The Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was the country's first important transcontinental trade route. Unlike the Oregon Trail and the California Trail, it was not the way west for families in covered wagons looking to settle the frontier. The Santa Fe Trail was basically a trade route over which goods, services, and ideas were exchanged between New Mexico and other regions to the east.
The route to the Southwest that we know as the Santa Fe Trail started with William Becknell in the fall of 1821. Becknell left Franklin, Missouri, with the goal of making money from trade in Santa Fe. Many Americans before Becknell had tried-but with no success. New Mexico was Spanish territory, and Spain did not allow foreign traders. The Spanish had already arrested many traders. Some were taken to Mexico City where they were thrown in jail.
Yet luck was with Becknell that fall. Mexico had just fought a successful war for independence from Spain. Independence was achieved in August of 1821. Santa Fe was now in the newly independent country of Mexico. The Mexicans were eager to open trade between Santa Fe and the United States. Becknell sold the items he brought to Santa Fe, and went back home with leather pouches full of silver coins. Many people were suddenly interested in the Santa Fe trade. By 1825, there was a brisk trade along the trail between Santa Fe and points to the east. Traders from Santa Fe and Albuquerque also began to travel over the trail. They brought back goods from as far away as New York and even Europe to sell in Sarita Fe.
The Santa Fe Trail's main route stretched from central Missouri to southwestern Kansas. The trail split at the Kansas town of Cimarron. The northern Mountain Route offered dependable supplies of water. But it was longer and wagons had to struggle through a high mountain plass. The Cimarron Route was shorter and had no mountain barriers. But it passed through a more arid region where water was scarce.
From 1821 to 1846, both Mexican and American traders used the trail freely. When the Mexican-American war broke out in 1846, US soldiers used the Santa Fe Trail as an invasion route. The United States sent soldiers and supplies to Santa Fe and the rest of the Southwest along the trail.
After the war ended in 1848, New Mexico became an American territory. The trail became a route for Americans in the East to trade with the sparsely settled new territories of the Southwest. Trade boomed. In 1843, trade totaled about $450,000. By 1855, the trade was worth $5 million.
Eventually the railroads made the trail unnecessary. Rail cars could carry more goods than mule-drawn wagons. By 1860, two rail lines had been laid across Kansas to the border of Colorado. In 1879, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad crossed the mountains and reached Las Vegas, New Mexico. The railroad stretched to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1880, bringing the need for the Santa Fe Trail to an end.
The Santa Fe Trail was a major trade route for almost 60 years. Yet it had a much more longstanding effect on the United States. It was a highway that moved goods and people. But it was also a route of cultural exchange. For the first time, US citizens were exposed to the Hispanic and American Indian cultures of the Southwest. These cultures then became part of the fabric of the United States.
After reading answer the question, What occurred on the Santa Fe Trail after the Mexican War? What impact did the Santa Fe Trail have on commerce and the building of the West? 2-3 sentences