THE NEVADA TRAVERSE - Nevada Association of Land Surveyors

Terra Incognita.. continued from previous page
distances and with compass directions calculated rough
latitudes and departures in order to plot locations. The unit
of measure indicated on Kino’s maps is the Castilian League.
However, despite Spain’s best efforts to standardize weights
and measures in the Americas, there was confusion regarding
linear measure. Numerous variations of the league were in use
around the world and in New Spain, including the legua lega or
short league of 5,000 varas used by law for land surveying, and
the common or long league of 6666.67 varas, sometimes used to
define travel distances and often cited as the amount of ground
covered on foot in one hour. 35 The basic unit of linear measure,
the vara, was interpreted in numerous ways in various areas
of New Spain, adding to the confusion. So much uncertainty
persisted that in 1854, after the Mexican War, the Commissioner
of the U.S. G.L.O. issued instructions on the length of the vara in
former Mexican lands. A portion reads:
“This office...has sanctioned the recognition, in California, of the
Mexican vara, as being equivalent to 33 American inches. The
Mexican vara is the unit of all the measures of length...which
are taken from the Castilian vara of the mark of Burgos 36 , and is
the legal vara used in the Mexican Republic. 50 Mexican varas
make...a cordel, which instrument is used in measuring lands.
The legal league contains 100 cordels, of 5000 varas...Anciently,
the Mexican league was divided into 3 miles, the mile into 1000
paces of Solomon and one of these paces into 5/3 of a Mexican
vara...”
But in 1864, the U.S. Surveyor General for California issued
Instructions for Deputies with the following explanation:
“In all cases, you will consider the Judicial League equal to 5000
Spanish linear varas or...210.6818 chs. and consequently the
vara equal to 33.372 English inches...” 37
In 1874, W. & L. E. Gurley began offering 100-link, steel wire
vara chains in their catalogs, noting that the Spanish or Mexican
vara “is in very general use in Texas, Mexico, Cuba, and South
America.” 38 They could have added California.
At all events, Kino’s longitudes are in question. They are indicated
on his maps, but his origin is uncertain. The Spanish variously
used the cities of Toledo and Madrid, as well as two islands in
the Canaries, as a prime meridian. 39 Spanish cosmographers
were obliged to use lunar eclipses to determine longitude, 40 but
there is no indication of that in Kino’s writings, though there
were numerous opportunities to do so. The Spanish typically
ran longitude eastward from their prime meridians, unlike
modern convention in the western hemisphere. Kino’s 1701 map
indicates the confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers at 250°
00’. Reckoned from Toledo, it falls roughly at 249° 28’. But from
the Canary Islands it is closer to 262°. What can be said is that
his depiction of the barren ground in the Pimería Alta is at least
proportional to reality.
Reconciling distances is also difficult. Assuming Kino’s maps
have been reproduced proportionally, scaling the distance
from the great bend of the Gila River to its confluence with the
Colorado in Figure 4, using the statute league puts his distance
about 6% short in roughly 108 miles. Other features do not scale
as well, and he apparently made no effort to correct for the
convergence of the meridians. Ives states that Kino’s distances
area-wide are off on the order of 5%. Referring to Kino’s own
writings, he drafted 31 maps during his career in New Spain. 41
Including his most important work showing the Colorado River
entering the Gulf of California, only 8 of his maps have been
found. Researchers continue to look for more. He was a prolific
writer and diarist; the possibility exists that someday more of
his manuscripts may be brought to light, as well.
The Second de Anza Expedition
In addition to the life’s work of Eusebio Kino, two other
expeditions into the northern frontiers of New Spain bear
mention, each taking place about the same time and recording
historical geographic data. As part of Spain’s belated expansion
into Alta California, a mission and presidio were established at
San Diego in 1769. Others soon followed, as fears of a Russian
claim on Alta California finally moved Spanish colonial officials
to action. In the vanguard with the military were Franciscan
priests42 from Mexico, who eventually established 21 missions in
Spanish Alta California, from San Diego to Sonoma. 43
The city of San Francisco was established in 1776 by a large
party of settlers who came from Mexico for that purpose. They
were under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Juan Batista de
Anza, a Spanish cavalry officer, who had led an earlier expedition
to California in 1774. De Anza’s route west from Tucson was
based on an earlier expedition to California by Father Francisco
Tomás Garcés, O.F.M., a Spanish born Franciscan based at
San Xavier del Buc. He explored south to the Gulf, north as far
as the Grand Canyon and reopened Kino’s trails to the Gila.
Garcés escorted de Anza for a portion of his 1774 and 1775-76
expeditions. Accompanied by Mojave guides, Garcés crossed the
desert into California in 1775, and on toward the coast. He went
without instruments, but added another diary to the growing
Spanish data base.
De Anza’s party left Culiacán, Mexico in September of 1775
with over 200 people. Traveling north they picked up Kino’s
trail to Tucson. They turned west, past the head of the Gulf of
California and on to San Diego. They continued up the coastline
or near it to Monterey, the capitol of the Californias, and then
on to the Bay of San Francisco. The chaplain for the expedition
was a Catalán from Gerona, Spain, named Pedro Font, O.F.M.
Regardless of whatever ecclesiastical talents Font may have
been, he was responsible for mapping the route to San Francisco
and the environs of the Bay once they got there. The de Anza
party arrived at the Bay of San Francisco in March of 1776.
They missed Lt. Juan Manuel de Ayala y Aranza, a Spanish
naval officer, who sailed there hoping to meet de Anza’s overland
party. De Ayala was the first European to sail into the Bay,
arriving there in August of 1775.
For the purpose of this discussion, it is interesting to note the
increase in precision and improved field procedures between the
end of Kino’s work in the early 1700’s and that of Font’s efforts
70 years later. In the introduction to his official diary of the
expedition, Father Font describes his astronomical tables. They
were the work of the Spanish geodesist Jorge Juan Jorge Juan y
Santacilia. 44 Font pointed out that the tables were for the years
1756-1759 and the meridian of Juan’s observatory in Cadiz,
Spain. But he indicated he adjusted for these circumstances.
While his method for attaining latitude was the same as Kino’s,
he had use of a very high quality astronomical quadrant,
graduated to seconds, fitted with a means to stand and level it,
and equipped with a telescope with cross hairs and solar filters
for direct observation of the sun.
Using the Meridian Altitude Method for latitude, Font observed
the lower limb of the sun. In fact, he made nearly 30 such
observations on the journey, often repeating them until he was
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The Nevada Traverse Vol. 39, No. 2, 2012 27