Storytime Tapestry E-zine

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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Eductional Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

November 19, 2007

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THE SANTA FE TRAIL

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Santa Fe Trail

A trade route to the southwest United States extending about 1,287 km (800 mi) westward from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. First traversed in 1821, it was the primary wagon and stage route to the Southwest until the coming of the railroad in 1880.

During the 1800s, the Santa Fe Trail took people and goods back and forth between Independence, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It took about 8 weeks to travel on the trail. There were many dangers such as storms and attacks from Indians and bandits. When the railroad was built, it replaced the trail in moving goods and supplies west.

?From the 1821 to 1880, the Santa Fe Trail was an important travel route. Along with the Oregon and Chisholm Trails, it is one of the 'big three' trails of United States history. During its sixty years, the Santa Fe Trail was mainly a commercial route. It carried goods and promoted trade between what was first the Southwestern Spanish Provinces, then became independent Mexico, and later was a U.S. territory.

Before 1821, early American explorers and mountain men made the trip to Santa Fe, pronounced san tuh FAY, on horseback with small strings of pack horses. Their route to this Spanish Provincial capital followed a winding path of both Indian and game trails. Under Spanish rule, open trading with the United States was forbidden. However a few goods were smuggled into Santa Fe to be traded secretly.

In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain and trade barriers were removed. That same year, William Becknell and four other men traveled from Franklin, Missouri for a distance of 1,203 miles to open trading between the US and Mexico in Santa Fe. In the next twenty years, about 80 wagons and 150 people traveled the trail each year. Suspicion and tension between the United States and Mexico escalated and finally erupted into the Mexican-American War in 1846. The Santa Fe Trail carried soldiers and supplies to New Mexico and beyond. The war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Santa Fe then became part of US territory. Military forts such as Fort Union, Fort Larned and others were established along the trail to control Indian conflicts and protect travelers. In the 1850's and 1860's, traffic on the Santa Fe Trail burgeoned. The US Civil War again brought increased military operations along the trail and led to the decisive Union victory at Glorieta Pass, New Mexico. By the late 1860's, more than 5,000 wagons traveled the trail each year. Merchants pushed enormous trains of freight wagons loaded with manufactured goods westward. In Santa Fe these were traded for burros, furs, gold, horses, and silver. The 'Old Spanish Trail' was extended westward to connect Santa Fe to Los Angeles. However the completion of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880 brought a swift abandonment. Today the Santa Fe Trail route still has some 200 miles of visible ruts and traces; witness to the long-gone traffic and commerce.

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NOVEMBER 16th, 1821? -??On this day, Missouri Indian trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, sells his goods at an enormous profit, and makes plans to return the next year over the route that will become known as the Santa Fe Trail.

Pure luck made Becknell the first businessman to revive the American trade with Santa Fe. Fearing American domination of the region, the Spanish had closed their Southwest holdings to foreigners following the Pike expedition more than a decade earlier. They threw the few traders who violated the policy into prison and confiscated their goods. However, Becknell and other merchants continued to trade with the Indians on the American-controlled eastern slope of the southern Rockies. While on such an expedition in the fall of 1821, Becknell encountered a troop of Mexican soldiers. They informed Becknell that they had recently won their independence in a war with Spain, and the region was again open to American traders. Becknell immediately sped to Santa Fe, where he found a lucrative market for his goods, and his saddlebags were heavy with Mexican silver when he returned to his base in Franklin, Missouri.

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The next summer Becknell traveled to Santa Fe again, this time with three wagonloads of goods. Instead of following the old route that passed over a dangerous high pass, however, Becknell blazed a shorter and easier cutoff across the Cimarron Desert. Thus, while much of the route he followed had been used by Mexican traders for decades, Becknell's role in reopening the trail and laying out the short-cut earned him the title of "Father of the Santa Fe Trail." It became one of the most important and lucrative of the Old West trading routes; merchants and other travelers continued to follow the trail blazed by Becknell until the arrival of trains in the late 1870s.

