Proud Spanish History, Part One: Pagosa's pioneers, settlers and some of the first Americans
by Norm Vance

This article is based on the book To The Inland Empire by Stewart Udall, on file at the Sisson Library. It is about the first Spanish pioneers, and how their history enters into Pagosa Country.

The book provides a different view of western hemisphere and United States history, specifically that the Spanish were the original discoverers and settlers, and that this history has been, and still is, diminished and altered by Anglo Saxon historians. Indeed, ask most U.S. citizens, from seniors to our current crop of middle-schoolers, who the United States’ pioneers and settlers were, and you are likely to hear about Captain John Smith and Jamestown, Virginia, about the Mayflower and the Pilgrims and others related to the colonization of the east coast. Few will know of Cabeza de Vaca, Esteban the Moor, or Juan de Onate who were some of the first true United States pioneers and settlers.

In April 1605, Juan de Onate stood before a stone wall in the area that would become New Mexico. He saw, etched into the sandstone, petroglyphs pecked by ancient people who once lived there. Juan withdrew his dagger and carved his name in the stone. It must have been a proud moment. He put his mark with the others to say, “I live here now!” Onate’s mark is now in Elmoro National Monument, New Mexico, and is the oldest known European signature on our continent.

Juan de Onate was the first person to envision, and then carry out, a permanent settlement in what is now the United States. Spanish explorers reported back to Spain on the vast new continent discovered a half-century before. Most of the people who joined Onate grew up hearing reports of Spain's heroes - Columbus, Cortez, Coronado, and others. Their discovery and conquest of a new world startled and excited the population in Spain. Onate knew that the rush to gain riches had been fruitful, but was over. He saw the riches in the land itself, that if a number of families could be found that were brave and strong and willing, a settlement could be set up in this distant land.

The word “brave” was a key word for this venture, as significant settlement had been tried before and failed. Settlers from other European countries tried, gave up and returned to Europe. Some were killed by mishap or war with Indians, or in the case of settlers in Virginia, mysteriously vanished. "Strong" is another key word for Onate's settlers. Ocean voyages had been accomplished by professional explorers and sailors for a relative brief half a century, but families were still a rarity on the open sea.
The ocean voyage was only the beginning. The plan for these colonists was to land in Mexico and travel overland for hundreds of miles following the Rio Grande River north. They carried with them everything to start their new lives, from personal items to seeds and farm animals. This was one of the most daring colonizing expeditions in all of human history, a testament to their courage and tenacity that they made the voyage and survived.

Fifty-three families came, followed the river and settled in the Chama River Valley a short distance south of Pagosa Country. At first the men came and later the women and children. Life was hard for the first pioneers and harder for their children and grandchildren. In 1680, several Pueblo Indian tribes in the area drove the colonists south into Mexico. In 1695 Spanish dominion was restored by soldiers, and the families returned to settle the land again.

The pioneer families were joined by more colonists, and the settlement expanded. Life got better when in 1821 the Santa Fe Trail opened, allowing easier travel and communication with the rest of the country. The United States was formed as a country on the east coast, and its military power was rapidly expanding west into the area of Spanish settlement.

As time passed, the Spanish moved north into the foothills of the San Juan Mountains and into Pagosa Country in the 1870s. At the same time people from the east were also moving into Pagosa Country. Today it is remarkable that half of the surnames listed on Onate's original manifest are prominent in Pagosa Country. Look around at the proud Hispanic faces in Pagosa Springs. Some of them are direct ancestors of the "first families" of the United States.

Read Part II