In 1825, Congress voted for federal protection for the Santa Fe Trail, even though much of it lay in the Mexican territory. Lack of food and water also made the trail very risky. Weather conditions, like huge lightning storms, gave the travelers even more difficulty.
Why was the Santa Fe Trail so dangerous?
In 1825, Congress voted federal protection for the Santa Fe Trail, even though much of it lay in the Mexican territory. Lack of food and water also made the trail very risky. Weather conditions, like huge lightning storms, gave the travelers even more difficulty.
What was the problem with trading with Santa Fe?
Traders and merchants in the area around St. Louis had been interested in trading with Santa Fe for years. The major problem was that the Spanish officials governing Santa Fe did not like the idea. Then in 1821, the Mexican people secured their independence from Spanish authorities.
What challenges did the pioneers face on the trail?
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.
How did Santa Fe get its pelts and hides?
These goods were provided largely by Santa Fe traders who, in turn, bought the pelts and hides from the trappers and hunters. In the 1840s, the population of the Taos Valley was estimated to be about 8,000 people.
What ended the Santa Fe Trail?
The End of the Santa Fe Trail, The Plaza. The Plaza in Santa Fe New Mexico marks the official western end of the Santa Fe Trail.
What was a major problem with the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail?
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.
What made the Santa Fe Trail obsolete Why?
By the 1850s the annual value of merchandise shipped over the trail exceeded $5 million. The trail served as a commercial artery until 1880, when the completion of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad made it obsolete.
How long did the Santa Fe Trail last?
60 yearsWhat is the Santa Fe Trail? The Santa Fe Trail was active for almost 60 years, from the 1820s until 1880. Its primary use was to haul commercial freight (and some travelers) back and forth between the Missouri River valley and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Most of this travel took place each spring.
Where did the Santa Fe Trail split?
The Santa Fe Trail can be broken into three major routes. From the beginning of the Trail in Old Franklin, Missouri to Dodge City, Kansas was the main route west. At Dodge City the Trail split into two other major routes. The Mountain Route continued west from Dodge City to La Junta, Colorado.
What made the Santa Fe Trail a popular and efficient route?
What made the Santa Fe Trail a popular and efficient route? The trail crossed the prairies to the Arkansas River and followed the river west toward the Rocky Mountains. The trail was mostly flat.
How was the Santa Fe Trail different from the other trails West?
The trails are different because the people that traveled on the Santa Fe Trail to travel back and forth between Santa Fe and America to buy and sell American factory goods, while the people that traveled on the California Trail stayed in California for a long while to find gold.
How did the Santa Fe Trail benefit the New Mexico territory?
How did the Santa Fe trail benefit the New Mexico Territory? The trail allowed settlers an access to New Mexico that was less dangerous as the previous trails. The trail helped to boost trade with the US, therefore boosting the economy. I️t was useful for traders and the military.
What was important about the Cimarron Cutoff?
The Cimarron Cutoff became the most popular road to Santa Fe in the early years of the trail as it avoided Raton Pass and was more suited to wagon travel. It was also shorter by over one hundred miles, and if a savvy trader could beat his competition to Santa Fe, that only meant more profit.
What was the Cimarron trail?
The Cimarron (“wild” in Spanish) Route or Road was the most favored route. It was approximately 770 miles long from Independence MO to Santa Fe NM and took an average of 62 days to cover by a typical wagon train – if everything went basically as planned.
What was the area of the Cimarron Cutoff known as Wagon Mound famous for?
Wagon Mound was the last major landmark on the Cimarron route and trail ruts lead both directions from there. In 1850 a party of 10 men accompanying the express mail wagon on the Cimarron route were killed by Jicarilla Apaches near Wagon Mound.
Where was the Cimarron trail?
The trail began or ended in Kansas City and most traffic used the Cimarron Route. Trail length from Kansas City to Santa Fe via the Cimarron Route = 788 miles.
What were the risks of hunting buffalo on the Santa Fe Trail?
At least that seems to be the case for most besides the professional hunters. Chasing buffalo, whether on foot or horseback, was full of risks. These would-be hunters often got lost; sometimes their horses would break their legs in a prairie dog hole; some encountered Indians. The latter ranged from peaceful and friendly to hostile and dangerous. At certain times of the year, the plains Indians were where the bison were.
What happened in the Santa Fe trade?
In the first years of the Santa Fe trade, some traders were attacked by Indians.
