CORONADO’S TRAIL IN SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO - page 3 of 4
The first people in southern New Mexico had located these best trail routes, and they have been used for a very long time by the native inhabitants. Before U.S. 180 was designed and paved, there was already a wagon road in use there, and I believe the frequency of Indian pueblos along this route show that this has always been the prominent north – south road in the area. Indian artifacts that have been recovered along this trail also demonstrate that trade between different cultural groups was conveyed along this route. For instance documented finds of Mimbres pottery have been made in pueblos substantially to the north of the area where they lived, and likewise Anasazi pottery has been found in pueblos far to the south of the usual Anasazi areas of occupation.
As I pondered the remains found along my proposed trail route, my attention was drawn to ruins in the Mule Creek, New Mexico area. These ruins have been largely destroyed by excavation, and intact artifacts removed by collectors, however some pottery shards do remain on the ruined sites. The remains at Mule Creek tell a story. According to my interpretation of the Mule Creek story, this area was a center of prehistoric trade over a long period of time. I believe that the main trail branched at Mule Creek, and one trail led to the southwest connecting to the Gila River in the vicinity of Duncan, Arizona.
The Mule Creek ruins contain pieces of the entire developmental time sequence of Mimbres pottery. Tularosa pottery and White Mountain Redware also occurred on these sites. The entire sequence of Gila Redware also occurs there, including pieces of some of the finest Gila wares. To me it seems extremely unusual to find this combination of pottery shards in one place. Not only the time range demonstrated by these remains, but also the geographic diversity of their origins displayed in this assemblage led me to believe that trade contact was well demonstrated at Mule Creek, and also that trails must have crossed at this place.
I now believe that Coronado came up from the Gila River through a pass leading to Mule Creek, and that he continued his journey to the north through modern towns of Glenwood, Reserve and Quemado, all in New Mexico, following Indian trails that are currently shown on my map, and to some extent seen in the field. Sites on my draft map of the area include petroglyph sites which may be seen as trail markers, as well as larger ruins of ancient culture, some of which were obviously buildings and village sites (indicated on my map as small arrows). From Reserve to Zuni Salt Lake, the route is easily determined, and from Zuni Salt Lake to Hawikuh and Zuni, some of the footpaths are shown on the USGS Quad maps, and still in use today. The route from Zuni on, to the location now known as modern Albuquerque is already well understood by Coronado scholars.
