They may find incredulous minds, but to me they have become fixed as signal fires along the horizon of the past, indicating the mark of the first white.man's foot in all of Nebraska. The opening trail of civilization in the mighty west.

The first story dates back to about the time of Coronado's search for Quivera, the wonderful city of gold, which brought about the discovery of the great plains and the buffalo. It was following Coronado's futile attempt that the Padres were inspired to attempt to plant religion among the Indians of the great plains.

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

Spain had established a foothold in New Mexico, and the Padres were advancing into the plain and mountain tribes, to plant the seed of the church. The southwest had been particularly susceptible to their teachings, and vast missions of adobe were in the building stage of development.

Some years ago, I was in the San Juan valley, and there met Jay Turley who is as full of romance and constructive genius as the sand-hills of Nebraska are full of lakes. Together we traveled several days, through the valley which is rich in resource and tradition, and there we met, feasted with the ancient families, Jaques and Archileto. Over frijoles (beans) and stewed lamb, hot with peppers, we chatted w,ith "Le Vent," (the wind) who was a French-Spanish-American. At Farmington I met Stapleton and his charming Celtic bride, whose father had for years lived under the shadow of the pueblos at Taos (pronounced Tous). There were stories and stories, and legends and legends, and I determined to learn more of them. To familiarize myself, I went to the Indian country. At a trading post I met an old Navajo, who directed some remark to the ladies of our party which the trader interpreted as "pretty women." For us, he asked the weather beaten man if he could tell where we were from, and he made a comprehensive gesture to the north and said the one word "Cheyenne." As an indication of how he knew, he touched a fur worn by one of the party, which was of beaver trapped at the base of Laramie peak, which was once the land of the Cheyennes.