A Guide to Sources of Information for One of the Great Trails of North America
Archival research has been a fundamental element of the identification, preservation, and study of the historic traveler’s route now referred to as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (“the Royal Road of the Interior Lands”) for nearly a century. The addition of the route to the National Trails System in October of 2000—in recognition of its significance as the primary transportation corridor between the colonial Spanish capitals of Mexico City and la villa real now known as Santa Fe, New Mexico, represents an accomplishment that can be attributed in large part to the careful work of generations of scholars, particularly historians and archival researchers. The fruits of their investigations include a diverse array of scholarly publications based on a variety of sources, including: journals and diaries kept by travelers; records of commerce as well as military and religious activity along the trail; maps of the route and settlements established/encountered along the way; and anecdotal information. This work, in turn, has inspired study by investigators pursuing additional lines of inquiry.
Some aspects of life along the historic trail have thus been well-explored, while others (including actual locations of trail traces and associated resources, such as campsites, ramps, and springs) have only begun to be investigated in the past few decades. Documentation of these efforts, along with the results of historic preservation projects and activities dedicated to studying and repairing/rehabilitating historic buildings along the route, comprise “gray literature” that has not been cohesively integrated into the main stream of scholarship associated with El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. This shortfall can exercise a dampening effect on trail-related research, as various investigators pursuing traditional avenues of inquiry may not have the opportunity to reap the benefit of the results of studies that have not been published, or which have taken place outside of their disciplines.
As one of the measures proposed to mitigate adverse effects to assessed to the Physical and Setting (“visual”) Areas of Potential Effects (APEs) identified for the Spaceport America undertaking, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) proposed to combine and summarize sources of information selected for relevance to trail-related archival research under the aegis of an annotated bibliography that would highlight the published research products as well as additional sources for information about El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro that have been investigated to date, particularly the portions of route that traverse the Jornada del Muerto2. This work was perceived as a key component of an interdisciplinary research program focused on various aspects of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Companion studies have included a paleohydrological assessment of water resources in the central Jornada del Muerto, field archaeological survey and documentation.
Diary of Dr. Rowland Willard
Dr. Rowland Willard was a physician who traveled west along the Santa Fe Trail in 1825 - just four years after William Becknell opened the trail. Willard left St. Charles, Missouri in May of that year and by early July was in Taos, New Mexico. After a summer-long sojourn there, he headed south along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. He crossed the Jornada del Muerto in mid-October, continued south, and arrived in Chihuahua on November 5. Often serving as the Chihuahua's only doctor, he remained in the city until early 1827, when the diary ends. Willard's diary details the conditions along both the Santa Fe Trail and El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. In addition, his diary provides a revealing glimpse into the medical procedures employed during the 1820s and of the physician's status in frontier society. Two recently drawn maps (one for each trail) help the reader follow the progress of Willard's travels. Willard's diary resides at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Historian Joy Poole transcribed Willard's diary, after which she and Ben Brown provided extensive annotations that increase the reader's understanding of Willard's diary entries.
