The
Santa Fe Trail – The Untold Story
Introduction
There remains a dramatic untold story about one of the most significant pieces of history in the development of the southwest and western US. Beginning in 1821 entrepreneurs in St. Louis, then the western terminus of the United States, and the independence of Mexico from Spain, felt that it would be very prosperous to begin a trade venture with Mexico. At that time Santa Fe was the northern trade point for goods from Mexico.
William
Becknell, generally considered the father of the SFT, put together the first
wagon train for the trip to Santa Fe. On September 1st, 1821 Becknell
and party set out from Arrow Rock, Missouri over the Santa Fe Trail. On November
16th they reached Santa Fe, a date to be remembered in Trail history.
Becknell’s
main distinction is that once he opened the Trail to freight wagons the Trail
stayed open. Where his horses and wagon tracks led, the westward surge of
commerce followed. Great portions of his route still exist today.
In
just 10 years commerce on the Trail reached $100,000 and comprised 60 wagons,
100 men and 70 traders, an enormous sum for those days!
I
first became fascinated, almost obsessed, by the Trail when flying my plane from
Dallas to Denver and observed long straight lines stretching across the prairie
that could not be geological formations. On closer examination I discovered that
these were the wagon ruts from the giant 6,000# Murphy wagons used on the Trail,
that still exist today, more than 170 years after the Trail began. This began my
almost 20 year fascination with and study of the Santa Fe Trail.
To
get a sense of what it was like to travel the Trail one must read and appreciate
the words of historian Robert Luther Duffus:
"Trade
on the Trail - A River of Commerce
"Between
the ports on the Missouri and the havens in arid New Mexico flowed that traffic
which came to be known as the Santa Fe trade.
We must consider the economics of this traffic, for had not the Trail
been a source of profit, only the pure romanticists, of whom there are never
very many, would have traversed it.(ibid.#1;p.100)
"....As far back as the time of La Lande's journey to Santa Fe in 1804, and
probably even further back, it had been apparent that goods could be carried
eight hundred miles from the Missouri River to New Mexico more cheaply than two
thousand miles through Old Mexico from Vera Cruz.
But the postponement of this geographically logical trade because of
Spanish exclusiveness and jealousy was nevertheless a good thing.
It brought industrial and commercial America nearer the Missouri River.
It made the Americans so strong, that the traders of Chihuahua and the
south of Mexico could less than ever compete with them.
"....Articles of feminine luxury, such as silks and velvets, never lost
their popularity in the trade. Hardware,
with iron selling originally at a dollar a pound, naturally commanded fancy
prices. The New Mexicans had
literally no manufacturers, and attractive machine made goods almost sold
themselves.
"....As early as 1825 Senator Benton was able to say that the New Mexican
trade 'had grown up to be a new and regular branch of interior commerce,
profitable to those engaged in it, valuable to the country from the articles it
carried out and for the silver, furs, and mules it brought back, and well suited
to the care and protection of our government.'"(ibid.#1;p.108)
"After 1829 the next killing by the Indians was that of Jedediah Smith, one
of the most noteworthy explorers and fur traders of his time..... In
1831, still only 33 years old, with a boundless fund of energy, he turned his
attention to the Santa Fe trade. the
caravan with which he set out in the spring of that year was one of the best
equipped that had ever taken the sunset trails. Twenty fine new wagons bumped
along the rough roads and eighty picked men guarded them.
But though Smith was probably as good a pathfinder as ever stood in
moccasins, his party, like several
before it, ran into desperate trouble in the Jornada.
This, it should be remembered, was before the rains of 1834 had melted
the desert's surface into mud and enabled the wagons to carve a lasting highway
across it. There was no Trail to
follow. For three days the traders
wandered hopelessly lost. ...Smith
came upon a buffalo trail and followed it until at last he came to the valley of
the Cimarron. The river bed
as dry, as it often was, and he probably stooped to scoop out a hole in
which the underground water might collect.
One can imagine with what joy he bent his head to the muddy trickle and
the wet sand. The party was
saved!" (ibid.#1;p.126)
"A special Indian commission which reported in 1868 estimated that in half
a century the United States spent half a billion dollars and lost twenty
thousand lives in Indian war. Most
of this fighting took place west of the Missouri River and much of it in the
regions traversed by the Santa Fe Trail. And
this constant menace lent the Trail some of its darker romance and gave it some
of its most hideous chapters.
ON
THE MARCH....
"Although the first wagons to which these faithful beasts were hitched came
from Pittsburgh, they were soon succeeded by the famous 'Murphy Wagons', made by
a gentleman of that name in St. Louis. Later
still, wagons were manufactured for the New Mexican trade in Independence and in
the final years in Kansas City. A loaded wagon was no trifle - it might weigh anywhere from
three to seven thousand pounds. The
average weight, after the trade had fallen into regular habits, was about five
thousand pounds. If oxen were used
about six yoke would be needed for each wagon, with an equal or greater number
held in reserve to take the places of those that gave out. Hundreds and thousands of ox skeletons went to join those of
the buffalo all cross the prairie. If
mules were employed, ten or twelve would be required for each wagon.
"(ibid.#1;p.134)
"The average day's journey was from fifteen to eighteen miles, though this
might be lengthened or shortened to fit the distances between good springs and
camping places. These were
established at an early date, so that an experienced prairie traveler knew his
camp-grounds about as well as a railway trainman knows his station stops.
Wet or dry seasons of course made changes in the ease or difficulty of
traversing certain portions of the Trail. A
rainy month might make traveling heavy along the Narrows, east of Council Grove,
but rain in the desert might besprinkle the Journada with little ponds and bring
dried-up water courses to life."(ibid.#1;p.136)
July
4/Saturday:
Camp
No. 24. Pawnee Fork. What a disastrous celebration I have
today. The wagons left Pawnee Rock
some time before us, for I was anxious to see this wonderful curiosity.
We went up [on the rock] and while mi-alma [Magoffin] with his gun and
pistols kept watch, I cut my name among the many hundreds inscribed on the rock
and many of whom I knew. It was not
done well for fear of Indians made me tremble all over and I hurried it over in
any way.
The
wagons being some distance ahead we rode on to overtake them.
In an hours time we had driven some 6 miles, and at Ash Creek we came up
with them. No water in the creek
and the crossing pretty good only a tolerably steep bank on the
first side of it, all but two passed over, and as these were not up we drove on ahead of them to cross
first. The bank though a little
steep was smooth and there could be no difficulty in riding down it.
....we were whirled completely over with a perfect crash.
By 12:00 we reached this place 6 miles, when we found all the companies
which have come on before us, having been stopped by order of the Government.
After
reading this material I can only hope your interest is as great as mine.
Jim
Ryan
RYAN ASSOCIATES//ims
Plano, TX 75023
jmr@ryanims.com
September
7, 2000