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 Fe.

There was some trade and movement between Bent's Fort and Santa Fe but comparativley little. Since there were no wagon roads across Raton Pass, the only goods that could move between the two was by horse or mule back.

Traders came from many areas of the east and many of them gathered together at Council Grove (now in Kansas) to travel together for mutual protection and shared labor.

I began my trip at Council Grove and followed the trail to Bent's Fort. Maybe, in another year, I'll start where the trails diverge and follow the southern route into Santa Fe.

The following photos should provide a little flavor for what this trip was like before the days of cars, trains, trucks and airplanes. My trip took a total of about ten hours over two days to cover this route. In the days when travelers had to drive oxen pulling heavily laden wagons, the same trip took from six to eight weeks and a fair percentage of travelers never reached their destination.