The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-03-18
3The SantaFe Trail $$%s:ST "a $ i z5 ss E + s s e: '5 s$S$s$=:
y a D@mgaono Of a Bmt. Es AotLn gazm1ad Hl@a1c Trading Post Of E@ Ir@ang Ea y

which are the rooms occupied by the trad
ers and employees of the post. " = In the
center of the Quare is the press for pack
ing furs; and there are three large rooms,
one used as a store and magazine, another
as a council room, where the Indians as
semble for their talks" whilst the third
is the common dining hall. . . a" Over the
culinary department presided of late years.
a fair lady of color, who was, as she used
to say, de onlee lady in de dam Injun
country, and who was, moreover, cele-
brated from Longs peak to the Cumbres
EspanOlas for slapj&cks and pumpkin pies.
Here congregate at certain seasons the
merchants Of the plains and mountains,
with their stocks Of peltry. Chiefs Of the
Shian' the kioway, and ArapahO, sit in sol
emn cOnclave with the head traders and
smoke the calumet over their real and
imaginary grievances. = .
IN the corral, groups Of leather clad
mOuntaineerS, with decks of euchre and
seven up, gamble away their hard-earned
peltrieS. The emplOyes-mOstly st. Louis
Frenchmen and Canadian vOyageurs-are
pressing packs of buffalo skins, beating
robes, or engaged in other duties Of the
trading fort. Indian squaws, the wives Of
the mOuntatneers, strut about in all the
pride of beads and fOfaraw,' jingling with
bells and bugles, and happy as paint can
make them. Hunters drop in with animals
packed with deer or buffalo meat to supply
the fort; Indian dogs looks anXiOuSly in at
the gateway, fearing TO enter and encounter
their natural enemies the white; and out
side the fort, at any hour of the day or
night, one may safely wager to see a dozen
cayeutes or prairie wolves leaping round
or seated on their launches. = = . Against
the walls, groups of Indians, too proud to
enter without an invitation, lean, wrapped
in their buffalo robes, sulky and evidently
iu-at-eaSe to be so near the whites without
a chance of lingering their scalp-lOcks ;
their white lodges shining in the sun, at
a little distance from the riverbanks-their
horses feeding in the plain below.
The appearance of the fort is very Strik-
ing, standing as it does hundreds of miles
from AnV settlement on the vast and life
less prairie, surrounded by hOrdes of hos
tile Indians, and far out of reach of inter
course with civilized man; its mud-built
walls enclosing a little garrison Of a dozen
hardy men, sufficient to hold in check the
numerous tribes of savages ever thirsting
for their blood. Yet the solitary stranger
passing this lone fort feels proudly secure
when he comes within sight of the Stars
and Stripes which float above the walls"
This was Bent's FOrt-the famous trad
ing post that during its %eventful existence
was the pride of William Bent. and was,
as well, the salvation of many an eXpedi-
ton bound to and from Santa Fe and
Missouri.
Destroyed in 1857
Bent's Fort renamed and existed as long
as the fur trade was a profitable industry
in the great, southwest. By 1850 the trade
had begun to decline, the beaver having
been pretty thoroughly wiped out Of the
many mountain streams. Besides that the
silk hat had been invented and was rapid
~ taking the place of the old beaver hat.
The mountains were full Of idle trappers,
and a colony of these settled on the site
Of the city of Pueblo, Colorado, where they
farmed in a limited way and struggled
much whiskey in from Mexico.
This stagnatiOn Of trade affected the
business of Bent's fort. in the early dfties
William Bent tried to sell the establish
2 ment to the government for a military
post. As too small an amount was offered
he, in 1852, laid charges Of g%unpOwder in
r the buildings and blew the old fort into
t the air.
e Kit Carson spent some time as posi-
I hunter at Bent's Fort, and at a time wheI
the Indians of that region were most hos
t tile.
= The commencement of active trade will
CONTINUED on Agricultural Page)