IN 1541 FRANCISCO VÁSQUEZ DE CORONADO camped in the shelter of Blanco Canyon on his quest for the mythical Seven Golden Cities, an expedition that involved some 1,200 Native American allies, 300 Spanish soldiers, and a number of Franciscan friars. Fray Juan de Padilla celebrated the Mass of Ascension Day in the canyon in the spring of 1541. More than three hundred years later, in fall 1871, Blanco Canyon (in present-day Floyd and Crosby Counties) would witness one of the most decisive clashes of the US military's campaign against Comanche domination, and one of the most frustrating for the army. After pursuing a small group of Comanches into the canyon near the White River, Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie's advance troops found themselves ambushed. Although Mackenzie's reinforcements, aided by Tonkawa scouts, came to their defense, the Comanches slipped their grasp by retreating gradually up the bluffs and canyon walls, sniping and taunting as they went and disappearing across the Llano Estacado and leaving behind their lodgings and possessions. Several days later, on the afternoon October 12, when the pursuing army had almost caught up with the Comanches and felt victory within their grasp, an unseasonal blue norther suddenly blew in across the plain. In the blinding snow and sleet Quanah Parker's band slipped away, to end Mackenzie's foray for the season. Today these stories are told at the Floyd County Historical Museum, which among its many historical and prehistorical artifacts preserves a chain-mail gauntlet left behind by Coronado's men.  (Information from texasalmanac.com and tshaonline.org)