The Spanish founded the city of Santa Fe in 1610 on top of a native Pueblo, as La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís–the capital of Nuevo Mexico. The province became part of the nation of Mexico after independence from Spain in 1821.
Spain wanted trade to go through Mexico, but after independence local merchants and gringo traders established the Santa Fe Trail. William Becknell blazed a trail from the Missouri River across the tall grass prairies of Kansas into the dry, dry high plains of Colorado and New Mexico. When he was welcomed on the Santa Fe Plaza rather than arrested, the next year (1822) the Santa Fe Trail was officially in business. By 1825, goods were being traded from Santa Fe to points further south and west. The Mountain Route crossed Raton Pass–a difficult route, but the water was more reliable. The more direct Cimarron Route was shorter and faster but water was scarce. It still is.
In 1848, following the Mexican-American War, the United States gained New Mexico and Santa Fe became the oldest territorial, later (in 1912) State capital in the US. The Santa Fe Trail fell into disuse as the railroads built west. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF) crossed Raton Pass in 1878-79 and reached Santa Fe in 1880. The route was later paralleled by US Route 66. Today 200 years later you can, like us, follow the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. In a lot of places the landscape hasn’t changed much and you can still see vast prairies and wagon wheel ruts tracing the pioneers’ route West.
.
STrib