Hi again blogsters:

Coronado's conquest of the southwest was made in search of Cibola.  Quivara.  Seven legendary cities of gold.  The were looking for treasure of the Aztec sort.  Gold plate.  Jewelry.  Houses and streets ornamented with worked gold.

On the hard trek to Zuni from southern California they passed over some of the richest gold bearing channels in Arizona.  They passed over a fortune in minerals comparable to the Aztec conquest.

These remained undiscovered until 1849-1860, because the men who were prepared to die for gold weren't equipped to look for it. 

Had no idea what gold looked like when it hadn't been worked by skilled miners, smelters and artists and artisans. 

Weren't accustomed to getting their hands dirty with anything but blood.

Coronado returned to Mexico a successful conquerer but a failure.  No expedition from Mexico returned to the US (now) southwest for almost half a century.

They returned to Mexico without having found a single grain of gold.

Jack