For the next 20 years caravans followed the various routes of the Old Spanish Trail to California. Typical commercial activities include the exchange of New Mexican woven goods for horses and mules. 80 80 ive H Snak e R r u tle m Green it b L o R iver ld t River Salt Lake City ampa River The Northern Route: The North Branch: Y 25 Old Spanish National Historic Trail First blazed by William Wolfskill and George This route followed well-known trapper and trade routes north through ver Ri C. Yount in 1831, this route veered northwest the Rio GrandeWhite gorge to Taos and into southern Colorado. It then went EARLY EXPLORATIONS TRAIL MILESTONES Three trails, including the Old Spanish Trail, North Branch from Abiquiú through Southern Colorado and 15 west through Cochetopa Pass, largely open during the winter when merged in Santa Fe. El Camino Real de Tierra It is difficult to see traces of the trail in the • Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation The Old Spanish National Historic Trail was North central Utah. It avoided the rugged canyons of other passes were snowed in and up the Gunnison River valley, rejoining r Denver 1598…… Don Juan de Oñate establishes San Juan de 1776…… Franciscan priests, Francisco Atanasio 1829…… Antonio Armijo leads the first trade caravan e modern landscape. Most of the routes of the Area designated by Congress in 2002. The trail runs Adentro (the Royal Road to the Interior Lands) Northern Route 70 the Colorado River that the Armijo party had i v the Northern Route near present-day Green River, Utah. los Caballeros (near modern Ohkay Owingeh Domínguez and Francisco Silvestre Vélez de from Abiquiú to Los Angeles, opening the Old R ver h o Ri Old Spanish Trail have been reclaimed by nature • Fort Garland Museum, Fort Garland through New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, was a wagon road between Mexico City and c ad t or Pueblo), the first Spanish settlement in New Mexico. Escalante follow Rivera’s route to the Great Spanish Trail. Armijo Route encountered and took advantage of the better i ol P C or changed by later use. However, some of the Fort Uncompaghre, Delta Nevada and California. The Bureau of Land • Santa Fe. The Santa Fe Trail, an international r Basin in western Utah. e water and pasture resources across central Utah n iv a Mojave Road R S landmarks that guided trail travelers can still be • Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve Management and the National Park Service wagon route that crossed the plains, linked 1610…… Don Pedro de Peralta founds Santa Fe, the new 1831…… William Wolfskill and George C. Yount blaze a e s before returning to the Colorado River and e Salina Green River Grand Junction seen today. • Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area administer the trail together to encourage capital of New Mexico. 1781…… Spanish colonials establish El Pueblo de la more northern route that ascends into central Missouri with Santa Fe. e R Armijo’s route not far from Las Vegas. • McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area preservation and public use. Reina de los Angeles in California. Utah before heading southwest into California. 70 D olo r The following sites along the trail offer the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum, 1765…… Juan María Antonio Rivera leads two parties The trails witnessed dramatic growth in use e • s G u Moab R nn Gunnison from New Mexico to explore southwestern 1821…… Mexico gains independence from Spain. 1834…… José Avieta and 125 men arrive at Los Angeles NEVADA i i iver opportunity to experience some of the natural Ignacio These two federal agencies work in close after 1821, when a large and broad array of v s e on R Colorado and southeastern Utah. carrying 1,645 serapes, 314 blankets, and other F r merchandise came to New Mexico from the re r landscapes crossed by the trail. They are only a • Ute Museum and Memorial Site, Montrose partnership with the Old Spanish Trail 1825…… Antoine Robidoux builds Fort Uncompahgre woolen goods. mont Rive sh small sampling of places you can visit associated Association, American Indian tribes, state, county,

1774…… Father Francisco Hermenegildo Garcés sets out (Fort Robidoux) near present-day Delta, Colorado, Eastern United States and Europe. Merchants a W took many of these products further into Mexico with the trail. You can learn more by visiting the Nevada: and municipal governmental agencies, private

r y from southern Arizona to explore a path to where Indians and traders bargained for goods. 1837…… José María Chávez and family settle in what became e e ll COLORADO v a official trail websites. landowners, nonprofit groups, and many others. the California missions. He follows the Mojave known as the Chávez Ravine in Los Angeles. along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. i V R UTAH e w River and reaches Mission San Gabriel. 1826…… Jeddediah S. Smith leads a small party of it o Enoch Rio Gran • Lake Mead National Recreation Area h d de a Riv fur trappers westward from Cache Valley, Utah. 1839…… José Antonio Salazar arrives in California at the W e er Arizona: • Lost City Museum, Overton For more information, including more site M head of a group of 75 men; Francisco Quintana iver • Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Park locations and trip planning tools, please visit San Jua R n n carries domestic manufactures worth $78.25. O gin Rive R Durango a • Glen Canyon National Recreation Area • Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area our official trail websites: w ir r i er u V v J San Luis All routes came together at Forke of Roads, n n S a • Grand Canyon/Parashant National • Springs Preserve, Las Vegas 1841…… Francisco Estevan Vigil arrives at Los Angeles and s La Plata

