Fray Marcos And Garces, And Their Connection With The Grand Canyon Hotel and Stations Named for Spanish Priests. At Williams, the gateway to the Canyon, the Santa Fe Railway Company recently has erected a typical Mission style hotel, to which the name of Fray Marcos has been given. Here Canyon visitors who stop off between trains find excellent accommodations.
At Needles, California, on the Colorado River, is another reinforced concrete building, named after another Franciscan priest, Francisco Garces.
Both Fray Marcos and El Garces are managed by Fred Harvey, who also has charge of El Tovar Hotel. The history of this part of the Southwest for the last thirty years cannot be written without mention of this masterful man, who made railway meal service a fine art. In accordance with a policy established some time ago by the Santa Fe Company, the architecture of their station hotels conforms to the Spanish Mission styles, as far as possible, and they are given names of those who are inseparably connected with the romantic history of this region.
Fray Marcos Comes to America. In the chapter "Tovar and the Discovery of the Grand Canyon," brief reference is made to the reconnaissance undertaken by Fray Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan friar, to determine the truth of the reports brought into Culiacan by Cabeza de Vaca. This narrative of Fray Marcos is taken, in the main, from George Parker Winship's introduction to his translation of Castaneda's narrative, published in the fourteenth annual report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology. This friar was born in Nice, then a part of Savoy, and he came to America about the year 1531.
His contemporaries called him a Frenchman, though there is no evidence that he was of French parentage. He was sent as one of the religious to accompany Pizarro on his expedition to Peru, and was present at the trial and execution of the native king, Atahualpa. From Peru, he returned to Central America, and thence he returned on foot to Mexico. He was a man of known bravery and character, and already was appointed to the office of vice-commissary of his order. Thus Mendoza felt no hesitation at charging him with the arduous mission of penetrating to the heart of what are now Arizona and New Mexico, as far as the reported seven cities of Cibola, and bringing back to his superiors a truthful account of what he saw. The father provincial of the order, Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo, on August 26, 1539, certified to the high esteem in which Fray Marcos was held, and stated that he was skilled in cosmography, and in the arts of the sea, as well as in theology.
Mendoza Instructs Fray Marcos. Mendoza drew up for him a set of instructions as to how he should proceed. These were very explicit as to the good treatment the Indians were to receive at his hands, and required him to make certain scientific observations with due care and thoroughness.
He was to leave letters at stated intervals, and also send back to the viceroy reports of his progress, wherever possible. Coronado escorted him as far as the new town of Culiacan, and on March 7, 1539, accompanied by a lay brother, Onorato, he started on his trip.
Courage of Spaniards. When it is remembered that this journey of several hundreds of miles was on foot,--for the rule of the Franciscans was that all their members should travel afoot save in cases of extreme necessity,--through a barren, almost waterless desert, roamed over, by warlike Indians, the courage of the man is apparent. Yet he was not remarkable in this. The history of Mexico and of all the Spanish colonies, as well as those of New Mexico (which used to include Arizona), Texas, and California, abounds in the names of men of equal courage and daring. On reaching Petatlan, Brother Onorato fell sick, and Marcos had to leave him behind; thence alone, as far as white men were concerned, he traveled to Cibola. Six Indian interpreters and a large number of natives accompanied and followed him, and Stephen, the negro, went ahead as his guide.
Investigates Regarding Pearl Islands. He reached Vacapa (now known as Matapa), in Central Sonora, two days before Passion Sunday, which in 1539fell on March 23. From this point he sent to the seacoast for some Indians, in order that he might learn from them something about the pearl islands, of which rumors had come to Cabeza de Vara. He remained here until April 6.
Stephen, the Guide, Is Sent Ahead. In the meantime, Stephen had pushed on to the north, leaving on Passion Sunday, with orders from Fray Marcos not to go further than fifty or sixty leagues ahead. If he found any signs of a rich and populous country before he had gone that distance, he was not to proceed further, but was to return for Marcos, or remain, and send messengers for him, bearing a white cross the size of the palm of his hand.
If the news was very promising, the cross was to be twice the size, and if the country about which he heard promised to be larger and better than New Spain (as Mexico was then generally known), a cross still larger than this was to be sent back. Castaneda says that Stephen was sent on ahead because he and Marcos did not agree well, the negro not only showing covetousness and the determination to acquire the turquoises of the natives, but also an amorousness that demanded of them their youngest and prettiest women.
Messengers Bring Good News to Marcos. Four days after his departure, messengers sent by Stephen reached Fray Marcos with a very large cross as tall as a man. This, according to the signs established between them, meant wonderful news. One of the messengers told what it was. He it was, indeed, who had given the news to the negro, and he, in turn, had sent the native on to Fray Marcos. This is what Marcos records of the Indian's story:
