The Old Santa Fe Trail

The Santa Fe of the purely Mexican occupation, long before the days of New Mexico's acquisition by the United States, and the Santa Fe of to-day are so widely in contrast that it is difficult to find language in which to convey to the reader the story of the phenomenal change. To those who are acquainted with the charming place as it is now, with its refined and cultured society, I cannot do better, perhaps, in attempting to show what it was under the old regime, than to quote what some traveller in the early 30's wrote for a New York leading newspaper, in regard to it.

As far as my own observation of the place is concerned, when I first visited it a great many years ago, the writer of the communication whose views I now present was not incorrect in his judgment. He said:-

To dignify such a collection of mud hovels with the name

of "City," would be a keen irony; not greater, however,

than is the name with which its Padres have baptized it.

To call a place with its moral character, a very Sodom

in iniquity, "Holy Faith," is scarcely a venial sin;

it deserves Purgatory at least. Its health is the best

in the country, which is the first, second and third

recommendation of New Mexico by its greatest admirers.

It is a small town of about two thousand inhabitants,

crowded up against the mountains, at the end of a little

valley through which runs a mountain stream of the same

name tributary to the Rio Grande. It has a public square

in the centre, a Palace and an Alameda; as all Spanish

Roman Catholic towns have. It is true its Plaza, or

Public Square, is unfenced and uncared for, without trees

or grass. The Palace is nothing more than the biggest

mud-house in the town, and the churches, too, are unsightly

piles of the same material, and the Alameda5 is on top of

a sand hill. Yet they have in Santa Fe all the parts and

parcels of a regal city and a Bishopric. The Bishop has a

palace also; the only two-storied shingle-roofed house in

the place. There is one public house set apart for eating,

drinking and gambling; for be it known that gambling is here

authorized by law. Hence it is as respectable to keep a

gambling house, as it is to sell rum in New Jersey; it is

a lawful business, and being lawful, and consequently

respectable and a man's right, why should not men gamble?

And gamble they do. The Generals and the Colonels and

the Majors and the Captains gamble. The judges and the

lawyers and the doctors and the priests gamble; and there

are gentlemen gamblers by profession! You will see squads

of poor peons daily, men, women and boys, sitting on the

ground around a deck of cards in the Public Square, gambling

for the smallest stakes.

The stores of the town generally front on the Public Square.

Of these there are a dozen, more or less, of respectable

size, and most of them are kept by others than Mexicans.

The business of the place is considerable, many of the

merchants here being wholesale dealers for the vast

territory tributary. It is supposed that about $750,000

worth of goods will be brought to this place this year, and

there may be $250,000 worth imported directly from the

United States.

In the money market there is nothing less than a five-cent

piece. You cannot purchase anything for less than five cents.

In trade they reckon ten cents the eighth of a dollar.

If you purchase nominally a dollar's worth of an article,

you can pay for it in eight ten-cent pieces; and if you

give a dollar, you receive no change. In changing a dollar

for you, you would get but eight ten-cent pieces for it.

Yet, although dirty and unkempt, and swarming with hungry

dogs, it has the charm of foreign flavour, and like

San Antonio retains some portion of the grace which long

lingered about it, if indeed it ever forsakes the spot

where Spain held rule for centuries, and the soft syllables

of the Spanish language are yet heard.

Such was a description of the "drowsy old town" of Santa Fe, sixty-five years ago. Fifteen years later Major W. H. Emory, of the United States army, writes of it as follows:6

The population of Santa Fe is from two to four thousand,

and the inhabitants are, it is said, the poorest people

of any town in the Province. The houses are mud bricks,

in the Spanish style, generally of one story, and built

on a square. The interior of the square is an open court,

and the principal rooms open into it. They are forbidding

in appearance from the outside, but nothing can exceed

the comfort and convenience of the interior. The thick

walls make them cool in summer and warm in winter.

