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Jusepe Gutierrez (also known as Joseph and usually called only by his given name;Horgan, Paul, Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History, Rinehart & Company, Inc. New York, 1954, vol. 1, p.173 born c. 1572, fl. 1590s, death date unknown) was a Native Nahuas guide and explorer. He was the only known survivor of the Humana and Leyva expedition to the Great Plains in 1594 or 1595. In 1599 he guided Vicente de Zaldivar and in 1601 Governor Juan de Oñate on expeditions to the plains.
In 1593, Gutierrez was recruited by Umana to join him on an expedition (entrada) to what would become New Mexico. Umana collected additional soldiers and servants in Santa Barbara, Chihuahua, the northernmost settlement of New Spain, and the expedition journeyed north to New Mexico. At the time, there were no Spanish settlers in New Mexico. Gutierrez and Umana remained about one year among the Pueblo people, mostly in San Ildefonso near the Rio Grande.
Humana and Lebya left New Mexico, probably in 1595, to explore eastwards, presumably in search of large cities and rich kingdoms rumored to be just over the horizon. Their route from San Ildefonso led them by the pueblo at Pecos, New Mexico, and out onto the Great Plains of what is today Texas, where they met the Apache. They found numerous rancherías, some of them abandoned, and herds of bison. Gutierrez said they found abundant water in many marshes, springs, and arroyos, as well as great numbers of plum trees and nuts.
Gutierrez said they traveled toward the north and the farther they went, the more abundant were the bison. After some 45 days they came to two large rivers, and beyond was a very large indigenous settlement that extended for 10 leagues (about 26 miles or 42 kilometers) and was two leagues wide. One of the two rivers flowed through the settlement.
Gutierrez gave a brief description of the "Great Settlement." which may have been Etzanoa near the much later Arkansas City, Kansas. The houses were built on a frame of stakes, with straw roofs. They were built close together, separated by narrow pathways, and in some places between the houses were fields of maize, pumpkins, and beans. The people of the settlement received the Spaniards in peace, and provided them with food. They depended upon bison hunting as well as agriculture.
Three days travel north of this settlement, they came upon a "multitude of buffalo", but no more indigenous settlements. Discord between the leaders broke out. After spending an afternoon and morning apparently writing up his account of the dispute, Humana called Leyba to his tent and stabbed him to death with a butcher knife. Humana told his soldiers that Leyba had threatened him. The expedition then continued, reaching a very large river ten days beyond the Great Settlement. The river was one-fourth of a league wide, about two-thirds of a mile or just more than a kilometer, deep and sluggish. "They did not dare to cross it."
It was here that five of the Mexicans, including Gutierrez, deserted the expedition. Three became lost on the plains, and local indigenous people killed another. Gutierrez was taken captive by Apaches and lived with them for a year, until he escaped or was set free and made his way back to New Mexico. By this time, Oñate and a large group of settlers had arrived in New Mexico, and Gutierrez took up residence at the San Juan Bautista Pueblo. On February 16, 1599, Oñate interviewed him concerning the Humana and Leyba expedition, and his story was recorded.
According to later accounts, Humana and the other members of the expedition were killed by indigenous people 18 days beyond the Great Settlement.Bolton, Herbert Eugene, Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916, 261
Gutierrez most likely led Zaldivar on the same route that he had taken with Humana and Leyba. They crossed the Pecos River, caught catfish in the Gallinas River, and six leagues (15 miles or 24 kilometers) hence, came across Apaches and a rancheria. Zaldivar and Gutierrez established friendly relations with the Apaches. Continuing, they saw their first bison probably near present-day Conchas.
Perhaps near Logan, the Spaniards and their Mexican associates built a corral and attempted to drive bison into it from a plain where they apparently saw "100,000" of them. What ensued was a comedy of errors, as the bison proved impossible to capture. However, Zaldivar procured a quantity of dried meat, and after exploring more of eastern New Mexico, near the present day border with Texas, he returned to the Spanish settlements, arriving November 8, 1599.
En route, he came across a large encampment of friendly indigenous people he called Escanjaques. They were enemies of the people in the Great Settlement, whom Oñate called "Rayados", because they or painted their faces. Rayado means "striped" in Spanish.
Unlike the response to Humana and Leyba, the people of the Great Settlement fled on Oñate's arrival and, fearing an attack on his 70 Spanish and an unknown number of Mexican soldiers, Oñate turned back toward New Mexico. The Escanjaques also turned hostile, attacking Oñate, fighting a prolonged battle with him. The cause of the battle is uncertain, but may have been Oñate having Kidnapping several boys to be taken back to New Mexico to be instructed in the Christian faith and to serve as interpreters.Bolton, 264
The account of Oñate's expedition permits us to speculate about the location of the Great Settlement, possibly called Etzanoa, by its inhabitants. It was probably either at the site of present-day Wichita, Kansas, or along the Walnut River in Arkansas City, Kansas. Archaeological discoveries favor the Walnut River.Vehik, Susan C. "Onate's Expedition to the Southern Plains: Routes, Destinations, and Implications for Late Prehistoric Cultural Adaptations", Plains Anthropologist, Vol. 31, No, 111, 1986, 13-33
What does not fit very well with this possible route is Gutierrez's comment that three days beyond the Great Settlement they came upon "such a multitude of buffalo that the plain - which was level, for there are no mountains -- was so covered with them that they were startled and amazed at the sight." If the Great Settlement were at Wichita or Arkansas City, three days travel toward the Missouri River would place the expedition in the rocky and rolling Flint Hills, not a plain. Moreover, in historic times, buffalo were most abundant in the shorter grass prairies west of Longitude 97 rather than the tall grass prairies to the east. Thus, the contradictions in Gutierrez's account continue to incite speculation among historians.
Possibly, the "large river" was the Kansas River which, during high water, would have been deep and wide. The Platte River in Nebraska has also been suggested, but that would require a major recalculation of the route of Humana, Leyba, and Oñate as well as the location of the Great Settlement.Bolton, 201
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