Food and resources were scarce in the young colony of New Mexico. On September 15, 1598, Zaldivar and his guide, Jusepe Gutierrez, led a group of 60 men onto the Great Plains to determine whether Bison, the American buffalo, could be domesticated. Departing from Pecos Pueblo, Zaldivar journeyed 57 leagues eastward, about , probably to the Canadian River valley. There he found huge herds of buffalo. Zaldivar and his men constructed a large corral in which they attempted to capture several thousand buffalo. The buffalo were recalcitrant and killed three horses and wounded 40 more. Zaldivar then captured a number of buffalo calves, but all of them quickly died. Failing in the attempt to domesticate buffalo, Zaldivar focused instead on hunting and returned to the Spanish settlements with 80 arobas, about of buffalo fat. He proclaimed buffalo meat superior to the beef of Spanish cows. Zaldivar and his men arrived back at the Spanish settlements on November 8, 1598.Kenner, Chrles L. (1969), A History of New Mexican-Plains Indian Relations, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pp. 98-99."Southwest Crossroads: Expedition to the Buffalo Plains, 1898," , accessed 26 Mar 2019
