Mountain men and muzzle-loaders, trail towns and tepees - includes related article on guided tour of the Santa Fe Trail

Sunset, May, 1988

Mountain men and muzzle-loaders, trail towns and tepees

There's romance still to arriving at Santa Fe's Plaza by street signs that announce "Old Santa Fe Trail." In the shaded plaza, a stone monument marks the end of the trail. The old roads still join there (they're paved now), the Palace of the Governors has seen many coats of white-wash but still welcomes visitors, and the La Fonda Hotel, though rebuilt, stands as a refuge at trail's end, as it did when William Becknell and ofur companions launched trade with the U.S. along this trail in 1821.

Much more in Santa Fe remains from the 59-year trail era (1821 to 1880) that made Santa Fe a commercial center and secured its role in settlement of the Southwest. In fact, many historians believe it was trail trade that caused Santa Fe, a Mexican frontier capital, to surrender to the U.S. Army without firing a shot in 1846 during the Mexican-American war.

The drama of the trail and what it means today seems certain to linger. Congress last year added its entire 950-mile route-from Franklin, Missouri, to the Plaza in Santa Fe--to our National Historic Trails System, only the fifth trail to be so distinguished.

Now the Park Service is surveying the route, much of it privately held. Some stretches still show rut marks. Within a few years, new markers will locate

many points of historical interest for present-day travelers.

The highways shown on our map on page 75 closely parallel much of the trail. Towns and old forts along the way are beefing up their summer celebrations. A visit to New Mexico or southeast Colorado this spring or summer can easily bring you to dramatic remainders of bygone days and to events that can make trail days come to life again (see box on page 78).

For example, Las Vegas (we mean the sleepy town in New Mexico, not the bustling entertainment hub of Nevada) and Fort Union can be visited in one hurried day from Santa Fe. Cimarron's a long day's round trip from Taos. If you can, plan to stay overnight or dine at historic hotels in these old towns.

Much of the area is high plans or pine country, so summer days will be in the 80s to 90s; nights could drop to the 40s or less. As your state maps will show, national forests are fairly close for camping.

The most current guide to the trail-erasites along the entire route is Following the Santa Fe Trail, a Guide for Modern Travelers, by Marc Simmons (Ancient City Press, Box 5401, Santa Fe 87502, 1986; $11.95 plus $1.25 shipping).

A new era for Santa Fe and the Southwest, under Mexico's flag

James Monroe was president, and soldiers who had fought for independence with George Washington were still alive in 1821 when William Becknell, a desperately in-debt Missouri farmer, saddled up a few horses and headed for Santa Fe, then a Mexican frontier capital.

Next spring, on his second journey, Becknell was the first ever to cross the plains. With 21 men and three freight wagons, he pioneered a route 100 miles shorter, avoiding the mountains. The trade-off for taking the Cimarron Cutoff was a dreaded 50-mile march across waterless desert, and vulnerability to Comanche and Kiowa attacks. But the Mountain Branch was nearly impassable to wagons, which could only inch over Raton Pass.

Along both routes, trade with Santa Fe, long forbidden under Spanish rule, blossomed from the Mexican connection.

It was no easy task. Creaking along for two months, at some 15 miles a day, the wagons were literally stores on wheels, bringing to the Mexican frontier everything from cotton, fabrics, fired brick, porcelain bathrubs, and knickknacks to canned oysters and peaches. Savvy Mexican traders soon took advantage of the routes to send Mexican mules, silver, and furs to Eastern markets.

In Santa Fe, the adobe town known for its hospitality, liquor, gambling, and women, goods were reloaded for trips south to Chihuahua or west to California.

The trail remained international until 1846, afrter the outbreak of the Mexican War, when President James K. Polk ordered Col. (soon Gen.) Stephen W. Kearny to invade New Mexco. From Bent's Fort, he marched unopposed into the Santa Fe plaza on August 18, 1846, establishing American rule over the entire route.

"The Santa Fe Trail Passes into Oblivion," heralded the Santa Fe Gazette in 1880, with the arrival of the first Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe train in Lamy, 17 miles from Santa Fe. (Today's Amtrak still stops daily in Las Vegas and Lamy, en route to Chicago or Los Angeles.)

For a copy of a self-guided walking tour of 17 trail-era sites still visible in Santa Fe, send $1 and a stamped, self-addressed business-size envelope to Santa Fe Trail Association, Rancho de los Cuervos, Tano Rd., Route 4, Box 240, Santa Fe 87501.

Las Vegas: 90 historic buildings; hot springs and ice cream cones

Sixty-five miles east of Santa Fe, Las Vegas ("the meadows") was founded in 1835 by 35 families on a Mexican land grant with views of both the Rockies and the high plains. The community quickly became important and remained so through the early railroad decades. By 1900, Las Vegas had become the largest, most prosperous city in New Mexico.