From Acoma he went on west to Zuñi, probably the first white man ever to set foot there, and he found at that place three of the Mexican natives who had remained in the country as noted above. This fact has been made much of, too much, in establishing Zuñi as the site of Cibola, even to the extent of nullifying the testimony from Espejo's route and other equally valuable data.[44] A considerable number of these Mexicans had stopped at Tiguex and other places, and it is not to be supposed that they were petrified in their tracks. Espejo continued westward from Zuñi, about to the San Francisco Mountains, but he did not see the great Colorado. Returning to Zuñi he struck out for the upper waters of the Rio Grande, reaching it sixty leagues above his Quires villages. Returning to the latter, he took an easterly course to Hubates, then north to the Tamos, and east again to the Pecos River which he followed out of the country, naming it the Rio de las Vacas, because of the large herds of buffalo he saw.[45] Still nothing had been done in the way of permanent settlements. But this was now to come. Fifteen years later, in 1598, the famous expedition of the bold and wealthy Juan de Oñate, who had been appointed governor, made its way up the Rio Grande, a long and elaborate train. Travelling through many villages he finally established the settlement of San Gabriel, at the native village called San Juan, north of the present Santa Fé. Next to St. Augustine (1565), this, now marked by the village of Chamita, is the oldest European town within the limits of the United States. Six years later, with thirty soldiers and two padres, he crossed New Mexico and Arizona, by way of Zuñi; the Moki towns; a stream he called Colorado, now the Little Colorado; skirting the San Francisco mountains; to the great Colorado at the mouth of Bill Williams Fork. He called the Colorado the Rio Grande de Esperanza, and descended to its mouth, where he stood January 28, 1605, three full centuries ago. The same year, on his return, he founded Santa Fé, later went out across the plains toward the Missouri, and was generally active and efficient. Every effort was made to organise the country, and though the padres worked earnestly and fearlessly, there was much dissatisfaction, which had begun with the treatment the Puebloans received from the captains of Coronado's expedition. The latent fires smouldered. A native of Taos began to organise an opposition, and in 1680 he had united about all the Puebloans, who, on signal, began a war of extermination. The Spaniards were speedily overwhelmed and driven from the country. Had the Puebloans been able to continue their league the re-occupation of New Mexico would have been long delayed, but they were not accustomed to fighting in concert, hence when General Vargas appeared with a conquering force in 1692 the rebellion collapsed like a house of cards. It was their last stand.