Be sure to visit www.santafetrail.org/geocaching to learn about the PASSPORT ACTIVITY to accompany this Geo Tour. This container on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail Geo Tour is a military ammunition canister with an identifying Santa Fe Trail Association yellow sticker on the top of the box, under the handle and the dark green geocaching.com ID is on the side of the boxes with the information that provides coordinates, who set the cache and who to contact for information. Each cache contains a logbook to sign, a variety of items that provide information about the Santa Fe Trail as well as swag items. If you are participating in the Passport activity, the code word is located on the inside of the box, on the top of the lid and is clearly identified as Code Word. Permission to set caches has been obtained. We ask that all cachers please respect all property at the sites where our caches are set. Once traders and travelers on the Santa Fe Trail reached this spot, they knew they were close to the end of their journey and their anticipation heightened. Between 1821 and 1880, the Santa Fe Trail was primarily a commercial highway connecting Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1821 until 1846, it was an international commercial highway used by Mexican and American traders. In 1846, the Mexican-American War began. The Army of the West followed the Santa Fe Trail to invade New Mexico. When the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war in 1848, the Santa Fe Trail became a national road connecting the United States to the new southwest territories. Commercial freighting along the trail continued, including considerable military freight hauling to supply the southwestern forts. The trail was also used by stagecoach lines, thousands of gold seekers heading to the California and Colorado gold fields, adventurers, fur trappers, and emigrants. In 1880 the railroad reached Santa Fe and the trail faded into history. Spanish conquistadors first came to New Mexico about 500 years ago. In 1610, they established the city of Santa Fe. Some of those original Spanish buildings still see daily use. By American standards, the city of Santa Fe is old. Santa Fe was the capital city for everything west of the Mississippi for a century and a half before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is the oldest continuously-occupied capital city in the United States. Many in Santa Fe claim it has the oldest home and oldest church. It certainly is true that Santa Fe has the oldest official government building - the Palace of the Governors. Nearly 400 years ago, the Palace of the Governors was built for the specific purpose of housing the seat of government in Nuevo Mexico and it served in that capacity for 300 years. For nearly a century now, it has served as the official Museum for the State of New Mexico.