Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site: A Self-Guiding Tour

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Clemson Universitv

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
La Junta, Colorado

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Bent's Old Fort Nation
A Self-Guiding Tour

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How to use this guide

This self-guiding tour booklet provides essential
information on the^history of Bent's Old Fort.
The National Park Service provides tours, living history
programs, and a documentary film. Special events are
offered throughout the year.

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• Restrooms and a drinking
fountain are located at the
right-rear of the fort.

• The Indian trade room, display
room, and AV room providing
a documentary film, are
located here.

• Western National Parks

Association bookstore and
trade room sales area.

For your safety, please be aware of possible safety
hazards:,,

• Please stay on the path, watch your footing, and
keep off walls and room furnishings.

• Maintain a safe distance from animals.

• Pets must be on a leash, with you at all times, and
may not enter rooms.

• Please leave all objects in place.

• Report safety hazards or emergencies to park
rangers.

Dent's Old Fort was one of the significant centers of fur
trade on the Santa Fe Trail, influencing economies around
the world. Built by brothers Charles and William Bent and
their business partner Ceran St. Vrain in 1833, the fort was
the leading industry west of the Mississippi in the early
1830s. For 16 years, Bent, St. Vrain and Co. managed a
prosperous trading empire. The Fort was located on the
Arkansas River, the international boundary between two
countries, Mexico on the south side of the river, and the
United States on the north. Strategically located on an
established road, it helped pave the way for the occupation
of the west by the U.S. Army, and was an instrument of
Manifest Destiny and the invasion of Mexico in 1846.
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Dy 1849, the trade which had made Bent's Fort prosper
was deteriorating. Local bison populations were in decline,
Cottonwood groves were wiped out, and the lives of the
Plains Indians had been disrupted by trade and the growing
stream of settlers, gold-seekers, and soldiers during and
after the Mexican-
American War. • "^
Clashes with the
Plains Indians had
become more
frequent, cholera
was sweeping the
area, and William '
Bent's first wife and
three brothers had
died. Some theorize

that he tried to burn down the Fort in 1849. In the early
18S0s he constructed Bent's New Fort 40 miles downriver at
Big Timbers, near present day Lamar, Colorado.'

The Council Room

was a neutral

ground for Indian

peace councils, and

where terms of

trade were agreed

upon.

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©1970 John Howell 'Books

Buffalo

Horse and
Rider

Water

(Council Room

In 1847, George Ruxton, an English
traveler visiting Bent's Fort, de-
scribed how Chiefs "sit in solemn
conclave and smoke the 'calamet'
over their real and imaginary
grievances." He observed these
problems being settled amid
"clouds of tobacco and kinnik-
kinnik." The fort's interpreters
John Smith and William Guerrier
would rise before the assembly,
struggling to translate the words of
Cheyenne and Arapaho into English.
Kettles of coffee and tobacco twists
sat in this room; each were consid-
ered appropriate presents to give
Chiefs. On these occasions, the
gathering was "flavored" by speech
making and the graceful movements
of sign language.

In the 1830s, beaver pelts, called "hairy bank notes"
could be bartered for trade goods. As beaver numbers
declined, buffalo hides became the foundation of
exchange.

I rade Room

Also called a "general store," it served trappers, traders,
Indians, the fort's labor force, travelers, soldiers, and
various adventurers. Bartering was performed her£ through
a simple exchange of goods or an extension of credit. The
shelves were stocked with calico, blankets, muskets, gun
powder, flint, knives, clay pipes, kettles, coffee, chocolate,
corn, and other goods imported from around the world. A

separate trade room met the needs of
the more difficult tribes through a small
window at the entrance of the fort. The
trade rooms were places where all
groups could interact in harmony. The
Indians would trade their furs and
hides for a variety of goods, such as
cloth, muskets, iron ware, tobacco,
brass rings, seashells, bracelets, and
beads. Company traders were often
sent to Indian camps to elicit business.

