Today in History

Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts near Fort Union, New Mexico
Photographer: Wyatt Davis
Date: 1939?
From the New Mexico Magazine collection,Negative Number HP.2007.20.105

On this day in history, Jan. 29, 1822, William Becknell, founder of the Santa Fe Trail, returns to Franklin, Missouri, after his first trading expedition to Santa Fe. Legend has it that Spanish gold and silver coins fell from his leather pouch onto the streets, sparking a “trade rush.”