HISTORY
A world you enter and exit as someone different.
THOUGHT:
A bit of history.
One of the stops on the Mountain Route of the Santa Fe Trail was Bent's Fort also known as Fort William.
Trade officially opened up with Santa Fe around 1821. The Santa Fe Trail touched the far Southeast corner of Colorado but the Mountain Trail went further north. Although more difficult to transverse than the southern route, it had the advantage of water most of the way.
By 1833 the Bent brothers, Charles and William, along with Ceran St. Vrain, had opened what we know as Bent's Fort on the northern side of the Arkansas River. At the time the river was the dividing line between Mexico and the United States.
The fort was the only structure other than a blacksmith shop located in Kansas that one would find on the American side of the trail. Many mountain men, traders, Indians, and for a time the military all used the fort.
William Bent's first wife was Owl Woman of the Cheyenne, and he later married her sisters Yellow Woman and Island. It was from this connection that trade with the Indians grew.
In addition to the Bent's, the list of those who spent time within the walls of the fort reads like a who's who of the opening of the west. George Ruxton, John Smith, William Guerrier, Francis Parkman, Susan Magoffin, Francis Preston Blair Jr., Lieutenant James Aber, along with Kit Carson and Jim Beckworth.
The trade was not just with the locals, it was a worldwide concern trading goods from around the world. The languages spoken were English, Spanish, and French along with the native languages.
TIP
History is rich with stories. The buildings, the land, and the people all have so much we can excavate and learn from. Find one little piece and go from there. You won’t be disappointed.
QUOTES:
History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul. John Dalberg-Acton
Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts. Edward R. Murrow
The history of mankind is the history of ideas. Luigi Pirandello
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PHOTOS (C) Doris McCraw
