III
For three winters I trapped beaver, spending the long cold winters in the lonely high country, returning to Taos or Santa Fe only in the spring when the beaver pelts had started to become thin and the days began to lengthen. In 1832, while lingering at a trade shop in Santa Fe owned by the Bent Brothers, I learned that because of the unwillingness of the Mexican government to continue their charter with American traders, and their overall dislike for Americans, the brothers intended to establish a new trading post within the boundaries of the United States. It was to be located just within the Untied States' territory - on the north bank of the Arkansas River, where the Santa Fe trail crossed from one country to the other at a shallow ford.
The brothers, along with Mister Ceran St. Vrain, another American trader, began placing notice that they would be hiring workers to help build their post. Almost exclusively they hired Mexicans, certainly because they were plentiful, but more so becasue they were willing to work at the wages offered and because they were adept at building adobe structures. Along with several Frenchman, hired as blacksmiths, tanners and carpenters, the brothers hired a handful of Americans. Charged with providing fresh meat to the work crews, or escorting the large groups that ventured into the distant Rockies in order to supply the new trading post with enough timber for it's frame and lumber, we took the opinion that we had gotten the best deal out of it all.
Spring and summer were the most productive times of the year for making the adobe bricks, and late summer and fall saw most of the walls built and plastered. When winter arrived, many of the workers returned to their homes in Mexico and the craftsmen went to work creating the inner “workings” of the various parts of the post: offices, counsel rooms, dining areas, quarters and other various necessitites.
In 1833 Williams Fort was officially completed, but locally, it was known as Bent's Fort, a name that eventually stuck. Mister Kit Carson often times visited the fort, finding favor with the Native Cheyenne and Arapaho, and eventually taking a wife from each. 1834 saw a sharp decline in the beaver trade and with it the collapse of the American Fur Company.
While William Bent handled the affairs at the fort and dealt with, and traded with, the Natives, Charles Bent organized and managed the caravans to and from St. Louis. Ceran St. Vrain oversaw the business in Taos and Santa Fe and in 1835, I followed a caravan from the fort to Santa Fe. I had previously set my eyes upon Senorita Alleandra Gervias Fernandez and was set to ask her father's permission for her hand in marriage. With a strong Catholic background, and because I had had a good relationship working for the Bent's, Senor Fernandez provided us with his blessings and we were wed in the spring of 1836.
IV
Today it is the year 1836. I have returned to Bent's Fort to work as a day laborer for the remainder of the summer months. In the fall, I will return to Santa Fe where my wife remains with her family and we will winter there.
