Historic Route 66 opened western America to adventurers in autos in the 1920s. Stretching more than 2000 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles, this rough, narrow, unpaved road, originally called the Old Trails Highway, was designated Route 66 in 1926. Although it was not completely paved until the mid-1930s, the road attracted thousands of tourists who discovered the lure and romance of the American West. Dust Bowl refugees traveled west during the depression and soldiers with military supplies crowded the road throughout World War II.
In the 1950s, Route 66 was overwhelmed by heavy traffic, prompting the beginning of construction of Interstate 40 in 1956. By then, “America’s Main Street” was famous in song, movies and a television series, even to people who never drove a mile of it! Today sections of the old road can still be driven, historic buildings can be visited and everyone knows you can “get your kicks on Route 66”!

The Old Spanish Trail, which was prominent from 1829 to the mid-1850s, connected two Spanish cities, Santa Fe and Los Angeles. From Santa Fe several trails wandered across northern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and into southern California. Indians and trappers were the first to use portions of the trail, followed by merchants seeking new markets and a route that avoided Apache country.
The trail climbed mountains, threaded canyons, crossed waterless deserts and the lands of unfriendly Indians. This rough trail was never suitable for wagons, so trade goods were packed on mules, burros and horses. New Mexicans carried thousands of pounds of woolen goods to California. In return, honest traders and horse thieves brought thousands of horses and mules to sell in New Mexico, Missouri and the east coast.

For generations, Native Americans traveled on trails that connected villages and hunting areas, expanding their knowledge and bringing trade goods far from their original sites. Eventually Spanish adventurers used these trails to explore the northern region. In April, 1598, a caravan of settlers led by Juan de Oñate crossed the Rio Grande and traveled north on what became known as El Camino Real.
In July, 1598, the caravan arrived at Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Chama rivers. For more than 300 years this combination of old Indian trails was the lifeline between Nueva España/Mexico and what became New Mexico. Goods flowed north to support the Hispanic settlements, and trade goods such as hides, piñon nuts and woolen goods trickled south on this dangerous Royal Road to the Interior Lands. Later Santa Fe Trail traders realized large profits by continuing to Mexico on what became known as the Chihuahua Trail.

The Santa Fe Trail was the route of international trade between the United States and New Mexico, Republic of Mexico, from 1821 until 1848. With the end of the Mexican-American War and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, New Mexico became a territory of the United States and the trade continued along the trail. Soldiers and their needed supplies also came down the trail to establish forts to conquer the Indian nations of the southwest. During the Civil War, the trail was used to supply New Mexican troops repelling Confederate invasion and fighting Indians. The end of the war saw the railroad expanding westward and when it reached Santa Fe in 1880, the era of wagon freighting across the Great Plains of the United States was over.