INTRODUCTION
Throughout this study the emphasis has been on the HOPI and other Uto-Aztecan speaking Indians groups. For the first 60 years of European contact after Columbus with the Native Americans the colonists and conquerors treated the natives in all locations as subhuman, as animals with the approval of the ecclesiastical leaders in Europe. Five hundred years after Columbus’s first voyage to the New World, the debate over the European impact on Native American civilization has grown more heated then ever. (Donovan back cover) But in those early years the first and one of the most insistent voices raised in that debate at the risk of his own life was that of a Spanish priest, Bartolome de Las Casas. He was an acquaintance of Cortez and Pizarro and a shipmate of Velasquez on the voyage to conquer Cuba. “In 1552, after forty years of witnessing—and opposing —countless acts of brutality in the new Spanish colonies, Las Casas returned to Seville, where he published a book that caused a storm of controversy that persists to the present day.” (Donovan back cover) The Book by Casa, The Devastation of the Indies, “is an eyewitness account of the first modern genocide, a story of greed, hypocrisy, and cruelties so grotesque as to rival the worst of our own recent century. Las Casas writes of men, women, and children burned alive, ‘thirteen at a time in memory of Our Redeemer and his twelve apostles.’ He describes butcher shops that sold human flesh for dog food…slave ship captains navigate ‘without need of compass charts’ following instead the trail of floating corpses tossed overboard by the ship before them. Native kings are promised peace then slaughtered. Whole families hang themselves in despair. Once fertile islands are returned to desert, the wealth of nations plundered, millions killed outright, whole peoples annihilated…I…describe all of this,’ writes Las Casas of the four decades of suffering he witnessed.” (Donovan back cover) But wasn’t most of this fore-seen in the Book of Mormon? It had been spelled out in detail. It would happen. It did.
“They [the Indians] would be traded [by the boat load] for wine and vinegar and pigs and clothing and for horses and anything else needed…The Spaniards were allowed to choose, among one hundred and fifty Indian maidens the ones they liked best, paying for each one an arroba of wine [22 pounds] of oil or vinegar or pigs…a boy…for a whole cheese and a hundred [boys] for a horse.” ((Las Casas p. 76) Finally “His Majesty issued from the city of Barcelona, in the year one thousand five hundred and forty-two, the month of November, and from the Palace in Madrid the following year…It was ordained that henceforth such evil deeds and sins against God and our fellow men would cease in the New World…having made these laws…His Majesty held many councils and conferences…the votes cast down in writing…it was ordained that the Spanish conquerors should cease the corruption…in robbing the Indians of their treasures.” (Las Casas pp. 1130-131) But there was already a native account of such things, the Book of Mormon, sad to say, provides a 2500 year history of peoples at their worst before the Europeans had arrived, but it also provides a history of peoples at their best, with many accounts of those who rose to sublime heights and relationships with the divine. The Book of Mormon tells of the future when the Gentiles would be abundant on the land “The wrath of God was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.” (l Nephi 13:14) The implication was clear that many would perish as a result of the coming of the settlers from foreign lands: But “Thy seed shall not utterly be destroyed.” (2 Nephi 32:3) But they did come close to being utterly destroyed.
Under the order of President Van Buren the “final roundup [of the Cherokee] began in May 1838, a mass movement from the east coast of these hapless Indians, pushed by the bayonets of state militia towards the Oklahoma territory which began, the ‘Trail of Tears’…the most painful and expensive way of putting people to death…by October two thousand had died…bedraggled survivors began to arrive in the Indian Territory [Oklahoma] from early January to late in March…4000 of them had died in route…600…escaped into the hills…had passed away…more than one fourth [of 18,000]…had paid the supreme price…all had been subjected to…sorrow, pain, and bitterness…so it was with the Sioux, the Navajos, the Apaches, and others of the tribes.” (Warner pp. 122-123) Van Buren impressed with the achievement was “Congratulating the nation that the Indian removal had at last been…achieved.” (Warner p. 123) For this and other reasons, Wilford Woodruff did not do the temple ordinance work for Van Buren. (Woodruff p. 369) Las Casas’s efforts paid off for some Indians, but for most the pillage continued for decades; in some regions- for centuries, after his noble effort to reinstate the Indian as a human being. Chosen Israel? Certainly a suffering Israel. The Book of Mormon has much to say about our time and the status of Indians past and present.
THE LAND OF ZARAHEMLA
Those who would have us believe the Book of Mormon events occurred somewhere else than in the Central American regions need to consider what the prophet Joseph had to say. A seldom quoted statement published by the Prophet Joseph bears on the subject of where the LAND OF ZARAHEMLA is located, and therefore on the geography and peoples of the Book of Mormon. It is found in Times and Seasons Vol. 3:710, (History of the Church March 2, 1842, 4:524). Zarahemla a great Book of Mormon City, “is tentatively identified with the ruins of Quirigua, spoken of in Stephens great book Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan.” (Stephens; Hunter p. 145) “The Article in the Times and Seasons positively stated that Zarahemla, while not necessarily where the Quirigua ruins now stands, was in ‘THIS LAND’.” This seems to place many Book of Mormon activities in this region.” (Hunter p. 145, Stephens Vol. 1-2) At this time Joseph Smith was the editor of Times and Seasons “and had announced his full editorial responsibility for the paper.” (Hunter p. 145) “Since our last ‘Extract’ was published from Mr. Stephens’ Incidents of Travel’ etc., we have found another important fact relating to the truth of the Book of Mormon. Central America, or Guatemala, is situated north of the Isthmus of Darien and once embraced several hundred miles of territory from north to south---the city of Zarahemla, burnt at the crucifixion of the Savior, and rebuilt afterwards, stood upon this land…It is certainly a good thing for the excellency and veracity, of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, that the ruins of Zarahemla have been found where the Nephites left them…and a ‘large round stone, with the side sculptured in hieroglyphics,’ as Mr. Stephens has published…We are not going to declare positively that the ruins of Quirigua are those of Zarahemla, but when the land and the stones and the books tell the story so plain we are of the opinion, that it would require more proof than the Jews could bring, to prove the disciples stole the body of Jesus from the tomb, to prove that the ruins of the city in questions, are not one of those referred to in the Book of Mormon.” (Times and Seasons 3:297; Hunter pp. 145-146) “Under the Prophet’s editorship Central America was denominated the region of Book of Mormon activities.” Hunter p. 146) About the same time, the Walker-Caddy expedition was exploring the region of Palenque. (See Pendergast) Today, where is the Church and Church scholars expending efforts in Book of Mormon research? Central America! This is not being taken serious enough.
