CHAPTER II 



Head Gluarters of the Santa Fe Trade— Independence and its 



Locale — A Prairie Trip an excellent Remedy for Chronic 



Diseases — Supplies for the Journey — Wagons, Mules and 



Oxen — Art of Loading AVagons — Romancing Propensity of 



Travellers — The Departure — Storms and Wagon-covers — 



Quagakires — Tricks of marauding Indians — Council Grove 



— Fancy rerszw Reality — Electioneering on the Prairies — The 



Organization — Amateur Travellers and Loafers — Duties of 



the Watch — Costumes and Equipment of the Party — Timbers 

 for the Journey. 



L 



People who reside at a distance, and espe- 

 cially at tlie North, have generally considered 

 St. Louis as the emporium of the Santa Fe 

 Trade ; but that cit}^, in truth, has never been 

 a place of rendezvous, nor even of outfit, ex- 

 cept for a small portion of the traders who 

 have started from its immediate \icinit}^ The 

 town of Franklin on the Missouri river, about 

 a hundred and fifty miles further to the west- 

 ward, seems truly to have been the cradle of 

 our trade ; and, in conjimction with several 

 neighboring towTis, continued for many years 

 to furnish tlie greater number of these adven- 

 turous traders. Even subsequently to 1831, 

 many wagons have been fitted out and start- 

 ed from this mterior section. But as the navi- 





