William Becknell

1790 (age 42)

Kentucky, United States

Becknell's claim to recognition rests on his pioneer achievements in the Santa Fé trade. Until the arrival of Pike's expedition, which entered the country without authorization, the Spanish government of New Mexico seems not to have been hostile toward the occasional Americans who settled within its jurisdiction. After 1810, however, a number of Americans ventured into New Mexico, many of whom were either imprisoned or deported. The overthrow of Spanish power in 1821 seemed again to open up possibilities for better relations, and a number of expeditions, including one under Becknell, left immediately. Setting out with a pack outfit, like the others he followed the old route to the upper waters of the Arkansas and thence south to Taos and Santa Fé where he sold at a distinct profit the supply of goods he had transported from the states. The entire expedition consumed only five months. Encouraged by his first success, Becknell set out again in 1822, this time with wagons and a larger company who apparently had answered his alluring advertisement in the Missouri Intelligencer for men "to go westward for the purpose of trading for horses and mules and catching wild animals of every description. " It is this expedition that gives Becknell his fame as the founder of the Santa Fé trail, for instead of crossing from the Missouri to the Arkansas and following the latter to its upper waters, he left the Arkansas near Dodge City, crossed to the Cimarron which, according to Gregg, he reached after great suffering from heat and thirst, followed up the South Fork and over the divide to the forks of the Canadian and across the mountain pass to San Miguel. Thus was traced the famous Santa Fé trail soon to be the accepted route for the substantial commerce of the prairies. Caravan followed caravan in the next decade, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Yankee merchandise was conveyed over this famous trail and profitably disposed of in Santa Fé and the other settlements of the southwest. Becknell made at least one more journey to New Mexico whence he proceeded on a trapping expedition to Green River (Colorado) in 1824. His later life is quite obscured though it is possible that he died in 1832.

William Becknell Edit Profile

explorer trader

Background

William Becknell was born in 1790. He was possibly a native of Kentucky but was early domiciled in Missouri.

Career

Becknell's claim to recognition rests on his pioneer achievements in the Santa Fé trade. Until the arrival of Pike's expedition, which entered the country without authorization, the Spanish government of New Mexico seems not to have been hostile toward the occasional Americans who settled within its jurisdiction. After 1810, however, a number of Americans ventured into New Mexico, many of whom were either imprisoned or deported. The overthrow of Spanish power in 1821 seemed again to open up possibilities for better relations, and a number of expeditions, including one under Becknell, left immediately. Setting out with a pack outfit, like the others he followed the old route to the upper waters of the Arkansas and thence south to Taos and Santa Fé where he sold at a distinct profit the supply of goods he had transported from the states. The entire expedition consumed only five months.

Encouraged by his first success, Becknell set out again in 1822, this time with wagons and a larger company who apparently had answered his alluring advertisement in the Missouri Intelligencer for men "to go westward for the purpose of trading for horses and mules and catching wild animals of every description. " It is this expedition that gives Becknell his fame as the founder of the Santa Fé trail, for instead of crossing from the Missouri to the Arkansas and following the latter to its upper waters, he left the Arkansas near Dodge City, crossed to the Cimarron which, according to Gregg, he reached after great suffering from heat and thirst, followed up the South Fork and over the divide to the forks of the Canadian and across the mountain pass to San Miguel. Thus was traced the famous Santa Fé trail soon to be the accepted route for the substantial commerce of the prairies.

Caravan followed caravan in the next decade, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Yankee merchandise was conveyed over this famous trail and profitably disposed of in Santa Fé and the other settlements of the southwest. Becknell made at least one more journey to New Mexico whence he proceeded on a trapping expedition to Green River (Colorado) in 1824. His later life is quite obscured though it is possible that he died in 1832.

Achievements

William Becknell was famous for his pioneer achievements in the Santa Fé trade. He is credited with opening the Santa Fe Trail in 1821. The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Independence, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. It served as a vital commercial highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880.

Works

William Becknell: Father of the Santa Fe Trade (Southwestern Studies (El Paso, Tex.), Monograph No. 68.) William Becknell: Father of the Santa Fe Trade (Southwestern Studies (El Paso, Tex.), Monograph No. 68.)

book
- William Becknell: Father of the Santa Fe Trade (Southwestern Studies (El Paso, Tex.), Monograph No. 68.)
  (William Becknell (1787 or 1788-30 April 1865) was a soldi...)

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