James A. Crutchfield
The Santa Fe Trail is one of the most important thoroughfares in the history of the United States. In its relatively short lifetime as a highway of commerce, it linked the raw, brazen youth of American industry to the centuries-old marketplaces of New Mexico.
A trio of events that occurred in late 1821 set the stage for this remarkable route. First, on August 10, the state of Missouri became the 24th state of the United States with westward expansion advocate Thomas Hart Benton serving as one the two newly elected U.S. senators.
Second, a Missouri trader named William Becknell left Franklin, Missouri, on September 1 with several companions and a few pack animals, ostensibly for a trading mission to Comanche Indian country, but in reality, to open trade with New Mexico, based upon rumors of New Mexico’s imminent declaration of independence from Spain.
Third, on September 27, Nuevo Mexico officially declared its independence from Spain.
Thomas Hart Benton Promotes The Road
The man most directly responsible for the United States government survey of the Santa Fe Trail was Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri.
During the 1824-1825 session of Congress, Benton introduced legislation arguing that a clearly defined and protected Santa Fe Trail would benefit all parties concerned. This included the Mexicans at the far end, the Indians through whose territory the Trail passed, and certainly, the Americans who were exploiting the Santa Fe trade with increasing frequency.
Several years later, when Benton compiled his memoirs, he explained the logic in pursuing the survey of the Santa Fe Trail, writing in 1854, that: “The name of Mexico, the synonym of gold and silver mines possessed always an invincible charm for the people of the western states….”
“It was not until the Independence of Mexico, in the year 1821, that the frontiers of this vast and hitherto sealed up country, were thrown open to foreign ingress, and trade and intercourse allowed to take their course,” Benton wrote.
He added, “The State of Missouri, from her geographical position, and the adventurous spirit of her inhabitants, was among the first to engage in it …. In three years, it had grown to be a new and regular branch of interior commerce, profitable to those engaged in it, valuable to the country from the articles it carried out, and for the silver, the furs, and the mules which it brought back; and well entitled to the protection and care of the government.
“That protection was sought…in the form… of…a right of way through the countries of the tribes between Missouri and New Mexico, a road marked out and security in travelling it, stipulations for good behavior from the Indians, and a consular establishment in the provinces to be traded with.”
The Bill Sailed Through Congress
Benton’s bill for the survey of the Santa Fe Trail passed the Senate by a vote of thirty to twelve, and it sailed through the House of Representatives with thirty votes to spare.
On March 3, 1825, James Monroe, in one of his last acts as president of the United States, signed the legislation authorizing the survey into law. A sum of $10,000 was appropriated for the expense of the survey itself.
An additional $20,000 was set aside for the purchase of gifts for the Indians who resided in the region in exchange for the road’s right of way through their territory.
Shortly after President Monroe signed the survey bill, the new president, John Quincy Adams, appointed three men to serve as commissioners for the project. All three were eminently qualified for the job.
Benjamin H. Reeves was the lieutenant governor of Missouri and a resident of Howard County, the hub of the Santa Fe Trail traffic on the eastern end. Thomas Mather, an Illinois legislator and descendant of the famed New England churchman Cotton Mather, and George C. Sibley, the government factor at Fort Osage, were tapped as the second and third members of what was now being called the Santa Fe Road Commission.
Men For The Survey
The next matter at hand was the selection by the commission members of a competent surveyor, a secretary, and crew members to assist in the mission. Joseph C. Brown, a surveyor by profession and a member of the Missouri Senate, was chosen as chief surveyor. Archibald Gamble, a St. Louis banker and circuit court clerk, was picked for the secretary’s position.
Stephen Cooper, a Santa Fe trade veteran, served as the pilot, and Joseph R. Walker, whose name in years to come would be indelibly linked with the early exploration of California, was hired as a hunter and chain man. William Sherley “Old Bill” Williams, a noted Rocky Mountain fur trapper, was appointed interpreter.
Joseph Walker’s brother, Joel, who is generally credited with later taking the first American settlers to California, also was hired, along with Kit Carson’s half-brother, Andrew, and several others. All in all, the list of those who worked on the Santa Fe Road Commission at one time or another reads like a "Who’s Who” of Western exploration.
The Start At Fort Osage
The commissioners chose Fort Osage on the Missouri River, near present-day Kansas City, Missouri, as the beginning point for their work. No one knew exactly what lay ahead of the survey party or what difficulties would be encountered before the men reached Santa Fe.
Of the challenges, the Missouri Republican reported that “the hot weather, the number of flies and the difficulty of getting their wagons through a tractless [sic] country will oblige them to travel slow.”
By July 17, 1825, all was ready at Fort Osage and the caravan headed west. The survey team consisted of seven baggage wagons, 57 horses and mules, and 40 men. All members were well aware of the importance of the survey.
Just two weeks earlier, Senator Benton had reminded Sibley of the significance that the results had to the country. “The main idea,” he wrote, “is thoroughness, for it is not a County or State road which they have to mark out but a highway between Nations.”
