Requiem For The Old Spanish Trail....

Section of the Old Spanish Trail.  Note the wagon ruts.
Photograph by Scott Schwartz.

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Originally a combination of trails used by Spanish explorers and missionaries, and which dated back to the late 1700's, The Old Spanish Trail's heyday was the 1830's.  The trail was "opened" in 1829 or in 1830 by a merchant from Santa Fe, who was able piece together a route from those discovered by previous explorers including such later notables as Jedediah Smith, which ran from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California.

Thereafter, traders bringing Indian blankets and other hand-made goods from New Mexico were able to bring these items to Los Angeles and trade them for the wild horses and mules, of which California had a large surplus.

Eventually, the trail became a highway for bandits who stole horses from the ranches that were built along the trail, and who robbed the pack trains, as well.  People-usually Indian women and children-were also stolen from the ranches.  These wretched captives were then sold as slaves in Mexico and were usually put to work as household servants.  The raiders came in several different guises:  former trappers, Mexican nationals, and other Indian tribes.

If thievery and human trafficking were the beginning of the end for The Old Spanish Trail, the development of purpose-built freight wagons and dedicated wagon trails sealed the trail's doom.

By 1855, The Old Spanish Trail was no longer a major trade-route.

Most of The Old Spanish Trail was eventually incorporated into the Mojave Road, and the old wagon ruts are visible in a few places, as illustrated in the posted photograph.