Expedition 1776: The Journey of Dominguez and Escalante overlaid over a large and colorful colorado canyon.

Current Exhibition

Expedition 1776: The Journey of Domínguez & Escalante

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In 1776, as British colonists launched a revolution along the eastern seaboard of North America, events in the Rocky Mountain West inaugurated another pivotal chapter in American history. That year, two Franciscan priests named Domínguez and Escalante set out from Santa Fe into territory unknown, lands claimed by Spain but controlled by the Tribes who called it home. With Indigenous guides and the help of Native tribes, the Padres and their party of twelve navigated harsh terrain, mapped vital trade routes, and documented Native cultures that had thrived in the region for centuries before Europeans arrived. 

Their journey was one of the earliest European expeditions through present-day Colorado and the Mountain West, and its impacts would ripple through the region for centuries to come. The artistic maps created on the expedition by Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco guided future settlers colonizing the territory. The rugged terrain they traversed—marked by jagged mountains, deep canyons, wild rivers, and arid deserts—became part of the Old Spanish Trail, a key trade route connecting the Rockies to the Pacific. And the journal Escalante kept during the journey shaped generations of thought about what became the American West.

Carefully selected artifacts, accounts from Escalante’s journal, and stunning landscape photographs will invite visitors to retrace the journey. A specially assembled collection of rare archival maps will trace Spain’s growing knowledge of the West before the journey and how the Domínguez and Escalante expedition’s cartographic contributions continued to shape maps of the region well into the American settlement period. 

Tickets

Location

Interior of a red room lined with old maps. An antique globe is at the center.
Artwork of a monk scene through the foreground of a horseshoe in the 1776 exhibition.
Ornate illuminated manuscript-style journal page filled with Spanish words with a filigree adorned "D" and underneath "California."
A museum guest reads a panel in the red exhibition space. In front of her is an old musket in a display case.
Illustrated map of New Mexico with a golden chariot illustration and golden loops decorating the content.
Large leather saddle in a display case.
A detailed map of the southern United States and Central America in black and white ornate text and illustration.
Ancestral Puebloan pots and jobs on display at 1776.
A museum guest looks closely at a large map on the wall of 1776.
Stylized dark brown map with illustrations of Indigenous people, Spanish settlers, mountains, and various wildlife in New Mexico.

 

 

In recognition of America's 250 - Colorado's 150 Anniversary

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