Santa Fe Trail - Route

A trading route from W Missouri through Kansas and Colorado to Santa Fe in New Mexico. The trail was pioneered by William Becknell in 1821, the year of Mexico's independence from Spanish rule. It remained a commercially important route for over 50 years, but declined after the Santa Fe railway was opened in 1880.

The Santa Fe Trail was a historic 19th century transportation route across southwestern North America connecting Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. At first an international trade route between the United States and Mexico, it served as the 1846 U.S. invasion route of New Mexico during the Mexican-American War

After the U.S. acquisition of the Southwest, the trail helped open the region to U.S. economic development and settlement, playing a vital role in the expansion of the U.S. into the lands it had acquired. A highway route that roughly follows the trail's path through Colorado and northern New Mexico has been designated the Santa Fe Trail National Scenic Byway.

Route

The eastern end of the trail was in the central Missouri town of Franklin on the north bank of the Missouri River. West of Franklin the trail crossed the Missouri near Arrow Rock, after which it followed roughly the route of present-day U.S. Route 24.

West of Independence in the State of Missouri, it roughly followed the route of U.S. Route 56 to the town of Olathe.

From Olathe, the trail passed through the towns of Baldwin City, Burlingame and Council Grove, then swung east of McPherson to the town of Lyons. West of Lyons the trail followed nearly the route of present-day Highway 56 to Great Bend, where it encountered the Arkansas River.

West of Garden City in southwestern Kansas the trail has a complex network of branches.

Cimarron Cutoff

The other main branch cut southwest to the valley of the Cimarron River near the town of Ulysses and Elkhart then continued toward Boise City, Oklahoma to Clayton, New Mexico, joining up with northern branch at Fort Union.

Part of this route has been designated a National Scenic Byway.