March 27, 1540
It was amazing. I had over a 340 soldiers, 300 Indians, 1000 horses, and 1000 slaves as my soldiers We carried 6 swivel guns to symbolize that we here to not only find gold, but to settle and colonize New Spain. As we moved forward, I had a felling of self confidence and greatness. Fray Marcos, a recognized scout, was leading us to the first city of Cibola, El Dorado. We were already encountering many battles with the Apache tribe. I have already plundered through their weak attacks and crushed them under our horses' hooves. Reaching Cibola is inevitable and finding gold is ineluctable.
July 20, 1540
I was dejected and angry. El Dorado was just a village called Háwakinh filled with stupid, filthy Zuni Indians. I have already killed over 3,000 Indians living in the area for not telling me where the gold was located. It seems horrible that I did this to innocent people. The Indians were very headstrong. They fought till only a handful of men were left. In the end, we crushed the village and its people. There were no bounds to anger I had when we didn't find gold. I sent Fray Marcos de Niza back to Mexico City alone smearing him with shame and disgrace forever.
August 17, 1540
I decided to map the area first before exploring this land. I quickly dispatched several scouts and troops to explore the area. While I was mapping the area, it occurred to me that gold can be better found at the shore, so I sent a special batch of scouts and troops together to find traces of gold. While they were travelling, they encountered a huge canyon that blocked the way and huge hills that surrounded the area. They were dazzled at this sight of nature and invited me to see it. I, myself, was amazed at the enormous natural wonder and slightly sketched it to remember it. We tried to see if there was any way that we could get over the canyon. Unfortunately, this landform blocked the ocean and was impossible to climb.
September 5, 1540
It was news that would fill my heart forever. After 2 months of scouting missions with unsuccessful attempts of finding treasure, We thought gold would never be found. We lost hopes when suddenly an Indian named Turk approached us. He informed us that a rich kingdom named Quivira was present up northeast. It contains huge amounts of gold, but it has strong guards who defeat anyone who tries to invade. I was confident that we could defeat Native American tribes easily and proceeded to make Turk the lead scout on the mission. We were getting ready to leave for Quivira.
April 23, 1541
I was just starting to organize my troops and remaining supplies for the expedition to Quivira. Turk had already laid out the plan on a map. The journey wouldn't take longer than 4 months. Many Indian tribes were living through the route that he had drawn. Most of those tribes were warrior tribes. It seemed that Turk had known the strength of my army and decided to take the shortest route possible. It also seemed that we were going to find gold at last.
June 12, 1541
We were crossing ground that was getting higher and higher. It was especially hard to climb because of higher altitudes. The ground was smooth and plain. This land never seemed to run out. Even after travelling 300 leagues, I couldn't cross this land. Therefore, I shall name this land Llano Estacado, land that you cannot cross.
August 28, 1541
There was disappointment once again. No gold was found. Once again, I killed over half of the population for not telling me where the gold was located. I looked at Turk, but he started giving suggestions on other locations filled with gold. Several of our soldiers went on scouting missions returning unsuccessfully without gold. Turk was getting hesitant each day. Every day, he would go on short excursions with the scouting troops to new places. Meanwhile, my soldiers were documenting all the routes that scouting missions were taking place. Finally, Turk confessed. He told me that he only told of Quivira to lead me away from his village. I then drew out my sword and slashed his head off and threw him into the streets of Quivira to lie there in disgrace.
September 19, 1541
We encountered several tribes near Tiguex. We were resisted and pushed back. Many Native Americans didn't want to convert to Christianity and regarded me as a filthy intruder. Then we started battling. As we kept moving toward the river, tribes kept attacking us being unsuccessful every time. We had plow through pueblos and kill many till they stopped and let us reach the Rio Grande. Over a 1000 were killed during this skirmish.
November 9, 1541
I decided to head out to the Rio Grande and stay there till the winter passes. Since it was almost 2 years from when we started our expedition, we decided to head home because we were unsuccessful at finding gold. At the Rio Grande, I assigned many different scouting missions far and wide. I was mapping all of the surrounding areas in an effort to be successful in helping colonize New Spain. My men were very despondent even becoming headstrong and self centered. They didn't obey me like they did before at the starting of the journey. It was definitely time to head back.
June 15, 1542
I was in court where my wife and children were watching in fear. The judge had known nothing about the mistreatment of Native Americans. Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza requested me to give up the position as governor of Nueva Galicia. I argued that the expedition's failure or success doesn't relate to my governorship of Nueva Galicia. The judge decided that I would keep the governor post until further investigation.