Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study SANTE FE Special History Study COMERCIANTES, ARRIEROS, Y PEONES: THE HISPANOS AND THE SANTA FE TRADE (Merchants, Muleteers, and Peons) Special History Study Santa Fe National Historic Trail by Susan Calafate Boyle Southwest Cultural Resources Center Professional Papers No. 54 Division of History Southwest Region National Park Service 1994 TABLE OF CONTENTS safe/shs/index.htm Last Updated: 30-Sep-2005 http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/safe/index.htm[7/2/2012 3:03:56 PM] Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study (Table of Contents) SANTA FE Special History Study TABLE OF CONTENTS COVER LIST OF FIGURES INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I - Isolation and Dependency CHAPTER II - Poverty and Neglect CHAPTER III - Going Down the Royal Road CHAPTER IV - Contraband and the Law CHAPTER V - New Mexican Merchants and Mercantile Capitalism CHAPTER VI - Felipe Chavez CHAPTER VII - Other Leading Merchant Families CONCLUSION RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY BIBLIOGRAPHY GLOSSARY APPENDIX I APPENDIX II APPENDIX III APPENDIX IV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. "Loading Up." J. Gregg marveled at the dexterity and skill with which hispanos harnessed and adjusted packs of merchandise Figure 2. The Santa Fe Trade: An International Trade Network Figure 3. The Santa Fe Trail: Part of an International Trade Network http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/safe/shst.htm[7/2/2012 3:04:00 PM] Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study (Table of Contents) Figure 4. Pedro Vial pioneered a route that closely resembled the one Santa Fe Traders would follow in the next century Figure 5. "Sinching" the Load Figure 6. Major Destinations of Hispano Merchants Traveling to the Mexican Territory Figure 7. Spanish Leaflet Advertising Merchandise Available in New York Figure 8. Don Felipe Chavez Figure 9. Felipe Chavez's Store in Belen, New Mexico (1875) Figure 10. Wagon Trains Arriving at the Santa Fe Plaza, ca. 1861 <<< Previous <<< Contents>>> Next >>> safe/shs/shst.htm Last Updated: 30-Sep-2005 http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/safe/shst.htm[7/2/2012 3:04:00 PM] Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study (Introduction) SANTA FE Special History Study INTRODUCTION The Santa Fe Trail has attracted the attention of scholars and lovers of adventure for over a century. [1] Nearly all of the studies published, however, focus exclusively on the route between Missouri and Santa Fe, the activities of American traders and freighters, and the period prior to the Mexican War. This account broadens the approach and addresses some important, neglected themes. First, the geographical boundaries of the Santa Fe Trail extend far beyond the more familiar stretch connecting Missouri and Santa Fe. This was but one segment of a complex network of commercial operations, which this study identifies as the Santa Fe trade (see Figures 1 and 2). This extensive pattern of economic relations involved two continents—Europe and North America—and several countries—Mexico, the United States, England, and France. Activities associated with the Santa Fe trade extended west to the California coast; south from the Arkansas River into Mexico; southeast to New Orleans; east beyond Missouri to New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and other castern cities; and across the Atlantic Ocean, particularly to England's Liverpool and London. By the 1850s the Santa Fe trade was characterized by commercial hubs in Mexico, the United States, and Europe, where commission merchants, wholesalers, and agents completed intricate transactions that required advance planning and information on prices and demand, a complicated credit system, coordination between various types of transportation, and considerable risk-taking and entrepreneurial skills. [2] http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/safe/shs0.htm[7/2/2012 3:04:04 PM] Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study (Introduction) Figure 1. "Loading Up." J. Gregg marveled at the dexterity and skill with which hisapnos harnessed and adjusted packs of merchandise. Photo: William H. Jackson, ca. 1875, courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico. http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/safe/shs0.htm[7/2/2012 3:04:04 PM] Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study (Introduction) Figure 2. The Santa Fe Trade: An International Trade Network (click on image for an enlargement in a new window) Second, this study examines how cultural and socioeconomic conditions in New Mexico contributed to the development and success of the Santa Fe trade. Isolated from Mexican markets by both distance and stifling commercials constraints, New Mexicans turned to the Santa Fe trade for survival and success. Fortunes were both founded and augmented by this trade. Additionally supplying products for transport on the Trail provided some income for hispanos. Their celebrated skill at both packing and managing the cargo-carrying mules was widely sought by freighters. The ricos (wealthy) were the