The political, military, and social importance of the Santa Fe trail is revealed in this lively historical account of one of the most important roads in American history.

Josiah Gregg's Commerce of the Prairie, published in 1844, is based largely upon entries made into his own journal over the nine years that he lived in Northern Mexico and traversed the Prairie as a proprietor in the Santa F Trade. In utilizing his entries to create this work, Gregg's aim is to provide readers with an account of the history and the ""present"" condition of trade in the new west and the people of the Prairies. As an amateur naturalist, Gregg's work describes the plant, animal, and mineral resources of the area, while also providing unique information on the Native American tribes of the region. The maps he included were prepared largely by himself, with ""portions of the country which I have not been able to observe myself, chiefly been laid down from manuscript maps kindly furnished me by experienced and reliable traders and trappers, and also from the maps prepared under the supervision of United States surveyors."" Gregg's love of the area is evident in his work, drawing readers in and giving them an unprecedented insight into the area and people around Santa F in the mid-nineteenth century.

Webb began transporting goods for sale to Santa F́é in 1844. He developed a successful trade which he continued until 1861.

A study of the classic north-south highway connecting Santa Fe and Chihauhau, pioneered by Onate in 1598.

"This study of livestock and its history focuses not only on the impact of horses and cattle, but also the wide variety of animals that shaped life and culture in New Mexico for the Spaniards, Natives, and Anglos who lived in or settled the region"--

A classic on all the trials and tribulations of the Santa Fé Trail, the Indian deprevations, the Mexican problems,the Fontier Military, the Fur Trappers, Fur Trade, and Mountain Men, Kit Carson, Uncle Dick Wooten, Buffalo Bill Cody, the Bents, Jim Beckwourth.

America's Great Plains once possessed one of the grandest wildlife spectacles of the world, equaled only by such places as the Serengeti, the Masai Mara, or the veld of South Africa. Pronghorn antelope, gray wolves, bison, coyotes, wild horses, and grizzly bears: less than two hundred years ago these creatures existed in such abundance that John James Audubon was moved to write, "it is impossible to describe or even conceive the vast multitudes of these animals." In a work that is at once a lyrical evocation of that lost splendor and a detailed natural history of these charismatic species of the historic Great Plains, veteran naturalist and outdoorsman Dan Flores draws a vivid portrait of each of these animals in their glory—and tells the harrowing story of what happened to them at the hands of market hunters and ranchers and ultimately a federal killing program in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Great Plains with its wildlife intact dazzled Americans and Europeans alike, prompting numerous literary tributes. American Serengeti takes its place alongside these celebratory works, showing us the grazers and predators of the plains against the vast opalescent distances, the blue mountains shimmering on the horizon, the great rippling tracts of yellowed grasslands. Far from the empty "flyover country" of recent times, this landscape is alive with a complex ecology at least 20,000 years old—a continental patrimony whose wonders may not be entirely lost, as recent efforts hold out hope of partial restoration of these historic species. Written by an author who has done breakthrough work on the histories of several of these animals—including bison, wild horses, and coyotes—American Serengeti is as rigorous in its research as it is intimate in its sense of wonder—the most deeply informed, closely observed view we have of the Great Plains' wild heritage.

First hand narrative of overland travel along the Sante Fe Trail to Bent's Fort, Colorado and then on to Taos, New Mexico. This book is supposedly the only eye witness account of the trials and hangings of the revolutionaries who attempted to overthrow the newly acquired American occupancy in Taos by murdering Govenor Charles Bent and several others.