Santa Fe Trail

When William Becknell took his first load of trade goods west over what would come to be called the Santa Fe Trail, he was following Indian paths which had been used for centuries for commerce and annual migrations. The year was 1821 and his profit margin (an incredible 2,000%) sealed the fate of the once tranquil thoroughfare.

The Spanish colonial city of Santa Fe had only just been opened to outside trade when American traders headed west over traditional Indian trails with goods craved by the isolated Mexicans: cloth, dry goods, hardware and jewelry. They returned, sometimes within a matter of months, with gold and silver for the economically-depressed Missouri banks, plus wool furs, and mules.

The Americans were soon joined on the trail by their Mexican counterparts, and the two-way trade flourished for more than fifty years until the arrival of the railroads finally made the trail obsolete.