Santa Fe Trail

William Becknell left Franklin in 1821 with a small group on the first trip along what became the Santa Fe Trail, seeking profit by trading manufactured goods for silver and furs, and the successful four-month journey returned a 1,500 percent profit. The next year he blazed an 800-mile wagon trail to Mexico, opened trade with Santa Fe, got out of debt, and gained the title "Father of the Santa Fe Trail." In 1823, Stephen Cooper returned to Missouri with about 400 Mexican mules, jacks, and jennets, and Boone's Lick farmers bred Mexican jacks with American mares to produce powerful Missouri mules; by the 1880s, Missouri produced more than 34,000 mules each year, more than any other state. By 1825 the trail had become so important economically that the U.S. government surveyed the route and made treaties with Indian nations to guarantee safe passage. In 1826, Christopher "Kit" Carson, about 16 years old, left David Workman of Franklin, where he was apprenticed in the saddler's trade, and set out on the trail before later becoming famous as a mountain man and pathfinder. In 1827, Independence began replacing Franklin as the starting point for Santa Fe traders because it was 100 miles closer. Controversy tied to the trail and a disputed Texas boundary helped lead to war with Mexico in 1846, and men from the Boone's Lick area eagerly volunteered because victory mattered for territorial expansion and trade with Mexico. After Mexico lost the war, it was forced to give up its northern territories, leading to the creation of California, New Mexico, and Arizona and parts of Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. As settlers pushed west, small-time traders gave way to mercantile companies and freight-hauling contractors, and the trail from Missouri to Santa Fe remained an artery of commerce until the first railroad reached the area in 1880.

New Franklin, Missouri · United States