My recent journey to southeast Colorado revived memories of earlier stopovers at one of the region’s legendary landmarks: Bent’s Old Fort. Also known by the evocative title above, this National Historic Site is unusual, in that the National Park Service reconstructed the original building from scratch, thanks to detailed descriptions, drawings, and diary entries of erstwhile visitors, first and foremost the meticulous sketches of Lieutenant James W. Abert, a topographical engineer, who stayed there twice in the 1840s.
Mein Ausflug in den Südosten Colorados vor kurzem erinnerte mich an vorherige Besuche eines der bekanntesten regionalen Wahrzeichen, Bent’s Old Fort (Bents altes Fort), das auch als Schloß der Prärie bekannt ist. Dieses Denkmal ist ungewöhnlich, weil es von der Verwaltung der amerikanischen Nationalparks auf historischer Grundlage wieder aufgebaut wurde, was durch detaillierte Beschreibungen, Zeichnungen und Tagebuchaufzeichnungen ermöglicht wurde, insbesonde diejenigen von Leutnant James W. Abert, der sich in den 1840er Jahren zweimal dort aufhielt.
Built in 1833 under the direction of brothers William and Charles Bent, and their friend, Ceran St. Vrain, near the present-day town of La Junta, the fortification then known as Bent’s Fort, became the major hub of commerce along the 844 mile Mountain Route of the Santa Fe Trail, which connected Independence, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. A multi-cultural and multi-national nexus, it embodied a model of peaceful, if short-lived, coexistence between Native Americans, Hispanics, and Europeans. Beset by disease and declining economic fortunes as a result of diminishing trade in beaver pelts and buffalo hides, the fort was abandoned, before it perished in a conflagration in 1849, likely the work of William Bent himself, after his offer to sell it to the US Army was declined. He subsequently operated a trading post forty miles east, which became known as Bent’s New Fort.
Das Fort wurde 1833 unter der Leitung der Brüder William und Charles Bent sowohl ihres Freundes Ceran St. Vrain nahe der heutigen Stadt La Junta errichtet, und diente als Haupthandelszentrum entlang der etwa 1360 Kilometer langen Bergroute des bekannten Santa Fe Trails, der die Stadt Independence in Missouri mit Sante Fe in Neu Mexiko verband. Es repräsentierte einen multinationalen und –kulturellen Schnittpunkt, und ein Modell friedlicher Koexistenz zwischen Indianern, Mexikanern und Europäern, wenn auch nur auf kurze Zeit. Von Seuchen und sinkenden Umsätzen geplagt, was hauptsächlich auf das zurückgehende Gewerbe mit Biberpelzen und Büffelfellen zurückzuführen war, wurde die Festung aufgegeben und fiel 1849 einer Feuersbrunst anheim, die wahrscheinlich das Werk von William Bent persönlich war, nachdem sein Angebot, das Fort an die US Armee zu verkaufen, abgelehnt wurde. Danach eröffnete er 65 Kilometer weiter östlich einen weiteren Handelsposten, der als Bents neues Fort bekannt wurde.
To enlarge a photo, click on it. To read its caption, hover cursor over it.
The once bustling center of Bent’s Old Fort was reclaimed by prairie for more than a century, until the structure was resurrected in 1976. Its attractive adobe attire is well-suited for an area that offers limited timber and abundant soil, is furnatially hot in summer, and teeth-chatteringly cold in winter. In exploring this eye-catching edifice and environs, where history comes alive during various annual reenactments, one gains an inkling of what it might have meant for weary travelers to reach this welcoming haven on the mighty Arkansas River. For a short while, it offered water, food, rest, and refuge from the dusty, dangerous wagon tracks, before it was time to resume the perilous, protracted journey.
