Established as a wagon route by William Becknell in 1822, the Santa Fe Trail became the first major trade link between the eastern United States and the newly established country of Mexico. From the 1820s to the 1860s, wagon trains traveled the route carrying materials and supplies from Missouri that were vital to the development of northern Mexico, while Mexican traders sent silver, furs, and other products to the U.S. Traveling only 12-15 miles per day, the 800 mile trip could take 7 weeks. Traffic increased greatly after the discovery of gold in California in the late 1840s, and traders, goldseekers, and military troops frequently used the trail throughout the 1850s. Following the Civil War, railroads began to replace wagon transport in the region, and by the 1860s and 70s trade items and military freights were increasingly carried by rail. When the first steam locomotive passed near Santa Fe, New Mexico, on February 9th, 1880, the wagon trail was no longer needed, ending nearly 60 years of commercial use. The trail also had a profound impact on the Indians of the Southern Plains, as Comanche, Kiowa, Plains Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors fought to protect their lands from arriving traders and emigrants. By the mid-1870s, intense military pressure and the slaughter of millions of buffalo forced these tribes to begin new lives on reservations, and the trail's role in opening the door to American expansion in the Southwest signaled the end of the Plains Indians' nomadic way of life.