Transportation
7
La Junta, the junction of the Mora and Sapello Rivers, was also known by that name because it was where the Cimarron and Mountain Branches of the Santa Fe Trail joined. With the arrival of the U.S. military and Fort Union, American merchants and Protestant missionaries founded Tiptonville on the Santa Fe Trail near La Junta, later renamed Watrous after the railroad arrived. Tiptonville became an important western staging area for the Santa Fe Trail, serving much the same function as Council Grove, Kansas, at its eastern end, where travelers exchanged information on trail conditions, water resources, and dangers along the trail. For eastbound wagon trains, it was also an important place to weigh the faster Cimarron Branch against the Mountain Branch, which was 100 miles longer. The growing presence of Anglo settlers, missionaries, and merchants, together with Fort Union, hastened the Americanization of former Native American ancestral homelands and Mexican Territories.
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