THE ROUTES OF CORONADO AND DE SOTO
Following these pathways, the soldier-explorers discovered the Grand Cañon of the Colorado and the great Mississippi River
DE SOTO DISCOVERS THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI
They reached a great river
The army then marched westward for many days, wading swamps and wandering through forests so dense that at times they could not see the sun. At last, a river was reached greater than any the Spaniards had ever seen. It was the Mississippi, more than a mile wide, rushing on at full flood toward the Gulf.
On barges made by their own hands, De Soto and his men crossed to the west bank of the broad stream. There they marched northward, probably as far as the region now known as Missouri, and then westward two hundred miles. Nothing but hardships met them on every hand. In the spring of 1542, the little army came upon the Mississippi again.
Burial of De Soto