[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.
Aubry's descriptions of cedar, pine, and pinyon trees, combined with mentions of deep canyons, indicates he crossed Arizona's central mountains.
[10] (Probably Yuman[10] or Mohave[13]) The harassment changed on August 14 when a chief, feigning friendship, approached Aubry's campsite.
[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.