Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Boggsville Historic Site
You can continue in Kit Carson's footsteps to the Boggsville Historic Site (
719-456-0453; Hwy
101; 10am-4pm Fri-Sun May, 10am-5pm daily Jun-Oct; ) , about 16 miles east of Bent's
Fort and 2 miles south on Colorado Hwy 101. Nestled on the Purgatoire River, this was
Carson's homestead and trading center, which he built in the 1860s after the demise of the
fort. Eventually it became the first county seat for Bent County when the railroad arrived
in 1873.
Fort Lyon
The Bents did build another fort east of their old fort in 1853 and it was a profitable trad-
ing post until 1857, when a Colorado gold strike and the resulting land grab coupled with
the mass slaughter of bison by Americans and Europeans spurred unrest among the Native
Americans of the plains. As a result, the US cavalry built Fort Fauntleroy to protect set-
tlers.
Later renamed Fort Lyon, it was from here that on November 29, 1864, John Chiving-
ton led the Colorado Volunteers in a dawn attack on Chief Black Kettle and his band, who
had been told they would be safe if they moved to this desolate reservation. Over 100
Cheyenne and Arapahoe men, women and children were slaughtered and their corpses
grotesquely mutilated, bringing a new wave of conflict to the Santa Fe Trail. The event is
commemorated at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site ( www.nps.gov/sand ; cnr County Rd 54 &
. Fort Lyon is located 19 miles east of Bent's Old Fort
County Rd W;
9am-4pm;
)
along Hwy 50.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Timpas & the Comanche National Grassland
Heading west from La Junta along Hwy 350 toward Trinidad, you'll pass another of the
Santa Fe Trail's signature sites in Timpas: the gateway to the Comanche National Grassland , an
unforgiving wilderness of hip-high grasses and wild grains, rising into small hills and
diving into shallow canyons. After several thousand wagon crossings, the clay soil here
was worn into ruts, which you can actually see at Iron Spring (cnr County Rd 9 & Hwy 350) , just a
 
 
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