In June 1846 Susan Shelby Magoffin, eighteen years old and a bride of less than eight months, set out with her husband, a veteran Santa Fe trader, on a trek from Independence, Missouri, through New Mexico and south to Chihuahua. Her travel journal was written at a crucial time,...
Eighteen-year-old bride's 15-month journey from Independence, Missouri, to Chihuahua. Mexico. Filled with daily observations of life on trail, people met, miles travelled, and information on countryside. Colorful and exciting and historically important.
Her journal describes the excitement, routine, and dangers of a successful merchant's wife. On the trail for fifteen months, moving from house to house and town to town, she became adept in Spanish and the lingo of traders, and wrote down in detail the customs and appearances...