Navajo rugs, blankets and weavings
Camino Real Navajo trade route - page 5 of 6

Today we can hardly appreciate the physical effort and detailed planning such a trip would demand. In the 18th century, once Chihuahua City developed as an important terminus, the northern section of the Camino Real became known also as the Chihuahua Trail. For New Mexico the Camino Real provided an economic life-line, an all-important tie to the centers of government and culture to the south. The necessities and luxuries brought north sustained and gave meaning to the Spanish Colonial frontier lifestyle and were critical to the well-being and self-esteem of the vecinos of far northern Nueva Vizcaya. The triennial Franciscan caravans of the 17th century were replaced after 1700 by annual wagon trains, conductas or convoys, run by private contractors. Supplies, equipment, household furnishings, and personal items from Europe, China and elsewhere in the New World were carried over this trail well into the mid-19th century.

Beasts of burden, introduced by Europeans, as well as the cart and the wagon, made this trade possible. Burros were reserved for local traffic and for the breeding of mules. The major hauling along the Camino Real was done by ox-cart or atajo, mule train. The lumbering creaking ox-cart, drawn by teams of 6 to 20 oxen, could carry prodigious loads. The Sosa expedition brought the first carts to New Mexico in 1590. Onate brought carros, carretas, and carrozas in 1598. Carretas were made almost entirely of wood fastened with rawhide thongs and secured with wooden pegs. Their two huge wheels were sometimes rimmed with iron. Carretas survived in Mexico and New Mexico pueblos as local transportation for a long time. No example remains of the four-wheel carro, the vehicle perhaps most commonly utilized to transport heavy loads, which boasted iron fittings. A bullwhacker walked alongside the ox-train, prodding the oxen with a metal pointed goad, or cracking a huge whip over their heads.

Mules, introduced from Mexico, were superior beasts of burden. They could carry 400 lbs. and cover 12-15 miles a day. An atajo of 200 animals was common with one arriero managing 40-50 animals. In the morning the grazing mules would be driven to the line of packs and blindfolded with a tapajos, a piece of embroidered leather. A pad of raw sheepskin would be thrown over its back, the a xerga, or woolen blanket, and an aparejo, leather pouches stuffed with straw. The carga, or load, was then bound in place with ropes and covered with a petate. The annual caravan went south every autumn. The date of its departure and the common meeting place, the plaza at Albuquerque, La Joya de Sevilleta or some other location, was announced by official bando and proclaimed in each locality by the town crier, accompanied by drum and bugle.

Camino Real Navajo trade fairs - page 6

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