Bent's Old Fort: The Trading Post That Anchored the Santa Fe Trail

After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Americans moved into the Rockies to trade across the western frontier. At the same time the first wagons rolled down the Santa Fe Trail — a route for settlers into the new southwestern territories and an international highway of commerce between the United States and Mexico. Traders followed the trail's profits. Among them were the brothers Charles and William Bent and their partner Ceran St. Vrain, who based their company near the U.S.–Mexico border.

The original fort is gone, but a reconstruction at Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site now marks the trading post's role in the exploration and settlement of the American Southwest.

William Bent. NPS

A fort built for trade

Bent's Fort — first called Fort William — went up in 1833 on the north bank of the Arkansas River, a strategic spot from which Bent, St. Vrain & Company could tap everything the Arkansas Valley offered:

• Trappers came down from the nearby Rockies to sell beaver.
• The fort stood near the hunting grounds of the Plains tribes, who were willing to trade. Arapaho, Kiowa, Navajo and Southern Cheyenne traders came — the Cheyenne's buffalo robes were especially prized — exchanging furs, horses and mules for tobacco, axes, firearms and other goods.
• Travelers heading west paid too: between Independence and Santa Fe, Bent's Fort was the only place to repair wagons, rest and restock.

It was a lively, mixed place that welcomed people of every culture, race and nationality — white settlers, soldiers, enslaved people, traders and American Indians, speaking English, Spanish, French and Indian languages. Forty to sixty employees ran it.

William Bent

All three partners managed the company, but William Bent ran the fort. Charles traveled between the post and St. Louis, and St. Vrain ran the company's stores in Taos and Santa Fe, while William directed the Indian and trapping trade. He was an effective peacemaker who understood Native American life — he married Owl Woman, a Southern Cheyenne — and he largely built the company's excellent standing with the Plains tribes. Bent's Fort traders were always welcome in Indian Territory.

Why it ended

The war won New Mexico for the United States but destroyed the company's trade with Mexico. Meanwhile tension grew between American Indians and settlers as more emigrants and gold seekers pushed into Indian Territory. Those troubles, and Charles's death, led to the fort's end — just as it had reached the height of its commercial, political and military importance.

Rebuilt on the same ground

Old drawings, archeology, eyewitness descriptions and some conjecture made it possible to rebuild the fort on the exact footprint of the original. The two-story fort shows what it was like to live, work, trade and visit here:

• trade rooms;
• a council room used for peace talks between tribes;
• blacksmith and carpenter shops;
• warehouses where the company stored winter food;
• the cook's room, dining room, kitchen and sleeping quarters.

Visiting

A ¼-mile trail leads to the fort's main gate, and a film, Traders, Tribes and Travelers, brings its story to life. Tours are guided or self-guided; check the park website for the program schedule.

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park System and a National Historic Landmark, is at 35110 Highway 194 East, La Junta, Colorado. There's an admission fee. More: the park website or 719-383-5010. National Register of Historic Places file: text and photos.

Sources

Based on "Colorado: Bent's Old Fort Historic Site," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.