Why was Taos important to the Santa Fe trade?
Even so, it became important in the Santa Fe trade. Taos became a center for the so-called southern fur trade. Trappers and hunters who sought beaver pelts and the hides of other animals used Taos as a place to trade their harvests for new supplies.
What were the contributions of William Becknell to the Santa Fe trade?
William Becknell's party was the first to arrive in Santa Fe, in November, 1821. Becknell made three contributions to the Santa Fe trade. First, he found a workable trail (although Indians and Spanish had been using these pathways for years). Second, he received permission from Mexican authorities to trade in Santa Fe. Third, he made a lot of money. Encouraged by these things, Becknell took another trading party to Santa Fe in 1822. Many other would-be Santa Fe traders followed Becknell's path.
How did the wagon train travel to Santa Fe?
Most trading companies chose the Cimarron route. This route was about 100 miles shorter than the other route via Bent's Fort and Raton Pass. Travelers had to cross the Arkansas and move south until they met the Cimarron River. Following this river bed put travelers on the south-westerly course which they followed for a while, until they had to strike out across the desert toward Santa Fe.
Why did the Plains Indians leave Santa Fe?
Perhaps the most important reason plains Indians left Santa Fe travelers alone in the early years was that they devoted much more time to hunting buffalo than they did to warfare. Hunting buffalo brought great benefits at very little risk. Attacking Santa Fe travelers might bring great rewards (especially the manufactured goods they desired), but the risks were much higher. That was so, in part, because most Santa Fe traders assembled large wagon trains for greater protection. Over time, however, the resource base (bison) of the plains Indians began to decline. Grasses and wood resources along plains waterways also declined as Santa Fe travelers and their stock used up these resources. As the Indians' resource based declined, they turned to trading with, requesting presents from, and attacking the wagon trains.
What did the Mexican authorities do in Santa Fe?
For one thing, the Mexican authorities imposed taxes on American goods. Even so, American traders soon began sending wagons full of goods to trade in Santa Fe.
Why was the Santa Fe Trail important?
The trail also became an important route for stagecoach travel, stagecoach mail delivery and as a mail route for the famed Pony Express. As the Union Pacific Railroad expanded west, it was clear the Santa Fe Trail’s days were numbered.
What was the Santa Fe Trail?
Contents. The Santa Fe Trail was America’s first commercial highway. Traders established the trail—which connected Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico and covered some 900 miles of the Great Plains—in 1821. Before its demise due to the completion of the Santa Fe railroad, the Santa Fe Trail served as a thoroughfare for countless traders, ...
What river did Becknell follow to Santa Fe?
Becknell’s initial path to Santa Fe became known as the Mountain Route. It followed the Arkansas River to the Colorado Plains to the Purgatoire River and across the narrow, treacherous Raton Mountain Pass into Santa Fe.
What was Bent's new fort?
Bent’s New Fort was a trading post and a meeting place for Indian tribes and government officials. It also became a destination for military men navigating the growing discord between whites and Plains Indians and the peacemakers trying to keep the conflict from escalating.
What wagons could not compete with trains?
Mule and oxen-drawn wagons couldn’t compete with trains for hauling freight or speeding passengers westward. On February 9, 1880 a Santa Fe Railway Company train arrived with considerable fanfare at the Santa Fe railroad depot and effectively ended the Santa Fe Trail.
Where did the Santa Fe Trail take place?
For centuries prior to the Santa Fe Trail, trade took place between the Great Plains Indians and early settlers of the Texas panhandle. As trade routes expanded along the Rio Grande, commerce inevitably reached the Spanish colonists of New Mexico—but Spain had declared trade with Native Americans illegal.
When was Bent's Fort abandoned?
When disease and adversity struck Bent’s Fort in 1849, Bent and company abandoned it (and later destroyed it), and in 1853 built a new trading post called Bent’s New Fort on a bluff further downriver at Big Timbers. Bent’s Old Fort was rebuilt in the 1970s as a National Historic Site.
Why did the Santa Fe trade begin?
