One of my long-standing interests, aside from travel, is the history of the American west. The Santa Fe Trail is one of the least known of the migration paths that were used to first, trade with the west and, later, to settle it.

Actually, the Santa Fe Trail was two trails, sharing a common route for a major portion of its length then, in what is now Kearney County, Kansas, splitting into northern and southern routes. The northern route terminated at Bent's Fort, in what is now Colorado and the southern route went into Sante ... (more)