We believe that time has location. I'm not advocating we change the system, I'm just saying it's an interesting way to think about things. It's made even more interesting in places like Fort Union, when you may be facing foward yet you're looking directly into the past. Fort Union was established in 1851 to protect settlers who were crossing half the country on the Santa Fe Trail. The Fort consisted of three different posts in the same area, built at different times and with different materials.
History leaves footprints in many different ways, but few seem as immediate as historical trails.
The Santa Fe Trail, one of many historical trails throughout New Mexico, is, in places, still plainly visible. The Trail stretched from Independence, Missouri, to the plaza in Santa Fe. It was the Route 66 of its day. Settlers and trade caravans traveled its dusty ruts toward the promise of a new life out West. The trail divided in two in Kansas, the branches relinking near Fort Union.