The next expedition entering what is now the State of Kansas was sent out from the Spanish settlements in New Mexico. The first intimation the French authorities had of this invasion was contained in a letter written on the 24th of May, 1721, by M. De Boisbriant, Governor of the … Read more
The inaptitude of the Government of the United States to comprehend the needs of a people of foreign origin living under a government devised by another country was well illustrated in the early days of its occupancy of French Louisiana. To govern well in a subject country requires that the … Read more
The Turk was to play an important part in the future movements of the Coronado expedition. He must have gone with Alvarado when that captain returned to Tiguex. There, during the winter, he related to Coronado the wonders of the country of Quivira and two adjoining provincesArche and Guaes. In … Read more
It is well to make at this point a summary of the essential events of the Oregon Trail to find if possible what its national import was. It began at Independence in Western Missouri. At that point travel and commerce bound for the Great West left the Missouri River and … Read more
One Snively, styling himself a Colonel, organized, in North Texas, early in May, 1843, a force of about one hundred and seventy-five men for the purpose of preying on the Mexicans engaged in the Santa Fe trade. Texas and Mexico were then at war, and the purpose of Snively would … Read more
The State Bank of Leon. The writer had been extolling the virtues of business establishments in thirty states but he had never yet run across just such an institution as the State Bank of Leon in any town within five or six times the size of this city. This bank … Read more
In the revival of the myths of “The Seven Cities” it was said that other parties from the Spanish settlements had visited the rich countries of the North, especially after the return of the shipwrecked wanderers. Of what they saw there, of what they reported, we are not certain. But … Read more
A scientific expedition commanded by Major Stephen H. Long visited the country later to become Kansas in the years 1819 and 1820. The expeditions of Lewis and Clark and Lieutenant Pike had added much to the geographical knowledge of the country. The Government evidently believed it was in duty bound … Read more
The Santa Fe Trail was one of those natural routes sometimes found between countries far separated. The physical conformation of the Southwest made this road a commercial highway. Over its courseat least, over courses approximating its final locationsavage tribes had migrated and warred and traded for many generations before America … Read more
The supreme authority on the Santa Fe Trail and the trade developed over it is The Commerce of the Prairies, by Dr. Josiah Gregg. It is the foundation of every work on the subject since its appearance. It was published in 1844 in New York, and London. Dr. Gregg was … Read more