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Interactive Santa Fe Trail from Kansas University

http://history.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/research/sft/ and http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/research/sft/

This comprehensive site provides a history of the trail, information about present-day locations, and lots, lots more.

Related Websites:

2) History of Pawnee Rock State Historic Site http://www.kshs.org/places/pawrhist.htm

3) Like a Ribbon across the Prairie . . . http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/nebraska/gpng/santafe_trail.html

4) Santa Fe Trail http://www.ptsi.net/user/museum/santafe.html

5) Santa Fe Trail from Kansas Historic Trails http://www.ukans.edu/heritage/owk/128/trails.html#santa

6) Santa Fe Trail from Kaw Mission State Historic Site (Kansas)

http://www.kshs.org/places/kawmission/eurosantafetrail.htm

7) Santa Fe Trail History http://www.ukans.edu/heritage/trails/sfthist.html

Santa Fe National Historic Trail from National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/safe/fnl-sft/webvc/vchome2.htm

Start your tour of the historic trail here with a brief interpretative history, maps and photos, and more.

Related Websites:

2) National Historic Trails - Santa Fe National Historic Trail from GORP

http://www.gorp.com/gorp/resource/us_trail/santafe.htm

3) Prairie Highway - Santa Fe Trail http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/nebraska/gpng/sftrail_prairie_highway.html

4) Santa Fe National Historic Trail Brochure

http://www.nps.gov/safe/fnl-sft/broch/newbro.htm

5) Santa Fe Trail http://sangres.com/sftrailmap.htm

Santa Fe Trail Net

http://www.nmhu.edu/research/sftrail/

The site of the Santa Fe Trails Association provides a collection of historic documents, maps and photos, plus a few links to other sites.

Related Website:

2) Santa Fe Trail Association http://www.santafetrail.org/

Santa Fe Trail Research Site

http://www.stjohnks.net/santafetrail/

Here you can find out about the wet and dry routes of the Santa Fe Trail in the state of Kansas.

Not-To-Be-Missed Section:

2) Mileage Charts

http://www.stjohnks.net/santafetrail/mileagecharts/amileagechartlinks.html

Websites By Kids For Kids

Santa Fe Trail from St. George Elementary

http://www.rockcreek.k12.ks.us/sg/broncs/westho/Trisoe.htm

This brief student project site provides a map and description of the trail.

More Websites for the Santa Fe Trail

Advice to Emmigrants

http://learning.usd383.org/santafe/resources/advice.htm

This brief site houses an historic document giving advice to travelers.

Related Website:

2) American Pioneers: Life on the Trail http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/Projects2000/PioneerWeb/trail.html

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Park from National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/beol/home.htm

For much of its 16-year history, the fort was the only major permanent white settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements.

Related Website:

2) Photos of Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site http://www.homestead.com/bentsoldfort/index.html

Fort Larned National Historic Site from National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/fols/home.html

Fort Larned was established in 1859 as a base of military operations against hostile Indians of the Central Plains, to protect traffic along the Santa Fe Trail and as an agency for the administration of the Central Plains Indians by the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the terms of the Fort Wise Treaty of 1861.

Related Website:

2) Virtual Tour of Fort Larned http://www.nps.gov/fols/Virtual_Tour/body_virtual_tour.html

Fort Union National Monument: An Administrative History from National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/foun/adhi/adhi.htm

In 1851, Lt. Col. Edwin V. Sumner decided to establish Fort Union at the junction of the two branches of the Santa Fe Trail in order to provide more effective protection for the region.

Related Websites:

2) History of Fort Union by T.J. Sperry & H.C. Myers

http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/research/sft/ft-union.htm

3) Santa Fe Trail and Fort Union by D. Sedivy from Highlands Ranch High School, CO

http://members.tripod.com/~mr_sedivy/colorado8.html

Santa Fe Trail

http://klesinger.com/jbp/sfetrail.html

Here is a timeline on the history of the Santa Fe Trail.

