Near the Old Spanish Trail, a 2,700-mile route linked Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California in the early to mid-1800s and facilitated trade in woven goods, horses, and mules. Trade with Native peoples also took place for food and supplies, information, and hides. Enslaved Native Americans, particularly women and children, were also sold along the route, a practice that had a devastating effect on tribes in the area. After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, trade opened throughout American territories and the Old Spanish Trail fell into disuse. A few decades later, Butch Cassidy's family established a home along the historic route, and Cassidy used parts of the trail and its rugged terrain to evade law enforcement.