equally ready for a bargain or a battle, did not commonly amuse themselves either with correspondence or authorship, and accordingly, "The Santa Fé Trade" remained as much a matter of mystery to the mass of Americans as the marches of those great caravans which in the east annually traverse the desert towards the tomb of the Prophet.
The origin of this trade is not definitely known. A certain James Pursely, who wandered in the lonely regions west of the Mississippi about the year 1805, and learned something respecting the settlements in New Mexico from Indians near the sources of the Platte river, is supposed to have been the first American who visited Santa Fé in this direction; though, in the previous year, a French Creole, named La Lande, had been despatched by Mr. Morrison, a merchant of Kaskaskia, with orders if possible to reach Santa Fé. It is known that this person arrived at his destination, but was so delighted with the country and so well entertained, that he never returned, and probably established himself in successful trade upon the capital of his confiding employer.
From this period, and after the Southern Expedition of Captain Pike, very little is heard of this distant region until a caravan was fitted out under the auspices of Messrs. Knight, Beard, Chambers, and about eight other persons, in the year 1812. They reached Santa Fé in an unlucky hour. The revolutionary movements which had been disturbing Mexico were just then checked by the successes of the royalists, and the traders were siezed as spies, their goods confiscated, and themselves confined in the prisons of Chihuahua for nine years, when McKnight and his comrades were finally released. As soon as these luckless adventurers reached the United States, their return, their narratives and the probable settlement of the Mexican revolution by the successes of Iturbide, induced others to fit out expeditions at once. A merchant of Ohio, named Glenn, and Captain Becknell, of Missouri, set out forthwith; and in 1824, about eighty traders, accompanied by several intelligent and cultivated Missourians, departed not only with packmules, which had hitherto served for the transportation of goods, but with twenty-five wheeled vehicles of which one or two were stout road wagons, the whole conveying a freight of near thirty thousand dollars in merchandise. The caravan crossed the desert plains after an eventful journey; and some years after—as the early adventurers had experienced no serious molestations from the Indians,—a wealthier class of traders, availed themselves of the
