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Published: September 15th 2014
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BENT'S FORT
A most welcome sight to all travelers trudging wearily along the Santa Fe Trail between 1833 and 1849. William Bent eventually opened another trading post at Big Timbers over near Lamar. It got swallowed up by Fort Lyons. AUGUST 25, 2014 The Hampton Inn in La Junta provided a decent free breakfast this morning. Probably some mornings are less good, so I count myself lucky. Bent’s Old Fort is kind of a pain in butt to find, but it is well worth a visit. You got to go clear out to the north end of 3
rd Street and then turn left on Highway 109 (it is the only road that crosses the river), and then turn right onto Hwy 194 and go about 6 miles towards the rising sun. The fort will be on your right. It is about a quarter mile walk from the parking lot. Use the restroom before you make that walk or your teeth are likely to be floating by the time you get back. Don’t step on any rattlers. Gasoline is pretty expensive all over Colorado, but not as bad as California. I last gassed up in Kansas and had enough range to reach Pueblo. Eighty-five octane regular is about 4 cents per gallon cheaper there than it is anywhere out to La Junta. Got a couple of photos where Hwy 50 crosses the Arkansas River above Royal Gorge where the railroad goes
MR FRITZ
Happy little cat about to hop up for a visit. into the gorge. Not sure that is exactly the right spot but it will do for my story about the Royal Gorge War. Settled in for the evening at the Radisson Hotel in Colorado Springs. There is an airplane restaurant next door that I have wanted to eat at for a few years now. They serve a fine top sirloin in there for $18.00, but I had a bottle of beer too. With tip I got out of there for $30, and stepped into a howling rain squall that had me soaking wet by the time I walked across the parking lot to the hotel. I have been hoping for a storm like that to wash the mud and road grime off of the Jeep but it only cleaned one side.
BENT’S OLD FORT This was one of my favorite stops on the trip this year. I got an informative tour and met a friendly little cat named Fritz. In 1828 Ceran St Vrain of St Louis took on a likely pair of partners named William and Charles Bent and they applied for a license to trade for buffalo fur among tribes along the Rocky Mountain Fork of
POOL HALL
In addition to the pool table somebody troubled themselves to bring a mating pair of peacocks. Trade items like tea, peacocks, dinner plates from the China trade came up from Mexico. the Santa Fe Trail. Indian Commissioner, William Clark (leader of Lewis and Clark Expedition), issued the license in 1829 and they set about building an adobe trading post on the north bank of the Arkansas River. Their post had to be on the north bank of the river because by tacit agreement lands south of the river belonged to Mexico. The river bed would require a solid bottom to ford heavy wagons and poor swimmers. Timber was scarce so the post would need to be constructed of adobe brick. Thousands and thousands of which would be needed. Workmen were brought up from Santa Fe and construction was begun but soon thwarted by a cholera epidemic that swept up the river and the workmen all scampered off home. The trading post was completed and opened for business in 1833. It was the first American settlement outside of Texas in the southwest. Trade flourished, the partners prospered and built other outposts and Bent’s Fort became a welcome stopping place for all travelers along the trail. One of the outposts was built over in the Texas panhandle for trade with the Comanche, but was soon abandoned. It later became known as Adobe Walls.
KC-97 RESTAURANT
The airplane restaurant is located near the airport in Colorado Springs. It is a fine eating place but is not open for breakfast. A slate billiard table was brought down the trail from St Louis and set up on the roof of Bent’s Fort, and then an adobe saloon was built around it. In 1846 the Mexican War fetched loose and all lands south of the Arkansas River became American territory by decree of General Stephen Watts Kearny. The good general, incidentally, was married to William Clark’s daughter. Charles Bent was named Governor of New Mexico by Kearny but was killed during an uprising of the Pueblo Indians in Taos. At some point an Indian Agent named Fitzgerald was sent to make sure that no whisky was being traded to the Indians. I think he was William Clark’s nephew. Clark had a huge footprint all over the west. Immigrants made crazy with gold fever came flooding down the trail bound for California in 1849 and with them came another cholera outbreak. William Bent lost his beloved Cheyenne wife and most of the Southern Cheyenne were wiped out. Heartbroken with grief William burned the fort down.
MASTER SERGEANT RICHARD R. OLIVER, U. S. AIR FORCE (RETIRED) My dear old Uncle Dick joined the Air Force in 1949 as a tail gunner on B-50 bombers. Just as he finished his gunnery training the Air Force concluded to abandon that occupational specialty and the tail gunners all became boom operators in the burgeoning field of aerial refueling. Boeing C-97 cargo planes were built on the airframe designed for the B-29 Heavy Bomber. They were strong, powerful planes and became the platform adapted for air tankers designated as KC-97-G. They worked well in the refueling roll for a few years, but had a serious drawback. The piston powered planes flew too slowly to accommodate jet aircraft above their stall limits. The KC-97s were phased out after a few years in favor of the KC-135 which was built on the Boeing 707 airframe. Dick was proud of his service in the 97s and was part of aerial refueling from its infancy. I am proud to dedicate the blog entries for this year to his fond memory.
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