In about , Charles Bent and St. Vrain formed a partnership, which in time became Bent, St. Vrain, and Co. In the late s or early s. William Bent, who had apparently been trading independently, erected a large adobe fort on the north bank of the Arkansas River, 12 miles west of the mouth of the Purgatoire River.
Elaborately constructed, it was eventually a massive adobe structure of quadrangular shape having 24 rooms lining the walls. Two foot cylindrical bastions, equipped with cannons, flanked the southwest and northeast corners. The walls were 15 feet high, 2 feet thick and extended 4 feet above the building roofs to serve as a platform for armed soldiers and were pierced with loopholes.
On the south side, was a cattle yard, enclosed by a high wall. A self-sufficient institution, the fort was operated by about 60 persons of many nationalities and vocations, including blacksmiths, trappers and traders, carpenters, mechanics, wheelwrights, gunsmiths, cooks, cattle herders, hunters, clerks, teamsters, and laborers.
The fort was the headquarters of Bent, St. Mountain men stopped by to exchange their beaver skins, obtain supplies and traps, and visit with one another. Traders forwarded their fur shipments and obtained goods. For 16 years Bent, St. In , William Bent , who acted as resident manager at the fort, married the daughter of a prominent Southern Cheyenne Indian and became especially influential with that tribe. Besides encouraging intertribal peace, he required his employees to trade fairly with the Indians and restricted the use of whiskey when trading.
Because of its reputation as a neutral area in Indian country, the post was a natural meeting place for southern Plains tribes and U. While his brother traveled between the post and St. Louis and St. In it's heyday, as this image illustrates, Bent's Fort was often crowded with traders, trappers, and employees from different backgrounds and cultures. Courtesy of the National Park Service.
At the same time, tensions were brewing between the American Indians and settlers as increasing numbers of emigrants and gold seekers moved further into Indian Territory.
Vrain to attempt to sell the fort to the US Army. When this effort failed, William tried to burn the fort in , but this also proved unsuccessful.
The two story reconstructed fort includes trade rooms, a council room used for peace talks between tribes, and blacksmith and carpenter shops. Visitors can take either guided tours by interpreters or self-guided tours. The U. Army, explorers , and other travelers stopped at the fort to replenish supplies, such as water and food, and perform needed maintenance to their wagons. The American frontiersman Kit Carson was employed as a hunter by the Bent brothers in , and regularly visited the Fort.
Likewise, the explorer John C. Bent's Fort is described as having been a structure built of adobe bricks. It was feet long and feet wide.
The walls were 15 feet in height and four feet thick and it was the strongest post at that time west of Ft. The construction of this fort was commenced in Four years were required in which to complete the structure. On the northwest and southeast corners were hexagonal bastions, in which were mounted a number of cannon.
The walls of the fort served as walls of the rooms, all of which faced inwardly on a court or plaza.
The walls were loopholed for musketry, and the entrance was through large wooden gates of very heavy timbers.
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