Commerce of the Prairies: Josiah Gregg's Explorations of the American Southwest
Classified in History
Written on in
English with a size of 2.36 KB
Book
Author: Josiah Gregg
Date: 1831
After the Mexican Revolution in 1821, U.S. merchants began trading in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area. Josiah Gregg was one of those early traders. Based in Independence, Missouri, Gregg began his southwestern travels in 1831. Commerce of the Prairies, a record of Gregg's experiences, was a complete success. His descriptions of the region's human and physical geography and the maps he made were the best available at the time. Nowadays, it is still considered a classic description of the North American Southwest before the coming of the railroads and an excellent history of the early Santa Fe trade.
Gregg died of exposure and starvation while on an exploratory trip in California's Coast Range in 1850.