THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL by COLONEL HENRY INMAN (best fiction novels of all time .TXT) 📕

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A Profitable Market And The People Purchased at Relatively Low Prices.

 

 

 

What A Wonderful Change Has Taken Place In the Traffic With New Mexico

In Less Than Three-Quarters Of A Century!  In 1825 It Was All Carried

On With One Single Annual Caravan Of Prairie-Schooners, And Now There

Are Four Railroads Running Through The Rio Grande Valley, And One

Daily Freight Train Of The Atchison, Topeka, And Santa Fe Into The

Town Unloads More Freight Than Was Taken There In a Whole Year When

The "Commerce Of The Prairies" Was At Its Height!

 

 

 

Upon The Arrival Of A Caravan In the Days Of The Sleepy Regime Under

Mexican Control, The People Did Everything In their Power To Make

The Time Pass Pleasantly For Every One Connected with It During

Their Sojourn.  Bailes, Or Fandangoes, As The Dancing Parties Were

Called by The Natives, Were Given Nightly, And Many Amusing anecdotes

In Regard To Them Are Related by The Old-Timers.

 

 

 

The New Mexicans, Both Men And Women, Had A Great Fondness For

Jewelry, Dress, And Amusements; Of The Latter, The Fandango Was The

Principal, Which Was Held In the Most Fashionable Place Of Resort,

Where Every Belle And Beauty In the Town Presented herself,

Attired in the Most Costly Manner, And Displaying Her Jewelled

Ornaments To The Best Advantage.  To This Place Of Recreation

And Pleasure, Generally A Large, Capacious Saloon Or Interior Court,

All Classes Of Persons Were Allowed to Come, Without Charge And

Without Invitation.  The Festivities Usually Commenced about Nine

O'Clock In the Evening, And The Tolling Of The Church Bells Was

The Signal For The Ladies To Make Their Entrance, Which They Did

Almost Simultaneously.

 

 

 

New Mexican Ladies Were Famous For Their Gaudy Dresses, But It Must

Be Confessed they Did Not Exercise Good Taste.  Their Robes Were

Made Without Bodies; A Skirt Only, And A Long, Loose, Flowing Scarf

Or Reboso Dexterously Thrown About The Head And Shoulders, So As To

Supersede Both The Use Of Dress-Bodies And Bonnets.

 

 

 

There Was Very Little Order Maintained at These Fandangoes, And Still

Less Attention Paid To The Rules Of Etiquette.  A Kind Of Swinging,

Gallopade Waltz Was The Favourite Dance, The Cotillion Not Being

Much In vogue.  Read Byron'S Graphic Description Of The Waltz,

And Then Stretch Your Imagination To Its Utmost Tension, And You

Will Perhaps Have Some Faint Conception Of The Mexican Fandango.

Such Familiarity Of Position As Was Indulged in would Be Repugnant

To The Refined rules Of Polite Society In the Eastern Cities;

But With The New Mexicans, In those Early Times, Nothing Was

Considered to Be A Greater Accomplishment Than That Of Being able

To Go Handsomely Through All The Mazes Of Their Peculiar Dance.

 

 

 

There Was One Republican Feature About The New Mexican Fandango;

It Was That All Classes, Rich And Poor Alike, Met And Intermingled,

As Did The Romans At Their Saturnalia, Upon Terms Of Equality.

Sumptuous Repasts Or Collations Were Rarely Ever Prepared for Those

Frolicsome Gatherings, But There Was Always An Abundance Of

Confectionery, Sweetmeats, And Native Wine.  It Cost Very Little

For A Man To Attend One Of The Fandangoes In santa Fe, But Not To Get

Away Decently And Sober.  In that It Resembled the Descent Of Aeneas

To Pluto'S Realms; It Was Easy Enough To Get There, But When It Came

To Return, "Revocare Gradum, Superasque Evadere Ad Auras, Hic Labor,

Hoc Opus Est."

Chapter II (La Lande And Pursley)

 

In The Beginning Of The Trade With New Mexico, The Route Across

The Great Plains Was Directly West From The Missouri River To The

Mountains, Thence South To Santa Fe By The Circuitous Trail From Taos.

When The Traffic Assumed an Importance Demanding a More Easy Line

Of Way, The Road Was Changed, Running along The Left Bank Of The

Arkansas Until That Stream Turned northwest, At Which Point It

Crossed the River, And Continued southwest To The Raton Pass.

