Bent’s Fort
In southeastern Colorado, the Arkansas River was once the border between nations. And on its banks, Bent's Fort was the “Mud Castle of the Plains." With 18-foot adobe walls, the outpost attracted Native, American and Mexican traders and travelers, and it was stocked with wool blankets, rifles and gunpowder, livestock, cookware and spices, packs of playing cards, candles for long nights… and yes, even "whiskey of questionable quality,” which, according to historians Tom Noel and Debra Faulkner, “went for $5 a pint," roughly one beaver pelt in the 1840s, or the purchasing power of more than $150 today. In the last few years of the fur trade, just before the border moved south, Bent's Fort was a traveler's oasis in the middle of long journeys in and out of the West. Rebuilt fifty years ago, it stands as a National Historic Site, a solid testament to multicultural exchange.
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Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado. See more postcards.
