El Vado de las Piedras and the Santa Fe Trail-Colfax County Trail Segments

El Vado de las Piedras and the Trail ruts contained within this site are eligible to the National Register under Criterion A as a reflection of historically significant Trail activity. Both the river crossing and the Trail segments are significant in the areas of commerce and transportation and fall into the Ancillary Historic Properties/Natural Features and Historic Trails property types detailed in Section F of the Historic Resources of the Santa Fe Trail, 1821-1880 Multiple Property Documentation. The site's period of significance extends almost the entire period of Trail significance from the initiation of wagon use across the Trail in 1822 to shortly before the abandonment of the Trail as a means of overland trade, c. 1870. The river crossing and the Trail ruts materially reflect important historic events and serve as a physical reminder of historic associations with a variety of Trail travelers outlined in the historic contexts: International Trade on the Mexican Road, 1821-1846; The Mexican War and the Santa Fe Trail, 1846-48; Expanding National Trade on the Santa Fe Trail, 1848-1865, and The Santa Fe Trail and the Railroad, 1865-1880.

El Vado de las Piedras offered Santa Fe Trail travelers the picturesque view of the Raton Mountains to the north, the Canadian River valley to the south, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west, and the tableland to the east. The Canadian River and the crossing within this site were known by Spaniards and Mexicans as Rio Colorado and El Vado de las Piedras, while American traders knew it as the Red River and later as the Canadian River.

From El Vado de las Piedras, the main Trail artery led south to Wagon Mound. After the establishment of Fort Union in 1851, another Trail segment led southwest. A third Trail segment continued west in a "direct but rugged route " across the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to Taos which was the center of the southern Rocky Mountains fur trade. This portion of the Trail was used by trappers and traders alike and also by "runners" from Santa Fe caravans who would leave the wagon train at El Vado de las Piedras, go to Taos, and reunite with the group in the vicinity of San Miguel, New Mexico. Having assessed the market conditions at Taos, they would decide whether or not to dispatch their wagons there. This practice emphasizes the close link that existed between the Santa Fe trade and the southern Rocky Mountains fur trade, especially during the 1820s and 1830s. American Indians resided near and traveled in the vicinity of portions of the Trail. In the summer of 1820, Pawnees camped upstream not far from El Vado de las Piedras. Apache Indians also operated in the vicinity of this site. In March 1848, William Gilpin left camp on the upper Arkansas River with two mounted companies and one infantry company and proceeded to the Canadian River, by way of Mora, New Mexico, in order to conduct a campaign against the Apache and Comanche Indians in their winter villages. After spending two and one-half months searching in vain for these settlements, they abandoned their search in May of 1848.

Between Arkansas and the Canadian Rivers, lay 250 miles of the Santa Fe Trail which was largely unprotected. Caravans traversing this portion of the Trail were encouraged to be large enough so that they could organize their own protection. Until 1846, the territory southwest of the river crossing was patrolled by Mexican soldiers. Sometimes, these soldiers escorted traders from the river crossing to Santa Fe, however, their main task was to hinder smuggling rather than guard the wagon train from attack. Indeed, a few miles beyond the river crossing, the wagon train abandoned its defensive organization and proceeded in a similar manner to that followed from the eastern terminus to Council Grove.

This river crossing and its Trail ruts were significant as a reliable crossing on the Canadian River, as a source of fresh drinking water to Trail travelers and draught animals, and as a departure point for Trail travelers wishing to participate in the southern Rocky Mountains' fur trade, and as a symbol that the possibility of American Indian confrontation was reduced. Several notable Trail-travelers crossed this site and made mention of the fact in written accounts of their travels across the Santa Fe Trail. Joseph C. Brown, surveyor for the Sibley Survey of the Trail in 1826 commented that "The ford (of the Canadian River) is rocky and shallow and is easy to find. If missed the traveler would not be able to cross below the ford in many miles. " Josiah Gregg noted in his two-volume account of the Santa Fe trade that the Canadian River at this site represented little more than a "rippling brook hardly a dozen paces in width, though eighty miles from its source in the mountains to the north." This natural stone crossing provided the most hospitable terrain for wagon movement while, for several miles upstream from this site, crossing the river did not pose difficulties for mounted travelers. Gregg also observed that the river banks were "very low and easy to ascend" during the period of Trail use. Susan Shelby Magoffin commented in her diary on Thursday, August 20, 1846, that the Canadian River contained drinking water that was "... fine, clear and cool, as mountain streams always are."