prime beneficiaries of the profits which resulted from a dramatic increase in merchandise entering the territory, but the working hispano population also enjoyed some improvement in their standard of living. [3] Third, this study principally focuses on the commercial activities of New Mexican merchants. The literature on the Santa Fe Trail tends to celebrate Americans (and some western Europeans) and often portrays them as the daring explorers and visionaries who opened commercial relations between the United States and Mexico. Sometimes overlooked is the equally significant role played by hispanos. [4] After the Santa Fe Trail officially opened they contributed to its growth and geographical expansion, developing their own commercial networks or joining foreigners in the crossing of the plains and in business transactions. [5] By 1835 they were the majority of those traveling into the Mexican territory, owned a substantial portion of all the merchandise freighted south, and specialized in hauling efectos del pais (local manufactures). At the end of the 1830s wealthy Mexican and New Mexican merchants expanded their operations, and traveled to the eastern United States where they established direct relations with wholesalers and commission merchants. They took advantage of their resources, skills, and knowledge of the territory to develop a form of commercial capitalism well-suited to the special circumstances of the New Mexican economy. This study emphasizes the need to make a distinction between traders or traveling merchants, http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/safe/shs0.htm[7/2/2012 3:04:04 PM] Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study (Introduction) who were transient and exposed to the hazards of acquiring and marketing eastern merchandise, and sedentary merchants, who attempted to establish a permanent business based on a well-calculated balancing of risks. The majority of studies have focused exclusively on traders and those who accompanied the loads. Freighters were highly visible along the Trail and probably owned some of the merchandise they carried. Yet they merely conveyed the outcome of the investment decisions of others and played a secondary role in acquiring credit, arranging purchases in various commercial hubs, and coordinating shipments. Finally, the Santa Fe trade did not decline after the Mexican War. The volume and value of the merchandise that crossed the plains increased steadily after the 1840s, and climaxed during the 1870s when it exceeded that of the previous five decades combined. [6] Wealthy New Mexican merchants contributed to this expansion. Between 1846 and 1880 they solidified their economic situation as they developed and refined a system that permitted them to take advantage of their geographical location and available resources to enhance their socioeconomic status and influence. The nature of their operations changed with time, as they became aware of the need to diversify their activities and investments in an effort to minimize the risks that characterized the economy of the western frontier. This study calls for a more systematic approach to the study of the commercial system that characterized the Santa Fe trade and its evolution through time. It extends beyond the physical stretch between Missouri and Santa Fe and freighting operations. And it details to the extent possible the involvement of major hispano families in establishing and maintaining trade along the Trail. Historical literature abounds with Anglo tales of the trip across the prairie, but there is little information on the owners (particularly after the 1840s); the source, nature, amount and value of the merchandise; the commission merchants who facilitated the purchase and delivery of the goods, and the credit system that allowed commerce to develop and thrive for almost 60 years. <<< Previous <<< Contents>>> Next >>> safe/shs/shs0.htm Last Updated: 30-Sep-2005 http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/safe/shs0.htm[7/2/2012 3:04:04 PM] Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study (Chapter 1) SANTA FE Special History Study CHAPTER I: ISOLATION AND DEPENDENCY De esta adhesión y fidelidad acaso se hallan más penetrados los habitantes de los Estados Unidos que los de la antigua España. Inteligenciados del abandono con que ha sido mirada aquella provincia, han procurado atraerla a sí por varios medios. han procurado ya con los halagos de un comercio ventajoso, ya convidándonos con unas leyes suaves y protectoras, unir esta preciosa porción de territorio al comprado de la Luisiana. [1] Pedro Bautista Pino, 1812 Throughout the colonial period New Mexicans knew that the province's poverty and peripheral geographical situation condemned it to be neglected or forgotten. Pedro Bautista Pino, New Mexico's first deputy to the Spanish Cortes (legislative body), was among the first who dared to make public what others would later voice, that unless Spain addressed some of the problems facing the territory, it would be difficult to disregard for long the attention of the United States. New Spain's northern frontier was far and isolated, and struggled to become an integral part of the Spanish empire.