By Barbara Patton
By mid-August of 1857, Lieutenant Edward Beale’s surveying party left Albuquerque, heading into Indian country. Traveling ten to twenty miles a day, they arrived at Fort Defiance (just over the border in present-day Arizona) on August 25. From there they closely followed the Whipple expedition's route toward the San Francisco Peaks, and on September 9, Beale recorded, “a plain of vast extent. The viewing of the rich green grass, the distant mountains and our moving camp wagons, sheep, horses and camels made a beautiful picture.”
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