Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Conoco gas station near I-25 exit 13B.
Amtrak's
( 800-872-7245;
www.amtrak.com
;
110 W Pine St)
Southwest Chief
passes through Trinidad on its daily Chicago-Los Angeles route.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
Seven miles east of La Junta is
Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
(
www.nps.gov/beol
; 35110 Hwy 194;
adult/child $3/2; 8am-5:30pm Jun-Aug, 9am-4pm Sep-May; )
, easily the best site in the Color-
ado plains. Set just north of the Arkansas River, the natural and official border between
the US and Old Mexico, the fort (1833-49) was once a cultural crossroads and the busiest
settlement west of Missouri. Built by the Bent brothers (Charles and William), it was a
place where information and goods were exchanged, and it provided shelter for every cul-
ture and type of person traveling in the West at that time: traders, trappers, explorers, sol-
diers, naturalists and pioneers.
Although the Bents are credited with having established the fort, the local Cheyenne
chief, Yellow Wolf, was instrumental in determining the fort's location. Yellow Wolf
offered the Bents access to the surrounding land and intertribal trade networks, hoping to
forge an important alliance with the new wave of settlers. The Bents, too, saw the wisdom
of creating local alliances; soon after building the fort, William married Owl Woman, the
daughter of another important chief, White Thunder. Tragically, after the closure of Bent's
Fort, Yellow Wolf was betrayed by the new settlers and murdered during the Sand Creek
Massacre (
Click here
)
.
Today, the old fort has been restored beautifully and is staffed by knowledgeable guides
in period clothing. It has a blacksmith's shop and a wood shop, and the general store is
stocked with rifles, sacks of grain, barrels of sugar, cases of wine, whiskey, ammo and
buffalo pelts, and furnished with 19th-century antiques.
A paved trail leading from the parking lot to the fort skirts a natural wetland, and a very
flat, easy hiking trail (about 1 mile) runs around the fort to the edge of the Arkansas River
and back to the parking lot. Staff offer two tours per day most of the year (10:30am and
1pm) and four during summer.
