Places: the Commanche Trail

Anyone looking over the vast plains of western North America, particularly the canyon lands of the Southwest, might think them a trackless wilderness.  To a practiced Native eye, however, there were trails all over these lands, used by tribes for a variety of purposes.  While Whites insisted on calling this trails war paths, much as they did on the eastern frontier, the paths served other purposes including allowing war parties easy access to and from enemies.  Tribes traded, allied and communicated with one another.  Some tribes were nomadic, following buffalo or other game to seasonal hunting grounds.  Access to water was always a critical problem.  Trails were a vital means of access in the wilderness.

The Comanche Trail, Comanche Trace or Comanche War Trail was, in fact, a network of trails used by the Comanche during raids, seasonal hunting and trading.  The primary trail picked up at two crossings of the Rio Grande River, Boquillas and Presidio, joined at what is now Fort Stockton, and later branched into two main paths over the staked plains.  One branch led to the vicinity of what is now Lubbock and on toward Littlefield.  The other fork ran to what is now Plainview, before the two routes rejoined at Muleshoe.  Other portions of the trail headed across what is now Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas.  Portions further south through Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango to Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi.  Another portion ran into Mexico from Big Springs to Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. 

Once early Settlers became more familiar with the area, they would notice that portions of the Comanche trail were well-traveled and the beaten pathway could extend as wide as a mile.  A portion of the trail winds through Big Bend National Park, taking in some of the mot rugged country along with U.S.-Mexico border.  As with many Native trails, Whites found the route a convenient place to build a road.  U.S. Hwy 385 traces part of the Comanche Trail today.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did It Happen: Custer's Cheyenne Family

Image
Despite popular legends to the contrary, when Col. George Armstrong Custer's body was found after the Battle of the Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass in June 1876, he wasn't scalped or mutilated.  However, the corpses of many of the men nearby, including George's brother Thomas, were mutilated.  Although some White commentators at the time believed the lack of mutilation might have been the Natives way of showing respect to a brave enemy anyone who had rode and fought with Custer knew this idea held no water whatsoever.  No Native respected George Custer.  He had the blood of the Washita Massacre of 1868 on his hands.  There would have been plenty of Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors on the battlefield who would have taken the chance to show their disdain for him.  Other specular insists that it was because Custer wasn't in military dress, or that he'd cut his famous long, curly yellow hair prior to battle.  Still, someone could've recognized him and pointed him...
Read more

Trapper and Guide: Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1805-1866

Image
The only son of Sacajawea of the Shoshone and Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trapper who may have been mixed-race himself, became a man of many talents.  Throughout his life, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1805-1866 was a trapper, trader, scout, guide and interpreter as well as a mayor, prospector and hotel operator.  He was also educated, well-traveled in Europe and America, and spoke English, French, Spanish, German and several Native languages including his mother's Shoshone. The life of this remarkable man began in 1805 at Fort Mandan, near present-day Washburn, North Dakota.  Toussaint Charbonneau had signed on with the Lewis and Clark expedition as a hunter, interpreter and guide, but the real draw was his pregnant teenaged wife, Sacajawea, a Shoshone by birth.  Lewis and Clark knew they would need to trade horses from the Shoshone to make it over the Rocky Mountains and they would need an in with the tribe when the time came.  Sacajawea went i...
Read more

Cameahwait and Sacajawea

Image
The story of Sacajawea's reunion with her family and tribe during the Lewis and Clark Expedition is a familiar one, told from her vantage point.  However, her brother, Cameahwait, by this time chief of the Salmon Eater band of the Lemhi Shoshone would have also had feelings in the matter. Little is known of Cameahwait's life or how he rose to a position of authority among his people.  Apparently, he was several years older than Sacajawea.  In their society, siblings and cousins are often considered the same relationship and spoken of in the same words.  Some sources suggest that they may have been cousins, or even half-siblings.  No matter what the exact familial rank, their actions when they met up again suggested a close family bond.  When Sacajawea was 12 and her brother much older and already an established warrior, the Hidatsa raided their hunting camp.  Four men, four boys and some elderly and children were killed.  Sacajawea and some othe...
Read more