Desert Messenger

16 www.DesertMessenger.com April 2, 2014 SEE BEADS PAGE 17 Quartzsite Transit Services Available to our elderly, elderly disabled and disabled populations Our hours of operation are 8:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Pickups will begin at 8:20am; scheduling may be done two weeks in advance. An adult must accompany riders under 10 years of age. There is limited occupancy of 8 passengers depending on the size of the van available. To schedule a pickup call Quartzsite Town Hall at 928-927-4333. VAN SCHEDULE & SUGGESTED DONATIONS FOR SERVICE (round trip) Monday Local QUARTZSITE $ 3 Tuesday (1st & 3rd ) BLYTHE $10 Tuesday (2nd & 4th ) PARKER $10 Wednesday (1st, 3rd, 5th ) YUMA/ALGODONES $15 Wednesday (2nd & 4th) LAKE HAVASU CITY $15 Wednesday Local QUARTZSITE $ 3 Thursdays PARKER $10 Fridays Local QUARTZSITE $ 3 Space donated by Desert Messenger - www.DesertMessenger.com - www.MyQuartzsite.com Glass Trade Beads in southwest AZ Part 1 Excerpts from "In the Shadow of Saguaros" by Rosalee Oldham Wheeler "In the Shadow of Saguaros" Vol. I & II are now available exclusively at the Tyson's Well Museum and Reader's Oasis Book Store Voices from The Past in Quartzsite, AZ In the Southwest, particularly Arizona, an abundance of very old glass trade beads have been found. The bounty here may have occurred because present-day Arizona was at the heart of the Northern Provinces of New Spain. Beginning in 1540 the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, appointed Francisco Vásquez Coronado to lead 287 conquis- tadors, four priests, and nearly a thousand "Indian allies" on a large scale exploration into the Northern Provinces in order to learn more about the New World that Spain had acquired as a re- sult of the Treaty of Tordesillas with Portugal in 1494. Among the many items of necessity brought with them to the Northern Prov- inces, the Spaniards brought glass beads to trade with the Indians for a variety of needs including food, their experience as guides, labor in erecting various structures, and sometimes to barter for their very lives. Also in 1540, Mendoza dispatched Melchor Díaz as a support unit to the Coronado Expedition. Díaz trekked along the well-traveled trail of El Camino del Diablo, Spanish for the devil's highway. Mendoza's army of conquistadors was well- armed for their day as they marched over the Southwest carrying heavy armor, crossbows, and their awk- ward arquebuses (a muzzle-loaded gun.) They were also well-sup- plied with the highly sought after glass trade beads as well as other items of trade that could be used to build goodwill with the Indians. These fi rst Western explores left countless trade beads all across the Southwest. They blazed trails into lands that, for the next 500 hun- dred years were to later be retraced by explorers, colonizers, missionar- ies, trappers, traders, and even to- day continue to be used by hiking enthusiasts. Coronado and Díaz never found the object of their obsession, the fabu- lous gold of the Seven Cities of Cibola, only well-organized Indian pueblos. The conquis- tadors returned to New Spain disillusioned and disappointed. They did, however, leave a mark in history by leaving behind intriguing glass trade beads which they used in exchange for valuable in- formation, food, supplies, and their personal safety. These simple glass beads played a very important role in early Spanish exploration and the colonization of the Southwest. In the preserved journals and let- ters of the earliest explorers to the Northern Provinces of New Spain, there are frequent references to glass trade beads. On November 10, 1582 Antonio de Espejo, the C & B LOCK & KEY 39 YEARS EXPERIENCE 928-927-6589 Mobile Service Only Now Available TRANSPONDER AUTO KEYS (Electronic Chip Keys) Jeep, Chrysler, Ford Chevrolet, Toyota & many more! Betty Crenshaw, Owner We have great lunch menus, serving at 12 noon sharp! Suggested donation is only $3.50. There's cards, books, games, puzzles, pool table, Wi-Fi available. Community Services, Volunteers Needed! Come join the fun at Quartzsite SENIOR Center 40 Moon Mountain Ave. For more information call 928-927-6496 Senior Center open all year! Monday - Friday, 9am – 3pm governor of Nuevo, Mexico, depart- ed Santa Fe in search of minerals he was certain he would fi nd in the southwestern region of the North- ern Provinces. Included on the journey's inventory was a supply of "trade beads." At the Acoma Pueb- lo, Espejo wrote that he "traded with over six thousand Moqui's." Then in 1598, Captain Màrcos Farfàn depart- ed the Moqui (Hopi) villages of Tusayan (near the Grand Can- yon) and headed south in order to re- visit the mineral de- posits that Espejo's Indian guides had revealed to him near the Verde River. Espejo's writings reminded Farfàn "how impor- tant the colorful glass trade beads would be in fulfi lling his mission." Six years later, in 1604, Don Juan de Oñate traveled from New Mexi- co to Tusayan and then took a route much further south than those of Espejo or Farfàn. His expedition would take him across the Little Colorado and Verde Rivers, along the Bill Williams to where it emp- tied into the Colorado River. Oñate continued down the Colorado to its terminus at the Gulf of California. All along this route, Oñate received assistance from the Navajo, Hopi, Yavapai, Mohave, Chemehuevi, and

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