The Taos Mountain Trail was the historic pathway for trade and business exchanges between agrarian

Taos Taos or TAOS may refer to: Places * Taos, Missouri, a city in Cole County, Missouri, United States * Taos County, New Mexico, United States ** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico *** Taos art colony, an art colo ...

(

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

) and the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

(

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

) from pre-history (1100 A.D.) through the Spanish Colonial period and into the time of the European and American presence. The Taos Mountain Trail, between

northern New Mexico Northern New Mexico in cultural terms usually refers to the area of heavy-Spanish settlement in the north-central part of New Mexico. However, New Mexico state government also uses the term to mean the northwest and north central, but to exclude ...

and southern

, connected the high mountain traders and their trading partners north and south of the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains ) , country= United States , subdivision1_type= States , subdivision1= , parent= Rocky Mountains , geology= , orogeny= , area_mi2= 17193 , range_coordinates= , length_mi= 242 , length_orientation= north-south , width_mi= 120 , w ...

. Also called the

Trapper's Trail The Trapper's Trail or Trappers' Trail is a north-south path along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains that links the Great Platte River Road at Fort Laramie and the Santa Fe Trail at Bent's Old Fort. Along this path there were a number of ...

, the pathway was only wide enough for people on foot or horses in single file, but it shortened a trip from

to the plains farther north from nearly two weeks to three days in good weather. The Taos Mountain Trail was also known as the Sangre de Cristo Trail and the Aztec Trail. In the early period (1100 AD to 1500 AD), the trail connected the

Pueblos The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos Pueblo, Taos, San Ildefonso ...

of northern New Mexico to the Plains Indians—

Ute Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute (band), an Australian jazz group * Ute (given name) * ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus * Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles * Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

and

Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...

. The sedentary

Pueblo people The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zun ...

traded crops of

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

melons A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of botanical berry, berry, specifical ...

, and

beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

to the migratory

Plains tribes Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...

in exchange for buffalo meat, hides and other goods. Legend has it that traders from far away

Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

, the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

capital (near modern

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

) used the trail leaving cairns of stones to mark the way. Although there is a great deal of evidence that the people of MesoAmerica traded North into present day Colorado (Mesa Verde),Lazcano Sahagun, Carlos. (1999). ''Exploring a Forgotten World: Lost Sites of the Paquime Culture''. Editorial Mexico Desconocido, S.A. de C.V. Mexico, D.F. the only evidence for Tarahumaran penetration into Colorado was the discovery of plant of Mexican origin at the top of the pass by William A. Weber, professor emeritus of Botany. Charlie Charlefue, a Huerfano Valley resident, also placed a group of Tarahumara Indians in the area prior to American contact

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest c ...

was a trading center hosting fall and spring trade fairs. This fair is mentioned as being in existence prior to and throughout the Spanish Colonial period. In good weather, the Taos Mountain Trail provided the pathway for travel from the eastern plains to the wide plateaus of the Taos Pueblo. Trading companies (desiring furs and hides) determined that sending out men to trade with the Native American groups for the desired hides was more efficient than building trading posts and inviting the Native American people to visit. The traders would obtain their goods from stores in Taos or Santa Fe then return to sell the hides obtained in trade with the Native American thus making the Taos Mountain Trail conduit more important. To aid the trade, Bent's Fort was built in 1833 and El Pueblo Trading Post followed in 1842. Traders headquartered in

Bent's Fort Bent's Old Fort is an 1833 fort located in Otero County in southeastern Colorado, United States. A company owned by Charles Bent and William Bent and Ceran St. Vrain built the fort to trade with Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Plains Indians and ...

and El Pueblo went out to trade with goods from Taos. The Taos Mountain Trail continued in use as it provided quick access to a settled community. During the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, the people of Taos (Taoseños), both Native American and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, revolted in January 1847 killing many Americans living in Taos including the American appointed governor

Charles Bent Charles Bent (November 11, 1799 – January 19, 1847) was an American businessman and politician who served as the first civilian United States governor of the New Mexico Territory, newly acquired by the Military Governor, Stephen Watts Kearny, ...

. Survivors of the attack at nearby Turley's Mill crossed the Taos Mountain Trail on foot in winter to spread the word of the revolt to El Pueblo Trading Post and Bent's Fort. During the railroad expansion era (1848–1853), the Taos Mountain Trail, also called the Sangre de Cristo Pass, was considered for a railway route. E.G. Beckwith was sent to survey the area in 1853. Richard Kern, a

topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scie ...

and expeditionary artist, traveled with Beckwith to illustrate the land for the report. Although the trail was not chosen for the railroad as it was too steep, the report did provide documentation of the Taos Mountain Trail.Sangre de Cristo Pass (#1) Looking northeast from camp north of Summit, August 11, 1853 Colorado
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* Garrard, Lewis H. (1968). ''Wah-to-yah & the Taos Trail''. Palo Alto, CA: American West Publishing Comp. * Hammond, G. P. (Ed.). (1976). ''The Adventures of

Alexander Barclay Dr Alexander Barclay (c. 1476 – 10 June 1552) was a poet and clergyman of the Church of England, probably born in Scotland. Biography Barclay was born in about 1476. His place of birth is matter of dispute, but William Bulleyn, who w ...

''. Mountain Man. Denver. * Lecompte, Janet. (1978). ''Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: Society on the High Plains, 1832–1856''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. * Martinez Martinez, Deborah & Pacheco, Robert W. (illustrator). (2010). ''Trade on the Taos Mountain Trail''. Pueblo, CO: Vanishing Horizons.

References

Bibliography

Further reading