"Caravans to Santa Fe" by Alida Malkus is a historical novel written in the early 20th century. It evokes the Santa Fe Trail era, following spirited Santa Fe heiress Consuelo Lopez and adventure-seeking New Orleanian Steven Mercer as trade caravans knit together Mexican New Mexico and the American frontier. Expect frontier perils, commercial rivalries, and cross-cultural encounters, with figures like the suave Don Tiburcio and trader-leader Ceran St. Vrain shaping the journey.
The opening of the novel contrasts two worlds: a siesta-stilled Spanish Santa Fe where restless Consuelo longs for excitement, and bustling New Orleans where Steven is drawn to the river trade and overland commerce. In Santa Fe, Consuelo bristles at stifling courtship from cousin Manuel, thrills at the American caravans, and is captivated—despite herself—by the return of the aristocratic merchant Don Tiburcio, whose train arrives to great fanfare. Meanwhile in New Orleans, Steven is inspired by tales of the Trail, secures an introduction to St. Vrain, and accepts a secret dispatch from the deposed Mexican president Gómez Pedraza before running away to join a westbound caravan. Reaching Independence, he equips himself, joins St. Vrain’s column, endures storms and night guard, survives a deadly grapple with a scouting warrior, and witnesses a buffalo stampede and tense but bloodless contact with Plains Indians. The train pushes past Pawnee Rock, fights thirst and insects, fords rivers by moonlight, and makes desperate water runs as it turns onto the harsher Cimarron route. Early in the desert stretch they discover a besieged, muleless party—including a pale young woman and her brother—whom they fold into their own train and lead back toward water, rationing the last canteens as the noon heat bears down. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)
