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Santa Fe National Historic Trail is a transportation route through mid-North America that connected Missouri to New Mexico, and includes scenic hiking paths. Between 1821 and 1880, the Santa Fe Trail was primarily a commercial highway connecting Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Santa Fe Trail (aka, Santa Fe Road) was an ancient passageway used regularly after 1821 by merchant-traders from Missouri who took manufactured goods to Santa Fe to exchange for furs and other items available there. Mexican traders also provided caravans going to western Missouri in this international trade.
The mission of the Santa Fe Trail Association is to protect and preserve the Santa Fe Trail and to promote awareness of the historical legacy associated with it. The Santa Fe Trail Association's purposes are exclusively charitable and educational within the meaning of Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Nov 10, 2021 · “The history that is under the rubric of manifest destiny and its social consequences needs to be understood and rethought.” Its impact persists, but by 1880 the Santa Fe Trail itself had begun to fall silent. That’s when the first train chugged along a rough approximation of its route from Ratón into Santa Fe.
Jan 28, 2021 · The winner of that competition, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, reached the top of Raton Pass in late 1878. Additional track mileage further shortened the effective distance of the Santa Fe. Then, in February 1880, the railroad reached Santa Fe, and the trail faded into history.
In 1834, Bent’s Fort, a fur trade post on the upper Arkansas River, was established near La Junta, Colorado. William and Charles Bent, Ceran St. Vrain and Company led a party and wagons eastbound from Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the late summer, traveled by way of Taos and Raton Pass to Bent’s Fort; then came down the Arkansas River to the Santa Fe Trail, opening the Bent’s Fort Santa Fe Trail.
This week-long, once-in-a-lifetime event – Sept. 27-Oct. 3, 2021 – included historic tours of the trail and the Santa Fe Trail Museum, period reenactments including the Buffalo Soldiers, mountain man rendezvous, fun, historic activities for families, theatre productions, art exhibits, and more.