SILVESTRE VéLEZ DE ESCALANTE

'Silvestre Vélez de Escalante' was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of the Southwest United States during the late 18th century. He is known for his journal, in which he described the expeditions he went on. These included a failed overland expedition in 1776. He, his superior Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, cartographer Don Bernardo Miera y Pacheco and 10 others left from Santa Fe, New Mexico trying to reach Monterey, California, during which they passed through, what is now, southwest Colorado, Utah where they were the first white men to go through,^[1]returning to Santa Fe by way of Arizona skirting the eastern portion of the Grand Canyon, and passing through the badlands of western New Mexico. This exploration is referred to as the 'Dominguez-Escalante Expedition'. The Escalante River,the town of