The Anaconda standard., 1890-08-03
~ HE Santa Fe trail! What tales of
romance and adventure, extend.

ters OF q century anu embracing eNpert-
ences whose recital has thrilled the hearts
OF a generation born since the early act
ors have disappeared from the stage, are
awakened by that name. The long and
toilsome Journey across great deserts and
almost untrodden plains, the danger from
the lurking savage, the countless herds OF
buffalo which appeared in sight from day
to day and which furnished food for the
hardy freighters, the "prairie schooner"
with its load of merchandise or human
freight from which the civilization of the
southwest has sprung, arise in rapid sue
cession before the mind as this subject is
presented. Merchants, trappers, hunters,
soldiers, gold seekers, tourists and entire
families and communities on their way
TO the mountains or across the great di-
vide to the golden sands of California,
formed portions of that moving pano-
rama whose counterpart cannot now be
seen in any country of the world. Great
bodies of men, mules. horses and oxen
traversed the dimly defined path which
for 80 years was the principal road To the
mountains.
Could the true history of the Santa Fe
trail he written il would need no embel-
lishment TO make il of the most absorbing
interest for the facts i'm those days were
often stranger than fiction. II was on this
trail that +. Y. Aubrey performed the
greatest physical achievement recorded
i'm the annals of the West by his ride of
800 miles from the plaza at Santa Fe TO
the public square of Independence, Mo-,
the entire distance being completed i'm
8 days and ~ hours.
General Fremont pursued this route in
his early expeditions of discovery and
Kit Carson, Jim Bridgcr and the early
fur traders followed the Santa Fe trail on
their journeys to and from the settlements
on the Missouri river, where supplies of
all kinds were obtained. Ii was over this
road that Captain John A. Sutter found
his way To Santa Fe in 1898, and thence
two years later To the Pacific coast,
where. after various adventures, he inn
mortalized his name by the discovery of
gold while enla rging saw mill race in
February, lS4S. The discovery brought
him disaster as gold hunters pre-empted
his land and had II not been for AN an
nual pension of 5000 his old age would
have been passed in poverty. Captrin
Sutter retired to Pennsylvania in 1873,
where he died i'm 1880 at the age of -
years. The gold fever was the phenome-
non of the age.
II is estimated that $1,000 adventures
crossed to the Coast during the first three
years of the excitement. In 1858 the prod
ucts of the California mines reached
S65.0O0.O0O.
When it is considered that there are
men still living who had charge of cara
vans across the plains before Denver was
thought of, and the entire country west of
the Missouri river was occupied only by
wild animals, savages and Indian traders,
il appears almost incrediable. The de-
yelopment OF the West is one OF the re-
markable events of the century, and il
was over the old Sante Fe trail that this
grand result has been largely accom-
plished.
As the name indicates. the Sante Fe
trail was not carefully built modern
highway with macadamized roadbed and
bridges constructed under the direction
of skilled engineers. For many years
there was not single bridge throughout
its entire length, and rivers and water
courses were crossed by heavily loaded
wagons only with the greatest difficulty
and danger. The trail was laid out in
such way as to afford camping places
at such places where water could be OBJ
tanned, the longest distance between any
two camps being from the Arkansas Ia
the Cimarron river, n journey of 80 miles
across a sandy desert totally devoid of
vegetation. Thousands of animals per-
ished i'm the attempt to compass this dis
tances as a regular days jurney with oxen
was often not more than 10 or Ii
miles L reauired from 70 to
"
accomplish the trip from Independence 10
Santa Fe, the ground rising impercepti.
bly, for 800 miles until the caravans rested
in the cooling shades of the sleepy old
town of Santa Fe. The return Journey
was made i'm two-thirds of the time. as the
wagons were empty and the drivers were
anxious 10 catch a glimpse of civilization
after roughing il for months ON the
plains.
According TO reliable history the frs,
white man to traverse the rainless, tree,
less waste across which the Santa Fe trail
afterwards led was the grim old Spaniard
Coronado, who led gold hunting expedi
ton in l540-l5i2 from Old Mexico into
northeastern Kansas, and stopped not un
Ill he stopped on the bank of the Missouri
river. Coronado returned TO Mexico after
suffering incredible hardships, leaving the
bones OF many of his command To bleacl
i'm the sun. His dream of fortune was
neveral realized, and II was not until after
Captain Pike sauntered through the val
ley Of the Arkansas i'm 1906 that the atten
ton of the east was attracted TO this re
gion. Pike was the first American touris
to visit Manitou. but,as has been observes
10y a historian of Colorado, he failed e
discover the famous springs or the monu
ment rocks in the Garden Of the Gods. Ht
did not even ascend the peak which u,
took the liberty of christening. Lik,
many another tenderfoot lie took th'
wrong direction and emerged on "A noun
tain fifteen miles distant from the peal
proper. Pixies graphic account Of hii
wanderings aroused the interest OF :
party of Missouri traders and in Isl.
Messrs. Mcknight. Beard, Chambers ans
"A dozen others followed the directions
laid down by Pike and after travelling al
spring and summer arrived at Santa fe
Here they were seized as spies from th,
states and thrown into prison, two Of tb,
party escaping aud arriving at their ole
homes nine years later. Nothing daunte,
by the discouraging story a merchan
named Glenn pursued tae Arkansas val
ley route in in 1921. aud arrived safe a
santa Fe about the close of the year. IA.
..Id ,,,,t his small stock nj "A ur,sat prnut