24 THE FIRST WAGONS. 



river, where they filled their canteens, and 

 then hurried back to the assistance of their 

 comrades, many of whom they found pros- 

 trate on tlie ground, and incapable of further 

 exertion. By degrees, however, they were 

 all enabled to resume their journey ; and fol- 

 lowing the course of the Arkansas for several 

 days, thereby avoidhig the arid regions which 

 had occasioned them so much suffering, they 

 succeeded in reaclung Taos (sixty or seventy 

 miles north of Santa Fe) without further 



difficulty. Although travellers have since 



suffered excessively with thirst upon the 

 same desert, yet, having become better ac- 

 quainted with the topography of the country, 

 no other equally thriHuig incidei\ts have sub- 

 sequently transpired. . * ^ 



It is from tliis period — the year 1822 — ^that 

 the virtual commencement o^the Santa Fe 

 Trade may be dated. The next remarkable 

 era m its history is the first attempt to inti-o- 

 duce wagons m these expeditions. Tliis was 

 made in 1824 by a company of traders, about 

 eighty in number, among whom were several 

 gentlemen of inteUigence from Missouri, who 

 contributed, by their superior skill and un- 

 daunted energy, to render the enterprise com- 

 pletely successful A portion of this company 

 employed pack-mules : amon^: the rest were 



owned 1:went}--five wheeled vehicles, of which 



two were stout road- wagons, two were 

 and the rest Dearborn carriages — ^the 



whole convening some $25,000 or $30,000 



worth of merchandise. Colonel Marmaduke, 



cart 



