What is the history of the Old Spanish Trail?
The Old Spanish Trail is an historical trade route that connected the northern New Mexico settlements of (or near) Santa Fe, New Mexico with those of Los Angeles, California and southern California. Approximately 700 mi (1,100 km) long, the trail ran through areas of high mountains, arid deserts, and deep canyons.
What did the Old Spanish Trail do?
The Old Spanish Trail has been called the most arduous and difficult trail in the United States. With Native American historical roots, the trail was used by the adventurous and opportunists bringing textiles from Santa Fe to trade for mules and horses in Los Angeles beginning in the early 1800s.
Why was the Old Spanish Trail important?
The trail is important to New Mexico history because it established an arduous but usable trade route with California. In 2002 this trail was designated by Congress as part of the National Trails System as Old Spanish Trail National Historic Trail.
Which trail was the Old Spanish Trail?
The Old Spanish Trail was made a national historic trail by an act of Congress in 2002. From 1829 to 1848, the trail was the major trade route between Santa Fé de Nuevo Mexico (Santa Fe, New Mexico), and Alta California (Los Angeles, California).
Who started the Old Spanish Trail?
A route connecting Los Angeles and Santa Fe was finally established in 1829. Antonio Armijo, a Mexican merchant and trader, led 60 men and 100 mules across the wide expanse of the Colorado Plateau and forged a route through the Mojave Desert on his way into Southern California.
Where did the Old Spanish Trail start and end?
The Old Spanish Trail, beginning in Santa Fe, New Mexico, proceeding through Colorado and Utah, and ending in Los Angeles, California, and the Northern Branch of the Old Spanish Trail, beginning near Española, New Mexico, proceeding through Colorado, and ending near Crescent Junction, Utah.
What are the start and end points of the Old Spanish Trail?
What was traded on the Old Spanish Trail?
The Old Spanish Trail was used from 1829 – 1848 as a trade route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California. Woolen textiles, woven in Northern New Mexico, were traded for strong Californian mules and horses. The Old Spanish Trail had three branches.
Why did the Old Spanish Trail end?
The Spanish Trail closed in 1848 when Mexico deeded the territory to the United States to end the U.S.- Mexican War. The newly acquired land opened new routes for Euro-Americans emigrants to travel overland from east to west.
Who traded on the Old Spanish Trail?
Who created the Old Spanish Trail?
The journey along the Old Spanish trail made by the families of Juan Felipe Peña and Juan Manuel Cabeza Vaca is one of the most endearing tales of immigration along this route.
What type of people traveled the Old Spanish Trail?
These paths had been traveled long before this period by Native Americans and wildlife and afterwards by miners, fur traders, and travelers seeking homes throughout the West.