William Becknell had a grand idea: take a pack train of goods into the desert Southwest to trade with the Native Americans there for mules. But fortune opened the way for him to go all the way to Santa Fe, where he traded with the local Mexicans and made a good profit. He was determined to make the trip again, this time with wagons. The journey almost cost him his life, but he had established the Santa Fe Trail, a pathway that became instrumental in the effort to settle the West.