Apple Think Different - The Monday Morning Memo

“Coronado decided that he, with 30 of his ablest horsemen, 6 sturdy foot soldiers and the Franciscans, would make a last-ditch sortie to the north, relying on the gold they would surely find there to salvage the reputation of his expedition. The bulk of the army would return to familiar territory and there await the triumphant return of the adventurers…

On a blistering July day in 1541, Coronado and his small band lined up at the southern bank of a miserable arroyo and stared across at Quivira (in what is now Kansas). They saw an indiscriminate collection of low mud huts surrounded by arid fields with few trees and no rich meadowlands. Smoke curled lazily from a few chopped openings in roofs, but there were no chimneys, no doors and no visible furniture. Such men and women as did appear were a scrawny lot, dressed not in expensive furs but in untanned skins. Of pearls and gold and turquoises and silver, there was not a sign. The Spaniards had wandered nearly 3,000 miles squandering two fortunes, Mendoza’s and Coronado’s, and had found nothing…

Coronado, head bowed and gilded armor discarded because of the sweltering heat, started his shameful retreat, unaware that history would record him as one of the greatest explorers. Under his guidance, Spanish troops had reached far lands: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas. His men had described a hundred Indian settlements, worked with and fought a score of different tribes, and identified the difficulties to be faced by later settlers. But because he did not find treasure, he was judged a failure.”

- James Michener, Texas, p. 46-48 (Coronado had hoped to reach the Cities of Cíbola, often referred to now as the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. )

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