"Such is the imbecility of the local governments, that the [Apaches], in order to dispose of their stolen property without even a shadow of molestation, frequently enter into partial treaties of peace with one department, while they continue to wage a war of extermination against the neighboring states. This arrangement supplies them with an ever-ready market, for the disposal of their booty and the purchase of munitions wherewith to prosecute their work of destruction. In 1840, I witnessed the departure from Santa Fé of a large trading party freighted with engines of war and a great quantity of whiskey, intended for the Apaches in exchange for mules and other articles of plunder which they had stolen from the people of the south. This traffic was not only tolerated but openly encouraged by the civil authorities, as the highest public functionaries were interested in its success — the governor himself not excepted."
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Commerce of the Prairies
1806 – 1850
Commerce of the Prairies: or, The journal of a Santa Fé trader, 1831–1839 was written by Josiah Gregg (1806–1850), a merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author who described his travels and adventures throughout the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. He is most famous for this book, a classic description of his early travels along the Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe, then along El Camino Real to Chihuahua, Mexico and further south.
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