HISTORIANS' NEW GUIDE RETRACES THE 1,200-MILE SPANISH TRAIL



By Jason N. Swensen

After years of perusing yellowed landscape surveys and entire summers devoted to tedious field research, historian Steven K. Madsen finally felt a connection with the old Spanish Trail. Along a terraced slope south of Durango, Colo., Madsen discovered sets of metallic footprints from travelers who crossed the now-hidden trace over a century ago.

"We found rust stains along a cobblestone path that we can only guess came from the iron-shod hooves of pack animals ridden by old New Mexican traders," said Madsen. "It was thrilling to find actual remains of a very elusive trail."

For almost two decades, Madsen and his research colleague and mentor, C. Gregory Crampton, pieced together nearly 1,200 miles of land traversing the American Southwest to rediscover the Spanish Trail. Their findings were recently published in the first comprehensive guide to the 19th century pack route, "In Search of the Spanish Trail: Santa Fe to Los Angeles, 1829-1848" (Gibbs & Smith, $24.95). "I had long been intrigued by the trail and its exotic name, but I soon discovered that it had never been adequately mapped," said Madsen. "There was little material available, and only one journal existed from a traveler who followed the entire trail. I knew locating the Spanish Trail would be an exciting challenge."

Once an important commercial pack route (cutting through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California), the Spanish Trail was followed primarily by New Mexican traders and American fur trappers between 1829 and 1848.

The trace was used to haul locally woven woolen textiles like rugs and blankets from Santa Fe to Southern California. Goods were then exchanged for pack animals to be herded back to New Mexico. "Horses and mules were in great demand on the Santa Fe Trail to the Missouri frontier," said Madsen. "Traders could make huge profits from their travels across the Southwest."

Several perils confronted early travelers. Sun-scorched deserts and the seldom-realized threat of Indian attack forced traders to loop north and avoid the deep river gorges of the Colorado River and the long, dry stretches of northern Arizona. Caravan traffic ended in 1848 when Mexico ceded the Southwest to the United States - and the well-worn path was soon replaced by grainfields, pioneer wagon roads and Indian reservations. Although thousands once plodded the historic trace, few primary historical sources remain. Madsen and Crampton were left with a fragmented, largely forgotten trail.

Historians had previously pieced together segments of the old trail in obvious places - near towns and along major streams and highways. Using field research, the authors filled the gaps with topographic maps prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Diaries and logs penned by route travelers, along with writings of post-trail pioneers and government explorers like John C. Fremont and John W. Gunnison, served as supplementary sources.

"Parts of the trail were completely obliterated, so we had to piece together large stretches of land, " said Crampton, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Utah. "We knew the trail riders always took the easy way; our job was to look around and find it."

Locating hidden stretches of the trail in Utah often required some historical detective work. "In one area near the San Rafael Swell, we used diaries from a few members of the Elk Mountain Mission party of 1855 who wrote they were following Spanish Trail," he said. "We located landmarks described in those diaries - like Big Holes near Packsaddle Gulch in a remote area south of Price - and knew we were on the trail."

Madsen and Crampton's guide includes 12 easy-to-follow maps illustrating each section of the trail on an 8-mile-to-the-inch scale. Scores of photographs also fill the text. Hikers, equestrians and treasure hunters can benefit from the book, said Madsen. "It's a handy guide for weekend explorers, as well as trail buffs and professional historians."

The authors hope their book will launch the Spanish Trail into National Historic Trail status to ensure the route's preservation.