The Santa Fe Trail was the main trade route between Franklin, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The main part of the trail was 780 miles long, and thousands of freight wagons traveled along it each year except during the winter months. A one-way trip took about six weeks. Most wagons were pulled by oxen because they ate and drank less than horses or mules and were less likely to be stolen by Indians. Oxen traveled at one and a half miles per hour. Freighters traded goods such as clothes, coffee, flour, sugar, and guns for beaver and buffalo hides. As rail lines were laid westward, the need for the wagons ended.