THE QUICHE MAYA
Milton R. Hunter, who assembled many ancient chronicles in his publications, identified a key group of Central Americans, the Quiche Maya. They had left the Gulf Coast area around Copilco Zacualco a little south of where the Usumacinta River entered the Gulf, before 1250 A.D. and migrated into the Guatemalan Highlands near the headwaters of the Usumacinta, the Chiapas River which also emptied into the Gulf, and the Motagua River which emptied into the Atlantic. The Motagua is a source of jade, so precious to the Mayans. The Quiche exploited the resources of the highlands including obsidian, jade, salt, metals, and controlled the general region. (Carmack p. 47) With two of my sons, we made a traverse of the Motagua River on our way through the back country and trails to the ancient ruins of Copan. For the Quiche, “Their primordial migration appears to have been taken directly from poems, tales, and songs recorded in the ‘old books’ including the Popol Vuh and the Annals of the Cakchiquels.” (Carmack pp. 44-45) High in the mountains is the Quiche social and religious center of Chichicastenango (Chichi for short), the town without keys or locks. “No one in Chichi ever locks his doors, in fact we do not even have keys nor locks.” (Hunter 1972 p. 71) “Toward the close of the Book of Mormon period [Helaman; 4 Nephi] …progenitors of the Quiche…polluted the true gospel…[as evident from the retained fragments] which their forefathers had had… instituting a multitude of religious forms and ceremonies…contrary to those which had been taught by the ‘White Bearded God,’ or Jesus Christ, when he visited their ancestors. The most horrible of these innovations was human sacrifice.” (Hunter 1972, p. 72; see also Mormon 4, 14-15, 21) Hunter also provides ample discussions of the white tribes and groups in Central America and the relationships they have to the Book of Mormon. (Hunter 1872 pp. 188-190) In the book by Carmack referred to above, photos of the ancient ball courts of the Quiche are almost mirror images or duplicates of those found at Chichen Itza. (Hunter 1970 pp. 166, 186) As noted in this study, the ball courts were centers of practice of sacrificial extremes. They were also “the courts of Creation: Ballcourts, Ballgames, and Portals to the Maya Otherworld.” (Scarborough p. 289) “The three basic Southwestern archaeologic cultures in which we look for analogies with Mexico…are the Anasazi, Mogollon, and the Hohokam…the Anasazi, centering in northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona, was farthest removed.” (Hedrick pp. 94-95) As previously noted, more than 110 ball courts indicating widespread sacrificial practices have been excavated so far, just from the Hohokam sites in Arizona alone.
NUMIC SPEAKERS: THE SHOSHONE
Of the two NUMIC speaking groups, the Paiutes and the Shoshone, the latter was among the most abused of Indians in the West. At the start of the Civil War the Utah territorial militia, the Nauvoo Legion, under command of Lot Smith, the heroic marauder of Johnson’s 1857 army, was assigned guard duty on the overland mail routes and telegraphic lines. In October the duty was given to Colonel Patrick Edward Connor and his 750 California Volunteer Infantry. Connor had marched through Salt Lake City to the mountain slopes on the east side and established a Fort [Fort Douglass] he named after the anti-Mormon senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois. Near the end of WW II, I enlisted in the military at this fort. Ultimately Connor intended to arrest Brigham Young for polygamy, but Young learned of indiscretions of Connor and had a writ issued for his arrest on bigamy. It was a stand off. Connor was one of Mormon’s most dedicated and able enemies. In January 1863 he ordered two hundred of his men to march north to the Bear River to subdue a band of Northern Shoshone who had been attacking wagon trains and the overland trail and harassing remote Mormon settlements. Because of the depredations by the Shoshone against pioneer settlements, the Mormons gave Connor the services of a man who knew the region intimately as a scout, Orrin Porter Rockwell. Leonard Rockwell, grandson to Orrin, was a personal friend of mine. The clash that occurred is called the Bear River Massacre, an extremely bloody incident histories have overlooked, underplayed and overplayed. Not tricked into retreating to the hills, the Shoshone fortified themselves very well within a ravine. The attack came early in the Morning of the 29th in freezing conditions many soldiers fell in their first charge. Connor had to struggle to get his men across the icy river. He gave his cruel order “take no prisoner, fight to the death, nits breed lice.” The soldiers burned the village, caught the Indians in an enfilading fire, but the tide did not turn until the Indians ran out of ammunition. When the rampage was over 14 troopers were dead, 90 women and children and 160 Indian men were dead, more than killed in the battle at Wounded Knee in 1890. It was the first of six major Indian Battles between 1863 ad 1890. (Durham pp. 298-300) Connor was promoted to brigadier general. Late in 1863 soldiers and Mormons, hauling logs out of Bingham Canyon, found silver and gold. A few days later, officers and their wives, picnicking in the same region found another vein. Connor and several of his officers, and a Mormon bishop filed claims. Connor became the Father of Utah Mining and the gigantic Copper mines of Kennecott were established near the discoveries with mining on the sites still in progress. Brigham Young, to prevent the import of non-Mormon labor, allowed Mormons to work in the mines an interesting compromise.
But for the Shoshone remnants of the 5400 et al. it was an ignoble end. The story of the Paiutes and Shoshone Indians is a sad one. For the Prehistoric life-way of the Numic and Uto-Aztecans, other than the Anasazi groups was, by their choice, a difficult one. “The effective social unit was small… numbering…25 or 30 in all [In certain regions there were up to 30 families so the group may reach more than 100, such as at Cleve Creek, Kawich Range, Hamilton region of Nevada, and others all of which we have studied, mapping many of their sites and ceremonial areas] a normal year-round grouping. The quest for food required most of the energy of the group…a cyclic wandering…from place to place, from valley to upland [to harvest] animal or plant resources…possessions were few, utilitarian and durable…no skill in warfare.” (Kelly p. 7) Only “the basket and flat mill stone [metate and mano]…exploited the whole environment.” (Kelly p. 8) We have found places where as many as 35 metates and some manos were left in-place, no doubt some Indian women had intended to return to this serene place in the pine forest to harvest pine-nuts and seeds. The pine nut was a big staple, pemmican made from the combination of pine nuts and other seeds mixed with various wild fruits available in late August through October, Oregon grape, chokecherry, current, wild grape, elderberries, ground and mixed with meat of all varieties then baked for two or three hours gave them a durable long lasting nutritious food. “There was little leisure, almost no certainty about the morrow…no…amassing of personal property nor…long range plans.” (Kelly p. 8) After they settled in their territories their existence was one long annual repetition until the white man came. But only a white man would think it boring.
