History and government of New Mexico . ers-men had been trapping beaveron the streams from Colorado tonorthern Sonora. The officiallicense was always difficult andsometimes impossible to get;but that detail was frequentlydisregarded. James 0. Pattie,a Kentuckian, with a party ofwestern frontiersmen, trappedall over New Mexico and Ari-zona from 1824 to 1828. In1826 Ceran St. Vrain (sa-ransant vran) brought out a hun-dred trappers to catch beaver on the Rio Grande, the Gila,and the Colorado. The importance of the fur trade in southwestern historyduring the first third of the last century has not
History and government of New Mexico . ers-men had been trapping beaveron the streams from Colorado tonorthern Sonora. The officiallicense was always difficult andsometimes impossible to get;but that detail was frequentlydisregarded. James 0. Pattie,a Kentuckian, with a party ofwestern frontiersmen, trappedall over New Mexico and Ari-zona from 1824 to 1828. In1826 Ceran St. Vrain (sa-ransant vran) brought out a hun-dred trappers to catch beaver on the Rio Grande, the Gila,and the Colorado. The importance of the fur trade in southwestern historyduring the first third of the last century has not beensufficiently appreciated because the romance of the over-land trade to the Missouri River has overshadowed thequieter and less conspicuous activity of the trappers, whospent their time on the streams in remote regions andappeared in the settlements for but short periods in thecourse of a year. Like the trader, however, but ahead ofhim, they were the pathfinders of civilization. 126. Popularity of the American Trade. — The Santa. Ceran St. Vrain 104 THE HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO Fe trade with the United States was popular with both theofficials and the common people. The old route to VeraCruz was more than two thousand miles long. The newtrail to the Missouri River was less than eight goods could be got from the Americans at a lowerprice, and the New Mexicans were determined to have them. The officials of the Territory had still other reasons forfostering the trade. Their salaries, to be paid from theempty treasury of the new and unsteady Mexican Republic,gave little more than an unlimited right of expectation;and the Territory had no regular revenues of its duties on goods coming from the United States wouldhelp to solve this problem. In the early years of the tradethese duties amounted to about fifteen to twenty per centof the American value of the goods. By 1830 they hadbeen raised to about sixty per cent. And there was anexport duty on the silver
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