Tucumcari Mountain. — Cwnmins. 37T 
lays no claim to the name Tucumcari, but affirms that he applied 
the name to a butte that had been so designated by others by that 
name and was well known at the time of this visit. His claim for 
priority has no force unless he can show that he followed what had 
already been done by others. 
That he did not follow what others had done before him I think 
can be shown, and that he did not so follow his predecessors was 
my reason for making my map ditferent from his and suggesting 
the mistake. 
The first thing to consider then is, the amount of information 
in existence at the time of Prof. Marcou's visit, and the precision 
with which mount Tucumcari had been described. 
The fii'st mention I have been able to find of Tucumcari is in 
"Commerce of the Prairies," written by Josiah Gregg.* 
In that report it is said that he left Van Buren, Ark. , on the 
21st of April, 1839, with an expedition for Santa Fe, New Mex- 
ico. The party traveled up the north side of the Canadian river. 
When about sixty miles east of the narrows of the Canadian on 
the 20th of June, he left his wagons and with three Comancheros 
(Mexican Comanche traders) as guides started ahead for Santa Fe, 
while the wagons were to follow more leisurely. They followed a 
cart trail up the north side of the Canadian to the narrows where 
the point of a very high plateau projected so abruptl}' against the 
river as to render a passage with wagons very difficult if not im- 
possible. He says: "Upon expressing my fears that our wagons 
would not be able to pass the Angustura in safety my comrades 
informed me that there was an excellent route of which no previ- 
ous mention had been made, passing near the Cerro de Tucumcari, 
a round mound visible to the southward." 
Gregg sent one of the Mexicans back to the wagons with in- 
structions directing the party to take the route by Tucumcari 
which they did and reached the Pecos river at Anton Chico. 
In 1840 a party known as the Santa Fe expedition, left Austin, 
Texas, bound for Santa Fe, New Mexico. 
The expedition divided into two parties at the head of Big 
Wichita river. One party was to travel ahead as rapidly as possi- 
ble while the other was to follow at a more leisurely gait. The 
first party traveled northwestward and struck the Canadian at tlie 
Arroya de Truxillo and followed up the river to the road fronv 
*Com. Prairies, Vol. ii, p. .59. 
