The Historic Santa Fe Trail

Take a virtual tour of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail with this interactive map. Similar to Google Earth, this map allows you to pan across.
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The artist captured the powerful We enjoyed many of the sites along the way, especially those administered by the National Park Service.


  • Santa Fe Trail - Wikipedia;
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Really takes you back and helps imagine what a trek it was to open up the Finished the trail today, what a wonderful drive! After reading about this from childhood, traveling its last few miles was exciting. The Plaza, its terminus was an incredible experience. We were fascinated by the historical markers in the downtown area designating the Santa Fe Trail and decided we had to check it out.

You can drive for about seven miles heading south from downtown on a partly paved road. Eventually the trail turns into Flights Vacation Rentals Restaurants Things to do. All of your saved places can be found here in My Trips. Log in to get trip updates and message other travelers. Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Santa Fe National Historic Trail. Reviewed April 2, Reviewed February 13, Once a major commercial route that connected Santa Fe and Missouri, today visitors can hike, drive, bike or horseback ride along sections of this scenic trail.

Santa Fe Trail Natl Scenic Byway

Is this a place or activity you would go to on a rainy day? Would you recommend athletic wear for this place or activity? You can download acrobat reader for free at: Here's an interactive map that has pop ups revealing specific site information. This is another great way to explore the Santa Fe Trail! This is the map from the second side of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail brochure, available for viewing or downloading:.

Choose the Santa Fe National Historic Trail and then zoom in to find the details you need for trip planning. Click here for the interactive trails map viewer.


  1. Maps - Santa Fe National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service).
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    4. There are menu options at the top right and top left of the map viewer. The top right menu allows you to look at the trail overlaid on street, topographic, or imagery maps. He recruited John McDaniel and a small band of men in the proximate vicinity of St. Louis, giving McDaniel the rank of a Texas captain. The news media reported that Americans and Mexicans were outraged by the crime.

    Local merchants and citizens at the U.

    About Santa Fe Information

    He made an unprovoked attack on Mexican troops outside of Mora, New Mexico , leaving five dead. Warfield's horses were lost in Wagon Mound to the Mexican forces which had made chase, and after reaching Bent's Fort on foot, Warfield's men disbanded. In February, Colonel Jacob Snively had received a commission to intercept Mexican caravans along the Santa Fe Trail, similar to the commission received by Warfield the year prior.

    After disbanding the volunteers under his command, Warfield located and joined the man Texas "Battalion of Invincibles," under the command of Snively. New Mexico governor Manuel Armijo led Mexican troops out of Santa Fe for the protection of the incoming caravans, but after the Invincibles wiped out an advanced party led by Captain Ventura Lovato, the governor retreated.

    Following this battle, Snively's force was reduced to little over men due to resignations. George Cooke allowed the Invincibles to return to Texas after disarming them. In , with all the political bickering over railroad legislation, entrepreneurs opened their pockets and set their sights on the American Southwest leading to the gradual construction east to west of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ; the name eponymously reflecting the intentions of the founders, the expected eastern terminus to be in Atchison, Kansas.

    When a railroad bridge was built across the Missouri River to connect eastern markets to the Dodge City cattle trail and Colorado coal mines, the railroad spurred the growth of Kansas City. Kansas City was on the opposite shore from Saint Joseph, Missouri , one of several trail head towns feeding settlers into the American West. Building the railway so that it extended westwards to destinations in and beyond the New Mexico border was delayed and kept the fledgling railroad gasping for cash. In a move to bootstrap their own base market, the railway began offering packaged "Shopping Excursion deals" to potential buyers desiring to look over a real estate parcel.

    The railroad began to discount such trips to visit its land offices and gave back the ticket price as part of the purchase price, if a sale was concluded. The railroad's sale of its land granted by congress fostered growth of new towns and businesses along its route, which generated railway traffic and revenues.

    With this financial base, the railway extended west, gradually adding new connections through rougher west country along the western Trail. With the development of rail transport, traffic on the Trail soon dropped to merely local trade. In a sense, after World War I the trail was reborn; by the s it gradually became paved automobile roads. The eastern end of the trail was in the central Missouri town of Franklin on the north bank of the Missouri River.

    The route across Missouri first used by Becknell followed portions of the existing Osage Trace and the Medicine Trails.

    Santa Fe Trail Remains

    West of Franklin, the trail crossed the Missouri near Arrow Rock , after which it followed roughly the route of present-day U. Independence was also one of the historic "jumping off points" for the Oregon and California Trails. West of Independence, it roughly followed the route of U.

    Route 56 from near the town of Olathe to the western border of Kansas. It enters Colorado, cutting across the southeast corner of the state before entering New Mexico. The section of the trail between Independence and Olathe was also used by immigrants on the California and Oregon Trails, which branched off to the northwest near Gardner, Kansas.

    The Great Prairie Highway

    West of Lyons the trail followed nearly the route of present-day Highway 56 to Great Bend. Branches of the trail followed both sides of the river upstream to Dodge City and Garden City. West of Garden City in southwestern Kansas the trail splits into two branches. This route was generally very hazardous because it had very little water. From Watrous, the reunited branches continued southward to Santa Fe.

    Santa Fe Trail Remains - Wikipedia

    Part of this route has been designated a National Scenic Byway. Travelers faced many hardships along the Santa Fe Trail.

    Alerts In Effect

    The natural climate was and is continental: Freshwater was scarce, and the high steppe-like plains are nearly treeless.