Forgotten Pathfinders: Along the North Branch of Old Spanish Trail 1650
Forgotten Pathfnders Along the North Branch of the Old Spanish Trail 1650-1850 by Jack William Nelson Copyright© 2003, Jack William Nelson Ed. 2016, Jon M. Nelson Forgotten pathfnders: Along the North Branch of the Old Spanish Trail, 1650-1850 by Jack William Nelson About the author: Jack Nelson is a retired public schools administrator, with a Master of Arts in History from the University of Redlands, Redlands, California, 1950. He has spent many years researching the “Old Spanish Trail,” the fur trade era, Mountain Men, and all points connected. His background includes archaeological work, and untold hours backpacking miles of the “Trail.” His thesis, “Louis Robidoux, the Man Behind the Legend,” has been recognized as one of the few authentic documents pertaining to this entrepreneur of the ninteenth cen tury fur trade period. It has been used as reference for continued research on this subject, Jack Nelson is a native Coloradan, and now resides in Grand Junction, Colorado. Editors Note: This edition was published in 2003, with limited distribution, it was the intent of the Author to provide a wider public exposure through online publication as a Pdf, with the goal of promoting scholarship. lNTRODUCTlON “Forgotten Pathfnders” The North Branch of the Old Spanish Trail and Beyond This booklet is about a series of events which culminated in a Trail shrouded in the mists of history. Known today as the North Branch of the Old Spanish Trail, little physical evidence remains of this pack animal route(s) across the interior wilderness of the American Southwest. Priests spreading the Catholic faith, brigands bent upon capturing Indian slaves, “Mountain Men” speaking many languages, entrepreneurs seeking fame and fortune, and adventurers just seeking, all at some time played a role in creating this ephemeral route, once a major variant of the Old Spanish Trail.
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