MORE DETAIL ON THE HOPI
We have outlined the geographic division of the principal cultures of the South West most of whom we conclude are remnants of the 5400 et al., from the northern part of Mexico to the edges of the Great Basin, to the west and northward to the regions of the so called Fremont Culture, which many now consider to be merely a northern extension of the Virgin River Anasazi, and eastward to the Plains Indian cultures, see the configuration outlined on MAP 13. (Reid p. 7) We have to include the Fremont Culture, which does “not readily fit into archaeological classification schemes…a source of debate.” (Madsen p. 3) They occupied much of Utah, and the Patayan occupying most of western Arizona, and the Salado included in southeastern and southwestern New Mexico into northern Mexico, must now be added to the mix. The data contained in the first three parts of this series supports the contention they are all part of the 5400 men and families who migrated out of Central Mexico and Guatemala about 50-53 BC. Resources on the Salado and Patayan are scarce and little is available about the traditions they may have carried with them. There are 21 federally recognized Indian tribes in Arizona alone. The 2010 census will no doubt show the population for these groups. Until otherwise determined all of them, except the Navajo, are considered remnants of the 5400 and their families of Alma 63:4.
Our interest has mainly been in the Western “Anasazi (“enemy ancestors” in the Navajo language) [who] mastered dry farming. Their Arizona descendants, the HOPI, live today along the southern edge of Black Mesa,” (Reid p. 9) and have since 1270 AD, before that their main territory was to the north including Kiet Siel and Batatakin ruin areas in Tsegi Canyon. “Except for Black Mesa, the highlands of the Tsegi area were not important loci of prehistoric settlement, primarily because they consist of vast expanses of bedrock stripped of any soil mantle and because they lack permanent supplies of water. The Canyons and valleys, however, were occupied from Basketmaker II [1 A.D], through Pueblo III [1300 AD] times…because of …farmland…and…stable water supply.” (Longacre p. 146) Then the Three White Men came to the HOPI and told them to move. (Cryer p. 368) Until then “The Kayenta people [were] enjoying a period of prosperity and apparent tranquility…the Kayenta development did not take place in a vacuum. To the east, beyond the Chuska Mountains, the Chaco development of huge towns and complex ceremonial organization was at its peak. In the Mesa Verde region to the northeast and in the upper Little Colorado and Puerco River valleys to the south people had begun to gather in large villages…The Kayenta [HOPI] people, in the Tsegi area at least, were going their own way with little regard for what their Anasazi neighbors were up to.” (Longacre p. 150) “The KAYENTA ANASAZI occupied much although not all of the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona and extended into southern Utah as well as into southeastern Nevada just off the Plateau to the west…Archaeologist… delineate smaller subdivisions….the ‘Virgin [River] Branch’…in …westernmost area of Anasazi settlement, the Arizona Strip….to the southern limits of the Great Basin and west to…the Virgin River…because diagnostic differences …are indeed minor; prior to A.D. 900 they were nonexistent…after that date restricted to architectural patterns and small distinctions in ceramics.” (Gumerman p. 195) Thus they were the same people especially after about the time of the birth of Christ. Before that there was a small group or a few individuals who had entered the empty land, assessed it and reported back. A large group of people responded to and acted on the information and undertook a massive migration northward.
Throughout the Anasazi and Numic regions we have examined and mapped more than 6000 sites. We now conclude most of them are related to the 5400 et al, who came north. They spread out through the empty lands. Some are still there. A readable story of the Tewa-Hopi life and times can be found in Big Falling Snow. (Yava pp. 36-81) In PART 1, we referred to the research by Cryer where Three White Brothers (Men) had told the Hopi Ancestors to move from the Tsegi Canyon area. (Tom Cryer: Visual Testament and the Israelite Indian, 1999, p 368) This would have been a religious directive that caused them to move away from their settled canyons near Navajo Mountain. (Beardall pp. 27, 109, 151) The Three White Brothers knew something about the immediate future of the Canyons that would render the canyons inhospitable. At that time the Shonto Plateau, Laguna Creek, the source of water for Tsegi Canyon, and Navajo Canyon were occupied, even having an increase in population during the period 1000 to 1225 A.D. The “Abandonment began about AD 1250 although Rainbow Plateau continued to be used by the Kayentas until the 1270’s” (Gumerman p. 203) It seems that the mesas intended for eventual HOPI settlements had already been prepared by the first construction at Old Oraibi on Third Mesa, dated by tree-ring chronology at 1100 AD, about 170 years before the final shift of the peoples to their Center Place. (Collier p. 83) This gathering was foretold in their prophecies, with individual stories. (Yava p. 41) There are amore than 30 villages in HOPI land. It might be noted that about the same time the Three Holy Brothers also appeared to the Incas. (Cryer p. 368) Imbedded in the traditions of these two groups are the details of the visits by these three holy men and others and the instructions that were given. The Indian groups seemed to have followed the instructions.