The better class of people are provided with excellent beds,

but the poorer class sleep on untanned skins. The women

here, as in many other parts of the world, appear to be

much before the men in refinements, intelligence, and

knowledge of the useful arts. The higher class dress like

the American women, except, instead of a bonnet, they wear

a scarf over their head, called a reboso. This they wear

asleep or awake, in the house or abroad. The dress of the

lower classes of women is a simple petticoat, with arms and

shoulders bare, except what may chance to be covered by

the reboso.

The men who have means to do so dress after our fashion;

but by far the greater number, when they dress at all,

wear leather breeches, tight around the hips and open from

the knee down; shirt and blanket take the place of our

coat and vest.

The city is dependent on the distant hills for wood, and

at all hours of the day may be seen jackasses passing laden

with wood, which is sold at two bits, twenty-five cents,

the load. These are the most diminutive animals, and

usually mounted from behind, after the fashion of leap-frog.

The jackass is the only animal that can be subsisted in

this barren neighbourhood without great expense; our horses

are all sent to a distance of twelve, fifteen, and thirty

miles for grass.

I have interpolated these two somewhat similar descriptions of Santa Fe written in that long ago when New Mexico was almost as little known as the topography of the planet Mars, so that the intelligent visitor of to-day may appreciate the wonderful changes which American thrift, and that powerful civilizer, the locomotive, have wrought in a very few years, yet it still, as one of the foregoing writers has well said, "has the charm of foreign flavour, and the soft syllables of the Spanish language are still heard."

The most positive exception must be taken to the statement of the first-quoted writer in relation to the Palace, of which he says "It is nothing more than the biggest mud-house in the town." Now this "Palacio del Gobernador," as the old building was called by the Spanish, was erected at a very early day. It was the long-established seat of power when Penalosa confined the chief inquisitor within its walls in 1663, and when the Pueblo authorities took possession of it as the citadel of their central authority, in 1681.

The old building cannot well be overlooked by the most careless visitor to the quaint town; it is a long, low structure, taking up the greater part of one side of the Plaza, round which runs a colonnade supported by pillars of rough pine. In this once leaky old Palace were kept, or rather neglected, the archives of the Territory until the American residents, appreciating the importance of preserving precious documents containing so much of interest to the student of history and the antiquarian, enlisted themselves enthusiastically in the good cause, and have rescued from oblivion the annals of a relatively remote civilization, which, but for their forethought, would have perished from the face of the earth as completely as have the written records of that wonderful region in Central America, whose gigantic ruins alone remain to tell us of what was a highly cultured order of architecture in past ages, and of a people whose intelligence was comparable to the style of the dwellings in which they lived.

The old adobe Palace is in itself a volume whose pages are filled with pathos and stirring events. It has been the scene and witness of incidents the recital of which would to us to-day seem incredible. An old friend, once governor of New Mexico and now dead, thus graphically spoke of the venerable building:7

In it lived and ruled the Spanish captain general, so remote

and inaccessible from the viceroyalty at Mexico that he was

in effect a king, nominally accountable to the viceroy,

but practically beyond his reach and control and wholly

irresponsible to the people. Equally independent for the

same reason were the Mexican governors. Here met all the

provincial, territorial, departmental, and other legislative

bodies that have ever assembled at the capital of New Mexico.

Here have been planned all the Indian wars and measures

for defence against foreign invasion, including, as the

most noteworthy, the Navajo war of 1823, the Texan invasion

of 1842, the American of 1846, and the Confederate of 1862.

Within its walls was imprisoned, in 1809, the American

explorer Zebulon M. Pike, and innumerable state prisoners

before and since; and many a sentence of death has been

pronounced therein and the accused forthwith led away and

shot at the dictum of the man at the Palace. It has been

from time immemorial the government house with all its

branches annexed. It was such on the Fourth of July, 1776,

when the American Congress at Independence Hall in

Philadelphia proclaimed liberty throughout all the land,

not then, but now embracing it. Indeed, this old edifice

has a history. And as the history of Santa Fe is the

history of New Mexico, so is the history of the Palace

the history of Santa Fe.