Die Prärie verleibte sich das einst geschäftige Zentrum von Bents altem Fort über ein Jahrhundert lang ein, bis das Bauwerk 1976 neu errichtet wurde. Sein attraktives Adobegewand ist für diese Gegend gut geeignet, die sich durch niedrige Baumbestände und reichhaltige Böden sowie durch backofenheiße Sommer und zähneklapperndkalte Winter auszeichnet. Beim Erforschen dieses ins Auge springenden Gebäudes und seiner Umgebung, wo Geschichte mehrmals jährlich duch historische Nachstellungen lebendig wird, bekommt man/frau eine kleine Ahnung dessen, was es für müde Reisende bedeutet haben könnte, diese einladende Oase entlang des mächtigen Arkansas Flusses zu erreichen. Für eine kurze Weile gab es Wasser, Proviant, Erholung und Sicherheit von der staubigen Wegstrecke, bevor es mit der gefährlichen und langwierigen Reise im Planwagen weiterging.
Wieder ein spannender Beitrag mit tollen Bildern. Vielen Dank dafür.
LG Jürgen
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Vielen Dank für Dein Interesse, lieber Jürgen. Dir noch eine schöne Woche.
Herzliche Grüße zurück,
Tanja
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Klasse Beiträge machen eben Spaß.
LG Jürgen
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Das freut mich sehr. Dankeschön!
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Your great photos brought back long-forgotten memories of a stop we made there many years ago. Until your last posts, I had not focused on how much of Colorado is prairie.
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I am glad to have brought back memories! I think in many people’s minds the name Colorado evokes mountains, and while the plains might not be as spectacular, their intricate ecosystem is fascinating, too.
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I love history and Your lovely post was full of it. Thank You.
Have a good day!
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I am so glad you enjoyed my post. Thank you for stopping by and for commenting.
Best wishes,
Tanja
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It somehow strikes me as strange to hear a river in Colorado named the Arkansas, even though I’ve been on the banks of the Arkansas River in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and must have crossed it in eastern Colorado. It’s probably just lack of familiarity that creates the disconnect: if the fact that the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers rise so many states away from Mississippi and Missouri ever seemed strange to me, that strangeness wore off so far back in childhood that I can’t imagine it ever existed.
In furnatially you’ve created a new word.
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It might be possible to go back and find out how explorers named new rivers and other landmarks, but it might entail much research. If you ever get tired of taking photos of wildflowers, maybe you want to pursue the matter, Steve.
I appreciate you noticing my neologism. Here is my derivation:
space-spatial, furnace-furnatial
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That’s the pattern I assumed you were following.
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By the way, neologism was itself a neologism in the 1700s. It was French that created néologie and néologisme.
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Why am I not surprised that I would learn something new from your response?! 🙂
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Well, I didn’t know that off the top of my head but I have some good etymological reference books.
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That sounds like something one could lose oneself in…
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Right you are. I’ve spent many hours lost in those books.
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Ein sehr schöner Bericht liebe Tanja! Ich mag ja diese Adobes, diese tollen Lehmbauten sehr gerne. Es ist so ein schöner Werkstoff. Die Bilder von der üppigen Natur am Arkansasriver und die Kakteen auf der Mauer finde ich ebenfalls sehr schön! Die Tiere sind allerliebst! Esel sind so niedlich 🙂 Und beim Betrachten der Inneneinrichtung fällt einem gleich auf: alles Naturmaterialien – kein Plastikproblem. Was waren das noch für Zeiten! Abgesehen vom Umweltfaktor harmonieren diese Gegenstände so gut miteinander. Hat was! LG, Almuth
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Es freut mich sehr, daß Dir der Bericht gefallen hat, liebe Almuth. Ich würde jederzeit in ein Adobehaus ziehen, finde die Farben und Formen so warm und willkommenheißend. Und Deine Beobachtung über das Plastik ist sehr apropos. Allerdings wurden stattdessen viele Materialien aus toten Tieren hergestellt, was damals ganz selbstverständlich war, was uns heutzutage aber Bedenken macht.
Ich danke Dir für Deinen Besuch.
Liebe Grüße,
Tanja
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Hi Tanja. You might be the first person to take a photo of a mule standing in front of a public restroom!
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I would like to think so, Neil, but as they say, there is nothing new under the sun.