 

 

 

The Atchison, Topeka, And Santa Fe Railroad Track Substantially

Follows The Trail Through The Mountains, Which Here Afford The

Wildest And Most Picturesquely Beautiful Scenery On The Continent.

 

 

 

The Arkansas River At The Fording Of The Old Trail Is Not More Than

Knee-Deep At An Ordinary Stage Of Water, And Its Bottom Is Well Paved

With Rounded pebbles Of The Primitive Rock.

 

 

 

The Overland Trade Between The United states And The Northern

Provinces Of Mexico Seems To Have Had No Very Definite Origin;

Having Been Rather The Result Of An Accident Than Of Any Organized

Plan Of Commercial Establishment.

 

 

 

According To The Best Authorities, A French Creole, Named la Lande,

An Agent Of A Merchant Of Kaskaskia, Illinois, Was The First American

Adventurer To Enter Into The Uncertain Channels Of Trade With The

People Of The Ultramontane Region Of The Centre Of The Continent.

He Began His Adventurous Journey Across The Vast Wilderness,

With No Companions But The Savages Of The Debatable Land, In 1804;

And Following Him The Next Year, James Pursley Undertook The Same

Pilgrimage.  Neither Of These Pioneers In the "Commerce Of The

Prairies" Returned to Relate What Incidents Marked the Passage Of

Their Marvellous Expeditions.  Pursley Was So Infatuated with The

Strange Country He Had Travelled so Far To Reach, That He Took Up

His Abode In the Quaint Old Town Of Santa Fe Where His Subsequent

Life Is Lost Sight Of.  La Lande, Of A Different Mould, Forgot To

Render An Account Of His Mission To The Merchant Who Had Sent Him

There, And Became A Prosperous And Wealthy Man By Means Of Money

To Which He Had No Right.

 

 

 

To Captain Zebulon Pike, Who Afterwards Was Made A General, Is Due

The Impetus Which The Trade With Santa Fe Received shortly After

His Return To The United states.  The Student Of American History

Will Remember That The Expedition Commanded by This Soldier Was

Inaugurated in 1806; His Report Of The Route He Had Taken Was The

Incentive For Commercial Speculation In the Direction Of Trade With

New Mexico, But It Was So Handicapped by Restrictions Imposed by The

Mexican Government, That The Adventurers Into The Precarious Traffic

Were Not Only Subject To A Complete Confiscation Of Their Wares,

But Frequently Imprisoned for Months As Spies.  Under Such A Condition

Of Affairs, Many Of The Earlier Expeditions, Prior To 1822, Resulted

In Disaster, And Only A Limited number Met With An Indifferent Success.

 

 

 

It Will Not Be Inconsistent With My Text If I Herewith Interpolate

An Incident Connected with Pursley, The Second American To Cross

The Desert, For The Purpose Of Trade With New Mexico, Which I Find In

The _Magazine Of American History_:

 

 

 

          When Zebulon M. Pike Was In mexico, In 1807, He Met,

          At Santa Fe, A Carpenter, Pursley By Name, From Bardstown,

          Kentucky, Who Was Working at His Trade.  He Had In a

          Previous Year, While Out Hunting On The Plains, Met With

          A Series Of Misfortunes, And Found Himself Near The

          Mountains.  The Hostile Sioux Drove The Party Into The

          High Ground In the Rear Of Pike'S Peak.  Near The Headwaters

          Of The Platte River, Pursley Found Some Gold, Which He

          Carried in his Shot-Pouch For Months.  He Was Finally Sent

          By His Companions To Santa Fe, To See If They Could Trade

          With The Mexicans, But He Chose To Remain In santa Fe

          In preference To Returning To His Comrades.  He Told The

          Mexicans About The Gold He Had Found, And They Tried hard

          To Persuade Him To Show Them The Place.  They Even Offered

          To Take Along A Strong Force Of Cavalry.  But Pursley

          Refused, And His Patriotic Reason Was That He Thought The

          Land Belonged to The United states.  He Told Captain Pike

          That He Feared they Would Not Allow Him To Leave Santa Fe,

          As They Still Hoped to Learn From Him Where The Gold Was

          To Be Found.  These Facts Were Published by Captain Pike

          Soon After His Return East; But No One Took The Hint,

          Or The Risk Was Too Great, And Thus More Than A Half

          A Century Passed before Those Same Rich Fields Of Gold

          Were Found And Opened to The World.  If Pursley Had Been

          Somewhat Less Patriotic, And Had Guided the Mexicans To

          The Treasures, The Whole History And Condition Of The

          Western Part Of Our Continent Might Have Been Entirely

          Different From What It Now Is.  That Region Would Still

          Have Been A Part Of Mexico, Or Spain Might Have Been

          In possession Of It, Owning California; And, With The Gold

          That Would Have Been Poured into Her Coffers, Would Have

          Been The Leading Nation Of European Affairs To-Day.

