The Old Santa Fe Trail: The Story of a Great Highway

Many of the men of the border were blunt in manners, rude in speech, driven to the absolute liberty of the far West with better natures shattered and hopes blasted, to seek in t...

Immediately after Kit Carson, the second wreath of pioneer laurels, for bravery and prowess as an Indian fighter, and trapper, must be conceded to Richens Lacy Wooton, known fir...

The ancient range of the buffalo, according to history and tradition, once extended from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, embracing all that magnificent portion of North...

The principal settlement in New Mexico, immediately after it was reconquered from the Indians by the Spaniards, was, of course, Santa Fe, and ranking second to it, that of the b...

The initial opening of the trade with New Mexico from the Missouri River, as has been related, was not direct to Santa Fe. The limited number of pack-trains at first passed to t...

Of the famous men whose lives are so interwoven with the history of the Old Santa Fe Trail that the story of the great highway is largely made up of their individual exploits an...

Early in the spring of 1828, a company of young men residing in the vicinity of Franklin, Missouri, having heard related by a neighbour who had recently returned the wonderful s...

Almost immediately after the ratification of the purchase of New Mexico by the United States under the stipulations of the "Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty," the Utes, one of the most...

In the Rocky Mountains and on the great plains along the line of the Old Trail are many rude and widely separated graves. The sequestered little valleys, the lonely gulches, and...

In the spring of 1867, General Hancock, who then commanded the military division of the Missouri, with headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, organized an expedition against...

The tourist who to-day, in a palace car, surrounded by all the conveniences of our American railway service, commences his tour of the prairies at the Missouri River, enters cla...

That portion of the great central plains which radiates from Pawnee Rock, including the Big Bend of the Arkansas, thirteen miles distant, where that river makes a sudden sweep t...

On the summit of one of the highest plateaus bordering the Missouri River, surrounded by a rich expanse of foliage, lies Independence, the beautiful residence suburb of Kansas C...

Thirty-five miles before arriving at Bent's Fort, at which point the Old Trail crossed the Arkansas, the valley widens and the prairie falls toward the river in gentle undulatio...

In 1812 a Captain Becknell, who had been on a trading expedition to the country of the Comanches in the summer of 1811, and had done remarkably well, determined the next season...

One of the most interesting and picturesque regions of all New Mexico is the immense tract of nearly two million acres known as Maxwell's Ranch, through which the Old Trail ran,...

New Mexico, at the breaking out of the Civil War, was abandoned by the government at Washington, or at least so overlooked that the charge of neglect was merited. In the report...

The Santa Fe of the purely Mexican occupation, long before the days of New Mexico's acquisition by the United States, and the Santa Fe of to-day are so widely in contrast that i...

The famous Bent brothers, William, George, Robert, and Charles, were French-Canadian hunters and trappers, and had been employed almost from boyhood, in the early days of the bo...

As has been stated, until the year 1824 transportation across the plains was done by means of pack-mules, the art of properly loading which seems to be an intuitive attribute of...

In the beginning of the trade with New Mexico, the route across the great plains was directly west from the Missouri River to the mountains, thence south to Santa Fe by the circ...

INVASION OF THE RAILROAD. Scenery on the Line of the Old Santa Fe Trail--The Great Plains-- The Arkansas Valley--Over the Rocky Mountains into New Mexico-- The Raton Range--The...

Mexico declared war against the United States in April, 1846. In the following May, Congress passed an act authorizing the President to call into the field fifty thousand volunt...

The Wagon Mound, so called from its resemblance to a covered army-wagon, is a rocky mesa forty miles from Point of Rocks, westwardly. The stretch of the Trail from the latter to...

As early as November, 1842, a rumour was current in Santa Fe, and along the line of the Trail, that parties of Texans had left the Republic for the purpose of attacking and robb...

FIGHT WITH COMANCHES. Narrative of Bryant's Party of Santa Fe Traders--The First Wagon Expedition across the Plains--A Thrilling Story of Hardship and Physical Suffering--Terrib...

PAWNEE ROCK. Pawnee Rock--A Debatable Region of the Indian Tribes--The most Dangerous Point on the Central Plains in the Days of the Early Santa Fe Trade--Received its Name in a...

FOOLING STAGE ROBBERS. Wagon Mound--John L. Hatcher's Thrilling Adventure with Old Wolf, the War-chief of the Comanches--Incidents on the Trail--A Boy Bugler's Happy Escape from...

HANCOCK'S EXPEDITION. General Hancock's Expedition against the Plains Indians--Terrible Snow-storm at Fort Larned--Meeting with the Chiefs of the Dog-Soldiers--Bull Bear's Diplo...

MAXWELL'S RANCH. Maxwell's Ranch on the Old Santa Fe Trail--A Picturesque Region-- Maxwell a Trapper and Hunter with the American Fur Company-- Lifelong Comrade of Kit Carson--S...

A ROMANTIC TRAGEDY. The Expedition of Texans to the Old Santa Fe Trail for the Purpose of robbing Mexican Traders--Innocent Citizens of the United States suspected, arrested, an...

LA GLORIETA. Neglect of New Mexico by the United States Government--Intended Conquest of the Province--Conspiracy of Southern Leaders-- Surrender by General Twiggs to the Confed...

THE VALLEY OF TAOS. The Valley of Taos--First White Settler--Rebellion of the Mexicans --A Woman discovers and informs Colonel Price of the Conspiracy-- Assassination of Governo...

CHARLES BENT. The Tragedy in the Canyon of the Canadian--Dragoons follow the Trail of the Savages--Kit Carson, Dick Wooton, and Tom Tobin the Scouts of the Expedition--More than...

MEXICO DECLARES WAR. Mexico declares War against the United States--Congress authorizes the President to call for Fifty Thousand Volunteers--Organization of the Army of the West...

FIRST OVERLAND MAIL. Independence--Opening of Navigation on the Mississippi--Effect of Water Transportation upon the Trade--Establishment of Trading-forts-- Market for Cattle an...

TRAPPERS. The Old Pueblo Fort--A Celebrated Rendezvous--Its Inhabitants-- "Fontaine qui Bouille"--The Legend of its Origin--The Trappers of the Old Santa Fe Trail and the Rocky...

UNCLE JOHN SMITH. Uncle John Smith--A Famous Trapper, Guide, and Interpreter-- His Marriage with a Cheyenne Squaw--An Autocrat among the People of the Plains and Mountains--The...

THE BUFFALO. The Ancient Range of the Buffalo--Number slaughtered in Thirteen Years for their Robes alone--Buffalo Bones--Trains stopped by Vast Herds-- Custom of Old Hunters wh...

UNDER THE SPANIARDS. Quaint Descriptions of Old Santa Fe--The Famous Adobe Palace-- Santa Fe the Oldest Town in the United States--First Settlement-- Onate's Conquest--Revolt of...

BENT'S FORTS. The Bents' Several Forts--Famous Trading-posts--Rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Trappers--Castle William and Incidents connected with the Noted Place--Bartering w...

A DESPERATE RIDE. Solitary Graves along the Line of the Old Santa Fe Trail--The Walnut Crossing--Fort Zarah--The Graves on Hon. D. Heizer's Ranch on the Walnut--Troops stationed...

TRAINS AND PACKERS. The Atajo or Pack-train of Mules--Mexican Nomenclature of Paraphernalia--Manner of Packing--The "Bell-mare"--Toughness of Mules among Precipices--The Caravan...

EARLY TRADERS. Captain Becknell's Expedition--Sufferings from Thirst--Auguste Chouteau--Imprisonment of McKnight and Chambers--The Caches-- Stampeding Mules--First Military Esco...