On The Santa Fe Trail
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But it was Kansas that claimed the largest share of the trail: from a beginning point at either Kansas City or Fort Leavenworth it angled across the entire state, exiting over four hundred miles later in the southwestern corner. It would be no exaggeration to say that trade and travel on the Santa Fe Trail derived much of its special flavor from the Kansas experience and that, in turn, the presence of the trail went a long way toward shaping the early history of the state.
Many participants in this story, overlanders of various kinds, wrote down what they saw and learned on the way to Santa Fe. It is with that in mind that Marc Simmons has here collected a dozen narratives and reports from the middle years of the trail's history--from the early 1840s to the late '60s--that is, just after New Mexico had passed into American hands. It was a period of intense Indian-white conflict and before the establishment of rail lines along the route.
The authors of these narratives--among them several teenagers, a Spanish aristocrat, an Indian agent, a German immigrant lady, a government scout, and a young New Mexican drover of the peon class--qualify as plain folk who, without quite intending to, got swept up in the westering adventure. Simmons has written an introduction to the collection and to each of the narratives.
Paperback; 160 pages
About the Author:
Marc Simmons is a professional historian and author of the Southwest. His writing, lectures and research focus on the Indian and Hispanic heritages of New Mexico. He is also recognized as an authority on the Santa Fe Trail and is past president of the Santa Fe Trail Association.
Dr. Simmons received his higher education at the University of Texas, University of New Mexico and University of Guanajuato (Mexico). He has taught at several colleges and universities. He is a member of the Western Writers of America and the Writer's Guild.
His writings include: more than 100 articles in scholarly and popular journals; a weekly history column in several New Mexico newspapers; and contributions to the "Encyclopedia Americana," the Smithsonian Institution's "Handbook of North American Indians," and the National Geographic Society's volume 'Trails West." He was also assistant editor of the "Calendar of the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, 1621-1821."
Three of his 35 books have received awards, including "Albuquerque, A Narrative History," given the Golden Spur Award by the Western Writers of America for the best nonfiction book on the West, 1983. "Murder on the Santa Fe Trail" received the 1986 C.L. Sonnichsen Book Award.
Dr. Simmons is a former Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship to carry out a study of Hispanic agriculture in New Mexico. In 1987 the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities presented him with its Humanities Service Award. From the New Mexico Department of Agriculture he received the Rounders Award in 1991.