Volume 17 in the American Exploration and Travel Series " Commerce of the Prairies] has become established as the classic of the Santa Fe Trail and of life on the prairies at the time they were solidly turfed with primeval grass. The year 1954 will see no new book fresher in content or more vivid on the life and land of the Southwest than this first adequate reprint of Gregg's 'Commerce of the Prairies, ' edited - with wisdom as well as with knowledge - by Max L. Moorhead." - New York Times. "This newest and best edition of Josiah Gregg's classic is a welcome addition to the western bookshelf...

The presidio was as essential an element of Spanish civilization in the Mexican North and the American Southwest as the communities it was established to protect-missions, settlements, mines, and ranches. A fortified outpost in hostile Indian country, it not only assured Spanish occupation and retention of that vast region but also participated in its development. The presidio was first and foremost a garrisoned fort presiding over a military district. It was most often situated strategically in hostile terrain, forming an enclave of Spanish civilization and Christianity in an alien and...

The arrival of Missourian William Becknell's party at Santa Fe in 1821 ushered in the era of the annual "Santa Fe trade" between the United States and the Mexican settlements to the south and opened the famous route known as the Santa Fe Trail. Of even greater significance, but largely overlooked today, is the fact that it also opened a road from the United States connecting with a major Mexican high way, for Santa Fe was the terminus of the 1,600-mile Camino Real, the "King's Highway," stretching southward to Chihuahua and the interior cities of Mexico. Over this Royal Road between Santa Fe...