A History of Kansas

by Anna E. Arnold

Old Santa Fe. Santa Fe, said to be the second oldest city in the United States, was the most important point on the northern frontier of Mexico. In those days it was not like the busy American Santa Fe of to-day. It had about two thousand inhabitants, practically all Spaniards, and they lived in little adobe houses arranged around a public square after the manner of Spanish cities.

Origin of the Santa Fe Trail. The “Great American Desert” lay between Santa Fe and the settlements of the western border of the United States. But Captain Pike’s interesting descriptions of the wealth and resources of the Spanish country stirred up enthusiasm, and Americans began to make their way across the plains to trade with the Spaniards. Santa Fe soon became an important trading point for all of northeastern Mexico. The traders, on their journeys to the Spanish city, wore a pathway that crossed the length of Kansas. This pathway came to be called the “Santa Fe Trail.”

Captain Becknell the First Trader. Although a few earlier trips were made, the trade with Santa Fe really began in the year 1822 with the journey of Captain Becknell, of Missouri. He had started out the year before to trade with the Indians, and had gone on with a party of Mexican rangers to Santa Fe where he sold his small supply of merchandise so profitably that he decided to try again on a larger scale. In 1822 he took about thirty men and five thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise. His success encouraged others, and a regular trade with Santa Fe was soon established.

Scenes in Early Santa Fe.

Left, a street scene. Upper right, an adobe house. Lower right, the old “Palace,” used by the Spanish and Mexican authorities as government headquarters for about two centuries. It was in this building that Pike was held prisoner.

Merchandise Carried on Pack Mules. For several years most of the transportation along the Trail was done with pack mules. A caravan of pack mules usually numbered from fifty to two hundred, each animal carrying about three hundred pounds of merchandise. From the earliest times the Mexicans had used pack mules as a means of transportation, and were skilled in handling them. For this reason the American traders usually employed Mexicans for the work of the pack train. The average rate of travel of a mule train was from twelve to fifteen miles a day. Since the Trail was nearly eight hundred miles long, fifty to sixty days were required for the trip.

Wagons Used on the Trail. Probably the first time that wagons were used was in 1824, when a company of traders left Missouri with twenty-five wagons and a train of pack mules. This experiment was so satisfactory that the use of wagons soon became general and mules were used less and less as pack animals.

The Traders and the Indians. Travel over the Santa Fe Trail rapidly increased, and the history of those days is filled with stories of exciting adventure, of danger, of privation, and of deeds of courage. The source of greatest danger and excitement was the Indians, for they did not take kindly to the white men’s use of their hunting grounds. For several years the traders crossed the plains in small parties, each man taking only two or three hundred dollars’ worth of goods, and they were seldom molested. But peace did not last long. The Indians soon learned more about the journeys of the traders and how to estimate the value of their stock. Also, many of the traders considered every Indian a deadly enemy and killed all that fell into their power simply because some wrong was known to have been committed by Indians. This treatment tended to stir up the hatred of the red men and to make them watch every opportunity for revenge.

An example of the enmity between the Indians and the traders may be seen in an occurrence of 1828. Two young men went to sleep on the bank of a stream a short distance from their caravan, and were fatally shot, it was supposed, with their own guns. When their comrades found them one was dead, and the other died by the time the caravan reached the Cimarron River, about forty miles farther on. During the simple burial ceremonies a party of six or seven Indians appeared on the other side of the river. It is probable that these Indians knew nothing of the crime committed or they would not have approached the white men. Some of the men took this view, but, against their advice, the others fired and killed all of the Indians but one, who escaped to carry the news to his tribe. The Indians of the wronged tribe then followed the caravan to the Arkansas River where they robbed the traders of nearly a thousand head of horses and mules. Other robberies and murders followed until it became necessary for the traders to petition the National Government for troops. The next year soldiers escorted the caravan nearly to the Cimarron River. Government protection was furnished again in 1834, and in 1843. In the other years the traders fought their own way, but the day of small parties was over. For mutual protection, the traders banded together. A single big caravan started out each spring as soon as the grass was sufficient to pasture their animals, and returned in the fall.