TSEGI CANYON GEOLOGY HOME OF THE HOPI
A detailed study of the canyon geology provides additional support for the interpretation described in these studies. Some 4.5 million years ago, the southern portion of the Colorado Plateau began to rise tilting the plateau northward, slowly enough so most of the rivers could cut through more than 2.5 miles of sediments and deeply buried igneous rocks. The Colorado River cut through 2.5 miles of the sediments to form the vast canyons of the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon and its tributaries. One and a half million years ago the rising movement ceased, and the Colorado River since then deepened its channel by only 50 feet; then a long hiatus set in. Everything stood still. Most of the terrain that now exists in and around the Colorado Plateau has remained much the same as it was l.5 million years ago. I detail all of this in lectures I have given at three colleges. Into the drastically cut canyons of the Tsegi region, two formation of soils were deposited, the first was the Tsegi formation, it was an undisturbed soil, and in in place by about 2,000 BC (Gumerman p. 87), and then following it, the younger Naha formation, a rich soil, was deposited and it was in place by the time the Hisatsinom-Pueblo cultures began using the aggraded soils for agriculture about the time of Christ. These, especially the Naha, formed were the soils which provided sustenance for the region for more than 1200 years. The Tsegi/Naha valley fill and canyon deposits were the soils on which the canyon peoples depended for their agricultural activities. Most of what they planted was in the Naha valley fill. Following the departure by the canyon peoples to the southern mesas, flash floods and excessive water began to cut into the prime soils and eradicate benches. (Gumerman pp. 87-91) ‘The Tsegi/Naha interval of arroyo-cutting is dated concurrent with and/or following the abandonment of the region.” (Gumerman p. 87) The destructive arroyo cutting was well underway by 1300 A.D., by then most of the peoples had been gone thirty or more years. It is certain that most had left before the arroyo cutting had set in removing most of the Naha soils, which continued until nearly 1800 A.D. It would not have been such a nice place to try to extract a living. The tradition that Three White Brothers appeared to them and told them to leave is difficult for archaeologist to accept, except this one. But the fact that most of them had been told to leave before the destruction of their agricultural resource areas can only be understood in the light of the fact they left and took up acceptable habitation in the southern mesas where they were told to go before things got tough. And they are still there waiting to be told what to do next. This is a very interesting example of divine intervention on behalf of Book of Mormon peoples. And intervention it was, they were not driven from the canyons by adverse circumstances, they were told to leave and where to go before things got intolerable. They survived because they listened and obeyed. I have flown and walked these canyons and seen the destruction caused by the arroyo cutting. The canyons were devastated. Hardly any soils remained for agricultural activities.
HOPI CEREMONIES
When one studies HOPI ceremonies, their dances and private and public performances one realizes that many of them are “abbreviated dramatic performances, the secret ceremonies having been dropped or lost.” (Hendrick p. 83) This is especially true of the altars and secret and sacred aspects of the Snake Dance. (Bourke pp. 111-127) “The HOPI ceremonial procedure is based on the intention of invoking certain supernatural powers which come in the form of vehicles provided by the altar and by the impersonators … [who] believe that they are the deities which they represent.” (Gertz p. 27) Their “religion is nurtured by prophetic overtones…rooted in [distinctive] clan mythology [ancient traditions]…the existence and use of ritual objects. Therefore, an iconographic study of HOPI religion is relevant and illuminating, [and necessary].” (Geertz p. i) “There exists a voluminous literature concerning HOPI ceremonials and dances.” (Geertz p. l) The work by Geertz is one of the most complete. (Geertz pp.39) The Altars and iconography when studied in detail reveal the semantics of the beliefs of the HOPI, most white men do not understand nor appreciate this, except those who sit through a Mormon temple ceremony; some aspects of the deep meditative inducements are the same. (Hansen pp. 1-2)
THE HISATSINOM: BASKETMAKER TO PUEBLO: MORE DETAIL
It had been postulated in the earlier parts of this study that an early NUMIC (Uto-Aztecan speakers) group had arrived in southeast California a century or two, or later, after the Nephites had arrived in Central America. It was suggested that these early arrivals, identified by name and on several maps of this series, had maintained some contact with their origins, and that they had used an ancient trade route for their northward journey and maintained that trade route over time bringing those who remained in their source area trade goods and information about the Empty Land that existed northward and about which they had some information. Perhaps the 5400 et al had this or some other source of information, because it does not seem likely that that many men and their women and children would have taken off to go northward on a whim. Something more lies behind this migration of peoples than we can now sift from the limited information we have available. We get a glimpse at a portion of this picture by the work of Reid and Whittlesey. They detailed the Hisatsinom discovery by Richard Wetherill, who, in December 1893, named the “Basket Makers” and first recognized that they were earlier or older than the Cliff Dwellers. (McNitt pp. 64-65) Later “A.V. Kidder and Sam Guernsey explored Basketmaker caves in northern Arizona…Kidder went on to codify Hisatsinom culture history and provide scientific validation, and Douglass gave the fabric of Anasazi life calendrical dates. …Today…Dean and many others build on the foundation of a century of archaeological discovery to weave a tapestry of Hisatsinom life.” (Reid pp. 182-183) Which Kidder and Guernsey provided in their book: THE BASKETMAKER II PERIOD (500 B.C. to A.D. 600) the latter date is the beginning of Pueblo I. The former date, 500 B.C. fits into the picture we have been painting very well. There is no forerunner of BASKETMAKER II, for them “There is no BASKETMAKER 1.” (Reid p. 183) If there was a BASKETMAKER I presence it would be those who were knowledgeable about the empty lands some time before the birth of Christ and some how communicated this information back to those who would be interested. The interested parties assembled together and made a migration to the north about 53 BC that has never been described before except in the oral traditions of numerous Indian tribes, the HOPI being most important among them.
The “Basketmaker to Pueblo: The ‘Hisatsinom’ are the cultures who inhabited the southwest from earlier than l BC to the present.” (Reid pp. 182-183) The cultures we have considered of greatest interest in these studies.
THE HOPI AND THE LINK FROM SANTE FE TO MONTEREY
For background The Spanish were desperate for a western empire. In 1769 Spain had begun to occupy Alta California, establishing Military Headquarters (Presidios) at San Diego and Monterey to forestall foreign settlement on the southern Pacific coast. On the U.S.-Mexico border, only three presidios survived the cutbacks of Col. Hugo O’Connor, an Irish Catholic, one of the many ‘Wild Geese’ who fled to the continent to seek service with the enemies of England. (Weber pp. 220-221,237) These included Santa Fe, San Antonio and La Bahia. South of Tucson, the presidio of Tubac maintained its position for a few years longer. The presidio of Tucson hung in the balance for many years, finally developing into a community of Hispanics, Pima Indians, and peaceful Apaches, where about 75 years later the Mormon Battalion would have its first Battle.
