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

Plot

From 1610 to the 1860s the Santa Fe Trail, which ran from Missouri and Kansas to New Mexico, was a principal artery to and from the Southwest. Drawing from letters, journals, expedition reports, and newspaper articles, David Dary opens a window into the lives of the people who forged this trail and opened commerce with Spanish America. These firsthand accounts from Native Americans, mountain men, traders, trappers, freighters, surveyors, and soldiers reveal the spectacular details of life on the trail-from the early years when trade was controlled by the Spanish to the gradual establishment of towns that brought new prosperity and the advent of the railroads that changed an entire way of life.