Bent's New Fort

Daniel Jenks traveled to the Colorado Territory in 1859 in search of gold. While there, he made this sketch of Bent's New Fort, which is one of the earliest known images of the fort. Photo courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Dept.
Santa Fe Trail Mountain Route--Bent's New Fort
Map of the historic Santa Fe Trail in the southwestern United States around 1860
Bent's New Fort is located in Colorado
Bent's New Fort
Bent's New Fort is located in the United States
Bent's New Fort
Locationnear Lamar, Colorado
Coordinates38°5′37.9″N 102°45′37.7″W / 38.093861°N 102.760472°W / 38.093861; -102.760472
Built1853
NRHP reference No.16000666[1]
CSRHP No.5BN.394[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 26, 2016
Designated CSRHP2016

Bent's New Fort was a historic fort and trading post along the banks of the Arkansas River in what is now Bent County, Colorado, about nine miles west of Lamar,[3][4] on the Mountain Route branch of the Santa Fe Trail.[5] William Bent operated a trading post with limited success at the site and in 1860 leased the fort to the United States government, which operated it as a military outpost until 1867. In 1862, it was named Fort Lyon. The fort was abandoned after a flood of the Arkansas River in 1867.

The ruins of the fort and a portion of the Santa Fe Trail were listed as Santa Fe Trail Mountain Route-Bent's New Fort on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2016.[1]

  1. ^ a b "National Register of Historic Places Program: Weekly List". National Park Service. October 14, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  2. ^ "Historic Resources of the Santa Fe Trail, 1821-1880". History Colorado. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  3. ^ Roland G. Robertson (September 1, 2012). Competitive Struggle: America's Western Fur Trading Posts, 1764-1865. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-0-87004-571-4.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chalfant p. 91 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Historic Resources of the Santa Fe Trail" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form. April 3, 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2018 – via History Colorado.