savages of the debatable land, in 1804; and following him the next
year, James Pursley undertook the same pilgrimage. Neither of these
pioneers in the "commerce of the prairies" returned to relate what
incidents marked the passage of their marvellous expeditions. Pursley
was so infatuated with the strange country he had travelled so far to
reach, that he took up his abode in the quaint old town of Santa Fe
where his subsequent life is lost sight of. La Lande, of a different
mould, forgot to render an account of his mission to the merchant who
had sent him there, and became a prosperous and wealthy man by means of
money to which he had no right.

To Captain Zebulon Pike, who afterwards was made a general, is due the
impetus which the trade with Santa Fe received shortly after his return
to the United States. The student of American history will remember that
the expedition commanded by this soldier was inaugurated in 1806;
his report of the route he had taken was the incentive for commercial
speculation in the direction of trade with New Mexico, but it was so
handicapped by restrictions imposed by the Mexican government, that
the adventurers into the precarious traffic were not only subject to
a complete confiscation of their wares, but frequently imprisoned for
months as spies. Under such a condition of affairs, many of the earlier
expeditions, prior to 1822, resulted in disaster, and only a limited
number met with an indifferent success.

It will not be inconsistent with my text if I herewith interpolate
an incident connected with Pursley, the second American to cross the
desert, for the purpose of trade with New Mexico, which I find in the
_Magazine of American History_:

When Zebulon M. Pike was in Mexico, in 1807, he met,
at Santa Fe, a carpenter, Pursley by name, from Bardstown,
Kentucky, who was working at his trade. He had in a
previous year, while out hunting on the Plains, met with
a series of misfortunes, and found himself near the
mountains. The hostile Sioux drove the party into the
high ground in the rear of Pike's Peak. Near the headwaters
of the Platte River, Pursley found some gold, which he
carried in his shot-pouch for months. He was finally sent
by his companions to Santa Fe, to see if they could trade
with the Mexicans, but he chose to remain in Santa Fe
in preference to retu