Juan de Oñate
(1550-1626) Explorer, Spain

Don Juan de Oñate was the first successful colonizer of the American Southwest. He was the son of a wealthy conquistador from Zacatecas, Mexico and was married to Isabel de Tolosa Cortés Moctezuma, the granddaughter of Hernán Cortéz and the great granddaughter of Moctezuma. In January of 1598, Oñate's colonists departed from the frontier settlement of Santa Bárbara in southern Chihuahua. The expedition numbered some 600 persons and included soldiers, priests, families, Indians, and Africans. This procession, with 83 wagons and over 7,000 animals, trailed over a distance of four miles. Three months later, Oñate's tired party was met by friendly Manso Indians of the El Paso region, who guided them across the desert to the river crossing.

Here, in the vicinity of San Elizario, on April 30, they performed the elaborate ceremony - La Toma (taking possession of the land for the King of Spain) and commemorated their arrival with a celebration that included a mass and a great feast ( the first Thanksgiving in the nation). That evening, Captain Marcos de Fárfan presented the first play held in the El Paso region, which celebrated the conquest of New Mexico. On May 4, the expedition forded the river upstream near Mount Cristo Rey and slowly moved northward. Oñate was responsible for giving El Paso its name - El Paso del Río del Norte, The Ford of the River of the North, Among the colonists was Captain Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá, who wrote the epic poem, La Historía of Nuevo México, which celebrated Oñate's achievements.

The monument, "Don Juan de Oñate, Pathfinder of the Southwest 1598", (over three stories high) will be the largest equestrian bronze in the nation. It will depict the colonizer mounted on his rearing Andalusian stallion before the ford of Río Grande in the El Paso area. The colossal bronze will commemorate the introduction of Hispanic settlement and the horse to the nation. It also will recognize the First Thanksgiving, as well as the establishment of the Camino Real, or Royal Road, which became the main artery of communication and commerce between the province of New Mexico and Mexico City.

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