Bent's Fort, Colorado Situated on the north bank of the
Arkansas River in southeastern
Colorado, this non-military fort was one of the most significant outposts on the
Santa Fe Trail and as the principal outpost of American civilization on the southwestern Plains, was instrumental in shaping the destiny of the area. In the heart of
Indian country,
buffalo hunting grounds and at the crossroads of key overland routes, it was a
fur trading center and rendezvous point for traders and
Indians; a way station and supply center for emigrants and caravans; and the chief point of contact and cultural transmission between white settlers and
Indians of the southern Plains. In its later years it was a military staging base for the U.S. conquest of
New Mexico.
Among the earliest western fur traders were the brothers
William and
Charles Bent and
Ceran St. Vrain, all of whom, in the 1820's began to engage in the Mexican and
Indian trade. In about 1830,
Charles Bent and
St. Vrain formed a partnership, which in time became Bent, St. Vrain, and Co., and entered the
Santa Fe trade. In the late 1820's or early 1830's.