Jose de Galvez was appointed visitador general, Inspector General in the aftermath of the seven year war. King Carlos of Spain had sent Galvez, not his first choice, to New Spain to administer reforms and further prepare the region for colonization. Galvez had arrived on August 25, 1765, and began to exert his special authority. (Weber p. 237) He had worried and written about the well publicized search by England for a Northwest Passage. This had been the concern of Spain since 1757 when a Jesuit had written not only about the English but also of the Russian threat along the west coast as they moved south out of Sitka, Alaska harvesting seal pelts for China. (Weber p. 238) And ending up with a development on the Russian River near Sacramento, they scared the Spanish.
The encroachment of Europeans on the west coast reflected the same conditions and treatments of Indians as on the east coast. The prophetic conditions put forth by the Book of Mormon that would prevail in the Americas equally applied to all of America. Early on when there were but about 13 colonies, first intimations of Manifest Destiny for America emerged as an attitude which was to devastate, to some extent, every tribe of Indians. California’s coastal people, mainly the Chumash, Ipi and Pomo at first, received the Spaniards with cautious curiosity, which soon turned to ‘Contempt. The Spaniards ignorance of native customs offended Indians with their “bad manners… pilfering… grains…animals…[and] most offensive, Spanish soldiers violated native women…a few [Spaniards] married Indian converts at the missions; other soldiers simply raped Indian women as ‘though a plague of immorality had broken out’.” (Weber p. 247)
Soon after Vasco Nunez de Balboa had viewed with astonishment the Pacific Ocean, Cortes declared he would be the one to explore the Pacific. So it was one of Cortes’ Pilots, Fortun Jimenez who first sailed into a placid bay east of what became later known as the Baja Peninsula. Six years later Francisco de Ulloa sailed up the west coast of Mexico and into the Sea of Cortez proving what Jimenez had found was a Peninsula, a year later maps identified the 800 mile peninsula and the northern coast as California, a name probably given to the maps by Jimenez. But Cortes was in competition with Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza. As a teenager from Andalusia, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, became a veteran conquistador and then one of the richest and most brutal of men in Guatemala, actually rendering down Indians for their tallow. He then suffered financial reverses in the 1530’s, which led him to accept Mendoza’s offer to command a fleet of three ships to explore the Pacific. Europeans were eager to explore those placid waters and then continue on to China. Cabrillo reached the west coast of Mexico in1542, in June he cruised from Navidad, Mexico as far northward as 42 North Latitude; about the Oregon border. On September 28, 1542 they went ashore off Point Loma in the magnificent bay of San Diego. On shore the second day they learned that bearded white men had raided the region recently killing the Indians. (Weber p. 41) Who they were is a mystery. This disappointed Cabrillo greatly. The Ipi Indians did not take lightly the manners of the sailors and finally wounded three of them with arrows. So they continued up the coast against autumn storms and heavy seas, they had to put in at Catalina Island where they waited out the winter, during which time Cabrillo died; he had shattered a shin bone, slipping on rocks trying to rescue some of his men from Indians. Bartolome Ferrer then took command of the three ships; they continued their northern exploration to 42 degree latitude near the California-Oregon boundary, with seas so high that the sailors became crazed so they were forced to forget about China and turn back to Mexico. Ferrer helped establish Spanish rights to the coastal area for the next 200 years. He provided evidence for cartographers that there was no strait through North America to the Pacific and that North America and Asia were two separate continents. (Weber p. 42) But their explorations were receiving little or no divine assistance. Looking back one can see the divine hand in all things. Little events happened that changed history for all time.
Gradually, the Spanish developed great haciendas and large cattle herds, rendering them down for their tallow and hides which they traded to China for liquid mercury. In turn they traded the mercury to miners in Mexico for slaves obtained from Indians along the old Spanish Trial who captured their neighbors and anybody else they could trade for horses and guns; a horse for a girl under 13 years, and guns for boys over eight. The miners used the mercury to recover gold and silver in the ‘patio’ process. These captives were then traded for more horses and liquid mercury. This continued for 320 years.
THE SPANISH MISSIONS
The “Franciscans founded five missions by 1774, but with few gifts they made few converts…Unaccompanied by Hispanic women, the soldiers had been ‘condemned to perpetual celibacy’…many soldiers refused to accept the sentence…notwithstanding the hostility they provoked, the vastly outnumbered Spanish…survived their initial years…[they] relied on intimidation, crushing the first signs of…resistance with whippings, burnings, and executions—lest Indians achieve a victory and ‘come to know their power…such harsh treatment invited retributions…the familiar pattern began.” (Weber p. 247) The Indians grievously resented being treated like animals. They began repeated depredations against the Spanish, burning their missions, killing their priests, and rebelling all along the Coast. This would prevail for one hundred years.
A replacement officer, Fernando de Rivera y Moncada had “traveled by way of Baja California with some 51 soldier-settlers from Sinaloa…including the first Hispanic women and children to come to California—7 women had preceded them by sea that spring.” (Weber p. 248) Spain to hold onto California had to find a dependable overland route from Mexico for troops, married colonists, single women, livestock and supplies. The tragic voyages of the San Antonio, San Carlos, and San Jose…demonstrated the horrifying cost of sending ships. (Weber p. 248) When ships did arrive, they had lost half of their contingents through scurvy and terrible weather. Soon, a new Viceroy, Antonio Maria de Bucareli, who let two years go by without any activity, granted Capt. Juan Bautista de Anza permission to open an overland trail to the San Diego and Monterey presidios. The life of Anza is an extremely interesting one. He was “a Spanish colonial by birth with a considerable reputation as a soldier and Indian fighter. Anza left the presidio at Tubac, south of Tucson on January 8, 1774, with thirty-five men. Among them was Father Francisco Hermenegildo Tomas Garces from mission San Xavier del Bac at Tubac, who would soon become more important than Anza in the opening uip of the Great Basin. Anza had been ordered to find a direct route from Sonora to California. Spain had, only a few years before, established its first missions in Alta, or Upper, California and needed to fin a way to supply and defend them. Reaching Alta California by sea was dangerous and inefficient…Anza successfully made it from Sonora to the mission at San Gabriel a few miles north of Los Angels.” (Durham pp. 20-21) He discovered just how severe the desert crossing was that would have also been crossed by the migrating peoples of Alma 63:4. “Garces came to the conclusions that they parched route across the desert was unnecessarily hard…the friar cited ‘the extreme scarcity of water and pasturage and…the vast sand dunes’ and became convinced that an easier route lay to the north, one that would link Monterey in California with Santa Fe.” (Durham 21) This was the beginning of the effort to find a way across the western lands from Santa Fe to Monterey. The friar’s account reflects the traditions found among the Paiutes, HOPI and Aztecs of the difficulties found in this portion of their migrations northward. Between 1768 and 1771 Garces made three explorations including to the Gila and Colorado Rivers. In 1775 Anza was ordered to take some 240 people, back to California, Garces accompanied him on this trip. And then in early 1776, with Indian guides, Garces tracked a route from Needles, California on the Colorado River to the Pacific Ocean. By spring he had traversed the San Fernando Valley, the Tejon Pass to the Kearn River, and into the San Joaquin Valley. A suitable destination from Sante Fe. (Durham pp. 21-24) His next trip would take him to the HOPI lands. And there his efforts would come to naught. Throughout all the Spanish Efforts to establish an empire in the west, the HOPI played a little known but pivotal role in the history of these efforts and failures.
