The Santa Fe Trail: Its History, Legends, and Lore

The famous trail of romantic western lore was established in about 1610 by Spanish settlers of Mexico who had explored western and southern regions of North America long before the French and English arrived. Stretching 900 miles from its origin in Santa Fe through present-day Colorado and Kansas, the trail, originally a combination of many old paths worn down by buffalo, ends in Franklin, Mo. Enterprising Americans from the east soon discovered that the Spanish of Santa Fe and the nearby Indians had many material needs (cotton prints, factory products, including the latest guns and ammunition, whiskey) that they could supply very profitably. Thus the Santa Fe Trail came to be known as a key commercial link to the west. On their return trips, tradesmen brought back Mexican products like wool, buffalo hides and horses, mules, gold coins, gold dust and silver. Dary (Cowboy Culture; Red Blood and Black Ink, etc.), a leading historian of the Old West, draws on original newspaper stories, letters, diaries, books and expedition records to re-create the adventures of many tough and colorful people who endured a journey that might take more than two months, if they were lucky enough to survive severe hardship, bad weather, broken axles and marauding tribes. The Santa Fe Trail continued to serve as the heart of the ""commerce of the prairies"" until it was replaced in the 1860s by railroads. (Nov. 17)