Freight was carried by pack animals until…
source date: 1891
availability: public-domain

also by Niles Register. Fifteen thousand dollars worth of merchandise from St. Louis, Missouri, was delivered in Santa Fe in 1822, and the traffic had increased to $120,000 in 1830, the year in which the Las Cruces Republican claims Hugh Stephenson and others made the trail. Freight was carried by pack animals until 1824, when wagons were introduced as an ex- periment, and making the trip without diffi- culty, were used exclusively after 1825. In January of that year, through the influence of Col. Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, a bill was passed by congress authorizing the marking out a road. Thirty thousand dollars was appro- priated for that purpose and that of obtaining the Indians’ consent to the road and its unmo- lested use. The U. S. Commissioners appointed to conduct the survey were Benjamin Reeves, George C. Sibley and Thomas Maher; and Jo- seph C. Brown as surveyor.