Santa Fe Trail – Cimarron Cutoff – Grenville, New Mexico - Wagon Roads and Trails on Waymarking.com

This roadside marker located just South and East of the town of Grenville, New Mexico, marks the first use of wagons on the Santa-Fe trail. The use of wagons instead of pack animals dramatically expanded migration and trade in the region.

The text of the marker reads:
“First Wagons Used On Santa-Fe Trail Crossed Here In 1822 – Erected by Colorado & Southern Railway J.D. Walker Supt. – Robert Rice, V.P. & G.M. 1930”

The Santa Fe Trail was a major western commercial route that stretched some nine hundred miles from Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Established in 1821 when William Becknell took a pack train from Missouri to Santa Fe, the trail operated until 1880.

The Cimarron Route or Cimarron Cutoff was used by William Becknell in 1822 when he took the first wagon train to New Mexico. This section of the trail ended up moving approximately seventy-five percent of the trail traffic. It followed the Mountain Route until it reached the Great Bend of the Arkansas, where it turned southwesterly to cross present Cimarron County in the Oklahoma Panhandle and thence through northeastern New Mexico to rejoin the Mountain Route near Watrous.

The Cimarron Route was shorter and more suited to wagon travel, and it shortened the traveling time by ten days. However, it was considered much more dangerous than the Mountain Route due to the shortage of water and the danger of Indian attack. The volume of travel along the trail was tremendous for a frontier region. Varying from a few hundred wagons of traders each year in the 1820s, the volume swelled to several thousand annually in the late 1840s, due to activities surrounding the Mexican War and the California gold rush. By the end of the Civil War in 1865, the Santa Fe Trail had provided the access that opened up the Southwest to Anglo-American settlement and made No Man's Land, the future Oklahoma Panhandle, much better known to a wide range of people.

Other Sources Used:
(visit link)
And the book: "Historic Sites and Markers Along the Mormon and Other Great Western Trails" by: Stanley Bucholz Kimball

Road of Trail Name: Santa Fe Trail – Cimarron Cutoff State: New Mexico County: Union Historical Significance: Prior to the introduction and use of wagons on the Santa-Fe trail, migrants and the supplies needed to support them moved only by using pack animals. This approach limited the volume of items that could be transported west and slowed the expansion and trade into the South Western region of the country. However as William Becknell initiated the use of wagons as a method of transportation westward expansion dramatically increased as did the flow of goods from the East to the growing and hungry frontier. Years in use: 60 How you discovered it: Found this marker on our trip through New Mexico to Colorado. Book on Wagon Road or Trial: "Historic Sites and Markers Along the Mormon and Other Great Western Trails" by: Stanley Bucholz Kimball Website Explination: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SA020.html Why?: The Santa Fe Trail was a major western commercial route that stretched some nine hundred miles from Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico Directions: About 21 miles northwest of Clayton, New Mexico on the Right of the highway you will find a turn-out to a parking area and the marker.

Visit Instructions:
To post a log for this Waymark the poster must have a picture of either themselves, GPSr, or mascot. People in the picture with information about the waymark are preferred. If the waymarker can not be in the picture a picture of their GPSr or mascot will qualify. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   12/08/2012 PersonsMD visited it