The Santa Fe Trail

The Santa Fe Trail. . Trail of Commerce , The heavily laden freight wagons traveled in parallel columns to minimize dust and for convenience when circling the wagons at night or when danger threatened. A circle of wagons provided a fine defensive position. But the circle (actually more of a square) was mostly for convenience and sociability, and to provide a corral for the animals. , Santa Fe National Historic Trail , From 1821 to 1846, the Santa Fe Trail was an international road for American and Mexican traders. In 1848, the Mexican-American War ended, and the New Mexico Territory was added to the United States. The trail became a national road for commercial and military freighting, stagecoach travel,emigration, and mail service. It was replaced over time by the westward-expanding railroad, which reached Santa Fe in 1880. Because of its significant role in American history, Congress designated the route a national historic trail in 1987. , Lure of the Trail , Although the Santa Fe Trail was a commercial trade route some women and children did accompany the wagon trains. An example is Marion Sloan Russell, who, with her mother and brother, made five trips across the plains before she reached the age of fifteen. , In 1852, Eliza St. Clair Sloan Mahoney set out from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas with seven-year-old Marion and nine-year-old Will, to make her way to the gold fields of California. , In exchange for passage as far as Santa Fe, Eliza, agreed to be the cook for the Army officers and a West Point-trained doctor in a wagon train captained by experienced wagonmaster Francis Xavier Aubry. She and her children stayed in Santa Fe four years. , Eliza made numerous trips back and forth over the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and Santa Fe, eventually going all the way to California. Marion joined her mother and brother on five of these trips. , In February 1865, Marion wed Lieutenant Richard D. Russell at Fort Union, New Mexico - on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1936, she died in Trinidad at the age of 92.