Courtesy Kevin Moloney The Spanish Peaks, a Santa Fe Trail landmark, break the horizon beyond a remote cemetery near La Junta, Colo., Saturday, June 10, 2023. Near here in 1859, on a merchandise ...

On Sept. 1, 1821, William Becknell set out from Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with five other men. That journey has gone down in most histories as the opening of the 870-mile-long ...

The Santa Fe Trail, a trading route running from Franklin, Missouri to what is now New Mexico, started after Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821.

The Santa Fe Trail stretches 1,203 miles from just north of Boonville, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico and 188 of those miles are in southeastern Colorado. Latest U.S.