REVIEW PAGE

for

Photographs by Chistine Preston

Text by Douglas Preston and

José Antonio Esquibel

(University of New Mexico Press, 1998, 178 pages)

I. Review from New Mexico Magazine

II. Book note from Colonial Latin American Historical Review

III. Review from El Farolito

I.

Review by: Arnold Vigil in New Mexico Magazine, November 1998, Volume 76, Number 11, page 8 —

Although El Camino Real figures heavily in the development of the Southwestern United States, it never has been given its just due in most history books published in the United States or Mexico.

The Royal Road offers a fascinating look at this 1,800-mile trail that was the first European road in America and the longest for nearly a century, spanning from Mexico City to Santa Fe. Author Douglas Preston points out that many of its travelers often likened its arduous journey to traveling across the ocean—trudging for days upon end without seeming to go anywhere.

If, indeed, official accolades to the trail have been long overdue, this book pays homage to El Camino Real del Tierra Adentro, the Royal Road of the Interior, much of which is now "obliterated with asphalt, cement, rip rap, coke and steel buried under highways and railroad beds."

Preston writes a personal and somewhat historical account of the trail he describes as more of a "braid" of Indian foot paths, patched together at different points to accommodate the special environmental and physical need of each traveling caravan.

Preston, and his photographer wife, Chistine, explored El Camino Real in its entirety by car, on horseback and foot, a task that took them many years to accomplish in earnest.

He revisits many of the major landmarks described by Juan de Oñate (and many travelers thereafter), in his caravan's epic journey up the trail in 1598. A typical trip took a caravan 18 months to complete, with six months spent on the trail each way and six months rest in Santa Fe sandwiched in between.

Christine's plentiful color plates comprise most of the book and present an insightful visual account of the cities and both "frightening and beautiful" remote locations along the way. They are accompanied by informative vignettes and many passages written by both significant and anonymous historical figures.

Concluding The Royal Road is a highly interesting chronicle of the "five waves" of Hispanic families who journeyed up El Camino Real to settle New Mexico between 1598 and 1695. José Antonio Esquibel also charts the families who came to the Southwest through Mexico from 1697 until 1821, when the Mexican government began allowing other nationalities to venture into New Mexico.

Esquibel also relates historical poetry and accounts about specific historical individuals, including Jacques Grolet, one of the first three Frenchmen to come to New Mexico and whose name was later Hispanicized to Gurulé.

Although The Royal Road may lack the concise detail demanded by scholarly historians and some illustrative accompaniment to points described in Preston's text, the book offers an excellent introduction to El Camino Real, which, Preston emphasizes, brought to the West the first breeding horses, cattle, sheep, wheels, gunpowder, written language, iron and Christianity.

—Arnold Vigil is the special projects editor for New Mexico Magazine.

II.

Book Note in the Colonial Latin American Historical Review, Volune 7, Number 2, Spring 1998, page 235 —

The Royal Road: El Camino Real from Mexico City to Santa Fe. By Christine Preston, Douglas Preston and José Antonio Esquibel. (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1998, ix + 178 pages. Illustrations, appendix, bibliography. $26.95 paper.) The heart of this book is comprised of superb photographs of sites associated with El Camino Real (1540-1821) by Photographer Christine Preston. The text combines historical narration with recollections by Douglas Preston of his travels along portions of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro which ran from Mexico City to Santa Fe, New Mexico, during the Spanish colonial period. Given its splendid photographs of places, this volume is recommended primarily as a coffee-table book for those interested in the Royal Road.

III.

Book review in El Farolito, Winter 1998, Vol. 1, No. 4, by Charles D. Martínez y Vigil —

The Royal Road: El Camino Real from Mexico City to Santa Fe is a wonderful addition for your library. The timing of its publication couldn’t have come at a better time than this 400^th Anniversary year of the first colonizing expedition up the Camino Real. The photos by Christine are wonderfully alluring, soliciting your visit along this historic trail. They are a testament to her ability as a photographic artist, and the scenery that has remained virtually unchanged since the conquistadores traversed up this historic trail. The text by Douglas is complimentary to Christine’s photos, reminiscent about personal experiences and historic events by which landmarks along the trail were named. Quotations are included from other authors descriptive of the locations and events which occurred in them. By this, a historical perspective is given to the different locales, through the eyes of historical persons, along with a modern contemporary view. The combination is quite enticing, pulling you to turn the pages and continue your journey through reading. Through an excellent combination of these, the reader is transported along the Camino Real. The reader experiences travel by horseback and wagon, as the historic trail unfolds in a wash of beautiful color. The viewer is lured inside the churches, and their gaze is pulled across the open fields and beautiful mountain ranges. Ancient dwellings are shown alongside modern cities. Your ears will "hear" the cool water rushing past, as your eyes catch the last rays of the golden sunlight, so enticing now as it was to travelers of generations past. Through the camera lens and the words of this wonderfully-paired husband and wife team, we see the beauty of the Camino Real, and come to a closer understanding why and how the colonists of the past 400 years established a legacy that succeeds to this day.

For genealogists there is a magnificent gem at the end of this book. Readers will be glad to read José Antonio Esquibel’s contribution, "The People of El Camino Real: A Genealogical Appendix." Here José includes several lists of the colonists known to have left descendants in New Mexico. We also discover their first known appearance in New Mexico, either in one of the 5 major waves of colonizing expeditions, or maybe they are not associated with a colonizing expedition and wandered up as individuals. We also get short backgrounds on the individual expeditions. Short vignettes are included about some of the ancestors that left their mark. Stories about Miguel de Quintana, the famed poet of Santa Cruz who was admired by some, detested by others; doña Eufemia, "The Great Martesía" of Oñate’s colony, and Tomé Domínguez de Mendoza, who left his name on a town in the Río Abajo, are included. This latest work is an excellent contribution from the trio of Christine, Douglas, and José, and a wonderful memorial to those who made this historic trail one that would be remembered for more than 400 years.