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Es ist schon beeindruckend, dass genügend Aufzeichnungen und Daten vorhanden gewesen sind, um dieses Fort originaltreu wieder aufzubauen! Es wäre schade gewesen, wenn man es interlassen hätte.
Was muss es doch für ein unglaublich befreiender Moment gewesen sein, als für die damaligen Reisenden dieses Fort am Horizont aufgetaucht ist…
Danke für deinen Bericht – du hast uns wieder Mal ein Stück von Colorado näher gebracht!
Viele Grüsse
Christa
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Ich finde es auch bemerkenswert, daß sie das Fort nachbauen konnten. Herr Abert war ein Ingenieur, und hat viele detaillierte Aufzeichnungen gemacht, und das war eine Riesenhilfe.
Es ist faszinierend zu lesen, wer dort überall Rast gemacht hat, und in welch schlechtem Zustand sie sich teilweise befanden.
Danke für Dein Interesse, liebe Christa, und alles Gute.
Tanja
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The peacocks detail is wonderful, isn’t it?
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They are so gorgeous, and they seem to like to show it off, Nick. It was interesting to learn that peacocks were kept at the original fort.
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In a security capacity, Tanja? Or, just for some colour?
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I think it might have been both, Nick. I seem to remember reading that they alerted people inside the fort to the presence of strangers, thereby adding a level of security.
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Ein wunderbarer, interessanter Bericht ist das wieder, liebe Tanja, und wunderbar bebildert dazu. Das liebe ich sehr.
Vielen Dank und liebe Grüße
Brigitte
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Es freut mich sehr, daß Dir mein Bericht gefallen hat, liebe Brigitte. Mir gefällt das Fort, aber am besten gefallen mir die Tiere, die dort frei umherwandern.
Herzliche Grüße zurück,
Tanja
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Such an interesting post and images, Tanja. Thanks for sharing.
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I am glad you found it interesting, Vicki. Thank you!
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We used to go on field trips to Bents Fort when I was in grade school. Seeing your post really brought back memories for me. I loved visiting!
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I am glad my post brought back memories for you, Callee. It would have been amazing to see and experience the fort as a child. Thanks for your visit and comment.
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It was such a rich and vibrant experience. It made me want to travel back in time to be a settler in the 19th century. 😊
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I have often wished I had could have been here in the 19th century, to see landscape as it was before it was altered so much, but I think it would have been very challenging.
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Agreed. It’s so easy to romanticize the past. I often wonder the same thing about the landscape, even here on the coast of central California.
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Love your posts about this area that I know so little about. Isn’t it amazing to think of how hard life must have been in that climate? And yet, a diverse group of people managed to co-exist….If only we could be more like that today……
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I agree. I think we are regressing in many ways. 😪
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What an interesting post. I particularly like way you blended in the the entries from Lieutenant James W. Abert.
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I am glad you enjoyed the post, Mary. Thank you for visiting. Nobody burned alive there, as far as I know!
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History is always exciting to me. I find this post about Bent’s Old Fort very interesting. Thank you for sharing, Tanja.
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Thank you, Otto. I share your fascination with history, and there is always more to learn. Thanks for traveling along with me.
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I love all your pictures! What an awesome place!
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Thank you, Diane. It is a very fun place to explore.
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A very enjoyable share. I love those historical overviews of America’s forts. The mouse catcher made me chuckle. Thanks Tanja!
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I am glad you enjoyed the post. Thank you for catching the captions! 😸
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I remember driving through Southern Colorado once and seeing all these quaint towns… lots of old but well preserved architecture.
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“Old” is relative. Old for North America maybe, not so old for other continents. 😊
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Tanja: Bent’s Fort is certainly worth visiting, as you say. It is, I believe, the best of the reconstructed or refurbished Old West sites. Your photos and descriptions are like revisiting all over again.
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Thank you for re-visiting Bent’s Old Fort with me, Rod. It is a place where it’s easy to dive into and re-live the past.
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[…] well as Ceran St. Vrain, Charles had founded the iconic Bent’s Fort along the Santa Fe Trail (see here for one of my former blog posts). In 1847, he was gruesomely killed in his own home during the Taos […]
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