Matt Field on the Santa Fe Trail
Matthew C. Field (Author), Clyde Porter (Contributor), Mae Reed Porter (Contributor), John E. Sunder (Editor)
In 1839 a journalist for the New Orleans Picayune, Matthew C. Field, joined a company of merchants and tourists headed west on the Santa Fe Trail. Leaving Independence, Missouri, early in July "with a few wagons and a carefree spirit," field recorded his vivid impressions of travel westward on the Santa Fe Trail and, on the return trip, eastward along the Cimmaron Route. Written inverters in his journal and in 85 articles later published in the Picayune, fields observations offer the modern reader a unique glimpse of life in the settlements of Mexico and on the Santa Fe Trail. The prose sketches give many entertaining, informative, and original glimpses of the Southwest and the behavior of Americans before the Mexican War. - Back cover
Print Book, English, 1995
Paperback edition View all formats and editions
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1995
xxix, 322 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm.
9780806127163, 0806127163
31241598
Foreword / Mark L. Gardner
Editor's introduction
Part one : Matt Field's journal
Part two : Matt Field's New Orleans Picayune articles. A Western oddity (April 8, 12, 1841)
Independence (December 13, 21, 1840)
About an old woman and a pipe (December 23, 28, 1840)
The route to Santa Fe (June 17, 21, 1841)
Valentine's defeat (February 9, 10, 1840)
Council Grove (December 10, 16, 1839)
Disheartened travelers returning (June 28, 29, 1840)
Cotton-Wood Grove (May 12, 17, 1841)
The Sand Hills (August 7, 10, 1840)
Our first buffalo hunt (December 11, 16, 1839)
The butchering (December 12, 16, 1839)
The Buffalo (February 23, 24, 1840)
Indians hunting the buffalo (August 2, 3, 1840)
The wild horse (December 13, 16, 1839)
Pawnee Rock (November 8, nine, 1840)
Legend of Pawnee Rock (November 15, 16, 1840)
The deserted village (January 9, 11, 1841)
The Indian fort (March 17, 23, 1840)
The blind buffalo (March 20, 23, 1840
An old bull (September 23, 28, 1840)
Lazy Hasey (April 10, 12, 1841)
A storm (March 1, two, 1840)
Storm on the prairie (April 26, 1841)
Night guarding (June 5, 8, 1840)
Death of Bernardo (February 8, 10, 1840)
The cache (April 2, 6, 1840)
Crows and Arrappachos (September 26, October 4, 1841)
Adam and Eve (February 3, 8, 1841)
A night scene (October 27, November 2, 1840)
Big timber (October 11, 12, 1840)
Robbery of Fort William (July 12, 13, 1840
Sham Indians (December 3, seven, 1840)
Pueblo de Leche (July 14, 20, 1840)
The salt pond (December 7, 9, 1839)
The River Styx (October 21, 26, 1840)
Imallahokes (January 20, 25, 1841)
The Ratone (October 3, 12, 1840)
The night guard : the alarm (January 24, 27, 1840)
The ascent : the night camp (December 15, 16, 1839)
The Fairy Lake (May 1, 4, 1840)
The grizzly bear (December 27, 30, 1839)
Camping out (December 6, 9, 1839)
Maria Romero (February 21, 24, 1840)
Ojo Colorado, or Red Eye (December 21, 23, 1839)
A burial in Toas (February 15, 17, 1840)
Montezuma's treasure (March 11, 16, 1840)
The Indian to the rainbow (August 23, 24, 1840)
Battle of the Ranch (February 28, March 2, 1840)
A Mexican inn (February 18, 22, 1841)
The fire jump (February 16, 17, 1840)
A duel without seconds (January 16, 18, 1840)
Santa Fe (April 17, 20, 1840)
Señora Toulous (April 18, 20, 1840)
The Monte Bank (August 13, 17, 1840)
Santa Fe : its ladies and shops (January 4, 6, 1840)
A trader's shop (September 18, 21, 1840)
An arrival (October 1, 5, 1840)
The smugglers (August 15, 17, 1840)
A wedding (August 20, 24, 1840)
The dying murderer (March 5, 9, 1840)
Timotéo (June 19, 22, 1840)
Evening (November 26, 30, 1840)
A Fandango in Santa Fe (January 17, 20, 1840)
A night row (September 6, 7, 1840)
The rancheros (December 30, 1840; January 4, 1841)
The sacred fire (March 26, 30, 1840)
Sunday in San Miguel (April 26, 27, 1840)
The lost man (April 22, 26, 1841)
Trappers trapped by crows (August 5, 9, 1841)
The drama among the crows (October 4, 1841)
Camanches (April 11, 13, 1840)
The snow cliff (May 23, 25, 1841)
An alarming rencontre (May 5, 11, 1840)
A cool greeting (May 16, 18, 1840)
Last tres Marias (March 13, 16, 1840)
Dog towns (November 22, 23, 1840)
Night on the prairie (February 2, 3, 1840)
Fording the Arkansas (January 10, 13, 1840)
The lost track (April 8, 13, 1840)
Col. James Bowie (June 2, 7, 1841)
Jim Rogers (August 29, 31, 1840
Buffalo Chase (July 26, 27, 1840)
The burning prairie (January 29, February 3, 1840)
The burnt prairie (January 31, February 3, 1840)
The lost dog (January 15, 20, 1840)