Bucareli also authorized a naval expeditions by Juan Peres, an experienced pilot, and Juan Francisco de la Bodega to sail north along the unexplored coast lands. Peres set sail in the San Antonio, a tiny ship from San Blas on the western Mexico coast, (See MAP 14 ) he had made three trips from this southern supply center, the region could also have been a source of supplies for the 5400 et al who went north 1825 years earlier. After dropping off supplies at Monterey, Peres was supposed to sail to 60 degrees north latitude but he didn’t quite get there, he made his northern most land fall at 55 degree latitude about the area of the Canadian-Alaskan border. (MAP 14 ) His orders were to “search the coast carefully…search for foreigners…stop frequently to take formal possession of sections of coastline…mark it with wooden crosses. Bad weather, crippling scurvy… fear…of icy, uncharted coast waters…forced him to stay far from shore.” (Weber p. 249) It was supposed to be a secret voyage, but soon became known as the “going to Russia” trip. Alaska at that time was held by Russia. “He sailed northward along the coast identifying key places such as Nootka Sound off Vancouver Island and Mt. Olympus.” (Weber pp. 248-249) This expedition through fear was reluctant to make contact with the Indian nations along the coasts. Years later American heirs to Spanish claims used Perez’s voyage to assert the 54 degree 40’ latitude as the northern boundary of the Oregon Country. (Weber p. 249) It is hard historically to explain these episodes of reluctance.
THE TRAGEDY OF ANZA
The same year that Perez left San Blas, Juan Bautista de Anza, now a Captain, left to open up a land route out of northwestern Mexico from the mission at Altar, which was nearly 300 miles southeast of Yuma, and followed almost the exact route the 5400 et al did to cross the desert into Southern California, except Anza continued on to San Diego. A year later, Anza was directed to extend his supply line up the coast to Monterey and take colonists and their families to San Francisco and establish a Presidio there. He would also make a new route around the forbidding desert which the Paiutes say suffering was to great by going into southern Arizona toward Tucson and Tubac, then down into Northwestern Mexico to Horcasitas, which would have been along the same trade lane anciently traveled by the 5400, et al some 1825 years earlier. (See MAP 14 ) Bucareli, the viceroy, continued to couple land expeditions with coastal advances, sending the tiny vessel, the San Carlos, under Juan de Ayala, to deliver cargo at Monterey and then explore northward to San Francisco Bay, it was the first European Ship to enter the Golden Gate. Two ships, the Sonora and Santiago, under Juan Francisco de La Bodega y Quadra and Hezerta, continued northward, against great odds, Bodega pushed his Santiago up the Alaskan coast to near present-day Juneau, his pilot was Capt. Anza. But time had run out for Anza who along with many others died of scurvy preventing Bodega from making careful charts, though they did take possession for Spain at four points along the coast. Hezerta pushed the Sonora northward sighting the mouth of the Columbia River, but his failure to explore the river made it easy for other nations to ignore the discovery. It was to be seventeen years later when the American Robert Gray explored the river and named it Columbia for his ship, the name stuck, even on Spanish maps, and strengthened American claims to the Pacific Northwest. (Weber pp. 247-252) Little events kept changing history.
THE TRAGEDY OF GARCES, THE INTREPID EXPLORER
Fray Francisco Hermenegildo Tomas Garces, was an intrepid, tenacious, patient, and experienced young priest at the Mission San Xavier del Bac at Tubac, south of Tucson. He accomplished alone, what European teams ordinarily could not. His task was to find a route from Monterey over the Sierra Mountains to Santa Fe. Born in Aragon, he possessed unusual ability to travel through the lands, even of hostile Indians, and some said “appears to be an Indian himself. He could sit for hours with Indians, eat Indian foods with [great gusto], though some found it nasty and dirty. God had created him solely for the purpose of seeking out these unhappy, ignorant and rustic peoples.” (Weber p. 253) He was sent to Sonora to take charge of the former Jesuit missions of Pimeria Alta. He made extraordinary forays alone on horseback from San Xavier del Bac into the desert country of the Lower Colorado between 1768 and 1771. His information convinced Anza that the distance from Sonora to Monterey was not too great nor as difficult as had been formerly estimated. Anza then exploited this land route. Anza and Garces, with 34 men, left Tubac January 8, 1774, and entered the southern tip of the Great Basin at the present Mexican border. Between 1769 and 1771 Garces had already made three entradas into southern Arizona and along the Gila and Colorado Rivers (Durham pp. 20-21) In 1775 Garces and Anza took 240 colonists from Sonora to California, (Durham p. 22) but it was plain that this was not going to be an efficient way to re-supply California out of northwest Mexico. So, early in 1776 the Indian-like Garces traveled up the Colorado River on the south rim, and was the first white man in 236 years to gaze into the Grand canyon, (Durham p. 24) from the Yuma Crossing, through Mojave country near Needles, he continued northward and northeastward seeking to put himself closer to the latitude of Monterey and Santa Fe. With help from the Mojave he navigated the San Bernardino Mountains, obtained Havasupai Guides, then Yavapai, and other Indians, remnants of the 5400 et al, who fed and sheltered him in exchange for gifts of white sea shells and tobacco. This tough Franciscan horseman crossed the Colorado Plateau of central Arizona, where his progress eastward ended abruptly at the mesa-top pueblo of Oraibi, then the largest of the HOPI Villages. But the Hopi memories were long, they had had little contact with the Spanish after the 1680 revolt and unlike all the other Indians, they refused to accept his gifts, or to even give him food, water or shelter. He had “to make camp on a dirty street, heated some corn gruel, or atole, over a fire made from corn shucks, and bedded down on the bare sandstone. He spent two nights there and realized he was going to get no help from the HOPI. Then, on July 4, 1776, the same day that rebel representatives from the British colonies on the other side of the continent approved a declaration of independence, Garces rode out of the pueblo fearing for his life. Lacking sufficient supplies and guides to continue to Santa Fe he went back the way he had come…he couldn’t open a trail to New Mexico…[but] one of his letters did. Before he left Oraibi Garces wrote a letter to the Franciscan priest at Zuni, ‘although I did not know his name.’ An Acoma Indian whom Garces…met at Oraibi carried the missive to Zuni, the most westerly of the New Mexico missions…it eventually…reached fray Silvestre Velez de Escalante who…was in Sante Fe preparing, of all things, to find a way to Monterey.” (Weber pp. 253-254) Again, notice the events that changed history.