          We Can Easily See How American And European History In

          The Nineteenth Century Might Have Been Changed, If That

          Adventurer From Kentucky Had Not Been A True Lover Of His

          Native Country.

 

 

 

The Adventures Of Captain Ezekiel Williams Along The Old Trail,

In The Early Days Of The Century, Tell A Story Of Wonderful Courage,

Endurance, And Persistency.  Williams Was A Man Of Great Perseverance,

Patience, And Determination Of Character.  He Set Out From St. Louis

In The Late Spring Of 1807, To Trap On The Upper Missouri And The

Waters Of The Yellowstone, With A Party Of Twenty Men Who Had Chosen

Him As Their Leader.  After Various Exciting Incidents And Thrilling

Adventures, All Of The Original Party, Except Williams And Two Others,

Were Killed by The Indians Somewhere In the Vicinity Of The Upper

Arkansas.  The Three Survivors, Not Knowing Where They Were, Separated,

And Captain Williams Determined to Take To The Stream By Canoe, And

Trap On His Way Toward The Settlements, While His Last Two Companions

Started for The Spanish Country--That Is, For The Region Of Santa Fe.

The Journal Of Williams, From Which I Shall Quote Freely, Is To Be

Found In _The Lost Trappers_, A Work Long Out Of Print.[11]  As The

Country Was An Unexplored region, He Might Be On A River That Flowed

Into The Pacific, Or He Might Be Drifting Down A Stream That Was

An Affluent To The Gulf Of Mexico.  He Was Inclined to Believe

That He Was On The Sources Of The Red river.  He Therefore Resolved

To Launch His Canoe, And Go Wherever The Stream Might Convey Him,

Trapping On His Descent, When Beaver Might Be Plenty.

 

 

 

The First Canoe He Used he Made Of Buffalo-Skins.  As This Kind

Of Water Conveyance Soon Begins To Leak And Rot, He Made Another

Of Cottonwood, As Soon As He Came To Timber Sufficiently Large,

In Which He Embarked for A Port, He Knew Not Where.

 

 

 

Most Of His Journeyings Captain Williams Performed during The Hours

Of Night, Excepting When He Felt It Perfectly Safe To Travel In

Daylight.  His Usual Plan Was To Glide Along Down The Stream, Until

He Came To A Place Where Beaver Signs Were Abundant.  There He Would

Push His Little Bark Among The Willows, Where He Remained concealed,

Excepting When He Was Setting His Traps Or Visiting Them In the

Morning.  When He Had Taken All The Beaver In one Neighbourhood,

He Would Untie His Little Conveyance, And Glide Onward And Downward

To Try His Luck In another Place.

 

 

 

Thus For Hundreds Of Miles Did This Solitary Trapper Float Down This

Unknown River, Through An Unknown Country, Here And There Lashing

His Canoe To The Willows And Planting His Traps In the Little

Tributaries Around.  The Upper Part Of The Arkansas, For This

Proved to Be The River He Was On,[12] Is Very Destitute Of Timber,

And The Prairie Frequently Begins At The Bank Of The River And

Expands On Either Side As Far As The Eye Can Reach.  He Saw Vast

Herds Of Buffalo, And As It Was The Rutting Season, The Bulls Were

Making a Wonderful Ado; The Prairie Resounded with Their Low, Deep

Grunting Or Bellowing, As They Tore Up The Earth With Their Feet

And Horns, Whisking Their Tails, And Defying Their Rivals To Battle.

Large Gangs Of Wild Horses Could Be Seen Grazing On The Plains And

Hillsides, And The Neighing and Squealing Of Stallions Might Be Heard

At All Times Of The Night.

 

 

 

Captain Williams Never Used his Rifle To Procure