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I
6 Conservative *
THE SANTA FE TRAIL AND TRAILS
IN GENERAL.
Seine writers and especially some whc
have written cm the location of the long-
lost mysterious Qnivira , consider the
" Trail" and
"Old Santa Fo pre-hisloric
the good road mentioned by Javamillo ,
traversed by Coronado , 1541 , from the
Arkansas river , below the present
Dodge City , to the settlements of the
Quiviran Indians south of the Kansas
river and on his return journey to
Tignez. This is altogether an errone
ous idea.
The Saute Fe trail was the result of
necessity of having a route of communi
cation from the Missouri river to the
Mexican settlements in New Mexico.
Thomas H. Bentou introduced in the
early twenties of last century in the
United States Senate , a bill for the
establishment of a route to New Mexico ,
which was passed by both branches of
congress. The route was surveyed and
laid out , in nearly a straight line from
Westport , Mo. , near Kansas City , to
Trinidad , Colorado. The Santa Fe trail
as it was and is still called , ran from
Westport to Burlingame , Council Grove ,
crossed Cow creek in the vicinity of
the present site of McPhersou , Wal
nut creek in Barton county , several
miles above its month and reached the
Arkansas river at its extreme northern
bend ( the "Big Bend" ) near Fort Larah ,
and ran then toward'the Kansas-Colorado
line. A branch of the trail crossed the
Arkansas river in the vicinity where the
present town ofvCimaron is situated ;
this crossi ng was kuown as the Cimarou
crossing , the trail passing around the
east end of the Raton mountains. This
branch was known as the "Dry Route , "
on account of its lack of water , wood
and pasturage. The main road went
up Purgatory river , ( which the "Bull-
" "Mule-skiniiers" had
whackers" and - cor
rupted into "Picket-wire" ) to Trinidad
and thence through and over Raton
pass , through which was built "Dick
Wootoiv's toll road. " At first it was
travelled by pack-animals , afterwards
by wagons. The first wagon train
started in the spring of 1828 over the
road. One of the parties on this trip
says : "We had about 1000 miles to
travel , and as there was no wagon road
in these early days across the plains to
the mountains , we were compelled to
take our chances through the vast wild
erness seeking the best route that we
could , This party started from West-
port , Mo. ; they crossed near Oiinaron
and went the "Dry Route , " going
around the Raton mountains. As to the
Santa Fe trail being pre-hisloric , neither
evidence nor tradition can be found ,
and anyone cognizant of the mode of
travel by the Indians would not assume
it to bo so , for the Indians had no
animals of burden except dogs , until
about a hundred years after the dis
covery of America by Columbus , when
horses were introduced and became
numerous among the Indians. Then
some permanent trails , from tribe to
tribe may have existed , but this is very
doubtful. The vast multitude of buf
faloes roaming over the plains , would
soon have obliterated any trail made
by moccasins and light lodge poles
dragged by dogs. All these writers
have heard something about trails , and
associate the idea of road or bridle-path
with it , but they are not conversant
with the mode of travel by the Indians.
I hold that there are no pro-historic
trails across the plains , where in
timbered country such may be found.
The conditions on the "Great West
ern Plains , " were practically the same
from pro-historic times ; from the time
when the Spauards came first in contact
with the Indians of the plains in 1541 ,
until very recent times ; till the extinc
tion of the buffalo and the retention of
the Indians on reservations.
Hardly anyone knew the Indian , his
customs , mode of life and travel , better
than Colonel Richard I. Dodge ; in his
book "Our Wild Indians , " the result of
over thirty year's experience among the
Aborigines , he says :
"The Indian is a traveler by instinct.
Under no other hypothesis can we
understand the marvelous journeys ,
prolonged to months , even years , made
by individual Indians , or the ease and
certainty with which , when tired of
wandering , they make their way over the
'trackless waste1 of the broad continent ,
to the spot they recognize as home. Ask
an Indian how to go to a point , at a
distant of one mile or a hundred miles ,
and he will point out the direction.
Press him closely , and if he has been to
that point , he will by his minute de
scription disclose another of his remark
able traits , his wonderful memory of
land-marks.
"I have said that he travels by in
stinct , and this is always true on long
journeys into unknown countries , oren
on the short trip of days or weeks , spout
in hunting. But for raids and forages ,
and for easy journeying from one portion
tion of the country to another , he
makes use of laud-marks. This is his
habitual and preferred mode of travel ,
and on going on such a journey , into a
country unknown to him , he consults
with some warrior who has visited it ,
and it is simply astonishing how clearly
the one describes , and the other com
prehends , all that is necessary to make
the journey a success. "
Some writers describe with great
minuteness the military precision with
which the movements of the Indians are
executed , whether on the peaceful jour
ney from one camp to another , or on the
warpath. On the latter , of course , they
are under strict discipline , but not at all
according to our military regulations ,
but as it suits circumstances. Dodge
says : "There could bo no greater non
sense. " Further on , ho describes the
movement of a camp of three hundred
families to another locality : "The
movement had commenced , the long
slopes of prairie being dotted with
Indians , some near , some far away ,
while Indians were constantly coming
out of their tepees , and mounting the
horses that stood saddled at their doors.
By an hour after sunrise , most of the
men had disappeared ; by this time the
camp had begun its movement. The
pack-animals being loaded , the women
mounted their'ponies and each family
struck out in its own direction and
marched by itself , the only apparent
care being to prevent the loose pack-
animals from mixing together. When
the front of the column had probably
gone two miles from me , it was quite a
mile in width , and even yet in camp ,
squaws were striking tepees and pack
ing animals. "
As one writer on Quivira , who has
boldly plagiarized Hon. J. V. Brewer's
"Quivira" and "Harahey , " and appro
priated for himself the honor and credit
due to Mr. Brewer , of having located ,
"The Real Quivira , " exactly where
Mr. Brewer located it nearly three years
previous , and whom the" writer of this
has criticized somewhere else , makes in
order to differ from Mr. Brewer , the
"Old SantaFe Trail , " the most promi
nent , in fact the main key to the solution
of the problem of the location of Quiv
ira , I have as far as possible investi
gated and studied this matter of pre
historic trails , upon which I have con
sulted not only approved authorities ,
but also corresponded with men who
were on the plains , when 'the Indian
and buffalo still roamed over them , and
who are conversant with the history ,
customs and traditions of the Indian ,
especially Hon. J. R. Mead , of Wichita ,
a gentleman of scholarly attainments
and a close observer , who made his
home on the plains in 1858 , for about
15 years as Indian trader , hunter and
explorer , who has written an essay on
"Trails in Southern Kansas" ( Trans.
Kans. Hist. Society Vol. II. ) and on
other subjects pertaining to the Indians
and American archaeology , and who
was president of the Kansas Academy
of Science , to whom I am greatly in
debted for information , especially in
regard to the Santa Fe trail , and whose
statements coincide exactly with those
of Colonel Dodge. He says in a letter
to the writer : "There were no trails ,
but routes , where they ( the Indians )
traveled within an area of several
miles. " Mr. A. T. Richardson of
Nebraska City , well informed on this
subject , a close student of the Indians ,
wrote mo : "Are certain trails pre
historic ? I do not know that this has
ever been demonstrated ; it has never
come to my notice , if it has. I hardly
see in fact , how it could be capable of
demonstration. "
The writer consulted , also , personally