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While dining at the fort, the

separation of social classes

was evident The laborers

cooked in their quarters or

ate from a community

cooking pot

Dining Room

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Lewis H. Garrard, a visitor to

the fort in the winter of 1846,

exclaimed "My own unenviable

thoughts occupied me through

the solitary day; and only when

Paint was turned in the corral

behind the fort to chew dry hay, and myself with numb

fingers gradually thawing in the long, low dining room,

drinking hot coffee, eating bread, 'buffler,' and 'state doins,'

and listening to Charlotte, the glib-tongued, sable fort cook,

retailing her stock of news and surmises, did I feel entirely

free to throw off care."

After traveling over a month on the trail, it was a treat to sit
down and eat like "civilized" people. Along with dining, this
room was used for other functions such as fandangos, when

all social classes intermixed freely. X^sitor
Lewis Garrard recalled men "waiting for
the rudely-scraped tune from a
screaking violin" amidst "the boisterous
pitching of the Missouri backwoodsman.'
X^sitor Matt Field wrote that "all, irre-
spective of rank" gathered "to trip the
light fantastic toe."

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Proceed through the Cook's Quarters
to the Kitchen.

Many visitors asl< what

remained of tine Fort

after it's destruction.

Tlie Icitclien's limestone

liearthi was found intact

during arctieological

excavations, and put

bacic in place.

Notice how the

limestone has been

worn smooth.

K

itchen

Typical smells in the kitchen may have been cottonwood
smoke, spices, grease drippings, and the rank odor of
spoiled meat and rotting foodstuffs. Amidst flying towels,
steam, and clanging pots one could find the cooks. Several
were employed at the fort, but William Bent's slave,
Charlotte Green received greater notice for her famous
"flapjacks and pumpkin pies." Visitor George Ruxton wrote
of her "foods that were celebrated from Long's Peak to the
Cumbres Espanoles." Archeological deposits uncovered
include wild game such as duck, turkey, pronghorn, venison,

and buffalo. The ledgers of Bent, St.
Vrain and Company of 1839 included
flour, dried peaches, cheese, rice, ,
almonds, raisins, 1,190 pounds of bacon
sides, and 2 barrels of pork in addition
to large amounts of coffee, tea, sugar,
salt, molasses, and produce from New
Mexico. Wild greens were used as
spice and medicine.

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William Bent was
known to the
Cheyennes as
"Little White
Man. " His fairness
and respect for
the culture was
the reason for
the company's
excellent
reputation
among the
Plains Indians.

^ ©1970 John Howell'Books

Vw >""a"i Bent's Quarters

Born in St. Louis in 1809, William Bent
spent the majority of his life in the west
as a frontiersman. During his lifetime,
he was a trapper, trader, scout, freighter,
and Indian Agent. He became
acquainted with the fur trade. New
Mexicans, and the Plains Indians. His
marriages with two Cheyenne women.
Owl Woman, and later her sister Yellow
Woman, resulted in a large and well-
known family. As resident manager, he
directed the Indian and trapping trade
at the fort. Bent occupied these private
quarters, and often lived with his
Cheyenne family in their village. His
quarters would have reflected the varied
cultures which influenced his world. A
desk, washstand, and other furnishings
represent his Missouri upbringing.
Quillwork and buckskins indicate
Cheyenne influences, and the
occasional presence of his wife Owl
Woman. '^

A large painted elk hide called a "Winter Count," contains
a Cheyenne picture history. The paintings depict events
like a meteor shower in 1833 called "the night the stars
fell," the murder of Charles Bent, and outbreaks of
measles and whooping cough which ravaged the
Southern Cheyennes.

pitzpatrick's Quarters

Indian Agent Thomas Fitzpatrick ran agency affairs during
his stay at the Fort in 1847-49. He was appointed as the first
agent for the tribes of the lower Arkansas River. Fitzpatrick
wrote field reports to Washington from Bent's Fort, and
presided over Indian councils and treaties. His views on

Indian affairs included a fervent desire
to rid alcohol from the Indian trade
and to establish military posts on the
Platte and Arkansas Rivers. The
furnishings represent his lifestyle and
relationship with the Plains Indians.
Farming tools and seeds reflect his
desire to introduce the Indians to
agriculture. The beaded moccasins are
a gift from the Arapaho family of Big
Heart Woman.

