The Mallet brothers' account of their journey to Santa Fe is lost and their route can only be roughly approximated.

They had followed the Platte and South Platte River, which they called the River of the Padoucas (Padoucas probably refers to the Apache Indians who had inhabited this area a few years earlier, or possibly the Comanches).

They had followed the South Platte upstream to approximately the Colorado-Nebraska border, then turned south.

While crossing a river (probably the Republican), theyhad  lost seven horses loaded with merchandise.

They reached the Arkansas River near the Kansas-Colorado line and followed it upstream.

On July 5, probably near present-day La Junta, Colorado, they encounter a village of “Laitane” Indians (Comanche).

Among the Comanche is an enslaved Arikara whom they hired as a guide to lead them to Santa Fe.