The Santa Fe Trail

by Dary, David (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780142000588
• ISBN10: 0142000582
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Penguin Group USA

Summary

From 1610 to the 1860s the Santa Fe Trail, which ran from Missouri and Kansas to New Mexico, was a principal artery to and from the Southwest. Drawing from letters, journals, expedition reports, and newspaper articles, David Dary opens a window into the lives of the people who forged this trail and opened commerce with Spanish America. These firsthand accounts from Native Americans, mountain men, traders, trappers, freighters, surveyors, and soldiers reveal the spectacular details of life on the trail-from the early years when trade was controlled by the Spanish to the gradual establishment of towns that brought new prosperity and the advent of the railroads that changed an entire way of life.

Author Biography

David Dary recently retired from the School of Journalism at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of eight previous books on the West, and is the recipient of many awards, including two Western Writers of America Spur Awards and the Westerners International Best Nonfiction Book Award.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xiii
From Conquest to de Onate, 1492--1610	3	(20)
The Attraction of Santa Fe, 1610-1762	23	(13)
Trails to Santa Fe, 1762-1807	36	(19)
Destination Santa Fe, 1807-1822	55	(19)
The Santa Fe Trail, 1822-1825	74	(19)
Surveying the Road to Santa Fe, 1825-1827	93	(14)
The Business of Trade, 1821-1829	107	(16)
The Growth of Trade, 1830-1835	123	(23)
Over the Trail, 1835-1840	146	(20)
Years of Change, 1840-1845	166	(18)
The Mexican War and the Santa Fe Trade, 1846-1848	184	(24)
Forts, Emigrants, and Freighting, 1849-1852	208	(20)
New Tensions and Trade, 1853-1860	228	(26)
The Civil War, 1861-1865	254	(23)
The Slow Death of Trail, 1866-1880	277	(16)
The Legacy of the Trail, 1880-2000	293	(20)
Glossary	313	(10)
Notes	323	(18)
Bibliography	341	(14)
Index	355