Trading Post on the Trail

Trading Post on the Trail. . Imagine traveling in the 1840s on the Santa Fe Trail. You have just spent weeks crossing hundreds of miles of lonely and desolate prairie. There would have been no help if you broke a wheel or an axle, no help if you ran out of supplies. This post would have been a most welcome site. You could repair your wagon and trade for coffee, sugar, blankets, and ammunition. You could eat a meal at a dining table and sleep protected within the fort walls. Although several contemporary accounts describe the fort as a castle on the plains, for most trail traders it was more truck stop than palace. , There is the greatest possible noise in the patio. The shoeing of horses, neighing and braying of mules, the crying of children, the scolding and fighting of men, are all enough to turn my head. , From the diary of Susan Shelby Magollin written at Bent’s Fort on her nineteenth birthday, July 30. 1956 , Captions: , Because space in the wagons was at a premium, it was unusual for traders to ride in the wagons other than to drive the horses. , Blacksmiths were among the tradesmen at the fort ready to repair wagons damaged after hundreds of miles on the rugged trail. , Wooden wagon parts, including wheels, dried and shrank quickly in the arid climate of the plains. The wheelwright at the fort had the skill and equipment to make repairs.