Overview

By the mid-eighteenth century the Spanish inhabited most of the settlements in the American Southwest and had begun exploring routes east of them, looking for new trade opportunities and invading enemies. The French had already sent many representatives across the barren, Indian-protected West in search of gold, silver, and trade. At the same time, Americans who had settled the New England colonies were moving westward, looking for land, trading opportunities, and natural resources. No one, however, had established a mapped, straightforward trail from west to east. Aware of the encroaching Americans, the persistent French, and the need to access other cities more easily, Spain blazed the first established trade route. In 1786 the Spanish governor of New Mexico hired Pedro...