The Palace was the only building having glazed windows. At one end was the government printing office, and at the other, the guard-house and prison. Fearful stories were connected with the prison. Edwards8 says that he found, on examining the walls of the small rooms, locks of human hair stuffed into holes, with rude crosses drawn over them.

Fronting the Palace, on the south side of the Plaza, stood the remains of the Capilla de los Soldados, or Military Chapel. The real name of the church was "Our Lady of Light." It was said to be the richest church in the Province, but had not been in use for a number of years, and the roof had fallen in, allowing the elements to complete the work of destruction. On each side of the altar was the remains of fine carving, and a weather-beaten picture above gave evidence of having been a beautiful painting. Over the door was a large oblong slab of freestone, elaborately carved, representing "Our Lady of Light" rescuing a human being from the jaws of Satan. A large tablet, beautifully executed in relief, stood behind the altar, representing various saints, with an inscription stating that it was erected by Governor Francisco Antonio del Valle and his wife in 1761.

Church services were held in the Parroquia, or Parish church, now the Cathedral, which had two towers or steeples, in which hung four bells. The music was furnished by a violin and a triangle. The wall back of the altar was covered with innumerable mirrors, paintings, and bright-coloured tapestry.

The exact date of the first settlement of Santa Fe is uncertain. One authority says:

It was a primeval stronghold before the Spanish Conquest,

and a town of some importance to the white race when

Pennsylvania was a wilderness and the first Dutch governor

of New York was slowly drilling the Knickerbocker ancestry

in their difficult evolutions around the town-pump.

It is claimed, on what is deemed very authentic data by some, that Santa Fe is really the oldest settled town in the United States. St. Augustine, Florida, was established in 1565 and was unquestionably conceded the honour of antiquity until the acquisition of New Mexico by the Guadalupe-Hidalgo treaty. Then, of course, Santa Fe steps into the arena and carries off the laurels. This claim of precedence for Santa Fe is based upon the statement (whether historically correct or not is a question) that when the Spaniards first entered the region from the southern portion of Mexico, about 1542, they found a very large Pueblo town on the present site of Santa Fe, and that its prior existence extended far back into the vanished centuries. This is contradicted by other historians, who contend that the claim of Santa Fe to be the oldest town in the United States rests entirely on imaginary annals of an Indian Pueblo before the Spanish Conquest, and that there are but slight indications that the town was built on the site of one.9

The reader may further satisfy himself on these mooted points by consulting the mass of historical literature on New Mexico, and the records of its primitive times are not surpassed in interest by those of any other part of the continent. It was there the Europeans first made great conquests, and some years prior to the landing of the Pilgrims, a history of New Mexico, being the journal of Geronimo de Zarate Salmaron, was published by the Church in the City of Mexico, early in 1600. Salmaron was a Franciscan monk; a most zealous and indefatigable worker. During his eight years' residence at Jemez, near Santa Fe, he claims to have baptized over eight thousand Indians, converts to the Catholic faith. His journal gives a description of the country, its mines, etc., and was made public in order that other monks reading it might emulate his pious example.

Between 1605 and 1616 was founded the Villa of Santa Fe, or San Francisco de la Santa Fe. "Villa," or village, was an honorary title, always authorized and proclaimed by the king. Bancroft says that it was first officially mentioned on the 3d of January, 1617.

The first immigration to New Mexico was under Don Juan de Onate about 1597, and in a year afterward, according to some authorities, Santa Fe was settled. The place, as claimed by some historians, was then named El Teguayo, a Spanish adaptation of the word "Tegua," the name of the Pueblo nation, which was quite numerous, and occupied Santa Fe and the contiguous country. It very soon, from its central position and charming climate, became the leading Spanish town, and the capital of the Province. The Spaniards, who came at first into the country as friends, and were apparently eager to obtain the good-will of the intelligent natives, shortly began to claim superiority, and to insist on the performance of services which were originally mere evidences of hospitality and kindness. Little by little they assumed greater power and control over the Indians, until in the course of years they had subjected a large portion of them to servitude little differing from actual slavery.

The impolitic zeal of the monks gradually invoked the spirit of hatred and resulted in a rebellion that drove the Spaniards, in 1680, from the country. The large number of priests who were left in the midst of the natives met with horrible fates:

Not one escaped martyrdom. At Zuni, three Franciscans

had been stationed, and when the news of the Spanish retreat

reached the town, the people dragged them from their cells,

stripped and stoned them, and afterwards compelled the

servant of one to finish the work by shooting them. Having

thus whetted their appetite for cruelty and vengeance,

the Indians started to carry the news of their independence

to Moqui, and signalized their arrival by the barbarous

murder of the two missionaries who were living there.

Their bodies were left unburied, as a prey for the wild

beasts. At Jemez they indulged in every refinement of

cruelty. The old priest, Jesus Morador, was seized in

his bed at night, stripped naked and mounted on a hog,

and thus paraded through the streets, while the crowd

shouted and yelled around. Not satisfied with this,

they then forced him to carry them as a beast would,

crawling on his hands and feet, until, from repeated beating

and the cruel tortures of sharp spurs, he fell dead in

their midst. A similar chapter of horrors was enacted

at Acoma, where three priests were stripped, tied together

with hair rope, and so driven through the streets, and

finally stoned to death. Not a Christian remained free

within the limits of New Mexico, and those who had been

dominant a few months before were now wretched and

half-starved fugitives, huddled together in the rude huts

of San Lorenzo.

As soon as the Spaniards had retreated from the country,

the Pueblo Indians gave themselves up for a time to

rejoicing, and to the destruction of everything which could

remind them of the Europeans, their religion, and their

domination. The army which had besieged Santa Fe quickly

entered that city, took possession of the Palace as the

seat of government, and commenced the work of demolition.

The churches and the monastery of the Franciscans were

burned with all their contents, amid the almost frantic

acclamations of the natives. The gorgeous vestments of

the priests had been dragged out before the conflagration,

and now were worn in derision by Indians, who rode through

the streets at full speed, shouting for joy. The official

documents and books in the Palace were brought forth,

and made fuel for a bonfire in the centre of the Plaza;

and here also they danced the cachina, with all the

accompanying religious ceremonies of the olden time.

Everything imaginable was done to show their detestation

of the Christian faith and their determination to utterly

eradicate even its memory. Those who had been baptized

were washed with amole in the Rio Chiquito, in order to be

cleansed from the infection of Christianity. All baptismal

names were discarded, marriages celebrated by Christian

priests were annulled, the very mention of the names Jesus

and Mary was made an offence, and estuffas were constructed

to take the place of ruined churches.10

For twelve years, although many abortive attempts were made to recapture the country, the Pueblos were left in possession. On the 16th of October, 1693, the victorious Spaniards at last entered Santa Fe, bearing the same banner which had been carried by Onate when he entered the city just a century before. The conqueror this time was Don Diego de Vargas Zapata Lujan, whom the viceroy of New Spain had appointed governor in the spring of 1692, with the avowed purpose of having New Mexico reconquered as speedily as possible.

Thus it will be seen that the quaint old city has been the scene of many important historical events, the mere outline of which I have recorded here, as this book is not devoted to the historical view of the subject.

In contradistinction to the quiet, sleepy old Santa Fe of half a century ago, it now presents all the vigour, intelligence, and bustling progressiveness of the average American city of to-day, yet still smacks of that ancient Spanish regime, which gives it a charm that only its blended European and Indian civilization could make possible after its amalgamation with the United States.

The tourist will no longer find a drowsy old town, and the Plaza is no longer unfenced and uncared for. A beautiful park of trees is surrounded by low palings, and inside the shady enclosure, under a group of large cottonwoods, is a cenotaph erected to the memory of the Territory's gallant soldiers who fell in the shock of battle to save New Mexico to the Union in 1862, and conspicuous among the names carved on the enduring native rock is that of Kit Carson-prince of frontiersmen, and one of Nature's noblemen.

Around the Plaza one sees the American style of architecture and hears the hum of American civilization; but beyond, and outside this pretty park, the streets are narrow, crooked, and have an ancient appearance. There the old Santa Fe confronts the stranger; odd, foreign-looking, and flavoured with all the peculiarities which marked the era of Mexican rule. And now, where once was heard the excited shouts of the idle crowd, of "Los Americanos!" "Los Carros!" "La entrada de la Caravana!" as the great freight wagons rolled into the streets of the old town from the Missouri, over the Santa Fe Trail, the shrill whistle of the locomotive from its trail of steel awakens the echoes of the mighty hills.

As may be imagined, great excitement always prevailed whenever a caravan of goods arrived in Santa Fe. Particularly was this the case among the feminine portion of the community. The quaint old town turned out its mixed population en masse the moment the shouts went up that the train was in sight. There is nothing there to-day comparable to the anxious looks of the masses as they watched the heavily freighted wagons rolling into the town, the teamsters dust-begrimed, and the mules making the place hideous with their discordant braying as they knew that their long journey was ended and rest awaited them. The importing merchants were obliged to turn over to the custom house officials five hundred dollars for every wagon-load, great or small; and no matter what the intrinsic value of the goods might be, salt or silk, velvets or sugar, it was all the same. The nefarious duty had to be paid before a penny's worth could be transferred to their counters. Of course, with the end of Mexican rule and the acquisition of the Province by the United States, all opposition to the traffic of the Old Santa Fe Trail ended, traders were assured a profitable market and the people purchased at relatively low prices.

What a wonderful change has taken place in the traffic with New Mexico in less than three-quarters of a century! In 1825 it was all carried on with one single annual caravan of prairie-schooners, and now there are four railroads running through the Rio Grande Valley, and one daily freight train of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe into the town unloads more freight than was taken there in a whole year when the "commerce of the prairies" was at its height!

Upon the arrival of a caravan in the days of the sleepy regime under Mexican control, the people did everything in their power to make the time pass pleasantly for every one connected with it during their sojourn. Bailes, or fandangoes, as the dancing parties were called by the natives, were given nightly, and many amusing anecdotes in regard to them are related by the old-timers.

The New Mexicans, both men and women, had a great fondness for jewelry, dress, and amusements; of the latter, the fandango was the principal, which was held in the most fashionable place of resort, where every belle and beauty in the town presented herself, attired in the most costly manner, and displaying her jewelled ornaments to the best advantage. To this place of recreation and pleasure, generally a large, capacious saloon or interior court, all classes of persons were allowed to come, without charge and without invitation. The festivities usually commenced about nine o'clock in the evening, and the tolling of the church bells was the signal for the ladies to make their entrance, which they did almost simultaneously.

New Mexican ladies were famous for their gaudy dresses, but it must be confessed they did not exercise good taste. Their robes were made without bodies; a skirt only, and a long, loose, flowing scarf or reboso dexterously thrown about the head and shoulders, so as to supersede both the use of dress-bodies and bonnets.

There was very little order maintained at these fandangoes, and still less attention paid to the rules of etiquette. A kind of swinging, gallopade waltz was the favourite dance, the cotillion not being much in vogue. Read Byron's graphic description of the waltz, and then stretch your imagination to its utmost tension, and you will perhaps have some faint conception of the Mexican fandango. Such familiarity of position as was indulged in would be repugnant to the refined rules of polite society in the eastern cities; but with the New Mexicans, in those early times, nothing was considered to be a greater accomplishment than that of being able to go handsomely through all the mazes of their peculiar dance.

There was one republican feature about the New Mexican fandango; it was that all classes, rich and poor alike, met and intermingled, as did the Romans at their Saturnalia, upon terms of equality. Sumptuous repasts or collations were rarely ever prepared for those frolicsome gatherings, but there was always an abundance of confectionery, sweetmeats, and native wine. It cost very little for a man to attend one of the fandangoes in Santa Fe, but not to get away decently and sober. In that it resembled the descent of Aeneas to Pluto's realms; it was easy enough to get there, but when it came to return, "revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, hic labor, hoc opus est."