Prior to traveling out to Yuma to join the Arizona Medieval Society, I reviewed the various Coronado documents with particular attention to the sub-expeditions of Captains  Melchior Diaz and Hernando de Alarcon.  The material below are the relevant passages extracted from those historical materials.  As it happened I don't recall getting even a single question from the general public regarding any of this material.  Still I found it a worthwhile exercise compiling this material.
 
 

 
...twenty-five leagues, more or less, and at last came to a settlement of peaceable Indians.  There the Alcalde left us and went ahead, three leagues further, to a place called Culiacan, where Melchior Diaz was chief Alcalde and the captain of the province.⁶¹

     As soon as the chief Alcalde became informed of our arrival, on the same night he came to where we were. He was deeply moved, and praised God for having delivered us in His great pity. He spoke to us and treated us very well, tendering us, in his name, and in behalf of the Governor, Nuño de Guzman, all he had and whatever he might be able to do. He appeared much grieved at the bad reception and evil treatment we had met at the hands of Alcaraz and the others, and we verily believe that, had he been there at the time, the things done to us and the Indians would not have occurred.

      Passing the night there, we were about to leave in the morning of the next day, but the chief Alcalde entreated us to stay. He said that by remaining we would render a great service to God and Your Majesty, as the country was depopulated, lying waste, and well nigh destroyed. That the Indians were hiding in the woods, refusing to come out and settle again in their villages. He suggested that we should have them sent for, and urge them, in the name of God and of Your Majesty, to return to the plain and cultivate the soil again.

     This struck us as difficult of execution.  We had none of our Indians with us, nor any of those who usually accompanied us and understood such matters. At last we ventured to select two Indians from among those held there as captives, and who were from that part of the country. These had been with the Christians whom we first met, and had seen the people that came in our company, and knew, through the latter, of the great power and authority we exercised all through the land, the miracles we had worked, the cures we had performed, and many other particulars. With these Indians we sent others from the village, to jointly call those who had taken refuge in the mountains, as well as those from the river of Petlatlan, where we had met the Christians first, and tell them to come, as we wished to talk to them. In order to insure their coming, we gave the messengers one of the large gourds we had carried in our hands (which were our chief insignia and tokens of great power.)

     Thus provided and instructed, they left and were absent seven days. Then they came back, and with them three chiefs of those who had been in the mountains, and with these were fifteen men. The presented us with beads, turquoises, and feathers, and the messengers said the people from the river whence we had started could not be found, as the Christians had again driven them into the wilderness.

     Melchior Diaz told the interpreter to speak to the Indians in our name and say that he came in the name of God, Who is in heaven, and that we had travelled the world over for many years, telling all the people we met to believe in God and serve Him, for He was the Lord of everything upon earth, Who rewarded the good, whereas to the bad ones He meted out eternal punishment of fire. That when the good ones died He took them up to heaven, where all lived forever and there was neither hunger nor thirst, nor any other wants---only the greatest imaginable glory. But that those who would not believe in Him nor obey His commandments he thrust into a huge fire beneath the earth and into the company of demons, where the fire never went out, but tormented them forever. Moreover, he said that if they became Christians and served God in the manner we directed, the Christians would look upon them as brethren and treat them very well, while we would command that no harm should be done to them; neither should theybe taken out of their country, and the Christians would become their great friends. If they refused to do so, then the Christians would ill treat them and carry them away into slavery.

     To this they replied through the interpreter that they would be very good Christians and serve God.

  Upon being asked whom they worshipped and to whom they offered sacrifices, to whom they prayed for health and water for the fields, they said, to a man in Heaven. We asked what was his name, and they said Aguar, and that they believed he had created the world and everything in it.

  We again asked how they came to know this, and they said their fathers and grandfathers had told them, and they had known it for a very long time; that water and all good things came from him. We explained that this being of whom they spoke was the same we called God, and that thereafter they should give Him that name and worship and serve Him as we commanded, when they would fare very well.

  They replied that they understood us thoroughly and would do as we had told.

  So we bade them come out of the mountains and be at ease, peaceable, and settle the land again, rebuilding their houses.
Among these houses they should rear one to God, placing at its entrance a cross like the one we had, and when Christians came, they should go out to receive them with crosses in their hands, in place of bows and other weapons, and take the Christians to their homes, giving them to eat of what they had. If they did so, the Christians would do them no harm, but be their friends.

     They promised to do as we ordered, and the captain gave them blankets, treating them handsomely, and they went away, taking along the two captives that had acted as our messengers. This took place in presence of a scribe (notary) and of a great many witnesses.

