"From 1610, when the Spanish founded the city of Santa Fe, to the 1860s, when the railroad brought unprecedented changes: here is the story of the great Santa Fe Trail which ran between Missouri and Kansas and New Mexico - a lifeline to and from the Southwest for more than two centuries.".

"Drawing from letters, journals, expedition reports, business records, and newspaper stories, David Dary - one of our foremost historians of the Old West - brings to life the people who laid down the trail and opened commerce with Spanish America: Native Americans and mountain men, traders, trappers, and freighters, surveyors and soldiers, men and women of many different nationalities.

Their firsthand accounts let us experience up close the spectacular scenery; the details of camping out in both friendly and hostile Indian territory; the constant danger from natural disasters or sudden attack; the hardworking, often maverick men who were employed on the wagon trains; the pleasures and entertainments at the southern end of the journey."--BOOK JACKET.