Diary of Father Francisco Hermenegildo Garcés, 1774
January 1774 - July, 1774
Note. The source used for the Spanish transcription of Garcés' 1774 diary did not include his entries for May, June, and July.
DIARY OF THE EXPEDITION WHICH IS BEING MADE BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY, DON ANTONIO MARÍA BUCARELI Y URSUA, DECIDED UPON IN COUNCIL OF WAR AND ROYAL EXCHEQUER, TO OPEN A ROAD BY WAY OF THE GILA AND COLORADO RIVERS TO THE NEW ESTABLISHMENTS OF SAN DIEGO AND MONTE REY, UNDER COMMAND OF CAPTAIN DON JUAN BAPTISTA DE ANSA.
According to orders there are going two friars, the Reverend Father Fray Juan Díaz and I, Fray Francisco Garcés, twenty soldiers, a person who knows the roads of California, an interpreter of the Pima language, a California Indian who came out on the 26th of December to the presidio of Altar, an Indian carpenter, five muleteers, and two servants of the commander-total, thirty-four persons; and thirty-three pack loads of baggage, sixty-five cattle on foot, and one hundred and forty riding animals.
The expedition had arranged to assemble at my mission to go by way of the Gileños and their allies, and to ascend the Colorado River in order if possible to avoid the sand dunes and bad stretches which I had seen in my last journey. But the theft of the riding animals at Tubac by the Apaches and our inability to supply ourselves promptly except in the west, and the coming out of the Indian Sebastián and Captain Palma of the Yumas, who assured the commander that the road was good, caused him to direct the journey by way of Caborca, making a detour of fifty-two leagues. Some Gila Indians had come to inform me and to go with us, but having received a letter from Father Fray Juan Díaz, who said that he had one from the commander himself telling what had happened and had been decided upon, I sent a message to the Gila Indians telling them not to wait for me.
January 6 SP -- I set out from my mission of San Xavier del Vac, and having traveled fifteen leagues arrived at night at Tubac. On the 7th everything was arranged for the journey, and from the 8th to the 21st we spent on the road from Tubac to Caborca, which is seven leagues from El Altar. Five of these leagues are traveled to the west-northwest and the remaining two to the west. Of all this region the superior government is well informed, and I will therefore note only that Captain Don Bernardo de Urrea and the gentleman of La Siénega and two father missionaries, enthusiastic for the enterprise, assisted with some presents to be given to the Indians. Several Masses were chanted to the Most Holy Trinity, and to the Immaculate Conception as prelate of my college and patroness of my religion and of Spain. Indeed, this expedition and others which have been made and will he made during the happy reign of our great monarch, Carlos III, ought to be considered as a reward for his great devotion to the Immaculate Conception. For my part I take also as patron St. Peter the Apostle.
January 22 SP -- At twelve o'clock we started from Caborca toward the northwest, and, having traveled six leagues, at eight o'clock we camped for the night. We did not set out over the road which I followed on my return from the Colorado River, because it is difficult for the animals, and it appears that we went roundabout. The place where we halted is without water although it has some pasturage. We called it San Yldefonso.
January 23 SP -- We traveled eight leagues in the same direction and reached San Eduardo del Arivaypia, [Footnote 7] which has a vateque or well in a dry arroyo, where by digging in the sand the water seeps out so that with some labor the animals can drink. Within a circuit of a league there are three small villages. The one which has the most Indians is the one which I called Santa Coleta de Cuboitac, and does not have more than twenty-five families.
January 24 SP -- -We set out at noon in the same direction, traveled four leagues, and came to halt for the night at a lake or pond, which is not permanent except in the rainy season, like the preceding days when rain has been abundant. It is called San Juan de Mata.
January 25 SP -- We broke camp at noon and traveled until eight o'clock at night, the greater part of the way to the northwest and the rest to the north. In the neighborhood of a little pool there are some Indians, and plenty of grass and some jojoba. The Indians who were going in our company lived at the place where a viper bit my horse on my last journey out. To the east of San Yldefonso begins a large mountain chain which continues to the west. There is another, a black one, which ends in some hills at the pool mentioned. The day's march must have been as much as six good leagues.
January 26 SP -- We broke camp about eight o'clock in the morning. Starting toward the northwest and then turning north, we came to some hills where there is permanent water in a well, at which there were some Indians when I came out from the river on my last journey. Then we turned west and west-northwest and came to San Luís de Quitovac, where we saw three springs of water, which I mention in my diary, and some other veins which have been caused by the rains, and also some pasturage. Today the Indians were scattered, but when I passed through here there were twenty-five families. The day's march was four leagues. No mission could be founded in this village because of the poor land.
January 27 SP -- At noon we marched north, keeping a rocky sierra on the left. At nightfall we came to a rancho and the spring of the topil of Sonóyta, where I camped for the night on my return. Then we stole two hours of the night and made camp near a tank where the animals were not able to drink. On the right there are small hills. The mountain chain ends here and two others begin. The Peñon of Vabuquíburi is visible from here, and it is plain how short and direct is the road from here to the presidio of Tubac. During the two hours which we traveled after nightfall our direction was west-northwest, and the day's journey was six leagues.
January 28 SP -- At eight o'clock in the morning we set forth in the same direction; having traveled three leagues we swung to the north, and then going five more we reached San Marcelo, formerly a mission of the Jesuit fathers. It has a spring and pasturage but bad soil. The people are very much scattered. By first establishing missions on the Colorado and Gila rivers one could be founded at this place, but otherwise I could not guarantee progress in this foundation, which will have to be effected by other means than those employed on the rivers. To the right and to the northwest there runs a sierra containing salt. I told the commander that the Indian official here was the most experienced in the road to the rivers, so we employed him and he accompanied us thither.
January 29 SP -- At half past eight we set out between the sierra on the right and the rocky one which runs through here to the southwest, and having traveled eight leagues to the west, with minor deviations, we came to the watering place of El Carrizal, which has little pasturage, bad water, and some carrizo. They told us that by continuing, good water is found in wells as far as the sea, and that the coast is inhabited by Pima Indians, enemies of the Quiquimas and of those who took me across the Colorado River during my last journey. Having several times asked the guide concerning the watering places, he mentioned no others than those which I saw on my return from the Colorado River, and I recognized that we were taking a bad road because of the situation of the tanks and the scarcity of pasturage, which was bad along the road by which I returned. It is also bad the way I went, but it was the report made by Palma and Sevastián that caused us to come this way.
January 30 SP -- We set out toward the northwest. After passing some hills we kept on the right a sierra which runs toward the north, and on the left another which we crossed at night by a white pass, halting at the beginning of a valley with little or no water. The day's march would be about seven leagues, a part of it being made to the north-northwest.
January 31 SP -- At seven o'clock in the morning we began to travel northwest. Keeping on the right a sierra which in part is black and afterward white, and on the left the same sierra as yesterday, we reached an extremely high tank, having traveled about five leagues, during which we crossed a short stretch of sand dunes that greatly molested the riding animals and the cattle. In order not to leave the pack train without water, the riding animals and the cattle which we had with us were not allowed to drink. Continuing the journey to the west-northwest, after going three leagues we halted near sunset at a dry arroyo which had some fairly good grass to meet the extreme necessity of the riding animals. This same grass is found in the sand dunes, and these lands, being so dry have no other.