Transportation
7
From 1845 to 1860, three western trails figured prominently in the opening of the West. The Santa Fe Trail, 770 miles long and blazed by William Bicknell in 1821, carried the vast American wagon trade with Mexico until the coming of the railroad in the 1840s and 50s. Westport and the Town of Kansas became starting points for wagon caravans, with Santa Fe as the southwestern terminus. In just five months of 1859, 2,300 men, 1,970 wagons, 840 horses, 4,000 mules, 15,000 oxen, and 73 carriages left Westport over the Santa Fe Trail. The fur trade, the gold rush, and strong national feeling for expansion opened the California and Oregon Trails to westward immigration, and between 1842 and 1848 at least 300,000 persons moved along the trails. At this site Westport bustled with wagons, traders, mules, oxen, bales, and barrels.
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