Fort Smith-Santa Fe Trail

What came to be known as the Fort Smith - Santa Fe Trail was first blazed in 1840 by Josiah Gregg, a trader seeking a route to Santa Fe along the south side of the Canadian River. In 1849, Gregg's route was closely followed by a military escort led by Capt. Randolph B. Marcy (1812-1857). Marcy's group traveled from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Santa Fe with about 500 pioneers heading for California. The party entered Oldham County on June 13th, and on June 14th ascended to the Llano Estacado near this site. Reaching the top, Marcy found the plains "as boundless...and trackless as the ocean...a desolate waste of uninhabited solitude." Eighty-five days after leaving Fort Smith, the party reached Santa Fe. After passing the plains, Marcy remarked, "I have never passed a country where wagons could move along with as much ease and facility, without expenditure of any labor in making a road, as upon this route." Marcy advocated the trail as a prospective route for a transcontinental railroad, which was built after the Civil War. Later, as the country entered the automobile age and the interstate highway system was developed, U.S. Highway 66 (Route 66) and Interstate 40 were laid close to the trail. (1992)

Fort Smith-Santa Fe Trail is a historical marker in Vega, Oldham County, dedicated in 1992. It is one of 10 historical markers documented in Oldham County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 12 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 35.2902, -102.3971 near Vega. The nearest cataloged historic site is Loyd, Doctor Oscar H., Home County of (historical marker), about 3.5 miles away. Others within a short drive include Oldham, W. S., Texas Confederate Senator, Old Tascosa, and Oldham County Courthouse.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5359002016. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.