Built in 1833, near a ford on the high plains where the Santa Fe Trail crossed the Arkansas River, Bent’s Old Fort was primarily a trading post. It is east of today’s La Junta, Colorado, and north of Route 50.
In its heyday, the fort served travelers on the Santa Fe Trail who were two months out from Independence, Missouri, as well as fur trappers and Native American tribes.
In 1846, it became a staging point for U.S. troops during the Mexican-American war. It was an important factor in the development and settling of the territories west of what was then the extent of the United States. As time went on, though, changing conditions affected the fort. Military animals overwhelmed the ecology of the surrounding land, relations with the Native American tribes soured, and there was a cholera epidemic.
By 1849, only 16 years after it was built, the fort was no longer useful, and a new fort, which came to be called Bent’s New Fort, was built 40 miles away.
The fort you see in the pictures is a reconstruction, though I was assured by a park employee that it is “as close as possible to the original.” It is a National Historic Site administered by the National Park Service.
