In 1839 a journalist for the New Orleans Picayune, Matthew C. Field, joined a company of merchants and tourists headed west on the Santa Fe Trail. Leaving Independence, Missouri, early in July "with a few wagons and a carefree spirit," Field recorded his vivid impressions of travel westward on the Santa Fe Trail and, on the return trip, eastward along the Cimarron Route. Written in verse in his journal and in eighty-five articles later published in the Picayune, Field’s observations offer the modern reader a unique glimpse of life in the settlements of Mexico and on the Santa Fe Trail.

Presents a history of the trail that became an important commercial route to the southwestern United States during the 1800s.

The political, military, and social importance of the Santa Fe trail is revealed in this lively historical account of one of the most important roads in American history.