Santa Fe Trail

The granite and the panel disagree by a year, and both have a case. William Becknell reached Santa Fe in November 1821 with a pack train; the first wagons followed in 1822, the year the DAR cut into its stones in 1910. This stone adds a line its southbound twin lacks, Via Bent's Fort, naming the Mountain Branch by its Colorado landmark, the adobe trading post on the Arkansas. The pair stand a few steps apart at the northbound rest area, about a mile and a half from the southbound stop's own stone and panel.

What the plaque says

Santa Fe Trail (Via Bent's Fort) 1822 — 1879 Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Territory of New Mexico 1910 Official Scenic Historic Marker Santa Fe Trail Opened by William Becknell in 1821, the Santa Fe Trail became the major trade route to Santa Fe from Missouri River towns. The two main branches, the Cimarron Cutoff and the Mountain Branch, joined at Watrous. Travel over the Trail ceased with the coming of the railroad in 1879.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Union National Monument — 8.1 mi
  Three forts in one prairie valley where the two branches of the Santa Fe Trail met: a log post, a star-shaped earthwork, and an adobe supply town that fed the army's wars.
• Montezuma Castle — 27 mi
  The railroad's turreted resort at the Las Vegas hot springs, burned twice in its first years, empty for most of a century, and now home to an international school.

More markers nearby

• Fort Union National Monument / Santa Fe Trail — 1.4 mi
• Fort Union Arsenal — 8.2 mi
• Watrous — 8.6 mi
• Fort Union National Monument — 13 mi