La Junta was a key decision point on the Santa Fe Trail. For westbound travelers camped in this green river valley, the journey was nearly over, while eastbound travelers had to choose between two very different branches. The shorter Cimarron Route offered hotter country and scarce water but was substantially quicker, and most travelers took it. The northerly Mountain Route had more water and was safer from Indian raids, but it led over the treacherous Raton Pass. The branches rejoined at the Arkansas River in present-day Kansas. The place was first called La Junta, meaning the junction, for the meeting of the Sapello and Mora rivers, and was later renamed for pioneer farmer and merchant Samuel B. Watrous, whose store served Santa Fe Trail travelers. The building of Fort Union in 1851, only eight miles away, sharply increased traffic into the small town and encouraged settlement in the area. In August 1846, General Stephen Watts Kearny and his troops camped here for two days before traveling to Las Vegas, 20 miles to the southwest, where he proclaimed New Mexico part of the United States.