This classic history is filled with colorful pathmarkers like Jedediah Smith, John C. Främont, and Kit Carson; with packers, home seekers, and mail couriers; and with horse thieves and enslavers of Indian women and children.

Who does this land belong to? How have cultures gained access to this land? Who gets to decide who is right? These are the questions that inspired Nash to write this book. Although in recent decades, there have been significant studies and reports on the history of San Luis Valley and, more generally, the southwestern United States, this intriguing story is largely unknown to many residents. More importantly, most of the history commonly known is told by those that won the valley from several previous inhabitants and cultures. This work gives a prominent place to the stories as told by indigenous people and Spanish-speaking people before the arrival of northern European descendants. Nash draws from a wide variety of sources to bring a condensed version of this broader story.

This is a survey of the major historic trails of New Mexico and other parts of the American Southwest. These trails were used by Indians, prospectors, soldiers, buffalo hunters, immigrants, and cattle and sheep drovers, and, unlike other, more famous Western trails, were used as a network of two-way trade routes instead of one-way avenues for westward migration. Introductory chapters highlight prehistoric Indian trails, Spanish exploration, and Pecos as a microcosm of the old Southwest. Each subsequent chapter covers an individual trail, describing its history and some of the people who used it. A chronology of New Mexico's history and trail system is included, as are maps of the most important trails.