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William Becknell
Born 1786 or 1788
Amherst County, Virginia
Died April 25, 1856 (aged 70-72)
near Clarksville, Red River County, Texas
Resting place Private family plot off US 82 west of Clarksville, Texas
William Becknell (1787 or 1788 - April 25, 1856) was an American soldier, politician, and freight operator who is credited by Americans with opening the Santa Fe Trail in 1821. He found a trail for part of the route that was wide enough for wagon trains and draft teams, making it easier for trader and emigrants along this route. The Santa Fe Trail became an early major transportation route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico, serving both trading and emigrant parties. It served as a vital commercial highway from the 1820s until 1880, when the railroad was introduced to Santa Fe. Becknell made use of long-established trails made by Native Americans, and Spanish and French colonial explorers and traders for centuries before his trip.
French colonists in St. Louis had a monopoly on trade with Santa Fe, which was granted by the Spanish crown before the Louisiana Purchase. When Mexico achieved independence from Spain in 1821, it opened up trade to its territories; residents of Santa Fe were eager for more trade goods. In 1822, Becknell altered his route to Santa Fe in order to find a trail more suitable for wagon trains so that he could enable transport of more trade goods. Earlier travelers had ridden on horseback, trailing packhorses. By 1825, he assisted a surveyor with the federal government in mapping the trail, so that it could be available for commercial and military use.
Red River
Rivière Rouge (former French name), Río Colorado (former Spanish name)
Red River looking east, north of Bonham, Texas: Texas is to the right, Oklahoma is on the left, and the border between the two states runs along the south (right) bank of the river.
Map of the Red River watershed
Native name Bah'hatteno (Caddo)[1]
Location
Country United States
States Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana
Physical characteristics
Source
• location Confluence of the Prairie Dog Town Fork and Buck Creek, Harmon County, Oklahoma[2]
• coordinates 34°34′35″N 99°57′54″W
• elevation 1,535 ft (468 m)[citation needed]
Mouth
• location Atchafalaya River
• coordinates 31°01′10″N 91°44′52″W
• elevation 30 ft (9.1 m)
Length 1,360 mi (2,190 km)
Basin size 65,595 sq mi (169,890 km2)
Discharge
• location mouth; max and min at Alexandria, LA
• average 57,000 cu ft/s (1,600 m3/s)
• minimum 1,472 cu ft/s (41.7 m3/s)
• maximum 233,000 cu ft/s (6,600 m3/s)
MapWikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South to differentiate it from the Red River in the north of the continent, is a major river in the Southern United States.[3] It was named for its reddish water color from passing through red-bed country in its watershed.[4] It is known as the Red River of the South to distinguish it from the Red River of the North, which flows between Minnesota and North Dakota into the Canadian province of Manitoba. Although once a tributary of the Mississippi River, the Red River is now a tributary of the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi that flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico. This confluence is connected to the Mississippi River by the Old River Control Structure.
The south bank of the Red River formed part of the US-Mexico border from the Adams-Onís Treaty (in force 1821) until the Texas Annexation and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
The Red River is the second-largest river basin in the southern Great Plains.[5] It rises in two branches in the Texas Panhandle and flows east, where it serves as the border between the states of Texas and Oklahoma. It forms a short border between Texas and Arkansas before entering Arkansas. It forms much of the eastern border of Miller County, Arkansas, turning south near Fulton and flowing into Louisiana, where it feeds the Atchafalaya River. The total length of the river is 1,360 miles (2,190 km), with a mean flow of over 57,000 cubic feet per second (1,600 m3/s) at the mouth