     As soon as the Indians had left for their homes and the people of that province got news of what had taken place with us, they, being friends of the Christians, came to see us, bringing beads and feathers. We ordered them to build churches and put crosses in them, which until then they had not done. We also sent for the children of the chiefs to be baptized, and then the captain pledged himself before God not to make any raid, or allow any to be made, or slaves captured from the people and in the country we had set at peace again. This vow he promised to keep and fulfill so long until His Majesty and the Governor, Nuño de Guzman, or the Viceroy, in his name, would ordain something else better adapted to the service of God and of His Majesty.

   After baptizing the children we left for the village of San Miguel, where, on our arrival, Indians came and told how many
people were coming down from the mountains, settling on the plain, building churches and erecting crosses; in short, complying with what we had sent them word to do. Day after day we were getting news of how all was being done and completed.

Part I, Chapter 5

...and Melchior Diaz -- a captain who had been mayor of Culiacan, who, although he was not a gentleman, merited the position he held.

Part I, Chapter 6
 

After the whole force had left Mexico, he ordered Don Pedro de Alarcon to set sail with two ships that were in the port of La Natividad on the South Sea coast, and go to the port of Xalisco to take the baggage which the soldiers were unable to carry, and thence to sail along the coast near the army, because he had understood harbors by means of the rivers, and that the ships could always get news of the army, which turned out afterward to be false, and so all this stuff was lost, or, rather, those who owned it lost it, as will be told farther on. After the viceroy had completed all his arrangements, he set off for Compostela, accompanied by many noble and rich men. He kept the New Year of [fifteen hundred and] forty-one at Pasquaro, which is the chief place in the bishopric of Michoacan, and from there he crossed the whole of New Spain, taking much pleasure in enjoying the festivals and great receptions which were given him, till he reached Compostela, which is, as I have said, 110 leagues. There he found the whole company assembled, being well treated & entertained by Christobal de Onate, who had the whole charge of that government for the time being. He had had the management of it and was in command of all that region when Francisco Vazquez was made governor.

 

When he knew their plan, the captain had the Indian who had confessed the affair killed secretly, and that night he was thrown into the river with a weight, so that the Indians would not suspect that they found out. The next day they noticed that our men suspected them, and so they made an attack, shooting showers of arrows, but when the horses began to catch up with them and the lances wounded them without mercy and the musketeers likewise made good shots, they had to leave the plain and take to the mountain, until not a man of them was to be seen. The force then came back and crossed all right, the Indian allies and the Spaniards going across on the rafts and the horses swimming alongside the rafts, where we will leave them to continue their journey.

Part I, Chapter 7
 

It seems that when the general, Francisco Vazquez, left Culiacan with Friar Marcos to tell the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, the news, as already related, he left orders for Captain Melchior Diaz and Juan de Saldivar to start off with a dozen good men from Culiacan and verify what Friar Marcos had seen and heard. They started and went as far as Chichilticalli, which is where the wilderness begins, 220 leagues from Culiacan, & there they turned back, not finding anything important. They reached Chiametla just as the army was ready to leave, and reported to the general. Although they were kept secret, the bad news leaked out, and there were some reports which, although they were exaggerated, did not fail to give an indication of what the facts were.

Part I, Chapter 9
 

About the middle of the month of October Captains Melchior Diaz and Juan Gallego came from Cibola, Juan Gallego on his way to New Spain and Melchior Diaz to stay in the new town of Hearts, in command of the men who remained there. He was to go along the coast in search of ships.

AFTER Melchior Diaz and Juan Gallego had arrived in the town of Senora, it was announced that the
army was to depart for Cibola; that Melchior Diaz was to remain in charge of that town with 80 men;
that Juan Gallego was going to New Spain with messages for the viceroy, and that Friar Marcos was
going back with him, because he did not think it was safe for him to stay in Cibola, seeing that his
report had turned out to be entirely false, because the kingdoms that he had told about had not been
found, nor the populous cities, nor the wealth of gold, nor the precious stones which he had reported,
nor the fine clothes, nor other things that had been proclaimed from the pulpits. When this had been
announced, those who were to remain were selected and the rest loaded their provisions and set off in
good order about the middle of September on the way to Cibola, following their general.