Garces returned the same way he had come before, to the mission at San Xavier del bac. Later he was appointed to open two missions at the junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, where 1825 years earlier the 5400 et al would split into a number of groups each having a different destiny. Not getting gifts, the local Indian Chief expected, he authorized a raid on the mission in 1781 and the intrepid explorer, Garces, was killed; a martyr. So ended the remarkable life of one of the great unsung explorers of the west. In vain, good men were expended to establish the expectations of the Spanish Crown for a California empire in the American West. But it was not to be. It was all an aborted effort to pre-empt the Mormon settlements of the west. Spanish efforts were domed to failure.
THE FAILURE OF DOMINGUEZ AND ESCALANTE
The Franciscan Priest, Francisco Atanasio Dominguez was about 36 years old, born in Mexico, he had spent most of his adult life in Monastic life, with little experience that would aid him in the ambitious assignment he received. Silvestra Velez de Escalante was “a native of Spain…entered the Franciscan Order in Mexico…pastor of Nuestra Senora de Guadelupe de Zuni Mission in 1774…only 35 years old…an astute observer and able writer whose reports and opinion were valued…by the governmental, ecclesiastical and military officials…administering the vast provinces of New Spain.” (Cuerquone p. ii) He spoke fluent Comanche, Uto-Aztecan, and thus could communicate with the Utes, Paiutes, Comanche, Hopi and Shoshone tribes. He had made a trip to the Hopi in 1775 “hoping to learn from the natives if the territory to their west lent itself to the possibility of opening communications with the Spaniards in California.” (Cerquonep. ii) The Hopi had discouraged him by tales of cannibals, deep and impassable gorges, and their total disinterest in religion because of previous abuse by Catholic missionaries. He had received a “chilly reception, especially at Oraibi [where a year later Garces would receive such harsh treatment]. The HOPIS had not threatened him with death but at Walpi the men had ‘assaulted his sensibilities’ with dance…noted in his diary…the only part of their bodies...covered…[was] their face, and at the end of the member it is not modest to name…[was a] delicate feather subtly attached…appalled by this ‘horrifying spectacle’…Escalante left the next day…convinced only military force could bring the depraved and obstinate HOPI back into the Spanish fold.” (Weber p. 254) In spite of the letter of Garces, and Escalante’s knowledge of the aridity of the land west of the HOPI villages as well as the presence of the deep gorge of the Colorado River, and the belligerence of Indians due west of Sante Fe,” (Weber p. 254) the priests decided to follow the second trail blazed by the Spanish Geologist Rivera.
DOMINGUEZ, ESCALANATE AND THE SPANISH GEOLOGIST RIVERA
It is evident from reading the Book of Mormon, that though published in 1830, it had anticipated the doctrine of Manifest Destiny for the American expansion westward and the future settlements of the Mormons and the continuing movement of colonists that would eventually embrace the Mexican territories and deny the Spanish a California empire. It was all in the Book. Constant divine intervention was taking place.
“Sent by the Governor of New Mexico to check reports of silver [and gold] mines in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, Juan Maria De Rivera, [a geologist], had already [for several years] conducted [prospecting] expeditions into southwestern Colorado.” (Cerquone p. ii) At age sixteen, a scholarship permitted me with others to retrace the exploration of the San Juan Mountains made by Rivera, where we saw the glory holes of early gold mining. During winters the San Juan Mountains are inaccessible so Rivera would explore the lower lands westward trying to find crossings for the Colorado River. He had written two reports, the first an account of a crossing he had found almost due west of Delores, Colorado, which he had blazed and marked. The second was an expedition a year later where he found an easy crossing north of Grand Junction, which he also blazed and marked. It was his second report that was on a table in Sante Fe, New Mexico on a fateful day before the Franciscan Fathers Francisco Antonasio Dominguez and Silvestra Velez de Escalante. History would change again.
But it wasn’t to be. It was all an aborted effort to pre-empt the Mormon settlement of the west. It was domed to failure before it began. But it did happen. In the spring of 1776, and you know what was going on elsewhere at that time, Father Dominguez summoned the Zuni pastor to La Ville Santa Fe to get his reports on the possibilities of a western trail beyond the HOPI villages to cross the Colorado River. “The two priests who hoped to lay the groundwork for new missions among the Utes as well as find the way to the coast, decided that ‘the knowledge we could acquire of the lands through which we traveled would represent a great step forward and be of use in the future’.” (Weber p. 254) So they departed Santa Fe on July 29th following the second blazed trail of Rivera. ) Their intent was to follow the trail northward into the country of the Yutas to convert the Yutas (Utes).From September l to 15, they were in contact with the northern Utes and obtained Silvestre, a youthful Laguna Ute guide from the Vernal area who took them across the Massive Wasatch Mountains to Utah Lake. There they had spent a few days of previous time making Ute converts. In the celebration of this journey in 1976, a bronze statue of Silvestre and his dog was placed on the trail as a commemoration of the service of an Indian boy to the Spanish, an event most people of the west know very little about. The Franciscan Anza had started a link eastward through the Joaquin Valley through a pass in the High Sierras. They wanted to link up with that passage.