Santa Fe Trail Center at Larned, Kansas

http://www.larned.net/trailctr/

This is the website of a regional museum telling the story of the geographic area once known as the Santa Fe Trail, a transportation route blended Indian, Spanish, and American cultures.

Santa Fe Trail Map

http://www.powerplace.com/sftrail.html

Here is a historic map of the Santa Fe Trail.

Related Website:

2) Santa Fe Trail (Map-links and more) http://www.titchenal.com/trails/sftrail/index.html

Santa Fe Trail Report

http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/books/sftrail/sfmain.html

This 1912 report focuses on the correct route of the Santa Fe Trail through Kansas.

Related Website:

2) Points of Interest Along the Santa Fe Trail http://www.lasr.net/leisure/kansas/poisft.html

Santa Fe Trail Scenic Byway from Northeast New Mexico

http://nenewmexico.com/tours/santafe_trail.html

This regional site provides information and history on the Santa Fe Trail.

William Becknell & The Santa Fe Trail from Bicknell Family Home Page

http://www.bicknell.net/sftrail.htm

Learn about Captain William Becknell, who has been called 'Father of the Santa Fe Trail.'

Other Websites for William Becknell:

2) Becknell's Formation of a Trading Company http://www.nmhu.edu/research/sftrail/trade.htm

3) Becknell Letters http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/becknell.html

4) Diary of William Becknell http://www.nmhu.edu/research/sftrail/becknell.htm

5) William Becknell from New Mexico History

http://www.cia-g.com/~rockets/dNMhist.wbecknell.htm

Websites For Teachers

Americans Move West: The Santa Fe Trail (Grades 6-8) by L. Arnett from Denver Public Schools

http://www.denver.k12.co.us/programs/almaproject/pdf/AmericansMoveWest.pdf

This is the site of an extensive unit plan on the Santa Fe Trail.

Life Along the Santa Fe Trail (Grades 4-6) by R. DesCombes

http://trails.kcmsd.k12.mo.us/Pdfs/LessonPlans/Kcmsd/Descombes.pdf

Here is a unit plan for study of Santa Fe Trail.

Related Lesson Plan Site:

2) Along the Santa Fe Trail: Marion Russell's Own Story (Grades 4-5) by L. Morrow

http://www.cde.state.co.us/action/curric/pdf/sf_trail.pdf

3) Santa Fe Trail from Cobblestone http://www.cobblestonepub.com/pages/compquest199005.html

Santa Fe Trails (Grades 4-8) from Trails Project

http://trails.kcmsd.k12.mo.us/sanfepdfs.htm

This is the site of a large collection of lesson plans (pdf) for study of the Santa Fe Trail.

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Merchants traveled in caravans, moving wagons in parallel columns so that they might be quickly formed into a circular corral, with livestock inside, in the event of an Indian attack. Josiah Gregg reported that up to 1843 Indians killed but eleven men on the trail. Losses were greatest from 1864 to 1869, the bloodiest year being 1868, when seventeen stagecoach passengers were captured and burned at Cimarron Crossing

Santa Fe trade brought to the United States much-needed silver, gave America the Missouri mule, and paved the way for American claims to New Mexico in the Mexican-American War. Estimates of the heavy volume of westward-bound traffic on the trail vary. Gregg reported in Commerce of the Prairies that 350 persons transported $450,000 worth of goods at Saint Louis prices in 1843. Lt. Col. William Gilpin's register shows 3,000 wagons, 12,000 persons, and 50,000 animals between 1849?1859, a large part of the number bound for California. The register at Council Grove, Kansas, in 1860 showed 3,514 persons, 61 carriages and stagecoaches, 5,819 mules, and 22,738 oxen. Federal mail service by stagecoach was instituted in 1849. Completion of the last section of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad in 1880 ended the importance of the wagon road.

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Hartson S. Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net