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On his first trip,
Becknell loaded manufactured goods from
Missouri
onto a mule train to trade for furs, gold, silver, and other goods in
New Mexico.
However, by his third trip
Becknell had found a passable wagon route,
thus beginning the many wagon trains heading to the southwest.
Credited as the "Father of the Santa
Fe Trail,”
Becknell continued to make multiple trips along the
trail, profiting enormously on his daring travels. Soon, many
traders, as well as the military, were traveling the route.
Two routes soon
developed along the trail, the Mountain Route and the Jornada Route. Both routes followed the same path from
Missouri,
traveling west to the
Arkansas
River and following the river into southwest
Kansas. For many years, the only trading post between
Independence,
Missouri
and Santa Fe,
New Mexico
was in Council Grove,
Kansas,
some 130 miles from
Independence and over 650 miles from
Santa Fe.
At
Fort Larned,
Kansas
the trail split into two branches. The Mountain Route was longer but not quite as dangerous, with fewer
warlike
Indians and more water along the route. This branch traveled
about 230 miles between
Fort Larned
and
Bent's
Fort near present-day La Junta,
Colorado,
continuing to follow the
Arkansas
River before turning south through the Raton Pass to
Santa Fe.
Though
the shorter Jornada Route, also called the
Cimarron
Cutoff, provided less water, it saved the travelers ten days by
cutting southwest across the Cimarron
Desert to
Santa Fe. The
Cimarron
Desert route was shorter and easier for the wagon parties than the
mountainous Raton Pass, but travelers risked attacks by
Native Americans in addition to shortages of water. Despite the
hazards, the shorter route would end up carrying 75% of the Santa
Fe Trail pioneers.
In 1825, the United
States obtained a right of way from the
Osage
Indians,
which officially established the Santa
Fe Trail as a national "highway.” In 1827,
Independence,
Missouri
was founded and within a few years became the major outfitting point on
the eastern end of the trail.
In 1834,
Bent's
Fort, a fur trade post on the upper
Arkansas
established was established near what is present-day La Junta,
Colorado.
A Bent, St. Vrain and Company party and wagons eastbound from
Santa Fe,
New Mexico
in the late summer traveled by way of Taos and Raton Pass to
Bent's
Fort;
then came down the
Arkansas River to
the Santa
Fe Trail, opening the
Bent's
Fort branch of the Santa
Fe Trail.
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