Espejo in Arizona

Adventure and mystery: the sixteenth century explorations of Espejo in Arizona

Daybreak was still two hours away at a water hole a few miles from the Hopi village of Awátovi on May 1, 1583, when Antonio de Espejo set out with three other Spaniards and a Portuguese in search of rich mineral deposits. During the next seven days, the five explorers and their Indian guides traveled through rough countryside over what one of them, Diego Pérez de Luxán, described in his journal as a “bad road” and “a very dangerous route.” Finally, on May 8-perhaps in the Verde Valley near the site of presentday Jerome-they found the ores that had helped to motivate their travel for the previous six months.

Diego Pérez de Luxán, described in his journal as a “bad road” and “a very dangerous route.” Finally, on May 8-perhaps in the Verde Valley near the site of presentday Jerome-they found the ores that had helped to motivate their travel for the previous six months.

When he returned to Mexico a few months later, Espejo wrote of these mineral veins, “With my own hands I took ores from them which, according to experts, are very rich and contain a great deal of silver.” Thus he became the first European to verify firsthand the much rumored existence of great mineral wealth in Arizona.

Or so he claimed. The absorbing story of Espejo and his small group of explorers brims with adventure, human drama, observations of the lands and peoples they visited-and ambiguity. Their journey, their visit to the Hopis, and their search in Arizona for mineral wealth are extremely well documented, as expeditions of that era go. But they recorded only what they considered most important or most interesting, without realizing that scholars four centuries in the future would have urgent questions about other details. And the three leading chroniclers of the journey (Espejo, Luxán, and historian Baltasar de Obregón, who obtained his information from a member of the expedition, Bernardino de Luna, and published an account of the journey in 1584) wrote somewhat conflicting reports. In such details as the explorers' route from the Hopi villages and the exact nature of the minerals they found, their stories diverge significantly. In order to regulate exploration and to protect native peoples from slave raids and other harm, the Spanish government prohibited travel into unconquered territories except by special permission. Early in 1582, two Franciscan friars stayed behind in New Mexico when other members of the Chamuscado-Rodríguez expedition returned to Mexico, and Espejo subsequently received permission to

(BELOW) Contradictory records of the Espejo trek from the Hopi villages to the "mines" have provided several generations of scholars with a classic mystery. The map below shows various routes the expedition may have taken, derived by historians from differing accounts of the explorers. (OPPOSITE PAGE) The Zuni River Valley, near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Espejo must have passed through this high plateau country en route to the lands of the Hopi. JERRY JACKA search for them. Fourteen soldiers (twelve Spaniards and two Portuguese) and three friars accompanied him. They took along 115 horses and mules, and-just in case"quantities" of arms and munitions. One soldier brought his wife, Casilda de Amaya, and their two small sons, two and four years old. Setting out on November 10, 1582, from what is now southern Chihuahua, Mexico, Espejo and his companions passed the site of present-day El Paso, Texas, and followed the Rio Grande about as far north as. Cochiti Pueblo in northern New Mexico before turning westward. They visited Zia, Acoma, and Zuni pueblos, then entered present-day Arizona. Even before they reached Cochiti, they knew the missing friars were dead. Their stated mission accomplished, some members of the party wanted to turn back. But Espejo insisted on pushing on, perhaps gambling that if he located gold or silver mines, authorities would overlook his unauthor-ized extension of his travels. Curiosity must also have motivated him. Judging from his own account and those of his companions, Espejo clearly enjoyed visiting unfamiliar peoples and places. He was always eager to know what lay beyond the horizon. Particularly on the outbound portion of their trip, the explorers attempted to maintain peace with the Indians they encountered. Enthusiastic amateur anthropologists, they recorded many details of native life in the areas they passed through, frequently comparing what they saw to European fashions and life-styles. Among the Rio Grande pueblos, Espejo observed, "The workers stay in their fields from morning until night just as do the people of Castile." In one of the Keresan pueblos, perhaps Cochiti, he reported, "We saw umbrellas like Chinese parasols, painted with the sun, the moon, and the stars." At Zuni, just east of present-day Arizona, Luxán wrote that the men "have only one wife each, the same as Christians."

