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Show Se] - : Ba ee ow say Sl a ee ee ee bd ed Ae ee eh Pe ee a eee tal Se ee - ed ee2 * SF ee a bel nd Cd *-.-# bs Pt ee oe oe* Se af et ee et et Pe Pia aT et ll ee eee ead ak hes aed on | * oh itd hl tal ne tad pkee ,ees * ol eal would undoubtedly have perished had not a buffalo, fresh from the Cimarron, with stomach distended with water, been discovered by some of the party. The animal was quickly despatched and the water taken from his stomach served to revive the unfortunate men. ‘Thus revived, some of the strongest men in the party now reached the Cimarron, where they filled their canteens, hurrying back to the assistance of their weaker comrades whom they found prostrate and incapable of further exertion. It has been declared by some that Captain Becknell failed to cross the desert on this trip, but there is no doubt of his having experienced the privations mentioned, and that he finally succeeded in crossing to Santa Fé by way of San Miguel, and not by way of Taos, as Dr. Gregg has stated.” It may be said that the Santa Fé trade became firmly established when Mexico achieved its independence. All opposition from the authorities of New Mexico ceased at this time and a profit- able market was assured for all goods coming from the United States. The eastern rendezvous was Franklin down to 1831, and later, Independence, Missouri. From this point 77 in May of each year eT Le iniaetn 8-2 me, & ig Tk &.>- Ef § ¢ aol aae ator et ee or taka le oi 6¢ Phe (tie 105 e-—# Sed Pa ee - o- t—— eee te oe AAAS OLD SANTA FE TRAIL 76 Chittenden, H. M., History of the American Fur Trade, p- 504 and note: 0 William Becknell, therefore, belongs the credit of having made the first regular trading expedition from the Missouri to Santa Fé; of being the first to follow the route direct to San Miguel instead of by way of Taos; and the first to introduce the use of wagons in the trade. This last achievement was four years before Ashley took his wheeled cannon to the Salt Lake valley, eight years before Smith, Jackson and Sublette took wagons to Wind river, and ten years before Bonneville took them to Green river. The evidence on this point is conclusive. leave the wagon [road] See Journal of Jacob Fowler, p. 167: ‘We have we fell into two days back, which road was made Becknell and his party on their way to the Becknell himself in a letter July Ist, 1822. This Spanish settlements.’ written in 1825 referred to to by was this year as the time ‘when I opened the road to Santa Fé.’ The Missouri Intel‘But one wagon has ever gone from this ligencer, February 18, 1823, says: in State to Santa Fé and that was taken by Captain William Becknell . . . the early part of last spring, and sold there for $700, which cost here $150. This might mean that Becknell lost two wagons on the way, but Becknell’s journal indicates that he took all the wagons through. Niles’ Register mistakenly refers to Cooper as having taken the three wagons to Santa Fé, ‘to the steat astonishment of the people.’ It was, of course, Becknell. Gregg, usually SO accurate, evidently errs in saying that Becknell was defeated 1n his efforts to "2088 the Cimarron desert, and had to return to the Arkansas and go by, way of Taos. Becknell ’s journal makes it plain that he crossed the desert. Ody. Bs Chick, who came to Westport, Mo., in 1836, and who lived there in 1843, in Speaking of the eastern terminus of the Santa Fé Trail in his day, says that after the trail from Ft. Osage (Sibley, Mo.) was abandoned, Blue ils Landing, or Owen’s Landing (it was called by both names) was the Starting point’ from the Missouri river. Very little, if any, of the goods |