402. Overview of the Santa Fe Trail

From 1821 to 1880, the Santa Fe Trail was used for hauling and selling trade goods and eventually army supplies. A few families did travel the Trail looking for a new place to live, but that was not the main purpose.

The Trail first began in Franklin, Missouri. As the

steamboats traveled further west along the Missouri

River, the jumping-off points or starting points also

moved west. Eventually railroads began to push

westward from Missouri, which also caused changes in the jumping-off points.

Between Missouri and southwestern Kansas, the Trail was one route. Near present-day Dodge City, Kansas, the Trail split into two routes. One branch went south crossing the Arkansas River, traveling through very dry country referred to as the Jornada. This part of the trail was called the Cimarron Route. The other branch went

west to the Rocky Mountains and then turned south. This branch was called the Mountain Route. Eventually the two joined near Fort Union in present-day New Mexico and proceeded to Santa Fe.

Three cultures were affected by commercial trade on the trail. American Indians, who had lived along the route for centuries, had already developed trading and hunting trails, and now they had new people moving through their lands. Mexicans who lived in northern Mexico were isolated on the frontier and did not have a way to trade for manufactured goods until the trail opened in 1821. Americans began moving west to take advantage of opportunities to trade along the Trail. Life changed forever for all three cultures.