The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-06
OLD DAYS ARE GONE IN THE WOOLY WEST Stories of the Red Santa Fe
 Trail RetoId M D DERN INNOVATIONS Story of Period When the Trail Was the Only Connecting Link Be-
 tween the East and the
 Pacific Slope.
M D DERN INNOVATIONS
BY j. MARVIN NICHOLS.


 The globe trotter returning 10 this coun- Try from the illimtable steppes of Russia, or from the terrible rgors of far-on Si- beria, comes with vivid recollections of those vast stretches of land Nor can he have less remembrance were he to pene- trate the mysterious interior of Africa. No less would a foreigner be impressed with the vast soctude of the west-the weary stretches of kansas praries, the far-away stretches of the Texas estaead- does, and the silent grandeurs of the Rockies Sc used have we become to the mighty west that in these days of com mercial conquest we have all but lost the real sense of its ancient meaning.
 Now the tourist rides in Pullman cars over the foothills. the lesser ranges and at last crosses the Great Divide. Over these highways he passes from the rigor- ous winds of Texas or Kansas blizzard, until he finds himself among the per fumes and enchanted valleys of the Pa cfc coast. One can hardly realize the transformation that has taken place in these few short years. Hitherto. lumber ing desert schooners, harassed by all the 
 along the dusty highways of the plains and lost their path amidst the solitudes-- the tortuous trails that led through the mighty canyons and along the dizzy preciplces of mountain trail These old trails of the pioneer west have a lin gering glory that refuses to fade.
 Up in the Raton Hills, in New Mexico, and within full view of the Snowy range. the Great Continental Divide, this story finds me now One can hardly imagine how one thought stamps it's image as the other flies. For this finds me at the old Clifton house, deep in the fastness or the Raton range the old stage house of the Santa Fe trail. This highway bore the traffic of the pioneers and the god- seekers out of the Mississippi valley to- ward the peaceful Pacific and the land of the golG.
 Around this now almost deserted camp the builders of the west have gathered in the times that are dim. Around the door once hung the chieftians of the plains, and the mountains that they might barter with the pale face fro mthe middle west How this old highway, thrown 1lp from Fort Leavenworth, Kan, on to Santa Fe, N M., dips back into the dis- tant past No student of history can doubt but that over this very trail, over 400 years ago. Cabeca de Naca led his venturesome Spanish explorers. Close on his heels came La Salle, De Soto, Mar. vaez and Coronado, with their followers seeking to pierce the solitudes that lay beyond the snow crowned, silent sentlnels of thep lans. Here and there they fell Unshrouded and unsung, these Spenlsh spirits offered their bodies to the rowing wolves and their bones to bleach on spots unmarked by shaft or slab.
 Around this same hearthstone the dar- ing scouts of former days gathered in bond of brotherhood such as the world has never known Here Lucien Maxwell Tim Bridger, old Bill Williams, Cody-oLr f"Buffalo ll,"-Custer, the Indian talner; Dick Wootton and Kit Carson, here, with all their matchess fearessness, these conquerors of the west have gathered. | shall never, forget the day spent with Mrs. Allen of Raton the only daughter of kit Carson, one of the foremost build CTS of the mighty west This hero died at Fort Lyon, Colo, in 1868, and his bones rest in the ancient cemetery at Taos on the trail near where l am to- night.
 There was, period when the Santa Fe trail was the only connecting link be- tween the east and the far west. AS one-of the old lingering trappers from tine hills said to me today "Capn there warn't nothin' in them days but the Santa Fe trail Iniins and varmints." The Varmints are here good and plenty, now. Only two nights ago q fellow on the bum pulled out of Raton to foot it over the range into Trinidad. twenty-hve miles away When he hit the santa Fe tunnel big mountain lion disputed the right Of way. My friend lost no time, for he had down-hil pull into Raton and plenty to keep him going, Ernest Seton Thompson got all the wolf material he wanted right here at Clayton, but fl Roosevelt is keen to hunt big game heres his paradise.
 Old Hebulon Pille-the man that Pikes Peak discovered in 1906 dhough they clain, he discovered the peal)-is the first man that interested the world in this highway Of the west At first tho trade went by Taos. the pueblo that hangs along the verge Of the Cmarron canyon second only to the Grand canyon of Arizona. the wonder of the world. In order to shorten distance they afterwards blazed a trail along the Arkansas river to point where it takes a northward course. There they crossed it, made an air line south for Raton pass and on to Santa Fe. Along this dangerous highway Undiscovered 1eamsters brought their ladened prairie schooners from Mississippi river ports into the far-away santa Fe country on scheduled time. And now, along this very trail, four great mountain railways have performed unthinlSable feats in civil engineering until in all the world there is no finer equipment to be found than right here where the throbhlng mogllls drag their string up these mountain ways
 For ages. centuries at least, the santa Ice trail was but the faintest trace hewn out by the hoofs Of patient burros mat packed their loads across the Great Di- vide Upon the discovery of gold along Pacific shores. the trail became the path of an enormous pilgrimage. In the days of the pack mule it did not take the rcd skins long to learn trick. As stub born and as patient as is the burro. vet he's a mighty tinnid beast. These bandits of the trail found out that all they had to do was to rattle buffalo hide. And when these rattling hides and yelling ln- dans poured out like painted devils from some canyon, those asses lost their bear ings. As a result pack, mule and all landed in the bosom of these mountain pirates.
 Among all the tribes south of the Ohio and west of the Mississippi none worked such awful havoc with the commerce of the trail as did the Comanches. Pawnees and Arapahoes As early as 1899 the gov ernment began to furnish troops to guard these caravans in their perilous pilgrim age through a country crammed with