Don Tristan de Arellano stayed in this new town with the weakest men, and from this time on there
was nothing but mutinies and strife, because after the army had gone Captain Melchior Diaz took 25 of
the most efficient men, leaving in his place one Diego de Alcaraz, a man unfitted to have people under
his command. He took guides and went toward the north & west in search of the seacoast. After going
about 150 leagues, they came to a province of exceedingly tall and strong men -- like giants. They are
naked and live in large straw cabins built under ground like smoke houses, with only the straw roof
over ground. They enter these at one end and come out at the other. More than a hundred persons, old
and young, sleep in one cabin. When they carry anything, they can take a load of more than three or
four hundred-weight on their heads. Once when our men wished to fetch a log for the fire, and six men
were unable to carry it, one of these Indians is reported to have come and raised it in his arms, put it on
his head alone, and carried it very easily. They eat bread cooked in the ashes, as big as the large
two-pound loaves of Castile. On account of the great cold, they carry a firebrand (tison) in the hand
when they go from one place to another, with which they warm the other hand and the body as well, &
in this way they keep shifting it every now and then. On this account the large river which is in the
country was called Rio del Tison [Firebrand River]. It is a very great river and is more than two leagues
wide at its mouth; here it is half a league across. Here the captain heard that there had been ships at a
point three days down toward the sea. When he reached the place where the ships had been, which
was more than fifteen leagues up the river from the mouth of the harbor, they found written on a tree:
"Alarcon reached this place; there are letters at the foot of this tree." He dug up the letters and learned
from them how long Alarcon had waited for news of the army and that he had gone back with the ships
to New Spain, because he was unable to proceed farther, since this sea was a bay, which was formed
by the Isle of the Marquis, which is called California, and it was explained that California was not an
island, but a point of the mainland forming the other side of that gulf.

After he had seen this, the captain turned back to go up the river, without going down to the sea to find
a ford by which to cross to the other side, so as to follow the other bank. After they had gone five or
six days, it seemed to them as if they could cross on rafts. For this purpose they called together a large
number of the natives, who were waiting for a favorable opportunity to make an attack on our men,
and when they saw that the strangers wanted to cross, they helped make the rafts with all zeal &
diligence, so as to catch them in this way on the water and drown them or else so divide them that they
could not help one another. While the rafts were being made, a soldier who had been out around the
camp saw a large number of armed men go across to a mountain, where they were waiting till the
soldiers should cross the river. He reported this, and an Indian was quietly shut up, in order to find out
the truth, and when they tortured him he told all the arrangements that had been made. These were,
that when our men were crossing and part of them had got over and part were on the river and part
were waiting to cross, those who were on the rafts should drown those they were taking across and the
rest of their force should make an attack on both sides of the river. If they had had as much discretion
and courage as they had strength and power, the attempt would have succeeded.

Part I, Chapter 11
 

This was the Tison (Firebrand) River, much nearer its source than where Melchior Diaz and his
company crossed it.

Of how messengers reached the army from the valley of Senora and how Captain Melchior Diaz
died on the expedition to the Firebrand River.

WE HAVE already related how Captain Melchior Diaz crossed the Firebrand river on rafts, in order to
continue his discoveries farther in that direction. About the time the siege ended, messengers reached
the army from the city of San Hieronimo with letters from Diego de Alarcon, who had remained there
in the place of Melchior Diaz. These contained the news that Melchior Diaz had died while he was
conducting his search, and that the force had returned without finding any of the things they were after.
It all happened in this fashion:

After they had crossed the river they continued their search for the coast, which here turned back
toward the south, or between south & east, because that arm of the sea enters the land due north and
this river, which brings its waters down from the north, flowing toward the south, enters the head of the
gulf. Continuing in the direction they had been going, they came to some sand banks of hot ashes which
it was impossible to cross without being drowned as in the sea. The ground they were standing on
trembled like a sheet of paper, so that it seemed as if there were lakes underneath them. It seemed
wonderful and like something infernal, for the ashes to bubble up here in several places. After they had
gone away from this place, on account of the danger they seemed to be in and of the lack of water, one
day a greyhound belonging to one of the soldiers chased some sheep which they were taking along for
food. When the captain noticed this, he threw his lance at the dog while his horse was running, so that
it stuck up in the ground, and not being able to stop his horse he went over the lance so that it nailed
him through the thighs and the iron came out behind, rupturing his bladder. After this the soldiers
turned back with their captain, having to fight everyday with the Indians, who had remained hostile. He
lived about twenty days, during which they proceeded with great difficulty on account of the necessity
of carrying him. They returned in good order without losing a man, until he died, & after that they were
relieved of the greatest difficulty. When they reached Senora, Alcaraz dispatched the messengers
already referred to, so that the general might know of this and also that some of the soldiers were ill
disposed and had caused several mutinies, and that he had sentenced two of them to the gallows, but
they had afterward escaped from the prison.

