In joint conference, organizations to share histories of three trails that built Santa Fe

They made the trek on foot, by wagon and on horseback. They were soldiers, mothers, traders, children, priests and weavers. Some were looking to conquer, some to explore, some to convert and some to build new lives. Some had no choice, forced along the routes as slaves. Many lost family and friends along the way. They were the people who arrived in Santa Fe on one of three major trails that allowed them to crisscross a rugged and dangerous continent. Now the organizations devoted to researching and preserving the history of the three trails — El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Santa Fe Trail and the Old Spanish Trail — are hosting their first joint conference from Sept. 17 to 20 in Santa Fe. The individual trail associations usually hold separate annual conferences to share histories of those who used the trails, to honor those who help preserve them and to discuss trail conservation projects. This year, they joined to plan a major get-together. The earliest trail was El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro from Mexico City, across the brutal Jornada del Muerto desert and into what became the New Mexico Territory. The 1,500-mile route, first used by Spanish conquistadors in 1598, led by Juan de Oñate, followed portions of trails that Mayans, Aztecs, Puebloan people and other ancient cultures of the Americas had used long before to trade with each other. The 900-mile Santa Fe Trail joined the Camino Real in Santa Fe from Missouri and became a popular route for people migrating from the East. The Old Spanish Trail, covering approximately 1,200 miles between Santa Fe and Los Angeles, opened in 1829. All three were designated National Historic Trails by Congress...more