The Santa Fe Trade

In the early 1800's, Americans (mainly from Missouri) began making attempts to establish commercial relations with the Spanish, then Mexican, province of New Mexico. By 1830 the trade had increased to the point that it was noticed as far away as New York City. "This is perhaps," wrote the New York Courier and Enquirer, "one of the most curious species of foreign intercourse which the ingenuity and enterprise of American traders ever originated. The extent of the country which the caravans traverse-the long journeys they make-the rivers and morasses to cross-the prairies, forests and all but African deserts to penetrate, require the most steel-formed constitutions and the most energetic minds. The account of these inland expeditions remind one of the caravans in the East-those famous pieces of narrative and fiction, which throws an air of fascination over the stories and tales of Asiatic or African origin. The dangers which both encounter-the caravan of the 'East' & the caravan of the 'West' -are equally alarming and equally numerous. Men of high, chivalric & somewhat romantic notions are required for them both." In this book, Gary Lenderman has compiled more than two-hundred and fifty newspaper articles relating to that commerce.