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Qlacksmith's Shop

The activities in this room included constructing wagon
parts, the manufacturing and repair of tools, livestock
shoeing, and wheel repairs. According to visitors, most of
the fort's mechanics were Americans with a few Frenchmen.
Their workshops were typically cluttered places. Prevailing
smells included coal smoke and hot-shod hooves which
smelled like burning hair. Tools included hammers, tongs,
anvils, and a vice. Bent & St. Vrain ordered a 123 pound iron
anvil in 1840 and they purchased a cowhide bellows for
$20.00. Wagons were repaired and animals shod in the alley
behind the shop.
Beyond that is ^^^^W ^ gf j

the wagon shed
where freight
wagons were
stored in winter.

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"The ring of the blacksmith hammer,
and the noise from the wagoner's shop
were incessant "

Lt. James Abert

Proceed through the Craftsman's
Quarters to the Carpenter's Shop.

On September 9, 1846, the St. Louis Missouri Republican
reported that Bent's Fort employees complained of
wagons falling apart from the dry desert air, "A great
portion of the time was occupied in repairing them. "

Q,arpenter's Shop

The repair of wagons was critical to the success of Bent's
Fort. During some periods of the fort's history, it resembled
a wrecking yard, with broken axles, fractured hubs,
splintered side boards, mounds of white canvas and piles of
abandoned tongues and spreaders. The fort's craftsmen

were especially anxious to salvage the
iron parts, which could be reworked
into other useful pieces. One might
find hooves to make glue, and
rawhide -the duct tape of the 1840s.
Hardwoods from Missouri were cut
and shaved into wagon parts. Making
do with what they had, they kept the
wagons rolling.

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It took two full
days for one Indian
woman to brain
tan a hide; the
average woman
could produce 20
robes each year

Warel^ouses

The first and second warehouses were
filled with barrels, bags and bundles of
trade goods consisting of dry goods,
tools, guns, gunpowder, and foodstuffs.
The third warehouse, marked at its
entrance by a locked door leading to a
lower storage area, was used as a supply
depot in 1846 during the war with
Mexico. The last warehouse was the
"bank vault" of Bent's Fort, containing
buffalo robes, beaver pelts, and the furs
of a variety of other animals. Buffalo
hides were purchased for 25 cents in
trade goods, and in turn were sold for $3
to $6. After being pressed in the fur
press, each bale contained 8 to 10 buffalo
robes, and weighed 100 pounds. Every
year, as many as 15,000 of these bundled
robes were carried by wagon to
Independence, Missouri and then by
riverboat to be traded in St. Louis.

Important guests
might be treated
to the "civilized
life" when
visiting the Fort,
which offered
iced lemonade
and mint juleps.

VVell Room

At the fort in 1 846, visitor Philip St.
George Cooke was treated by Ceran St.
Vrain to "a pitcher covered with the
dew of promise which brimmed with
broken ice." Traveling the hot, dusty trail
day after day, it is the little things that
you come to appreciate. In July 1846,
Susan Magoffin wrote of the icehouse
receiving "more customers than any
other room" and exclaimed that, "they
have a well inside, and fine water it is-
especially with ice." By the late 1840s a
new ice house may have been built
outside the walls, possibly two hundred
yards west of the fort on a rise of
ground near the river.

The diverse
customs and
lifestyles at the
Port made it a
"cultural
crossroads", as
well as a place
of assimilation
and change.

