Aztec Ruins National Monument announces that it has received a Connecting Trails to Parks grant for 2014.
The park will receive $95,314 to study and develop a part of the historic Old Spanish Trail as part of the North Main Trail Project planned in partnership with the city of Aztec.
The funding also will help tell the story of the Old Spanish Trail in images, waysides, and other media.
Connecting Trails to Parks funding is set aside by the National Park Service to link National Historic Trails to National Park units. The city of Aztec, the National Park Service, and other partners have planned a pedestrian and bike trail that leads from Aztec’s downtown national historic district, across the Animas River, and into the national monument.
The Spanish used the trail between 1829 and 1848 to trade woolen goods from New Mexico for mules and horses from California.