@brighamofutah: July 29, 2026 marks the semiquincentennial of the 1776 Dominguez-Escalante expedition. Subjects of the Spanish Empire, theirs was the first recorded journey by Europeans into the Great Basin and the first to lay eyes on Utah Lake and make contact with the Timpanogos people who called that valley home. The day after American Revolutionary Nathan Hale reportedly said “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” (before receiving his sentence for espionage in New York), Fray Velez de Escalante and Fray Dominguez walked into the Utah Valley through what is now called Spanish Fork Canyon. Just a few years after they returned, Fray Velez de Escalante would pass away around the age of 30, possibly from kidney disease. Fray Dominguez would live into his 60s, laboring in the missions of New Mexico. #utahliving #america250 #historylesson #newmexicocheck #TikTokLearningCampaign