When the survey party had traveled about three weeks out of Fort Osage, it reached the Neosho River, the site of present-day Council Grove, Kansas. There, the commissioners met with the Osage Indians. For $300 worth of merchandise and $500 credit, the Osages promised safe passage for future American traffic through the tribe’s territory. On August 16 a similar treaty was signed with representatives of the Kansas tribe.
By September 11 the surveyors had arrived at the upper reaches of the Arkansas River which then served as the boundary line between Mexico and the United States. In the absence of specific instructions on how to proceed across Mexican territory, the party pitched camp on the American side of the river and awaited further orders.
Proceed To Santa Fe
When nine days later, no orders had arrived, Sibley suggested that two of the commissioners return to Missouri and that the other one proceed to Santa Fe.
According to Sibley’s journal, the matter was voted upon and “I was designated by my Colleagues to go to Santa Fee, and to make Selection of nine men, two Waggons & 19 Horses, and such Goods & Stores as I thought proper. It was then decided that Cols. Reeves & Mather should tomorrow set out on their return to Missouri, with the rest of the Party….
“Cols. Reeves & Mather are to join me at Santa Fee, as early as they can next summer (if the whole road is to be completed) that I am to wait for them ‘till the 1st of July, and then if I hear nothing from them or the Govt [Government] to justify any longer delay, I am to return to Missouri as soon as I can.”
On the following day, September 21, 1825, Commissioners Reeves and Mather and their respective parties started back for Missouri. Sibley remained in camp for the rest of the evening and began his trip to Santa Fe on the next day. With his group were the surveyor Joseph Brown and “Old Bill” Williams, among others.
With surprisingly little difficulty, Sibley and his party trekked through the badlands of the Cimarron Cutoff, and when they reached the far side, they proceeded to Taos, then to Santa Fe, where they spent the winter of 1825-1826.
During his sojourn in the capital, he became close friends with the New Mexican governor, Antonio Narbona. Late spring 1826 arrived before Mexican authorities finally gave their approval for Sibley to continue his survey of the Mexican end of the Santa Fe Trail. Sibley, now back in Taos, awaited the arrival of the other two commissioners.
By the last week of August, when it was apparent that Reeves and Mather were not coming, Sibley and his remaining party started for home, marking the roadway as they traveled. By early October, Sibley had returned to Missouri, where he planned to meet with the other two commissioners and file their report with the government.
On January 20, 1827, the three commissioners gathered in St. Louis, at which time Reeves and Mather turned over all responsibility for completing the report to Sibley. A second trip along the Santa Fe Trail was planned in order to make corrections, however, Colonel Reeves could not make the journey on account of his wife’s illness, and Colonel Mather declined to go.
Not Much Practical Good
Finally, a resurvey effort did get underway in mid-May which consisted of twelve men, fourteen mules, one horse, and one wagon. When the party reached Diamond Spring, at the headwaters of the Neosho River, Sibley signaled the men to begin their return eastward.
Near the end of October, the three commissioners met in St. Charles, Missouri, and approved the final report of the survey. The document was signed by all three men and dispatched to authorities in Washington.
As it turned out, the Santa Fe Trail survey did little practical good. The final report revealed a minimum of new information that active Missouri traders did not already know. But the news sounded good to the politicians in far-off Washington, and no doubt, they believed they had received their money’s worth when they read the commissioners’ glowing report.
The report said, “The Road, in nearly its whole extent passes over open, grassy prairie; the forest or timber land, over which it Runs does not exceed altogether twenty Miles—Water, fuel, and pasturage are Sufficiently plentiful, and, with but few exceptions are good.
“Caravans may obtain their chief Supplies of Subsistence, without difficulty or delay, from the numerous herds of Buffaloes that are almost continually passing and repassing over the plains, crossing the Route everywhere along the greater part of the way; and many years must elapse before this great Resource will fail, or materially diminish.
“Between Ft. Osage & San Fernando [Taos], there does not exist a Single Serious difficulty or obstacle to the passage of carriages of any description. Even the Mountains near Taus[sic] (where Scarcely any effort has ever yet been made to form a Road) are crossed without any great difficulty; and whenever the authorities there Shall think fit to order it, an excellent Road may be made at a very trifling expense….
“In Short, it may Safely be assumed that there are fewer natural obstructions between Ft. Osage and the City of Mexico, a distance not much Short of 2500 Miles, than there are on the established Road from Ft. Osage to St. Louis, which is probably not inferior to any (except turnpikes) in the Union.”
The Road To A Trader’s Paradise
For a few years following the completion of the Santa Fe Trail survey, traffic along the route moved briskly. During the decade between 1826 and1835, more than 1,500 men accompanied 775 wagons carrying $1,365,000 worth of merchandise over the Trail.
Americans had truly found a trader’s paradise in New Mexico. Since the inhabitants of Santa Fe and the surrounding villages were isolated by great distances from the large towns of Mexico, they had to rely on their own skills and industry to make a meager living off the dry and sparse land.
Trade caravans from Mexico City and other towns to the south were few and far between, but when American traders arrived on the scene with all kinds of hard-to-find goods, the common folk enthusiastically embraced them.
James A. Crutchfield can be reached at TNcrutch@aol.com
