"The Santa Fe Trail," and Other Poems

The SANTA FE TRAIL And Other Poems Joseph R. Wilson
By JOSEPH R. WILSON, LL.B.
International Printing Company Philadelphia 1921
Copyright 1921 By Joseph R. Wilson
TO MY WIFE

The early history of the Santa Fe Trail, which runs parallel with the Santa Fe Railroad for hundreds of miles, is somewhat obscured by mystery and tradition, but from historical data in possession of the Museum of New Mexico, at Santa Fe, it can be stated with a large degree of accuracy that the trail was started by Spanish explorers three hundred years ago.
The first known expedition by Americans over the trail was made by the Mallet brothers, who arrived in Santa Fe, July 22, 1739. The first trader to follow the trail reached Santa Fe in 1763. It was not until 1804 that LaLande, a trapper and hunter, crossed the trail and made Santa Fe that year. Kit Carson was one of those who struck the trail in 1826, when he was but sixteen years of age.
The camping stations along the trail at that time were Diamond Spring, Lost Spring, Cottonwood Creek, Turkey Creek, Cow Creek (now Hutchinson, Kansas), and further on was Pawnee Rock, a famous landmark of sandstone, twenty feet high.
From the year 1820 many caravans made their way over the trail to Santa Fe, then, as it is to-day, the seat of government. It was here in the old palace that some of the early governors had lived in a semi-royal state, maintaining a little court and body-guards whose lives were by no means a sinecure, since they were called upon to fight the Indians on many occasions.
These Indians developed great hostility to the white man, and caravans on the trail were so frequently attacked, and so many tragedies stained the trail with the blood of women and children, that in 1823, Colonel Viscarra, Jefè Politicio, of New Mexico, commanded a battalion of Mexican troops in protecting the caravans on the Santa Fe trail. His hand-full of men, and the predatory and blood-thirsty character of the Indians, made it impossible for him to protect any large part of the trail, and soldiers, traders and their families were massacred by overwhelming numbers, the victims including many women and children. The members of one caravan met their fate in sight of Santa Fe, forty-six days out from St. Louis.