| Dictionary: 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.
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| US Military Dictionary: Santa Fe Trail |
A 780-mile (1255-km) wagon route from western Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico, that opened in 1821 and was frequently used, mainly for trade, until being superseded by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad in 1880.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Santa Fe Trail |
For more information on Santa Fe Trail, visit Britannica.com.
| US History Encyclopedia: Santa Fe Trail |
The Santa Fe Trail was an important commerce route between 1821 and 1880 that extended from Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The trail extended south from Santa Fe for an additional thousand miles through El Paso to the Mexican towns of Chihuahua and Durango, following the natural roads wagon masters found along the entire distance.
Prior to the opening of the trail, the city of Santa Fe was supplied with goods brought by mule at great expense from the Mexican seaport of Veracruz. Pierre and Paul Mallet of Canada crossed the Plains to Santa Fe in 1739, followed by more Frenchmen passing from the Missouri River or from Arkansas Post to the Rio Grande. The American army lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike arrived in 1807.
American attempts at Santa Fe trade met with summary action by Spanish authorities, who arrested twelve men from Saint Louis in 1812 and imprisoned them for nine years, and arrested Auguste Pierre Chouteau's Saint Louis fur brigade in 1815 for trapping on the Upper Arkansas. After Mexico overthrew Spanish rule, news spread that traders were welcome in Santa Fe. First to arrive was William Becknell of Missouri, who reached Santa Fe on 16 November 1821, and sold his Indian trade goods at from ten to twenty times higher than Saint Louis prices. Becknell started from the steamboat landing of Franklin, Missouri, followed the prairie divide between the tributaries of the Kansas and Arkansas rivers to the Great Bend of the Arkansas, and then followed the Arkansas almost to the mountains before turning south to New Mexico. His route became known as the Santa Fe Trail. The Missouri River terminus later became Westport, now Kansas City. At the western end the trail turned south to Santa Fe from the Arkansas by different routes touching the Colorado–New Mexico border and another near Kansas.
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.
Bibliography
Boyle, Susan Calafate. Los Capitalistas: Hispano Merchants and the Santa Fe Trade. Albaquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997.
Chalafant, William Y. Dangerous Passage: The Santa Fe Trail and the Mexican War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.
Dary, David. The Santa Fe Trail: Its History, Legends, and Lore. New York: Knopf, 2000.
Gregg, Josiah. Commerce of the Prairies. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1962.
Simmons, Marc. The Old Trail to Santa Fe: Collected Essays. Albequerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Santa Fe Trail |
By the early 19th cent. small trapping parties had reached Santa Fe, then under Spanish rule; but they were forbidden to trade. In Nov., 1821, William Becknell, a trader, returned with news that Mexico was free and Santa Fe welcomed trade. Early in 1822 he left Missouri for Santa Fe with the first party of traders. From then on, annual wagon caravans, usually leaving in early summer, made the 40- to 60-day trip over the trail and returned after a 4- to 5-week stay in Santa Fe. An increasing amount of goods was taken to Santa Fe each year. In 1850 a monthly stage line was started between Independence and Santa Fe over the northern route. In 1880 the Santa Fe RR reached Santa Fe, marking the death of the trail.
Bibliography
See D. Dary, The Santa Fe Trail: Its History, Legends, and Lore (2000).
| Geography: Santa Fe Trail |
Trail extending from Independence, Missouri, southwest to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
| Wikipedia: Santa Fe Trail |
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. First used in 1821 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880. At first an international trade route between the United States and Mexico, it served as the 1846 U.S. invasion route of New Mexico during the Mexican–American War.[1]
The route crossed Comancheria, the territory of the Comanches, who demanded compensation for granting rights-of-way. Americans routinely traded with the Comanche along the trail, sometimes finding the trade in Comancheria more profitable than that of Santa Fe.[2]
After the U.S. acquisition of the Southwest, the trail helped open the region to U.S. economic development and settlement, playing a vital role in the expansion of the U.S. into the lands it had acquired. The road route is commemorated today by the National Park Service as the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. A highway route that roughly follows the trail's path through Colorado and northern New Mexico has been designated the Santa Fe Trail National Scenic Byway.
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The Trail was an important trade route, carrying manufactured products from the United States into the ranching and farming country of New Mexico.
The eastern end of the trail was in the central Missouri town of Franklin on the north bank of the Missouri River. The route across Missouri first used by Becknell followed portions of the existing Osage Trace. West of Franklin, the trail crossed the Missouri near Arrow Rock, after which it followed roughly the route of present-day U.S. Route 24. It passed north of Marshall, through Lexington to Fort Osage, then to Independence. Independence was also one of the historic "jumping off points" for the Oregon and California Trails.
West of Independence, in the State of Missouri, it roughly followed the route of U.S. Route 56 to the town of Olathe. The section of the trail between Independence and Olathe was also used by immigrants on the California and Oregon Trails, which branched off to the northwest near Gardner, Kansas.
From Olathe, the trail passed through the towns of Baldwin City, Burlingame, and Council Grove, then swung west of McPherson to the town of Lyons. West of Lyons the trail followed nearly the route of present-day Highway 56 to Great Bend. Ruts in the earth made from the trail are still visible in several locations (Ralph's Ruts are visible in aerial photos at (38°21′35″N 98°25′20″W / 38.35959264°N 98.42225502°W).[4] At Great Bend, the trail encountered the Arkansas River. Branches of the trail followed both sides of the river upstream to Dodge City and Garden City.
West of Garden City in southwestern Kansas the trail has a complex network of branches. One of the branches, called the Mountain Route or the Upper Crossing (of the Arkansas River) [5]:93[6]:133 continued to follow the Arkansas upstream in southeastern Colorado to the town of La Junta. At La Junta, the trail continued south into New Mexico to Fort Union at Watrous.
The other main branch, called the Cimarron Cutoff or Cimarron Crossing or Middle Crossing[5]:93[6]:133[7]:144 cut southwest across the Cimarron Desert (also known as the Waterscrape or La Jornada[7]:148) to the valley of the Cimarron River near the town of Ulysses and Elkhart then continued toward Boise City, Oklahoma, to Clayton, New Mexico, joining up with northern branch at Fort Union. This route was generally very hazardous because it had very little water. In fact, the Cimarron River was one of the only sources of water along this branch of the trail.
From Watrous, the reunited branches continued southward to Santa Fe.
Part of this route has been designated a National Scenic Byway.
Travelers faced many hardships along the Santa Fe Trail. The trail was a challenging 900 miles (1,400 km) of arid plains, desert and mountains. On this trail unlike the Oregon trail, there was a serious danger of Native American attacks, for neither the Comanches or the Apaches of southern high plains tolerated trespassers. In 1825, Congress voted federal protection for the Santa Fe Trail, even though much of it lay in the Mexican territory (Out of Many). Lack of food and water also made the trail very risky. Weather conditions, like huge lightning storms, gave the travelers even more difficulty. If a storm blew up, there was often no place to take shelter and the livestock could get spooked. Rattlesnakes often posed a threat as many people died due to snakebite. The caravan size increased later on to prevent Indian raids. The travelers also packed more oxen instead of mules because the Indians did not want to risk raiding the caravans for only some oxen.
Segments of this trail in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[8] The longest clearly identifiable section of the trail, Santa Fe Trail Remains, near Dodge City, Kansas, is listed as a National Historic Landmark.[9] Walking on the Santa Fe trail is now discouraged.[citation needed]
Mountain Route towards Colorado
Mountain Route
Cimarron Route towards Oklahoma
Mountain Route
Cimarron Route
Joint route
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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