Chavez Opens Watkins Mill’s Summer Educational Series with Santa Fe Trail Talk

At Watkins Woolen Mill, Dr. Chavez guided guests through the history of the Santa Fe Trail, which was established in 1821, the year Missouri officially became a state. He explained that Spain, a mercantile empire, had long discouraged trade with the United States out of fear of losing control to monopolies. But on September 27, 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain and, as the newly formed Empire of Mexico, welcomed trade with neighboring countries.

During this pivotal time, William Becknell became the first Missourian to reach Santa Fe, New Mexico. When he returned home, he brought back sacks of silver, signaling the start of a new economic connection between the regions.

“The need was for a commercial route where entrepreneurs could carry trade into Latin America,” Dr. Chavez said. That need gave rise to the Santa Fe Trail, which became a critical trade route for exchanging goods such as textiles, wool, and agricultural products.

But commerce along the corridor didn’t begin in 1821. Dr. Chavez noted that Plains and Pueblo Indians had been trading along similar paths as far back as 1541, when Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado encountered the Quivira River—now known as the Kansas River. Other early travelers included the French Mallet brothers in 1737, explorers Jean de Alari, Pierre Satren, and Pedro Vial in 1782, and one of the most well-known figures, Juan Lucero—a New Mexican who made at least thirteen trips along what became the Santa Fe Trail between 1790 and 1821.

“For thousands of years, Indigenous people across the West had their own trade routes leading south,” Dr. Chavez said. “When Spain colonized Mexico, those trails began redirecting into new Spanish economic centers—towns and haciendas that became hubs of cultural exchange and commerce.”

Unlike other westward trails that encouraged migration and settlement, the Santa Fe Trail was, at its core, a commercial highway. “The Santa Fe Trail wasn’t really an immigrant trail,” Dr. Chavez explained. “It was a trade route.”

He described how Spain’s economic system relied on large land grants and production taxes to support powerful haciendas—Spanish colonial estates focused on farming and trade. These estates, often owned by single families, produced tallow, cotton, vegetables, and other goods not only for trade but also to support surrounding communities. “They were crucial in supplying goods and creating commercial networks along the trade routes,” he said. “They established systems for distributing goods overland, allowing for extensive trade between regions.”