In spite of the letter from Garces they had laid their plans to leave the 4th of July of 1776, but a Comanche raid in the region required the services of Escalante, an expert on the Comanche and who knew their language. It took him 14 days to take care of that situation. The time lost changed history for the entire west. Finally they departed Santa Fe on July 29th, 1776. (Cerquone p. 2, 6) By taking the northern route described in the second report prepared by the Spanish geologist exploring the San Juan Mountains, they consumed more days than they planed on and when they wanted to continue westward from Utah Lake where they had arrived late in the season on September 23, 1776, they were discouraged by the tales of salt flats and waterless deserts and mountains that lay to the west. They were told to go south to another Indian group, the Paiutes, who could direct them on a safe trail to the west. The lost critical time again, arriving in Cedar City on October 10 they experienced a light snow storm that frightened Dominguez who wanted to give up the expedition and return to Santa Fe but Captain Miera of the military contingent tried to convince them Monterey was only a week away. The Paiute Indians near Cedar City told them there was water about every 12 leagues by going west, they were right, but it would be a long wintery journey. Dominguez choose to put the decision to go west in the hands of God and so they drew lots. Dominguez drew the lot for a return to Santa Fe, “Lord, Thy will be done. We shall return to Santa Fe as you have commanded.” (Cerquone p. 14) Captain Miera’s reading of longitude, as Escalante noted, indicated that “we [did have]…many leagues left to us towards the west.” (Weber p. 256) The early snow storm on October 10 frightened Dominguez, so On October 11, after a day of heated argument they had drawn lots, turned back to the south and then eastward where they failed in an aborted attempt to cross the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry, later found they could walk across the river at what is now known as the “Crossing of the Fathers” and arrived back in Santa Fe, Jan 2, 1777. (Cerquone p. 13-14) They crossed unknown territory no other white man had seen, but because of fear they aborted their mission saving the colonization of the west for the Mormons. (Weber p. 256)
They thought to try again and replicate the journey the following year, but events precluded their ever doing so. The intended Spanish development of a route between Santa Fe and Monterey never materialized, history was changed forever. Not until the Nevada deserts were tamed by Brigham Young’s scouts and Mormons at Genoa, near Carson City, in 1851, was there any Nevada settlements and connections made to the Pacific coast. Clearly it was not intended that the Spanish dominate and settle the west!
But it was intended that the Mormons occupy the nearly empty land again, and set up their empire of more than 350 towns and cities from Canada to Mexico, now part of history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BAUDEZ, Claude F., Central America, Nagel Publishers, Geneva, 1970
BEARDALL, C. Douglas and Jewel, About The Three Nephites, LDS Book Publications, Provo, Utah, 1992
COLLIER, John, On the Gleaning Way, Sage Books, Chicago, 1962
BOURKE, John G., Snake-Dance of The Moquis, University of Arizona Press,Tucson, 1984
BRUNDAGE, Burr Cartwright, The Phoenix of the Western World: Quetzalcoatl and The Sky Religion, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1981
CARMACK, Robert M., The quiche Mayas of Utatlan, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman,1981
CARRASCO, David, Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire, University Press of Colorado, Boulder, 2000
CERQUONE, Joseph In Behalf of the Light, The Dominguez and Escalante Expedition of 1776, Dominguez-Escalante Bicentennial Expedition, Paragon Press, Denver, 1976
DONOVAN, Bill M., The Back Cover of the book: The Devastation of the Indies, by Bartoleme de Las Casas, translated by Herma Briffault, with the introduction by Bill M., Donovan, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1992
DURHAM, Michael S., Desert Between the Mountains, Henry Holt Co., New York 1997
FLORESCANO, Enrique, The Myth of Quetzalcoatl, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 199
GAMBLE, Lynn H., The Chumash World at European Contact, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2008
GEERTZ, Armin W., Hopi Indian Altar Iconography, E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1987
HEDRICK, Basil C., Ed. The Mesoamerican Southwest, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois, 1974
HANSEN, JR., Gerald E., Sacred Walls, Learning from Temple Symbols, Covenant Communications, Inc., American Fork, Utah, 2009
HUNTER, Milton R., Ancient America and The Book of Mormon, Kolob Book Company, Oakland, California 1950
1970. Great Civilizations and the Book of Mormon, Bookcraft Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah,
………………………1972, Archaeology and The Book of Mormon, Deseret Book Co.,Salt Lake City, Utah,
JUDGE, W. James, Moderator, The Anasazi, An Informal Discussion, Southwest Natural and Cultural Heritage Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1991
KELLY, Robert L., Prehistory of the Carson Desert and Stillwater Mountains, University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 123, Salt Lake City, Utah 2001
LONGACRE , William A., Ed. Reconstructing Prehistoric Pueblo Societies, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1970
MADSEN, David B., Exploring the Fremont, Utah Museum of Natural History, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1989
McCNITT, Frank, Richard Wetherill: Anasazi, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1957
PENDERGAST, David M., Palenque, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1967
RECINOS, Adrian & Delia Goetz, The Annals of the Cakchiquels & Title of the Lords of Totonicapan, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. 1953
REID, Jefferson & Stephanie Whittlesey, The Archaeology of Ancient Arizona, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1997
ROYS, Ralph L., The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1967
SCARBOROUGH, Vernon L., & David R. Wilcox, Ed. The Mesoamerican Ballgame, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1991
SMITH, Hyrum M., & Janne MK. Sjodahl, Revised, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1978
STEPHENS, John L., Incidents of Travel in Yucatan Vol. 1-2, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1963
WARNER, Ross, Book of Mormon Prophecies, Hawkes Publishing, Inc., Salt LakeCity, Utah1975
WEBER, David J., The Spanish Frontier in North America, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1992
WOODHEAD, Henry, Ed. The Spirit World, Time Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1992
YAVA, Albert, Big Falling Snow, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, 1978