My research into the story of L. W. Hoffecker got me interested in the Old Spanish Trail. I thinkthat story is also worth telling.

The Encyclopedia of United States Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins 1892-1954 was writtenby Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen and published in 1981. The book frequently mentionsabuses in the commemorative coin program. In discussing the Old Spanish Trail half, the bookstates,

Hoffecker promoted the legislation that authorized the coin. The Act was passed on June 5, 1935.The relevant part of the legislation stated,

Hoffecker designed the coin. The reverse has a map showing the route of de Vaca and passingthrough the cities of St. Augustine, Jacksonville and Tallahassee in Florida; Mobile, Alabama;New Orleans, Louisiana; Galveston, San Antonio and on to El Paso. Texas. None of thoseexisted in 1535.

This is a short version of a very long story.

On June 17, 1527, an expedition of five ships left Spain with 600 soldiers and colonists. Theleader was Panfilo de Narvaez. Alvar N?nez Cabeza de Vaca was treasurer of the expedition andsecond in command.

The expedition stopped at what is now The Dominican Republic and spent the winter of 1527-28in Cuba. On April 15, 1828, they landed on Florida, possibly near Tampa Bay. After wanderingthrough the swamps in an unsuccessful quest for gold, they returned to the sea to travel west.Narvaez was lost at sea somewhere between the Mississippi delta and Galveston.

Cabeza de Vaca was blown ashore with two ships and eighty men near Galveston Island, Texas.For four years, Cabeza de Vaca lived among the indigenous people and survived by trading withthe local tribes.

With only four survivors from the original crew, they walked across southern Texas. Theycrossed into what is now Mexico about seventy-five miles downstream from what wouldbecome El Paso. They walked barefoot across northern Mexico and down the Gulf of California.Eventually they made contact with other Spaniards in Mexico City and arranged fortransportation back to Spain in 1537.

When he returned to Spain, he wrote his memoirs of his travels and of the tribes he met, LaRelacion y Comentarios (The Account and Commentaries). This was the first published accountof exploration in America.

The route of Cabeza de Vaca passed through villages and across rivers known only by theirnative names. It was not documented as it happened but compiled from memories after Cabezade Vaca returned to Spain. Current maps are based on the best guesses based on limited sources.

Spanish explorer Juan de Onate, born in Mexico, visited the El Paso area in 1598. The city wasnot incorporated until May 17, 1873.

John C. Fremont, with help from guide Kit Carson, identified the Old Spanish Trail as a 700-mile route from Los Angeles to Santa Fe, in what was then Mexican territory, in his 1844 reportfor the U. S. Topographical Service. The first use was by Antonio Armijo with 40 men and 200mules in 1829. It was a challenging route across mountains, deep canyons and the Mojave Desertthat could be crossed only during brief periods in the spring and autumn.

The route was changed in response to hostilities with the Navaho Indians. By about 1855, nowunder American control, the pack trail was replaced with an easier wagon trail. It is now knownas the Old Spanish National Historic Trail.

Several attempts were made to chart a good path to El Paso. The San Antonio - El Paso Roadwas established about 1849 to service the California Gold Rush. It was not called the OldSpanish Trail.

Construction of an auto highway began in 1915, was open by 1923, and eventually ran 2,750miles between St. Augustine, Florida, to San Diego, California. In recent years it followed U. S.Highway 90 in the east and U. S. Highway 80 in the west.

A comparison of the four maps shows that the reverse of the Old Spanish Trail commemorativehalf dollar has a route that most closely follows the modern highway route rather than the 400-year-old route of Cabeza de Vaca.

While L. W. Hoffecker may have managed sales without favoritism or fraud, the coincommemorated an historical narrative that was concocted without facts. Cabeza de Vaca nevervisited El Paso, he did not travel over land from Florida to Texas, and he did not establish a trailfor later travelers.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
LYMAN WILLIAM HOFFECKER (1868-1955)(https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n46a18.html)