Due to the opening of trade relations between the United States and Mexico and the extreme profits from Becknell’ s first successful trade expedition, other expeditions were organized almost immediately, and the Santa Fe trade was initiated. Becknell set off on his second trading mission with 21 men and three wagons, embarking from Franklin, Missouri on May 22, 1822. Another trading party, led by John Heath, left after Becknell but soon caught up with his entourage, so they traveled together to Santa Fe. Some scholars contend that this expedition signaled the first transportation of goods to Mexico that was intended for civilian, not American Indian, trade. This was the first American attempt to use wagons in crossing the plains since Becknell’s first trip utilized only pack animals. The use of wagons required the party to adopt a trail route that avoided the mountains; this new route partially followed what became the Cimarron Route. Although more strenuous due to the scarcity of water between the Arkansas and Cimarron Rivers, the Cimarron Route was shorter and much less rugged than the later Mountain Route through Raton Pass. Wagons could easily traverse the new route, where scaling the Mountain Route proved treacherous. On his 1822 journey, Becknell and party crossed the Arkansas River in Rice County, Kansas then followed the south side of the river for eight days before heading southwest into Spanish country. Employing the Cimarron Route also meant the crossing of La Jornada (Spanish term meaning “the journey”), a 60-mile waterless portion of the route where high temperatures usually prevailed. Josiah Gregg, author of the book Commerce of the Prairies, suggested that Becknell’s second expedition was closest to failure on this portion of the Santa Fe Trail; Gregg’s father, Harmon, was a member of Becknell’s expedition. By late July 1822, Becknell was in San Miguel, New Mexico. After continuing on to Santa Fe, he returned to Franklin, Missouri in October 1822. Becknell’s second trading party brought $3000 worth of trade goods to Santa Fe, and the party enjoyed the rewards of a 2000 percent profit on their investment. The demand for American and European goods was emphasized by the instance of Becknell and others selling even their wagons, worth $150, for $700. The profits derived by Becknell from this trip went a long way toward pacifying his creditors back in Franklin.
Why was the Mountain Route so difficult to traverse?
The Mountain Route was more difficult to traverse due to its mountainous terrain that led wagon trains through Cheyenne, Arapaho, Ute, Kiowa, Comanche, and Jicarilla Apache territories.
Why did Storrs want to be consul in Santa Fe?
Storrs believed that US agents stationed in Santa Fe and Chihuahua could protect traders from the greed and unpredictability of New Mexican officials. Augustus Storrs himself was appointed US consul in Santa Fe in 1825. The duty was thought by the traders to have been arbitrarily imposed by the Governor of New Mexico and not legally by the Mexican government. However, the Mexican government also had imposed a series of arbitrary and oppressive taxes and regulations on the Santa Fe trade. Santa Fe, Taos, and San Miguel del Vado each had a customs house, though Santa Fe remained the true port of entry. Although manifests and records were kept of the goods passing through these customs houses and of the taxes levied and paid, graft and corruption were major problems. A very small amount of the revenue, which should have been paid to the government, actually found its way into the Mexican treasury.
What was the purpose of the Expedition of William Becknell?
The stated purpose of the proposed expedition was the trading of horses and mules, presumably with the Indians, and the catching of wild animals. Members of the expedition were to provide their own equipment and an equal part of the capital for the trade. The men met and elected Becknell to lead their expedition. The August 14, 1821 edition of the Missouri Intelligencer reported that 17 men assembled at Ezekiel Williams’ cabin and set September 1, 1821, for the party to cross the Missouri River at the Arrow Rock ferry. Still contested is whether Becknell anticipated the opening of the Mexican border to legal trade or whether he was the benefactor of circumstance, having originally intended to trade with American Indians. Becknell would have been aware of the Mexican declaration of independence in February 1821 and the Mexican revolt against the Spanish prior to his departure. Not until September 27, 1821, however, did Mexico legally divorce Spain, yet the Becknell party crossed the Missouri River above Franklin and departed from the natural landmark known as Arrow Rock on September 1, 1821, as planned.
How much did Becknell's second trading party bring to Santa Fe?
Becknell’s second trading party brought $3000 worth of trade goods to Santa Fe, and the party enjoyed the rewards of a 2000 percent profit on their investment. The demand for American and European goods was emphasized by the instance of Becknell and others selling even their wagons, worth $150, for $700.
How many people lived in Santa Fe in 1821?
The church was the center of cultural life in the town and the educational system was poorly developed. By 1821, approximately 5,000 people lived in Santa Fe. For the next 25 years, this town grew into the major western terminus for international trade along the Santa Fe Trail.
When did Becknell arrive in Santa Fe?
Becknell’s timing was advantageous – he and his trading party arrived in Santa Fe on November 16, 1821. Their trade goods, including calicoes and domestic printed cloth, sold at high prices in the isolated Mexican outpost.
