The Gila Trail
The Gila Trail is probably the oldest major trail of the United States. It is estimated to be at least 15,000 years old. Commonly, as for most trails, the Gila follows rivers. The trail follows from Mexico to Zuni, New Mexico. The first ones to explore the Gila, excluding Native Americans, was a slave named Esteban. Esteban was granted freedom from Charles V of Spain if he completely mapped the Gila Trail. Once Esteban reached the town of Zuni, the native there thought he was a god and was immortal. These natives tested his immortality by shooting arrows at him, which proved him mortal. Two centuries later, Father Eusibio Francisco Kino established missions along the trail which brought many people using the trail. The missions guaranteed a safe trip on the trail. During the Gold Rush, Forty-Niners used the Gila Trail massively to get to California.
Read more about this topic: Medicine Trails
Famous quotes containing the word trail:
“Perhaps of all our untamed quadrupeds, the fox has obtained the widest and most familiar reputation.... His recent tracks still give variety to a winter’s walk. I tread in the steps of the fox that has gone before me by some hours, or which perhaps I have started, with such a tip-toe of expectation as if I were on the trail of the Spirit itself which resides in the wood, and expected soon to catch it in its lair.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)