The Santa Fe Trail: Its History, Legends, and Lore Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a very thoroughly researched book that tells the tale of the trail -- A commercial trail that linked the American frontier in Missouri with Spanish founded Santa Fe and points south.
The author tells the story from the time of Spanish settlement of Santa Fe through it's abandonment in the wake of the railroad. In its hay-day, the trail linked first two cultures and then the disparate parts of the western United States. The linkage was tenuous and strenuous. Traders took first pack mules then wagon trains through several hundred miles of prairie -- some of it bereft of water and all of it through Indian country.
This book mostly tells how trade bloomed along the trail from the 1820's through the 1860's. This economic detail is well fleshed out by the stories of the many characters that plied the trail or supported its existence. Interesting incidents and first person accounts are liberally strewn throughout the work and give this book its appeal -- otherwise it would be a subject as dry as the short fork to Santa Fe.
I was left with a sense of wonder at the risks these traders and travelers took -- particularly the early ones. Around 1810 -1820, most Americans who reached Santa Fe were rounded up and jailed -- some for five to eight years. Even in the era when the vast majority of early trail blazers failed to return to Missouri, there were always new would- be entrepreneurs ready to set out the next season. Such was the spirit of pioneering Americans and the lure of riches. Even after Spain/Mexico decided to welcome Americans in trade, there remained fairly high chances of succumbing to Indians, weather, or lack of water. The incredible perseverance and relentless pursuit of this open trade route is remarkable -- particularly to a reader of our era.
Although the subject is somewhat dry -- this is a story about economics and transportation -- the author does an admirable job of using interesting characters and stories from the trail to enliven the work.

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