The Santa Fe Trail

Cimarron, settled in 1878, took its name from having once been the starting point of the shorter Cimarron, or dry, route to Santa Fe, where the Santa Fe Trail divided between a branch heading directly southwest and another, now present U.S. 50, that followed the Arkansas River to Bent's Fort near La Junta, Colorado, then south over Raton Pass. William Becknell first traveled the dry route with a pack train by way of the Cimarron River in 1822, carrying trade goods for Mexico after its independence from Spain. By 1824, wagons were moving along the route with calico, guns, tools, and shoes to exchange for silver, furs, wool, and mules. The trade became so important that in 1825 the government surveyed the route in U.S. territory north of the river, and the Upper Crossing near Chouteau's Island in Kearny County was recommended because it offered a shorter distance between the rivers. Yet despite the danger, the Middle Crossing at various points in the Cimarron-Ingalls area was used most often. The usually waterless sixty miles of trackless prairie between the Arkansas and Cimarron rivers, exposed to Indian attacks, was called by Mexicans Jornada del Muerte, or Journey of Death.

Cimarron, Kansas · United States