Note 51 — COMMENCEMENT OF THE EXPEDITION

"The Gila was known to the whites before the Mississippi was discovered; it was long better known than the Rio Grande and down to the present century was far better known than the Rio Colorado."—(Coues, Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, ii, p. 374.) The first name, Rio del Nombre de Jesus, was given to it by Oñate in 1604; the present name dates from 1697. The stream heads in the mountains of western New Mexico, and traversing Arizona empties into the Colorado at Fort Yuma (32° 43′ north latitude). See post, notes 54, 63.—Ed.