east of present-dayr Barstow in theR Mojave Rive i Monument Bureau of Land Management presents a passport and instructions describing s v Page g’ e Fredonia Aztec desert, and then crossed Cajon Passr between in • Navajo National Monument New Mexico: Utah State Office the duties and responsibilities of a commander of K Teec Nos Pos Dominguez-Escalante, 1776-1777 the San Gabriel and San Bernadino Mountains Mesquite Kayenta Pipe Spring National Monument www.blm.gov/ut Francisco Garces, 1774 COLORADO a caravan. • to Coastal California. After negotiating the C Jedediah Smith, 1826-1827 UTAH a • Aztec Ruins National Monument The Old Spanish Trail’s rugged terrain discouraged iver Taos n pass, traders had an easy two to three days o R a Northern Route, 1831 1842…… A party of 40 New Mexicans from Abiquiú settles orad d California: • Palace of the Governors and New Mexico National Park Service l i the use of wagons. It was always a pack route, Co a Las Vegas 25 n Mojave Road, 1826 at Agua Mansa and Politana in California; travel to the San Gabriel Mission and beyond to R History Museum, Santa Fe National Trails Intermountain Region

mainly used by men and mules. Abiquiu i

v

Armijo Route, 1829 r The Armijo Route:

Francisco Estevan Vigil and 194 men are issued e

Los Angeles. e

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v Desert Discovery Center, Barstow Rio Grande Gorge Visitor Center, Taos www.nps.gov/olsp i North Branch, 1848 • •

passports carrying 4,150 California animals back R The first complete trip across the trail began in L Tecopa i o t • El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical • Spanish Colonial Art Museum, Santa Fe t

Traders used different routes from trip to trip, d to New Mexico. l

a Abiquiú, northwest of Santa Fe. The Armijo party royo

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o Santa Fe l Monument Volunteer Organization

NEVADA C ic depending on weather and water. Caravans o

er o followed well-known trails northwest to the San o v C ern Ri 15 lo 1843…… Juan Arce hauls merchandise worth $487.50. left New Mexico in the late summer or fall and K rad • Mission San Gabriel, San Gabriel Utah: Old Spanish Trail Association CALIFORNIA Searchlight o Ri Juan River, then nearly due west to the Virgin CALIFORNIA ver • Mojave National Preserve www.oldspanishtrail.org returned from California in the spring. Early 40 River. They used the Crossing of the Fathers, To Franklin,Pecos Missouri 1844…… Francisco Rael carries domestic manufactures and Riv winter snows blocked mountain passes and 5 er • Mojave River Valley Museum, Barstow • Arches National Park Taos sheep worth $1,748. cut into rock canyon wall some 75 years earlier 40 via the Santa Fe Trail erde Ri • San Bernardino County Museum, Redlands • Beaver Wash Dam National Conservation Area travelers chose their routes accordingly. In the V ve by the Domínguez-Escalante party. Armijo’s 800 mi 1287 km r • Grand Staircase-Escalante National ARIZONA 1846…… The Mexican-American War begins. spring, traders worried about late snows and Barstow caravan went down the Muddy River and across Abiquiu The Mojave Road: Colorado: Monument Santa Fe floods. On every trip, they worried about water the Mojave Desert to the Amargosa and Mojave To Mexico City, Mexico A 188-mile crossing of the Mojave Desert long • John Wesley Powell River History Museum, 1848…… Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ends Mexican- and forage, often racing to beat other caravans to ARIZONA Rivers, through Cajon Pass and down to Mission via El Camino Real Los Angeles American War; the Southwest becomes U.S. used by area Indians and by Spanish explorers 17 • Anasazi Heritage Center/Canyons of the Green River known sources. San Gabriel. de Tierra Adentro territory; California Gold Rush begins and missionaries, it was first traveled by Jedediah Ancients National Monument Museum of the San Rafael, Castle Dale NEW MEXICO Los Angeles • San Bernardino r 1242 mi 2000 km e Smith, an American trapper,v in 1826. San Gabriel i • Colorado National Monument • Dan O’Leary Museum, Moab

R

1849…… Commercial caravans across the Old Spanish o Salt 215 Ri Curecanti National Recreation Area Iron Mission State Park, Cedar City

d v • • North er Trail largely cease as more direct transportation a 0 10 20 30 40 50 100 r 10 o SCALE IN MILES routes develop l o 25 C Phoenix NEW MEXICO Gila River Earlier explorations provided essential knowledge about the lands and cultures between Santa Fe and Los Angeles. 2002…… The Old Spanish National Historic Trail is As trading opportunities opened up, traders sought the quickest and safest route. designated by Congress 5

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