The early history of the Santa Fe Trail, which runs parallel with the
Santa Fe Railroad for hundreds of miles, is somewhat obscured by
mystery and tradition, but from historical data in possession of the
Museum of New Mexico, at Santa Fe, it can be stated with a large
degree of accuracy that the trail was started by Spanish explorers
three hundred years ago.
The first known expedition by Americans over the trail was made by the
Mallet brothers, who arrived in Santa Fe, July 22, 1739. The first
trader to follow the trail reached Santa Fe in 1763. It was not until
1804 that LaLande, a trapper and hunter, crossed the trail and made
Santa Fe that year. Kit Carson was one of those who struck the trail
in 1826, when he was but sixteen years of age.
The camping stations along the trail at that time were Diamond Spring,
Lost Spring, Cottonwood Creek, Turkey Creek, Cow Creek (now
Hutchinson, Kansas), and further on was Pawnee Rock, a famous landmark
of sandstone, twenty feet high.
From the year 1820 many caravans made their way over the trail to
Santa Fe, then, as it is to-day, the seat of government. It was here
in the old palace that some of the early governors had lived in a
semi-royal state, maintaining a little court and body-guards whose
lives were by no means a sinecure, since they were called upon to
fight the Indians on many occasions.
These Indians developed great hostility to the white man, and caravans
on the trail were so frequently attacked, and so many tragedies
stained the trail with the blood of women and children, that in 1823,
Colonel Viscarra, Jefè Politicio, of New Mexico, commanded a battalion
of Mexican troops in protecting the caravans on the Santa Fe trail.
His hand-full of men, and the predatory and blood-thirsty character of
the Indians, made it impossible for him to protect any large part of
the trail, and soldiers, traders and their families were massacred by
overwhelming numbers, the victims including many women and children.
The members of one caravan met their fate in sight of Santa Fe,
forty-six days out from St. Louis.
Colonel Viscarra had not only to deal with one tribe, but many. There
were the Navajos, Pawnees, Arapahos, Kiowas, Comanche, Apache and
Cheyenee. There was only one tribe friendly to the traders, and that
was the Pueblo Indians.
In August, 1829, a particularly vicious attack on a caravan on the
Santa Fe trail, bound for Santa Fe, caused the traders to petition the
government for military protection, and as a result this year, under
agreement with the Government of the United States and the Republic of
Mexico, four companies of United States troops guarded the great
caravans moving from Western Missouri to Santa Fe, as far as the
Arkansas River. In spite of this protection, however, attacks by
Indians were a common occurrence, and every caravan had to carry arms
and ammunition, and vigilance was never relaxed from the time they
left the Arkansas River until they struck the plaza at Santa Fe.
Colonel Viscarra, a handsome, picturesque Spaniard, always mounted on
a mettlesome thoroughbred, was probably the most dashing figure in the
history of the Santa Fe trail. Tales of his gallantry and daring
became folklore among the traders, pioneers and their descendants.
In 1843, the American traders commenced to establish regular
communication between Missouri and Santa Fe and in 1849, started to
run a stage from Independence, Mo., to Santa Fe. The fare was $250.
Each passenger was allowed forty pounds of baggage. The capacity of
the coach was ten passengers in addition to the driver and messenger.
Relays of horses were stationed along the trail every fifteen to
twenty miles.
The vehicles used by the traders and pioneers were for the greater
part Conestoga wagons drawn by horses or mules. As they proceeded
westward it was a common sight to see on the trail, “creoles, polished
gentlemen magnificently clothed in Spanish costume, exiled Spaniards
escaping from Mexico, and richly caparisoned horses, mules and asses,
and a courtesy of the road grew out of a common danger”.
The most terrible part of the trail was the great plain between the
Arkansas River and Cimarron Spring. It was over three thousand feet
above sea level and sixty-three miles without a water course or pool.
The soil was dry and hard and short buffalo grass and some cacti were
the only evidence of the parched vegetation. There was not a shrub or
tree of any kind. It was a sandy desert plain and it was here the
traveler saw the mirage, a beautiful lake which disappeared as he
approached it.
Breakdowns on this plain were frequent, and the Indians most
dangerous. Dry, hot weather prevailed with the blue sky overhead, and
over these parched wastes of the desert, exposed to attacks by Indians
both night and day, the caravans finally reached Cimarron Spring,
which was in a small ravine.
After leaving Cimarron Spring (445 miles from Independence, Missouri),
the caravans struck the following camps:
Willow Bar;
Cold Spring;
Rabbit Ear Creek;
Round Mound;
Rock Creek;
Point of Rocks;
Rio Colorado;
Ocaté Creek;
Santa Clara Spring (Wagon Mound);
Rio Mora;
Rio Gallinas (Las Vegas);
Ojo De Bernal Spring;
San Miguel;
Pecos Village;
and finally Santa Fe, a distance of 750 miles from Independence,
Missouri, the starting point.
The old Santa Fe Trail led from Franklin, Missouri, through Kansas,
Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico. It followed the Arkansas River to
Cimarron Crossing (Fort Dodge) to La Junta, Colorado; then south,
crossing the Raton Pass, joining the main trail at Santa Clara Spring.
The passenger looking out of the window of the train on the Santa Fe
Railroad will see this trail running for miles parallel with the
track, and will be able to people it with the historic traditions
which have made the Santa Fe Trail one of the most romantic and,
withal, one of the most tragic national highways in the United States.
NOTE.--The greater part of the information given in this brief
history is taken from _Twitchell on Leading Facts of New Mexico
History_.