When the general learned this, he sent Don Pedro de Tovar to that city to sift out some of the men. He
was accompanied by messengers whom the general sent to Don Antonio de Mendoza the viceroy, with
an account of what had occurred and with the good news given by the Turk. When Don Pedro de
Tovar arrived there, he found that the natives of that province had killed a soldier with a poisoned
arrow, which had made only a very little wound in one hand. Several soldiers went to the place where
this happened to see about it, and they were not very well received. Don Pedro de Tovar sent Diego de
Alcaraz with a force to seize the chiefs & lords of a village in what they call the valley of Knaves (de
los Vellacos), which is in the hills. After getting there and taking these men prisoners, Diego de Alcaraz
decided to let them go in exchange for some thread & cloth & other things which the soldiers needed.
Finding themselves free, they renewed the war and attacked them, and as they were strong and had
poison, they killed several Spaniards and wounded others so that they died on the way back. They
retired toward the town, & if they had not had Indian allies from the country of the Hearts, it would
have gone worse with them. They got back to the town, leaving 17 soldiers dead from the poison. They
would die in agony from only a small wound, the bodies breaking out with an insupportable pestilential
stink. When Don Pedro de Tovar saw the harm done, and as it seemed to them that they could not
safely stay in that city, he moved 40 leagues toward Cibola into the valley of Suya, where we will leave
them, in order to relate what happened to the general and his army after the siege of Tiguex.

Among the latter, however, were several entradas of epic proportion, and two of the greatest, those
                     of Hernando de Soto and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, set out in 1539 and 1540 respectively.
                     Each had as its goal fabulous city-states, new Tenochitlans and Cuzcos, reputedly located
                     somewhere in the interior, in Quivira. De Soto approached from Florida, Coronado from Mexico. Yet
                     even the Coronado Expedition, at least in its conception, dared not abandon a maritime lifeline.
                     While the main party probed northward into the American Southwest, another party under Melchior
                     Diaz sought to rendezvous with ships commanded by Hernando de Alarcon moving up the Sea of
                     Cortes to its rumored confluence with a great river. That rendezvous failed, but in an effort to
                     reestablish such a waterway and during a time when "no other commissions pressed upon him,"
                     Pedro Alvarez de Tovar dispatched a party under Garcia Lopez de Cardenas to investigate the
                     rumor of a great river to the west of their winter camp at Zuni. Such a river might be the same as
                     that Alarcon was probing. It was worth investigating.

The Yuma Crossing, a geological formation in the Lower Colorado consisting of two massive granite outcroppings, is a
natural bridge that played an important part in the western settlement of the United States, said Pastor. It was used by
Spanish explorer Hernando de Alarcon in his voyage, the first European discovery of the Colorado River.

"Designating Yuma Crossing as a National Heritage Area would help preserve Yuma's early heritage and highlight its
importance in American West exploration and settlement," Pastor said. "The designation would also serve to preserve and
protect its vital wildlife habitats and wetlands areas."

To date, Congress has designated 15 National Heritage Areas, none of which are located in the West. Pastor's bill is the first
to seek a National Heritage designation west of the Mississippi. If Congress authorizes the designation, the project would be
eligible for a limited amount of funding to help preserve and maintain the area.

                                   Yuma Crossing Background

Alarcon made use of the Yuma Crossing when he became the first European to venture into the southwest portion of the
United States just below the confluence of Colorado and Gila rivers to supply Francisco Vasquez Coronado’s expedition.
 
 

I haven't been able to follow this reference up as yet but there appears to be more in the way of primary documentation:

Hernando de Alarcon, "Relation of the Navigation and Discovery [of the lower reaches of the Colorado River]," pp.
125-155 in Hammond and Rey, eds., NARRATIVES OF THE CORONADO EXPEDITION 1540-1542 (Albuquerque:
U of New Mexico Press, 1940).

JPEG Photos of the : Letter of Instructions Issued by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza to Captain Hernando de Alarcon Concerning his Voyage up the Gulf of California to Carry Supplies for the Expedition of  Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to Explore Arizona and New Mexico. Mexico City, May 31, 1541
 
 

Questions, comments, suggestions, bad links, spelling mistakes, grammar errors and the five simple actions that will turn me into a mental wizard overnight can be directed to: