Independence, Mo., to Santa Fe. The fare was $250. Each passenger was allowed forty pounds of baggage. The capacity of the coach was ten passengers in addition to the driver and messenger. Relays of horses were stationed along the trail every fifteen to twenty miles.

The vehicles used by the traders and pioneers were for the greater part Conestoga wagons drawn by horses or mules. As they proceeded westward it was a common sight to see on the trail, “creoles, polished gentlemen magnificently clothed in Spanish costume, exiled Spaniards escaping from Mexico, and richly caparisoned horses, mules and asses, and a courtesy of the road grew out of a common danger”.

The most terrible part of the trail was the great plain between the Arkansas River and Cimarron Spring. It was over three thousand feet above sea level and sixty-three miles without a water course or pool. The soil was dry and hard and short buffalo grass and some cacti were the only evidence of the parched vegetation. There was not[Pg 10] a shrub or tree of any kind. It was a sandy desert plain and it was here the traveler saw the mirage, a beautiful lake which disappeared as he approached it.

[Pg 10]

Breakdowns on this plain were frequent, and the Indians most dangerous. Dry, hot weather prevailed with the blue sky overhead, and over these parched wastes of the desert, exposed to attacks by Indians both night and day, the caravans finally reached Cimarron Spring, which was in a small ravine.

After leaving Cimarron Spring (445 miles from Independence, Missouri), the caravans struck the following camps:

Willow Bar;

Cold Spring;

Rabbit Ear Creek;

Round Mound;

Rock Creek;

Point of Rocks;

Rio Colorado;

Ocaté Creek;

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