[4] After seeing the profits available for merchants transporting goods along the Santa Fe Trail, Aubry saved his money to purchase several wagons and draft animals.
[5] He then obtained a line of credit with which to purchase trade goods and left on his first trip down Santa Fe trail from Independence on May 9, 1846 as part of a trader's caravan.
[5] One effort to reduce the time spent on the 800 miles (1,300 km) return journey came when he left Santa Fe on December 22, 1847.
[5] In a desire to make three trips during 1848, Aubry left Missouri in mid-March, before enough grass had grown to provide fodder for his beasts of burden, and instead fed them by hauling a supply of feed corn.
His journey was hampered by rain and mud but he managed to arrive in Independence on the evening of September 17 after 5 days and 16 hours on the trail.
[11][6] Aubry's crossing point is estimated to be 20 miles (32 km) north of the mouth of the Bill Williams River.
Aubry's descriptions of cedar, pine, and pinyon trees, combined with mentions of deep canyons, indicates he crossed Arizona's central mountains.
[6] Following his return to Albuquerque, Aubry gave a report of his journey to New Mexico Territorial Governor David Meriwether, writing, "I am satisfied that a railroad may be run almost mathematically direct from Zuñi to Colorado [the river], and from thence to the Tejon pass in California.
"[10] He also spoke to Lt. Amiel W. Whipple who was preparing an exploration of the area through which Aubry had just traveled as part of the Pacific Railroad Surveys.
[14] In the store he discovered Richard Hanson Weightman, a former Territorial Delegate to the United States Congress and editor of Albuquerque's Amigo Pais.
[14] The argument escalated to a fight and Aubry drew his gun but was mortally wounded by Weightman's knife after the firearm misfired.
[17] In September 1854, Missouri newspapers published an account of Aubry's final journey which spawned interest in a railroad route along the 35th parallel north.