Laborer's Quarters

These rooms housed the sleeping and
eating quarters for the fort's laborers,
employees, and travelers from the
states. About 150 Mexican laborers
were brought up from Mexico to build
the fort. Some stayed, working as
adoberos, packers, herders, and
horsebreakers.

The adoberos were familiar with the
techniques involved in adobe
construction. These rooms reflect their
customs and beliefs. Decades before the
arrival of Americans, groups of Mexican
traders plying biscuits, dried pumpkin,
and corn had penetrated the plains
north of Santa Fe. The presence of
grinding stones, herbs and spices, pots
and pans, and strings of chili peppers
attest to the room's use by "Las
Senoritas" as a place for cooking. They
cooked for their fartiilies and prepared
meals for the owners and their guests. -

"My journey tells
a story tonight
different from
what it has ever
done before. "

opening line
from the diary of

D

Colorado Historical Society

octor's Quarters

Doctor Hempstead, a resident physician, was known to have
a well-stocked library, and according to visitor Lewis H.
Garrard, it "afforded recreation and pastime during the dull
intervals of the day."

3usdn Magoffin

During Susan Magoffin's stay at the fort, she recuperated in
the doctor's quarters. One of the first Anglo women to travel
the Santa Fe Trail, she led a short but adventurous life. At
eighteen years old in 1846, she married veteran Santa Fe
trader, Samuel Magoffin. While crossing the Santa Fe Trail,

Susan wrote about life and customs on
the frontier. Traveling in style, her
husband provided her with a private
carriage, a small tent house, a maid,
personal driver, and three servants. In
her diary she proclaimed, "It is the life
of a wandering princess, mine." Even
though she traveled in luxury, her life
was not without misfortune. Taken ill
while enroute to Santa Fe with her
husband, Susan Magoffin suffered a
miscarriage upon reaching the fort.

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Upstairs

A soldier's diet
may have been
more harmful
than bullets.
Rations included
coffee, hard tack,
beans, and salt
pork. The military
was plagued
with cholera,
dysentery, and
scurvy

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Upstairs

Living Quarters

These three rooms show the living
conditions of the military, fort
employees, and fur trappers. During the
war with Mexico in 1846, the fort hosted
a varied group of boarders and
employees. The Army of the West used
these quarters as a hospital. French-
Canadian and American frontiersmen
lived and ate together in their quarters.
The fort became a strategic point for
exploration, reconnaissance, and
espionage. Trappers sampled the
"civilized life," while company hunters
remained in the area supplying the fort
with buffalo meat and venison. They
repaired moccasins and boots, patched
their leather britches, and made chains
and lead bullets. Some of the trappers
and hunters that were employed by
Bent, St. Vrain and Company included
the legendary Kit Carson, "Old Bill"
Williams, "Peg-Leg" Smith and "Uncle
Dick" Wootton.

The clerks were
often second in
charge when the
owners of the
fort were absent,
their titles were
"store keepers
and
superin ten den ts.

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Q^lerk's Quarters

Upstairs

Clerks had many responsibilities,
including overseeing security, and
handling and accounting for all trade
goods. They were qualified to read and
write in the business language of credits
and money units.

Frances Preston Blair Jr., clerk at the
fort in 1846, came west in search of
better health. Visitors often heard him
sitting up at night playing the banjo.
After leaving Bent's Fort, he went on to
have a successful political career. Blair
was even a candidate for Vice President
of the United States in 1868.

Another clerk, Alexander Barclay,
managed the fort's stores, and kept the
books from 1838 to 1842. After leaving
Bent's Fort, he built Fort Barclay, a
trading post located six miles from Fort
Union, in New Mexico. Original trade
ledgers were used in the reconstruction
and furnishing of Bent's Fort.

