Santa Fe Trail Research

The Santa Fe Trail w
as a 1,200-mile commercial route that connected Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, between 1821 and 1880. Mexico’s independence from Spain in the fall of 1821 provided an opening for U.S.-based traders to supply New Mexican markets. The trail continued in operation—in various guises and along a variety of routes—until the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad laid track into Santa Fe in the winter of 1880. In addition to commercial traffic, the Santa Fe Trail also bore emigrants, gold seekers, fur trappers, and stagecoach passengers.

3-d model of Feature 6 from the Vogel Canyon Slough site, interpreted as a residential structure, perhaps occupied by the operators of the Santa Fe Trail swing station. 

During its final decade of operation, the trail primarily was a stagecoach and wagon route that connected Santa Fe with the successive railhead towns of the Kansas Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe railroads. One of the last-established Santa Fe Trail routes was the Purgatoire River Branch that ran between West Las Animas and Trinidad. During 2023, Paleocultural Research Group (PCRG), a nonprofit research and education organization, and the Forest Service carried out a cooperative archaeological field investigation at the Vogel Canyon Slough site. Through background and archival research, along with the fieldwork and subsequent lab analysis, the 2023 project concluded that Vogel Canyon Slough site was one of seven stagecoach stations that supported traffic on the Purgatoire River route. 

A sample of artifacts recovered from the Vogel Canyon Slough site during the 2023 fieldwork, including selected shell casings (top) and iron cut nails (bottom). 

The project also determined that additional fieldwork and background research would contribute to a better understanding of the site and the overall historical context of the final years of the Santa Fe Trail. We plan to address questions related to the chronology and function of the site and surrounding features identified during both fieldwork and background research for the 2023 project. PCRG has received funding from the Forest Service to support this work, but additional funding is needed to ensure we can conduct a  comprehensive field and lab project and the remaining questions can be answered. 

Your donation will support additional days in the field and allow us to answer these new research questions. With your support, we can increase our field time by at least 50 percent, and provide much-needed funding for additional background and archival research. Fieldwork will occur during the summer of 2026 and will gather data through archaeological survey and site documentation. Results of the project will be shared through comprehensive reporting and with the public through public lectures and an online StoryMap (a modern version of a wayside sign).