The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-03-18

grant trekked the plains and mountain
denies in the years that followed they
Travelled paths that were laid out by these
early-day free lances.
Were the Trail-Blazers
Thus, when we consider the Louisiana
Purchase in the light of present day de-
velOpment, we cannot but appreciate the
Important bearing the free trapper and
trader have had upon the mOlding Of his
other section Of the country west Of the
Mississippi river was as common and rO-
mantle a setting on the stage whereOn was
enacted the drama of the earliest pioneer
era, than in the great southwest.
It was but a little more than a century
ago that there existed west of the MisSiS-
sippi river but one established and regu-
larry travelled route over which could be
conducted the fur trade, the sole CONNER
cial activity of the wilderness. This was
the famous Santa Fe Trail. Over this
route which was, in the years that fol-
lowed, to become a great highway of com
merce, the first trail-blaZer rode his peril
Gus way with a train of pack mules in
1904. 1t was not until 1924 that the first
wheeled vehicles creaked and groaned over
these slow and weary miles to the remote
markets of the southwest. During the long
decades in which fur traders sought to eX-
tend the of the United States
westward, this old Santa Fe Trail was an
almost continuous battlefield between the
Indians and the traders and settlers.
The Santa Fe Trail
In the beginning Of the trade with New
Mexico, the route of the Santa Fe Trail
across the great plains lay directly west
from the Missouri river to the Rocky noun
tains, thence south to Santa Fe by the cir
cuitOuS trail of Taos. When traffic as
sumed al Importance demanding a less
arduOuS course, the road was changed,
running along the left bank of the Arkan-
sas until that stream turned southwest, al
which point it crossed the river and turned
southwest to the Ration Pass. The Atchi-
son, Topeka and Santa Fe railway line sub
Stantially follows the trail through the
mountains, which here afford as wild and
as picturesquely beautiful scenery as is af-
lfOrded anywhere on the continent.
Crossing the plains Of the interior Of our
great American continent from the Mis-
souri, river to the Rocky mountains, was 9
very different undertaking one hundred
years ago, from what it is in these modern
times. In those days the route was almost
entirely UnexplOred. There existed no such
thing as a chart to guide the traveller
When first the country traversed by the
Santa Fe Trail was trekked by white
men, the bold adventures knew not where
they might find springs of water, where
there was forage for their animals or just
where they would enter the deserts desOla,
ton. FOrding places upon rivers had to be
sought out and dangerous rapid stream;
avoided.
A TreeIess Wilderness
The country traversed was for the mOst
part %treeless, save for the groves of cot
tonwOod and willow that bOrdered the
rivers. Immense herds of buffalo, some
times numbering ten to twenty thousand
grazed at will upon the rich and bOundlesl
pastures. Timid deer and great drOves o.
wild horses here luXuriated in a cOngenia
home. Blu very few white men then LIVED
whose eyes had scanned the contour of tn
Rocky mountains. Along the entire rOut
each Indian tribe had its own huntin,
grounds defined and marked out with con
siderable precision, beyond which the bold
est mon both rod and Whffn ranf1ro6 n
wander at the risk Of life.
Perhaps the first expedition to cross tn
country over the entire route from Santi
Fe to the Missouri river was the Spanisl
military force which was destroyed by tn
Missouri Indians in 1920. According t
Chittenden, the next was that of the Nal
let brothers, who IN 1879 set out with 81
companions en- route from the French SET
Elements On the Mississippi river to tn
Spanish settlements of New Mexico. Th
hrst expedition from the Missouri river [
Santa Fe was undertaken about 1853 b
French traders, whose efforts eliminated i
their being imprisoned, their goods bein
stolen.
La Lande Was First
The overland trade between the Unite
Estates and the northern provinces of Ne
Mexico seems to have had no definite origi
or well dehned plan. 1t is recorded tn;
a the French creole, La Lande, who was en-
l. plOyed by a Kaskaskia, Ill, merchant, W.
perhaps the second adventurer to enter Il
uncertain channels of cOmmere with Sam
re. ne DeBdu MS adventurous 1Ourne
d across the vast wilderness alone in Il
% spring OF 1904, and it is believed that
reached his destination safely. La Lane
. was followed the e year by James Pur
d ley, another trader. There is no recOl
that either of these trailblazers ever +
turned to describe their adventures.
III To Captain Zebulon Pike belongs Il
l. credit for establishing the impetus viii,
IF the Santa Fe trade received in its begi
:; nings- An expedition commanded nv IN
military leader departed from the shor
W of the Missouri river in 1906. bound f
the settlements Of New Mexico. It was 4
lv report that he made Of his travels and b
- enumeration of the commercial possibi
u ties and opportunities in the sOuthwe
that aroused widespread interest, and g
couraged numerous trade expeditions
that region.
IL Mexican Opposition
e. The Mexican authorities were bitter
10 antagOnistic to this American cOmmerC
- and the restrictions imposed by the Me-
IA can government proved a serious handle
T. TO all OF these enterprises which head
southwest. Not infreQuently did adve
m turers who participated in this hazardO
"a undertaking, have their entire stocks co
hscated, and they, themselves, were oft
imprisoned for months as spies. It "
N because Of this condition as well as I
activities Of the numerous tribes OF ht
OF tile Indians along the route, that MANY
at the expeditions prior to 1922 met with d
10 aster and loss Of life. And, It is true Il
within q dozen years after the first ride
had ridden Its perilOus course, the sar