Explore Big Timbers Region

Explore Big Timbers Region. . , John Martin Reservoir , The Southeast Colorado region, including the Big Timbers area, was once a great inland sea. The first transportation routes across the Santa Fe Trail were established by prehistoric migrating groups that followed game and seasonally available edible plants., This track was found at John Martin Reservoir State Park when the water receded. Visitors can explore the shoreline to see sea fossils. The park is one of the few public places to walk across the actual Santa Fe Trail., Willow Creek Park , On November 13, 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike and his men camped along Lamar's Willow Creek. The event is commemorated with a 40' tall observation tower. Willow Creek Park was the first Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in Colorado, built from 1933 to 1938. It was part of President Franklin Roosevelt's agenda to provide employment, conserve natural resources, and to stimulate the economy during the depression., Bent’s Old Fort , The Bent brothers, Charles and William, and partner Ceran St. Vrain were officially granted a trading license in 1833 for Bent's Fort. The adobe fort was built where the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail crossed the Arkansas River. It became a regional center for trappers, buffalo hunters, Plains Indians and Mexican trade., In 1846 as the Mexican War approached, Bent's Fort became a military rendezvous for America's conquest of Mexican territory. By 1848 trade had declined. Unsuccessful attempts to sell the fort to the army, lack of firewood, and poor grazing prompted Bent to relocate to the Big Timbers. In 1852 Bent took his goods from the fort, used gun powder kegs to torch it, and left for Big Timbers., Bent's New Fort , Bent had built a small log trading house sometime before 1844 at Big Timbers. It had a large supply of timber and better foraging for the livestock. In 1853 Bent's New Fort was built two miles south and seven miles west of Big Timbers museum. The stone fort was built on a rocky knoll overlooking the Arkansas River. It served as a trading post and army supply center., Fort Lyon , In 1860 the army built Fort Wise, later known as Fort Lyon, a mile west of Bent's New Fort on the river bottom. Fort Lyon became a distribution center for commodity goods to the Indians., "We came all that distance in a funny looking stage coach called a jerkey, … at times it seesawed back and forth and then sideways, in an awful breakneck way" , "Army Letters of an Officer's Wife" , Mrs. Frances M. A. Roe on the way to Fort Lyon., Both abandoned Bent's Forts were used for stage stops. Many types of vehicles used the Santa Fe Trail. Huge freight wagons and Conestoga wagons traveled alongside smaller wagons. Passenger vehicles varied in size from large stagecoaches to surreys, buggies, open spring wagons and even handcarts. Big Timbers Transportation Museum has a wide variety of wagons and carts., New trails were surveyed branching off the Santa Fe Trail Mountain Branch including the Purgatoire Stage Route, the Granada-Fort Union Military Freight Route, the Army Cutoff and a portion of the Cimarron Branch., On February 14, 1880 a Santa Fe newspaper, in celebration of the arrival of the railroad, spread an epitaph in bold type across its front page:"The Old Santa Fe Trail Passes Into Oblivion.". , [photo captions] , . Visit the dinosaur exhibit at the Army Corps of Engineers office at John Martin Reservoir's Lake Hasty to learn more about prehistory of the Big Timbers region , . Visit today's reconstructed Bent's Old Fort for living history activities provided by the National Park Service. , . William Bent and Indian friends at Bent's Old Fort , . Located off US 50 on County Road 35 to County Road JJ. Turn east for 1.4 mile, turn south onto County Road 35.25 for ¼ mile to Bent's New Fort. , . Fort Lyon was later moved to its current location after flooding , . Bent's Fort Stage Station , . Santa Fe Trail Scenic and Historic Byway , Colorado Mountain Branch , . Lamar’s train depot built in 1907