Santa Fe Trail Archives

A Diary of a Monumental Trip

by Mark Boardman | Mar 15, 2023

Susan Magoffin recorded what happened on the Santa Fe Trail. Susan Shelby Magoffin was a remarkable woman for her time—for any time, when it comes...

Best of the West 2023: Western Preservation

by Jana Bommersbach and The Editors of True West | Dec 8, 2022

You Can Never Take the Dakota Out of this Girl My Old West Savior columns keep me grounded. I'm a North Dakota girl who now lives in Arizona,...

The Wedding Between a Señorita and an American

by Marshall Trimble | Mar 2, 2022

Journal of Matt Field on the Santa Fe Trail “The women invariably wore veils, slippers without stockings. When invited to a wedding--the bride was a...

Tamer of Raton Pass

by Melody Groves | Jan 21, 2022

“Uncle Dick” Wootton helped build a nation with his Santa Fe Trail toll road. Well past midnight, everyone in the wagon train was snoring. First...

Life on the Santa Fe Trail

by Marshall Trimble | Jan 3, 2022

It wasn’t only the Indians who made life precarious for the travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. The country was literally crawling with rattlesnakes,...

Ewing Young

by Marshall Trimble | Oct 11, 2021

When the free trappers banded together for self-preservation, they usually elected a partisan or captain to act as leader. He was usually a man with...

The Opening and Closing of the Santa Fe Trail 1821-1880, Part 2

by Marshall Trimble | May 26, 2021

At this time St. Louis was a raw, crude, boisterous city of some 4,600 people made up mostly of French, Indians, Spanish, Germans and Americans....

The Opening and Closing of the Santa Fe Trail 1821-1880, PART 1

by Marshall Trimble | May 25, 2021

The Mexican Revolution ended in 1821 and brought about many changes in foreign policy. Up to then Spain didn’t allow her colonies to trade with the...