The highway was ultimately replaced by the Interstate Highway System as a major route. This led to a decline in popularity of US 80 and its eventual decommissioning within the western United States. In recent years, the popularity of US 80 has increased, leading to it being designated a historic route in multiple states. The general path of the Gila Trail in Arizona was traversed by Native Americans for thousands of years. The first non-Native person to travel the Gila Trail was a Spanish-owned African slave named Esteban, who had been brought to North America in 1527 as part of the colonization of Florida by Charles V of Spain. In 1538, Esteban accompanied a Franciscan friar by the name of Marcos de Niza on a journey, which included travelling along the Gila Trail. Father Eusebio Kino utilized the Gila Trail to establish missions across present day southern Arizona and California. In 1821, southern Arizona had become part of Mexico. The first Americans on the trail were 19th Century fur trappers, who made use of the nearby Gila River's beaver population. During the Mexican–American War Lieutenant General Stephen W. Kearney of the United States Army sent his Army of the West over the Gila Trail. Following the Mexican-American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853, the land surrounding the Gila Trail became part of the United States and was organized as New Mexico Territory in 1850. After 1848, Gila Trail had become a popular and heavily traveled wagon route to California. By this time it was now known as Cooke's Wagon Road. The new name was in reference to Captain Philip St. George Cooke, leader of the Mormon Battalion, whom had used the road shortly after General Kearny. In 1863, the western part of New Mexico Territory was re-established as Arizona Territory. By 1909, Cooke's Wagon Road had become segments of the East-West Territorial Road and North-South Territorial Road respectively. The former route traveled between Yuma and Phoenix to Duncan while the latter traveled between the Grand Canyon region, Phoenix, Tucson and Douglas. In February 1912, Arizona was accepted into the union as a state, which led to the reorganization of the Territorial Road system into Arizona's true State Highway System. When the first set of reorganizations were complete in 1914, the North-South Territorial Road between Phoenix and Douglas as well as the East-West Territorial Road between Yuma and Phoenix were reorganized into a new state highway known as the Borderland Highway.