Bent's Old Fort

Not far from La Junta, welcoming its visitors, lies Bent's Old Fort. The reconstructed trading post from the 1840s takes you back in time to the period of the pioneers. At its peak time, the fort, built in the Adobe-Style, was the most important outpost in the southwest of the USA. After all, it was directly at the former border to Mexico. Located next to the Arkansas River, it was a place to trade goods and have a rest on the Santa Fe Trail. Mexican tradesmen, Anglo-American fur trappers and Native Americans from various tribes met here peacefully.

You enter the interior courtyard of the “Castle of the Prairie”, as it used to be called, via the entrance in the east. While the north and south side each measure a length of 45 meters, the east and the west side of the building each measure 30 meters. There are two round bastions, one in the northwest and one in the southeast, from which canons and small fires used to be shot. Already at the entrance you will meet a fur trapper and other people from former times, which will take you on a journey into the past. What is more, during the main season, you can watch tradesmen, carpenters and blacksmiths at work and talk to them about their work. To learn more about the history of the Fort, watch the 20-minute documentary “Traders, Tribes and Travelers”. Furthermore you can visit the former sales and housing spaces as well as the old craftsmen studios. It is up to you how you want to discover the Fort: Guided tours are offered, but you can also look around the Fort with a brochure, which you get on-site.

After your visit, you can walk the Bent's Old Fort Hiking Trail. It leads alongside the Arkansas River and cotton trees for about 2,4 kilometers (1,5 miles). Display boards inform you about the ecosystem of the surrounding, the Santa Fe Trail and Bent's Fort. Keep an eye out for turkeys, cranes and pheasants.

The brothers Charles and William Bendt, and also Ceran St. Vrain, constructed Bent's Old Fort between 1833 and 1834, in order to create a fur trading place with the Cheyenne Indians. Soon, the fort developed into an important stop on the legendary Santa Fe Trail, a trade route between the United States and the former Mexican region. The station was the only place on this route to stock up on supply and repair carriages.

During the war with Mexico in 1846, the Fort served as a military base camp. After this, the trade with the Indians came to a halt. After William Bent had unsuccessfully tried to sell Bent's Fort to the US army, he supposedly destroyed the building with an explosion in the powder magazine. Though the ruins were still used as a post and stopping point of the stagecoach in 1880, the years of the flourishing trade were over.

In 1960, the Fort was declared a National Historic Landmark. In 1976, the National Park Service started with its reconstruction. The Fort was manually re-erected according to its original plans and using the same materials as in past times. The building today therefore corresponds to the original in about 95 percent.

By car

You reach La Junta via the Highway 50. After arriving in the town, follow the Highway 190 for about 1,6 kilometers (1 mile) to the north, and then turn right onto Highway 194. After about 10 kilometers (6,2 miles) you reach Bent's Old Fort.

By public transport

La Junta has an Amtrak train station.