48 
BUSINESS OF THE ROAD. 
wonderful; and the wild and reckless trader who wandered across the immense plains of the 
.far west with his small stock of goods, was looked upon in our cities as a creature little less 
savage and ferocious than the grizzly hear of the Rocky mountains. This strange overland 
traffic across the trackless prairies, and through hordes of hostile Indians, was prosecuted under 
difficulties and obstacles which have never before surrounded a trading enterprise ; and although 
neither encouraged nor protected by the authorities of the United States or Mexico, it has 
increased in value with each successive year. 
Dp to the period of the occupation of New Mexico by the American forces jn 1846, the duties 
collected upon the goods brought across the plains by these hardy adventurers were exactly 
what the fancy or the interest of the governor of the Territory might dictate; and his simple 
dictum was sufficient to increase or depreciate the price of any foreign article brought to the 
markets of New Mexico. 
During the dominion of the famous General Armijo, the tariff upon the Santa Fe trade was 
greatly simplified by the rule which he adopted of collecting $500 for every wagon-load of 
goods, no matter of what value were the goods or what size the wagon; and during his memo¬ 
rable reign, the traders were accustomed to halt on the borders of the settlements of New 
Mexico, and concentrating all their property into as few large wagons as would hold it, they 
abandoned the remainder until their return. As a matter of course, while the extortion of the 
governor was so unrestricted, and the cost of transporting cheap as enormous as costly goods, 
the Santa Fe trade was confined to an exchange of expensive articles of luxury for the gold and 
silver of the mines, and but few of the inhabitants of the country had either the means or the 
inclination to avail themselves of the opportunity of engaging in so expensive a traffic. 
The purchase of the country by the United States, and the protection extended to the traders, 
have wonderfully increased the value of this trade, and at this time it will not fall short of 
$6,000,000 annually. 
The expense of transportation is still enormous, amounting to $8 per hundred for goods 
delivered at Santa Fe, and probably as much more for distributing them to points at which they 
find a market; and the trade of the United States with New Mexico, Chihuahua, Sonora, and 
Durango is still confined to articles of luxury, exchanged for gold and silver. It is plain that 
a trade so restricted, which amounts in annual value to $6,000,000, would be amazingly 
increased could such facilities for transportation and communication be presented as would 
enable the trader to throw into the country the most common and cheap of our fabrics, and, of 
consequence, those most useful to the Mexican, and best adapted to his means of purchase. 
It cannot be expected that the valuable agricultural features of these territories can be even 
partially developed when no market for agricultural products is presented, and where nothing 
but a resort to the mountains for gold or silver will enable the Mexican to purchase articles 
which he both covets and requires. 
So soon as an exchange of the products peculiar to the country, for the fabrics of the United 
States, can be established by opening rapid and cheap communication by railroad, the Santa Fe 
and Chihuahua trade will make a commerce which will contribute largely to the support of the 
road. This trade is now carried on by two routes—one through Texas, and the other from the 
Missouri river—which unite at El Paso, where the great highway leaves the Rio Grande and 
conducts south into the northern States of Mexico. 
Another element which would enter largely into the consideration of the business of the 
road, would be the vast impulse given by its construction to the settlement of the fertile region 
of northern Texas. This vast extent of country is so amazingly fertile and well watered, and 
so well adapted in climate and character to the culture of cotton, that it is doubtful whether 
the crops of this region will not, by the construction of a railroad, be the most important 
element in the wealth of Texas. That a population would assemble along the road more 
rapidly than it could be built, is rendered more than certain by the very remarkable agricul¬ 
tural resources of the country; and as the line of this road would monopolize the trade of the 