By the time the explorers reached the Zuni pueblos on March 14, 1583, those members of the party who wanted to go no farther were close to rebellion. The dissenters included Casilda de Amaya, who was pregnant again and doubtless hoped to reach home before her baby was born. Furthermore, the Hopis sent messages entreating the Spaniards to stay away and threatening to kill them if they didn't. Four decades earlier, Coronado's men had destroyed a Hopi village, and the Hopis still remembered. (See Arizona Highways, April, 1984.) Preparing for Espejo, they gathered a force of 12,000 war-riors armed with bows and arrows. Espejo reached the Hopi villages after a journey from Zuni of twenty-eight leagues. At Walpi (ABOVE), the explorers received a blessing of cornmeal. After this, Espejo with four soldiers and Hopi guides set out to find the rumored mines. (RIGHT) For success in growing corn, the Hopi farmer depends on the help of a power greater than man's, which be solicits through ritual and prayer.

Espejo hesitated, apparently unsure of the best course to pursue and probably unaware of the size of the army that awaited him. Finally, on April 11, leaving the dissidents at Zuni, he and nine members of the expedition departed for Hopi land, accompanied by at least eighty friendly Zuni warriors who wore pieces of red felt on their heads so that the Spanish could distinguish them during battle.

But the Hopi threats proved to be bluff. When the Spaniards arrived at the de-stroyed pueblo, a league from Awátovi, near sunset on April 17, "so many people came from Aguato (Awátovi) in a short time with tortillas, tamales, roasted greencorn ears, corn and other things, that although our friends were many, they had half of it left over," Luxán recorded in his journal. Asking for peace, the Indians said it was a false rumor that they ever intended to make war.

As the visitors approached the village of Walpi, the inhabitants scattered sacred cornmeal over the Spaniards and their horses. "We looked like clowns in carnival time," Luxán observed.

Among the Hopis, as elsewhere, the excellent health of the Indians impressed the Spaniards, as did their egalitarian government. The Hopis' effective use of their limited water supplies also struck the explorers. "The greatest handicap in this land is the lack of water," Luxán wrote, adding, "The natives cultivate sandy places without difficulty because they carefully guard the moisture from the snow."

On April 30, the explorers said goodbye to the Hopis, and the party again split in two. Laden with gifts, five explorers started back toward Zuni to wait for the others. The remaining five, including Espejo, Luxán, and Luna, went on together toward the rumored mines. Today their exact route from Hopi land and the location of the mines offer a classic scholarly mystery case.

Espejo's account is brief but very specific about direction. He wrote, "I traveled directly west for forty-five leagues." (In practice, the league varied from about 2.4 to 4.6 miles.) Upon finding the mines in a mountainous area, he returned what he judged to be approximately seventy leagues to Zuni by a different route, "more level than the one followed in going to the mines."

If we had only Espejo's account to go on, we could delineate an approximate route west of Hopi land on this leg of the trip. But pick up Luxán's journal, and the challenge of determining the route becomes considerably more complex. For most of these crucial nine days, Luxán fails to state the direction in which the group traveled. However, he does give the distance they rode each day and describes

Conquistadors in the Verde Valley? Historians think it likely. Thirty-seven years before the Mayflower anchored off Plymouth Rock, Espejo may have arrived here and found his “mine of great richness.” Three centuries later, the valley (ABOVE) would become the locale of a booming copper camp called Jerome. Shown at right in the photograph is another remarkable but much earlier settlement. Tuzigoot, which at its height contained ninety-two rooms, was abandoned by its prehistoric occupants around 1450. Today it is a national monument. BOB CLEMENZ (RIGHT) Bob Reeves and Bill Ensign took part in a full-dress reenactment of the presumed arrival of Espejo in the Verde Valley. (See Arizona Highways, July, 1983.) VAL STANNARD (OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP) “Espejo and Accoutrements, 1583,” ink drawing by Trail, which led from the Hopi mesas to Jerome. Byrkit says he is convinced that Espejo followed the Palatkwapi Trail in seeking the mines. However, he has chosen not to publish his research related to this trail or to Espejo. Instead, he has created an audiovisual presentation entitled, "Palatkwapi: A Trail of Three Cultures," which he has shown to audiences around Arizona for the last five years.

