The Santé Fe Trail By Daniel Steele

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The Santé Fe Trail started from Independence Missouri, and ends 1200 miles later in Santé Fe, New Mexico, and the trail goes through 5 states.

 Before 1821, early American explorers and mountain men made the trip to Santé Fe on horseback with small strings of pack horses.  Their route followed a winding path of Native American trails.  As Santé Fe, in this time was not part of the U.S. territory, open trading was forbidden but, a few goods were smuggled in secretly.

 In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain and trade barriers were removed.  In 1821, William Becknell traveled from Missouri to open trading between the U.S. and Mexico, in Santé Fe.  In the next 20 years, about 8 0 wagons and 150 people traveled the trail each year.  The Mexican American war ended in 1846, and Santé Fe became part of the U.S. territory.

 There was serious danger of Native American attacks for the Comanches and Apaches did not tolerate trespassers.  Lack of food and water made the trail risky.  Weather conditions, especially huge lightning storms, were difficult because there was no where to take cover from the storms.  Rattle snakes were a threat as many people died of snake bites.  Another hardship they faced on the trail was quick sand.

 Fort Lerned  Cimarron Cutoff  Independence, Missouri  Santé Fe, New Mexico  Bent’s Fort

1. Independence, Missouri 2. Fort Lerned 3. Cimarron Cutoff 4. Bent’s Fort 5. Santé Fe, New Mexico

 The Santé Fe trail enabled U.S. soldiers to fight in the Mexican American war in 1847 which resulted in the South Western portion of the country, becoming a U.S. territory.  This enabled the United States to go from the Atlantic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean and help achieve manifest destiny.  U.S. expansion meant the ultimate removal of the Native American’s land and their way of life being destroyed.