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Show tO eee rkao es . Ls "s ‘ 7 Geka at. LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY OLD SANTA FE TRAIL 119 * Pee Od 4 Pee ee v- 7 ® + —tad | Cea ee i-b-4—4- hteheiene ee Paar a ae Sar Sa 1 | ae @ os « ra er a a © ae ee een ie on a ek #--8--§--9a & +a el eI oF¥ +. ok onl PA toby bet O50 9 p Ot > ee ad eae Se ee | re ee as i 118 While it is true that the line of the old trail was as has been described, this was not the only route to Santa Fé, nor was this particular one strictly followed. It was the custom for many parties to go by way of Taos. Some of the more important and prominent merchants had regular establishments at Taos, among others, Dr. David Waldo, of Independence, Missouri. Many parties did not rendezvous at Council Grove nor did they go to Independence at all, but followed the Arkansas river from Fort Smith or Little Rock. In the year 1839 Gregg left Van Buren, Arkansas, and followed the Canadian river until he struck the old trail; returning he kept still more to the south. The native people of New Mexico, after the trade began to be developed, were eager to assist in protecting the caravans. This interest in the trade extended also to the merchants of Chihuahua, and in 1825, Don Manuel Escudero, who was the first Mexican to take a caravaD over the trail, was commissioned by the governor of New Mexico, Captain Bartolomé Baca, to visit the United States in the interest of the international commerce. He visited St. Louis and Washington, and also Franklin, Missouri. During the administration of Governor Baca, it was announced that New Mexico propose d marching to the Missouri river with 1,500 men in the interest of the trade NEW MEXICANS ENGAGE IN THE OVERLAND TRADE and particularly for the pacification of the Indian tribes. In the year that the trail] was surveyed Dr. Willard went from St. Charles, Mo., with a caravan to Santa Fé and thence to Chi- huahua, and during the years that followed, from 1827 to 1843, Mr. Collins, afterwards superintendent of Indian affairs in New Mexico, thade many trips through to Chihuahua, as did also Dr. David Waldo and many others, ‘‘ Attempts to sim plify the problem of transportation,’’ says Chittenden, ‘‘led to numerous absurd schemes. One man secured 4 concession gi ving him the exclusive right to navigate the Rio See mace am putesves Arkansas a to secure from the Indians the right of undisturbed pas tl eir lands, and that it would establish a military post 02 the getically a : point where the Trail crossed it. The subject was ener fare session of congress and resulted in an appropt# tion of dat a Souri frontier to New oars for marking the line of the road from the Mis ing concessions from the Thiers ne of twenty thousand dollars for secu! Grande, and doubtless imagined that a vast fortune would fall to him when his boats should carry merchandise to Santa Fé along that dusty stream, and put to rout the antiquated caravans of the plains. Another party made an importunate appeal to Congress to remove the ‘raft’ in Red river, for if this obstruction could be removed, of the practicability of which he said there could be no doubt, the ‘Red river will then become navigable for steamboats of moderate size to within sixty miles of Santa Fé, whence it will be easy to go in barges twenty-four leagues farther,’ or twelve miles beyond Santa Fé!’’ The revolution of 1837 as the property of some did some injury to the trade, inasmuch of the richest New Mexicans was confis- cated. The results of the Texas-Santa Fé expedition and the Texas raids immediately following, as we have seen, closed the port of entry at Taos, but the decree of Santa Ana was repealed almost before it had gone into effect, so that the trade in 1844-1846 was as large as ever.®® From the year 1838, as has been stated, there was a great deal of interest in the trade among the people of Missouri. Efforts were made by the legislature of that state, the gov- BENT’S FORT ernor, by chambers of commerce, through their representatives in congress, to secure a custom house on the Missouri river. Nothing, however, was ever done, except the final passage of an act in 1845, one year before the breaking out of the war with Mexico. leans with In 1839, an attempt was made by the Mex- the aid of Henry 86 Chittenden, H. M., History Connelly, afterward governor of New of the American Fur Trade, p. 513: ene trade pursued the even tenor of its course during these years with little of Incident or note except the never ending troubles at the custom house. But the situation of affairs, as regarded the provincial government, became less and less satisfactory. Mexico Jealousy that had been regime. From their was falling into the same habit of suspicion and for this so fatal to commercial intercourse during the Spanish point of view there may have been some cause ‘eeling. The onward march of American settlement they conceived to be fraught Already danger to their own authority in the northern provinees. mut nexas great was as good as lost and the same might soon prove true of New Mexico. eer was consequently a growing opposition among the Santa Fé authorities 0 a Continuance M The of the trade, although ephemeral insurrection of it was always 1837, which for popular with a short time the people. subverted , .1¢an authority, bore hard on the American traders, for they were suspected hough apparently without foundation, of complicity in this movement. The Various Texas-Santa Fé expeditions, so injudiciously managed, were another os annoyance to the trade; for here again the authorities believed that the The lamentable tragedies . ders were privy to the plans of the Texans. which they gave rise burned deeply into the publie mind in the United |