As interesting and complex-as the issue of route and destination may be, several scholars who have considered Espejo in this century have focused instead on other aspects of his life or his travels, with just cause. Part of what makes the Espejo story come alive today is the dramatic way in which his journey to Arizona changed his life.

Born in Córdoba, Spain, probably in 1540 or before, Espejo arrived in Mexico in 1571 as a representative of the Inquisition. His job was to arrest and transport to prison those accused of heresy. Although he gradually established himself as a prosperous rancher and cattle trader, he apparently continued to work at least oc-casionally for the Inquisition throughout the 1570s. The record suggests that he felt ambivalent about this service but performed his duties faithfully.

In other areas of his life, Espejo showed himself to be impulsive, hotheaded, and resentful of authority. At least twice he was arrested and brought to trial, once on charges of murdering a ranch hand who refused to follow Espejo's orders. In a well-documented incident in 1578, the municipal authorities of Mexico City confiscated some of his cattle. This infuriated Espejo. Sword drawn, he rushed into the municipal slaughterhouse, threatening, "I will kill anyone-or the whole populace of the city for that matter who may attempt to rob me of my property!"

With that, the man "of medium height, dressed in black," as one witness described him, reclaimed his cattle and drove them off down the road. Nevertheless, authorities soon jailed Espejo and reconfiscated his cattle, along with his household possessions.

But his life wasn't all rough-and-tumble encounters with cowboys and the law. A list of his confiscated property suggests he lived in comfort. He slept beneath linen sheets, and a green bedspread fringed with silk covered his bed. He wrote at an inkstand embossed with gold and used damask napkins when he dined. Fourteen gold-embossed leather hangings ornamented the walls, suggesting that he enjoyed and appreciated art. His wife wore velvet, satin, taffeta, and silk. And she apparently knew about and accepted his illegitimate daughter-whom Espejo named after his wife.

In the months before he left for Arizona and New Mexico, difficulties filled Espejo's life. In the spring of 1582, he was convicted as an accomplice in the murder of his ranch employee, and his brother was convicted of murder. Espejo's only sentence appears to have been a heavy fine, but his brother faced five years of hard labor in prison. Instead of paying the fine, Espejo slipped out of Mexico City and traveled to the northern frontier of Mexico, to the mining town of Santa Bárbola. There he heard of the missing friars and gathered a party to set out for the north.

His journey to Arizona allowed him to forget his troubles temporarily; but, when he returned to Santa Bárbola in September, 1583, they confronted him again. Having learned in his absence of his flight from the law, frontier authorities arrested him and confiscated all the Indians' gifts. Slowed, but undaunted, he began trying to fulfill his new dream: to return to the land he had clearly come to love, this time as its first Spanish colonizer. Working carefully within prescribed channels, he filed a request for a pardon, and he petitioned the king for permission to establish the new colony.

By April, 1585, he appeared close to success. Determined to take his case directly to the king, he set out for Europe, probably in 1586. But on the way to Spain, in Havana, Cuba, Espejo died.

Bancroft said of Espejo that he "accomplished substantially as great results as had Coronado with his grand army." At the very least, Hammond and Rey pointed out, his journey to Arizona was "a marvel of frontier improvisation."

If Espejo had lived, some scholars believe, the king probably would have granted to him, rather than Juan de Oñate, the right to colonize the land north of Mexico, and history might have taken an entirely different course. As it is, what we know of Espejo's travels and his life provides vivid proof of the excitement and challenge woven into the early written history of the Southwest.

Note: For information about sources used in preparing this article, write to the author at P.O. Box 8400, Santa Fe, NM 87504-8400.

Susan Hazen-Hammond is a Santa Fe, New Mexico, free-lance writer who specializes in topics related to the Southwest.

Selected Reading

Rediscovery of New Mexico, 1580-1594, by George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1966.

Obregon's History of Sixteenth Century Explorations in Western America, by George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey. Wetzel, Los Angeles, 1928.

Spanish Exploration in the Southwest: 1542-1706, by Herbert Eugene Bolton. Barnes and Noble, New York, 1976.