Old Spanish Trail in Glen Canyon

Old Spanish Trail - Armijo Route

Fifty-three years to the day after Padres Dominguez and Escalante toiled down the rugged slickrock slopes of Glen Canyon and forded the Colorado River on their way back to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Antonio Maria Armijo embarked upon his own expedition across this rugged southwest landscape seeking to open the first overland trade route to California from Santa Fe.

Making the Journey

With bits and pieces of vague information that trickled in from rendezvous, conversations, journals, and maps drawn during the Dominguez-Escalante expedition of 1776, Antonio Armijo imagined an overland trade route. He was willing to risk it all to seek his fortune and forge the first overland trade route from Abiquiu, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California.

Hardships on the first journey

With persistent determination, Armijo led 60 men and 100 mules loaded with fine woolen serapes and blankets produced by New Mexico’s sheep industry on an arduous journey through a most rugged and rocky landscape-the same landscape that challenged the faith and fortitude of the Dominguez and Escalante expedition. Risking hunger and thirst, eating dust and mules, and taking a chance with the value of his goods proved a profitable risk for Antonio Armijo.

Antonio Armijo

Antonio Armijo’s father, Jose Francisco Armijo, traded on the Santa Fe Trail. Applying his knowledge of trade and commerce, Antonio saw an opportunity and figured out how to turn visionary ambition into a profitable venture. In reality, he took an enormous risk to trade woolen blankets to Californios for horses and mules. Acquiring California horses and mules at the low cost of one blanket for two animals turned a fine profit in the Santa Fe market. This afforded Antonio Armijo the opportunity to return to California with his parents in 1830. In 1831, he married Dolores Engracia Duarte y Peralata, the daughter of a wealthy California Rancher. They eventually settled in the Solano and Napa counties where they raised seven children.

By Traders, For Traders

Little is known about the first journey and the original route of the Old Spanish Trail, for it was used only once by daring men. Established by traders for traders, subsequent routes of the Old Spanish trail demonstrated an earnest desire to avoid the hardships and hazards Armijo experienced during this first and seminal event in expanding trade and commerce in the Southwest.

The hilltop viewpoint along Highway 89 is a good place to contemplate the vast landscape that faced earlier travelers negotiating this part of Glen Canyon.

Expanded Trade Routes

Southwest commerce improved with the establishment of the Old Spanish Trail. It connected established trade routes and intersected with native trails, thus creating an international transcontinental trade network. This trade network improved rural economies in Northern New Mexico, yet it would forever change interethnic trade with native people in drastic and fateful ways. The Old Spanish Trail not only facilitated trade for woolen blankets, goods, horses, and mules, but also the enslavement and trade of native people.

Armijo Route Today

Preservation of historic trails gives modern day explorers the opportunity to trace the footsteps of intrepid trailblazers and discover triumphant and tragic stories born in the dust of their passing. As we probe for vague traces of the trail, we become acquainted with people, paths and places, such as Antonio Maria Armijo and the Old Spanish Trail that passed through the rugged and rocky Glen Canyon landscape.

While physical traces of the trail no longer exist, Gunsight Butte in Padre Bay stands tall as a landmark reminder of those who made their way to and from the original footpath crossing of the Colorado River. This important river crossing was used by local peoples for thousands of years, including the Dominguez-Escalante expedition and Antonio Armijo mule caravan. This footpath was abandoned with the opening of Lees Ferry near the mouth of the Paria River in 1871.

Part of Armijo’s trail corridor can be hiked today along Wahweap Creek near Big Water, Utah. The Armijo diary referred to Wahweap Creek as White Canyon; probably owing to the alkaline nature of the water flowing in the creek and the white Entrada Sandstone bluffs that lined this canyon.