SANTA FÉ
THE CITY OF THE HOLY FAITH

By FREDERICK WEBB HODGE

THERE is probably no settlement within our domain over the history of which so much mystery has hovered as the capital of New Mexico. Some historical writers early claimed for the ancient city a reputation for antiquity exceeding that of St. Augustine, Florida; others were content to give it second place in point of age, and this position it really holds, notwithstanding the strong but groundless belief, still somewhat prevalent, that Santa Fé had a teeming aboriginal population when the Spaniards under Coronado first made their appearance in New Mexico in 1540.

The actual founder of Santa Fé, so far as we can determine, was Juan de Oñate, a wealthy resident of Zacatecas, who married Doña Isabel, granddaughter of Hernan Cortés, and great-granddaughter of Montezuma, the Aztec chief. In the autumn of 1595 Oñate was granted authority and viceregal support to raise an army and to explore and colonize New Mexico, but the intrigues of his rivals caused many delays and it was not until February, 1598, that, with a force of some four hundred colonists, accompanied by eighty-three wagons and seven thousand cattle, he was ready to proceed from the Rio Conchas in Chihuahua, bound for the Rio Grande del Norte and New Mexico.

It is not essential to follow the little army in its northward journeying up the river, across the terrible Jornada del Muerto,—where, as scores of times later, the bones of some were left to whiten the trail. The new country was formally taken possession of, for the fifth time at least, in the name of the King of Spain, and on July 11, 1598, Oñate with his vanguard reached the still inhabited Indian pueblo of San Juan, some thirty miles northwest of the present Santa Fé.

[ THE SO-CALLED "OLDEST HOUSE" IN SANTA FÉ.]

A month later work was begun with Indian aid on the construction of ditches to supply water for a new settlement, the site for which had been selected at the confluence of the Rio Chama with the Rio Grande, on the west bank of the latter stream, where the hamlet of Chamita now stands. On August 23d the erection of a chapel for this new town of San Francisco de los Españoles was begun; it was finished September 7th, and on the following day was consecrated.

This town, which was built on the site of the abandoned Tewa pueblo of Yukewingge (or Yuqueyunque as Coronado's chroniclers called it in 1541), was thus the first European settlement in New Mexico, and the second within the limits of the United States. In 1599 the village became known as San Gabriel, a name which it retained for several years.

The exact date of the founding of Santa Fé is not known, ignorance of the fact probably being due to the destruction by the Indians of the local Spanish archives in 1680. In October, 1604, Oñate started on a journey to the head of the Gulf of California, returning to San Gabriel on April 25, 1605. The return route took the explorer past El Morro, or "Inscription Rock," thirty-five miles east of Zuñi, where he carved his name on April 16th. It seems likely that the building of Santa Fé was begun shortly afterward, although there is also good authority that San Gabriel remained the only settlement of Europeans until 1608, in which year, it is said, the Crown fixed the governmental regulations of the province and assigned a salary of two thousand ducats a year to the Governor, who immediately departed for Santa Fé. About this time Oñate was relieved by Governor Pedro de Peralta.