B

astions and Corrals

Built for defense and protection of the fort, round bastions

tower at the northeast and southwest corners. The

watchtower, with its flagpole attached, served as a guard post

above the main gate. Each bastion had a swivel cannon that

was never used in defense of the fort. They were used for

signaling and welcoming arriving trade caravans. Lt. James

Abert noted in his diary that the corral wall was "planted

with cacti, which bear red and white flowers." The spines of

the cactus served to keep horse

rustlers from stealing livestock.

It's been said that "One Eyed"

Juan could break horses without

losing a silver dollar from beneath

the sole of his boot. Mexican

vaqueros broke horses and mules

that were brought for trade. The

corrals provided protection for

the wagons and stock. Visitors

were often impressed by the

defensive capabilities of the

fortification.

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Serving as lookout posts, the bastions
of the fort are typical of most castles,
where two walls can be guarded from
one position. Susan Magoffin wrote
that the fort looked like an "ancient
castle."

"They are gambling off their clothes till some of them are
next to nudity/'

Susan Magoffin, writing about the
ennployees of her husband.

B

illiard Room

Billiards helped travelers and employees cope with boredom,
idleness, and loneliness. Journals and diaries mention that
cards and games of backgammon,, chess, and checkers were
played to ease the long days and nights. Susan Magoffin
exclaimed that "I hear the cackling of chickens at such a rate
sometimes I shall not be surprised to hear of a cock-pit."
William Bent's son George, recalled that "across one end of
the room ran a counter or bar, over which drinkables were

served." The company's 1839 ledger
shows a diverse assortment of drink; 12
boxes claret wine, 37 gallons brandy, and
58 gallons of rum. Lt. James Abert used
the room as an art studio, positioning a
Cheyenne model "upon the billiard
table." The man "sat perfectly
motionless" until the painting was
completed and then asked that his name
"Bear Above" be written underneath.

Upstairs

St. Vrain's
Quarters

Trapper and Taos trader, Ceran St. Vrain was the son of a
noble family dispossessed during the French Revolution of
1789. He was well-known and highly respected in Santa Fe,
and his relationships in New Mexico were invaluable to the
Bents. When St. Vrain was away, his quarters became a guest
room.

One of the most notable guests was Lieutenant James Abert,
a topographical engineer surveying the west with a U.S. Army
expedition. In 1845, Abert described peace talks between the'
Cheyenne and the Delaware, and sympathized with the
changes forced on the Indians by white settlers. As a
naturalist, he sketched and studied the plants and animals of
the area. While recuperating from an illness in 1846, he
drew plans of the fort, which provided architects with the
necessary information to rebuild it in 1976.

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Upstairs

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Scalp Dance
by Lieutenant James Abert

Dent's Old Fort National Historic Site was established March
15, 1960 by Congress, and reconstruction was completed in
1976. The reconstruction is based on original drawings,
historical accounts, and archeological evidence. The fort is a
faithful reproduction.

Duggestions for further reading

(Available in the park's bookstore)

Abert, Lt. James, Expedition to the Southwest

Lincoln, NE.: University of Nebraska Press, 1999

Bent, Georg e. The Life of George Bent,

Norman, OK.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968

Garrard, Lew^is H., Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail,
Norman, OK.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1955

Gregg, Josiah, Commerce of the Prairie,

Santa Barbara, CA.: Narrative Press, 2001

Lavender, David, Bent's Fort,

Lincoln, NE.: University of Nebraska Press, 1954

Magoffin, Susan, Down the Santa Fe Trail and Into Mexico
Lincoln, NE.: University of Nebraska Press, 1962

The State Historical Society of Colorado, Benfs Old Fort,
The State Historical Society of Colorado, 1997

F,

or more information

Phone: 719-383-5010 TDD: 719-383-5032

Internet: vvww.nps.gov/beol

Email: beol_interpretation@nps.gov

Acknowledgement

Text written by Bent!s Old Fort Interpretive Staff
Booklet designed by Susana Echevarria
Summer 2002

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