Lopez and Agustin Rodriguez.
Not finding any trace, they visited the Keres Pueblos, then headed west to Zuni and Hopi lands, going as far as Oraibe. The group returned to the Galisteo basin, then headed to Pecos and finally entered Humano territory on the east slope of the Manzano Mountains.
After crossing the mountains back to the river, they headed home, reaching San Bartolome on Sept. 10, 1583.
The quick, but thorough, exploration inspired a flurry of curiosity about the much-explored and still-intriguing north land, but it would be seven years before another group made the trek.
Gaspar Castaño de Sosa, lieutenant governor of Nuevo Leon, was the first to move when the governor Luis de Carbajal was arrested by the newly established Inquisition. Castaño, with the entire town of Almaden, his headquarters, started moving north.
Castaño had become discontented with Nuevo Leon because it had not produced the expected wealth.
This and the recurring dream of the great cities to the north moved him to action after a perfunctory attempt to get official permission.
The good-sized train composed of women and children left on July 27, 1590, intercepting the Rio del Norte in the general area of modern Del Rio, Mexico.
They crossed the river and started looking for the Rio Salado (Pecos River).
They floundered in ravines, canyons and mountains in the unimaginably rough terrain until they found the river, but they could not get to it because it was in an inpenetrably deep canyon.
The travellers went on for three weeks with the river in sight before they were able to use its waters.
They followed along the east bank changing sides frequently, depending on the terrain.
Castaño sent his second-in-command, Cristobal de Heredia, ahead to look for the pueblos. When he returned, he reported having reached Pecos, where he received a good reception at first, but when the Spaniards got careless, they were attacked, and barely escaped with their lives.
When they returned half-starved, Castaño decided to go see for himself with 20 of his men. Upon his arrival Dec. 31, the natives refused to come out, so Castaño attacked, capturing some of them to use as guides. He went on to the vicinity of San Juan, then returned to the main body of the expedition, leading it to the Galisteo valley, where he left it while he went back to Pecos with 19 men. This time he was received in a friendlier fashion.
Having in his mind established Spanish authority, he rejoined the train and headed for Santo Domingo. He was planning to send some of his men back to New Spain for reinforcements, but a bad surprise awaited him, which would change his plans and his life.
NEXT: The Morlete expedition

Miguel Encinias is an Albuquerque historian. His novel, "Two Lives for Oñate," was published this year by the University of New Mexico Press.