Set in motion by a story not altogether unlike that of Marshall's
discovery in California, Coronado and his followers made known
the great Southwest and contributed toward its permanent settle-
ment. Leaving Mexico City in 1540 with some three hundred
Spaniards and a large body of Indian allies, Don Francisco went
west to the Pacific Ocean, ascended the coast through the regions
now known as Sinaloa and Sonora, explored Arizona and New
Mexico, marched out upon the buffalo-covered plains of Texas,
discovered Tule and Palo Duro canyons, turned north through
Oklahoma, entered Kansas, reached the Arkansas River near the
site of Ford (so designated for the historic crossing there), and
followed the stream to Quivira, a name then given to the Wichita
Indian settlements between the Arkansas and Smoky Hill rivers.
Meanwhile Alarcón with part of Coronado's force ascended the
Gulf of California and explored the lower Colorado River. Inci-
dentally, he reached California two years ahead of Cabrillo, the
reputed discoverer.

First among Europeans, Coronado and his men saw and described
on the basis of eye-witness information the Zuñi Pueblos, the Hopi
Pueblos, Colorado River, Grand Canyon, Gila River, and the giant
Yuman tribes along the River of the Firebrands. Farther east they
were first to see Ácoma, "the Sky City," the upper Rio Grande, the
Tiguex Pueblos along its banks, snow-covered Sangre de Cristo
Mountains, Pecos River, Canadian River, the vast herds of buf-
faloes, and the great canyons of the Staked Plains, as later they
were miscalled by the Anglo-American pioneers. They first explored
the Texas Panhandle, first crossed Oklahoma, the Cimarron and
Arkansas rivers, traversed eastern Kansas, and became acquainted
with the tattooed Wichitas. These helmet-crested Spanish horsemen
saw and made known to the world most of the places visited today
by myriad travelers in the region now known in the United States
as the Far Southwest.

Coronado thus performed in North America a feat of adventure
and discovery comparable to what was done in South America in
the same period by Pizarro, Almagro, Belalcázar, or Quesada, and
in Middle America by Cortés, Guzmán, or Alvarado. He converted
the old trail up the West Coast Corridor of Mexico into a well-
known road which is still in use as an automobile highway and as
the route of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Historical tradition in
the vast area up the Corridor, and all the way from California to
Kansas, runs back four centuries to the spectacular expedition made
by Don Francisco and his companions.

The impress left by the young Spaniard on the history and lore
of the Southwest is patent and still growing. Geographical designa-

-viii-