Joy L. Poole

Joy Poole grew up near the Lewis and Clark and Mormon Trails in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her home town was named for the councils held between Native Americans and early day explorers. She followed her ancestral roots to the Four Corners of the American Southwest. As a museum director for the Colorado Historical Society - Trinidad Museum Properties she gained professional accolades for establishing the Santa Fe Trail Association. She served as the first director of El Camino Real International Heritage Center, an award winning NM historic site. She lives in the nation's oldest capital city near the Santa Fe and Chihuahua Trails. She serves as New Mexico's Deputy State Librarian. She is considered an expert on western trails. She has cycled the modern day routes of the Santa Fe Trail and El Camino Real in the United States. She is the author of Great Plains Cattle Empire: The Thatcher Brothers, 1875-1945.