The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916 Page: 260

The Southwestern Historical Quarterly

of the laws by citizens of the United States, and assuring the
Mexican government that he would submit the request to his
government, "with full confidence that it will adopt measures, as
the laws permit, to stop the repetition of similar acts on the part
of citizens of the United States.'"8 I have found no evidence to
show, however, that Ihe United States took any action to restrain
the traders.
In the light of the evidence, it seems fair to assume that the
history of the Santa Fe trade must be revised, giving the fur
trader his place beside or ahead of the merchant. St. Vrain's
expedition was only one of many similar enterprises. It was
chosen as the central theme of this paper because the documents,
which have thus far been gathered, are more complete on this
expedition than on others. But the archives of Mexico have only
begun to give up their stores. The writer has seen enough in
these and other documents to convince him that the history of the
Santa F6 Trail has not yet been written.
86Archivo de Gobernaci6n (Mexico), Conmercio, Expediente 44.

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