The first paths across North America were formed by migrating animal herds and the Native Americans who followed and hunted them The challenge of exploring all of this newly acquired territory was immense But Americans were equal to the challenge By 1869 a transcontinental railroad linked the 3,500 miles 5,633 kilometers or more of wilderness between the two coasts The land suddenly became more accessible to explorers settlers and people bringing supplies and mail And there were nearly six times as many Americans as when the century had begun People had not only explored and settled much of the new land but had made it easier to transport goods and communicate with each other from sea to shining sea A Southwest Native American drawing of a deer 6
Long before the railroads came a network of trails had begun to connect the far-flung parts of the continent These trails were begun by the many tribes of Native Americans who had inhabited the country for more than 10,000 years before Europeans and others arrived Native Americans tended to follow trails made by animals such as deer elk and buffalo These trails marked the most convenient routes across mountains rivers and prairies Later explorers and settlers used these routes to travel to the West One of the oldest was the Santa Fe Trail which ran from Independence Missouri to Santa Fe New Mexico a distance of about 900 miles 1,450 kilometers Horses could not go far without water so their main routes followed the rivers 7
Unlike the later Oregon and California trails the Santa Fe Trail was not created by settlers heading west but by merchants seeking to trade For many years it linked Mexico and the United States which were not always on the best of terms with each other Yet even when those countries were at war this artery of trade remained open Men women and children risked their lives to make the long and difficult journey from a familiar world into a foreign one and some chose the strange new world as their home Some trappers and frontiersmen partnered with Native Americans for help getting around areas that they did not know 8
Chapter 2 The history of the Santa Fe Trail Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the United States The Spanish who were exploring northward from Mexico founded it in 1610 Santa Fe and all of Nuevo Mexico or New Mexico as we know it today belonged to Mexico a province of Spain The Spanish first supplied Santa Fe and other villages in New Mexico from Mexico City 1,500 miles 2,414 kilometers away using an ancient trail called El Camino Real By the early 1700s the caravans had begun forming at Chihuahua Mexico shortening the trip to only about 350 miles 563 kilometers Both railroad tracks and Interstate 25 in New Mexico developed alongside the old El Camino Real National Historic Trail Established in 1598 this trail from Mexico City to Santa Fe provided vital communications and trade between Mexico and the frontier lands of New Mexico 9
