 The Domínguez–Escalante route eventually became an early template for the Old Spanish Trail, a trade route from Santa Fe to Pacific Coast settlements.Fray Francisco Atanasio Domínguez was born in Mexico City about 1740, and in 1757, at the age of 17, joined the Franciscan order.In October 1772, Domínguez was at the Convent of Veracruz as Commissary of the Third Order.