Bent’s Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association September 2015 Newsletter Page 1 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Fur Trade Symposium at Bent’s Old Fort—Sept. 21-24 In This Issue Returning to the Southern Rockies for the first time since 1988, by all ac- counts, the Fur Trade Symposium was a great success. With the arrival of a Article Page few fur traders on horseback at Bent’s Old Fort Wednesday afternoon, the Fur Trade Symposium officially began. Despite rain that day the following days of Fur Trade Symposium at the Symposium, happily, brought clear skies and great weather. Bent’s Old Fort — On Thursday and Friday the field trips included an Amtrak and bus tour to Sept. 21-24 1 Raton, NM, and a bus tour to El Pueblo Museum and up the Hardscrabble Range to Westcliffe, CO. Excellent guides helped make the field trips enjoya- Chapter Events ble for all. Some “traders” stayed behind at the Fort, reliving the year 1842 by Martin Knife Chief 2 turning the Fort and encampment area into a Living History Museum. On Home on the Range 2 Thursday, presentations at the Fort included a demonstration of packing a 3 Trails Conference 3 horse and mule, a seminar with samples of four different kinds of tea from the Southern Fur Trade Era (one tea, hyson, was also the primary tea dumped Bent’s Fort Chapter during the Boston Tea Party), and an evening seminar on adult drinkables Membership Report 3 with limited samples. The Broad and Beckoning Formal presentations were held at Otero Junior College in La Junta, CO, on Friday and Saturday. The out- Highway: The Santa Fe standing speakers shared their Trail and the Rush for Gold expertise not only on the intrica- in California and Colorado 4 cies of the fur trade, but also on Book Reviews several events, places and person- ~Mochi’s War and the alities that made the fur trade in Tragedy of Sand Creek 5 the west a unique period in Ameri- can history. The talks were all en- ~Colorado Forts: Historic joyable, informative and thoughtful. Outposts of the Wild Saturday evening found 300 Frontier 5 banqueters in the central area of 12 Legendary Banners in the Fort enjoying buffalo ribeyes Downtown Trinidad 6 and other fixin’s of the era. It couldn’t have been a better night Fur Traders’ Encampment BFC Officers & to eat outdoors. Tapping toes, Committee Chairmen 7 stomping one’s feet, and listening to the evening’s entertainment as- Upcoming Events 7 sured the fandango following the Membership Form 8 banquet was a delight for all. Many thanks go to John Car- son for his tireless efforts to make “The Santa Fe Trail the Symposium a success. His Lives On” efforts not only took place in and around the Fort, but the weekend before the Symposium John drove from La Junta to Santa Fe to give a short reenactment of Kit Carson at the 3 Trails Conference. Thank you John for your willingness to ensure that the history of the lives of the fur traders and other person- ages are remembered for today and into the future. The next Fur Trade Symposi- Bent’s Old Fort, La Junta, CO um will be hosted by Fort Mandan/ Bismarck, ND in 2018. ☼ See Notes on Page 7. Saturday night banquet at Bent’s Old Fort September 2015 Newsletter Bent’s Fort Chapter Page 2 Over Fifty People Hear Home on the Range Martin Knife Chief Speak Full of Great Entertainment Over 50 people gathered at the Rocky Ford Theatre For those members and friends to hear Martin Knife Chief talk on July 11. No one was who ventured to Pueblo Saturday, Au- disappointed as Knife Chief spoke of the history of the gust 15, for the Rawlings Library pro- Plains Indians, their culture, and their lives today. gram, Home on the Range, I doubt any- The event started one went home disappointed. with a Chapter meet- The day began with the highly en- ing led by Pat Palm- tertaining program by Angel Vig- er. Pat noted that Em- il. Dressed as a Vaquero he told sto- ery Murray was step- ries of America's first cowboy. He also ping down as Chapter spoke of the many words that we use Treasurer after fifteen today that have come from the Span- Angel Vigil years of service. Pat ish/Mexican culture such as: then presented Emery • Bronco - rough horse from bronco caballo with a token of appre- Pat Palmer and Emery Murray • Rodeo - round-up, from rodear, to surround ciation for his commit- • Stampede - wild running of cattle, from ment to the Chapter. Kathy Wootten will serve as Inter- estampida, explosions or crash. im Treasurer until elections at the January Annual Meet- After handing out Sarsaparilla, an 1800s drink, Bob ing. Many thanks go out to Emery for his service and Silva gave his program on The Real Wild West. Bob well wishes for his health. started his program bringing in old implements that once Other business included a discussion of holding the were the staples of the early settlers. He told of outlaws 2019 SFTA Symposium in Independence, MO, and vari- and lawmen, guns and brothels, churches and home- ous members talking about upcoming Chapter events. steading. The highlight of the afternoon was, of course, Martin Lunch followed and we had the chance to taste Bob's Knife Chief. His theme was the "Culture of Change" that homemade Dutch came as the traders from the East arrived in the tradi- oven buffalo chili tional Indian lands. Thus, as the Indians traded for with Anazasi goods, it changed the Indian ways. Now they had kettles beans. During to cook with instead of the traditional of ways of cooking lunch, we were using the buffalo stomach and hot rocks. He talked of also treated to the the demise of the western music of buffalo for the JJ Steele. tongues valued The highlight as delicacies in of the afternoon the East as well Bob Silva shows old time washboard to audience was the play, Se- as the demand member . crets of the Wind: for the buffalo The Women of Boggsville. The idea for the one-act play fur. He also came after a talk between RuAnn Keith and Richard spoke of how his Carrillo during a visit at the historic site one afternoon as people, the they pondered what the women of Boggsville talked Lakota of the about. The play Martin Knife Chief northern Plains, is dedicated to were rice gather- the memory of ers, staying Richard Carrillo healthy by living in small groups and moving often so and his work to that they had fresh grass, food, and water. This make Boggsville changed with the advent of reservations. shine again. He acknowledged that today there is a struggle to Many thanks maintain the Indian culture. He was encouraged that go to Charlene efforts are underway to document Indian languages as Simms of the well as sign language. Rawlings library RuAnn Keith, Sue Keefer, Stephanie Robe and The large number of questions for Martin at the end and Chapter Ceci Lucero as The Women of Boggsville of his talk showed the high interest of the audience in- member Bob what he had to say. Much was learned by all who at- Silva who helped who make the "Home on the Range" tended the presentation. Thank you Martin for sharing production an enjoyable August event. ☼ your story, your people, and your way of life. ☼ September 2015 Newsletter Bent’s Fort Chapter Page 3 Great Trips, Information and I doubt any- one left the Satur- Entertainment at 3 Trails Conference day evening ban- As we entered Santa Fe, it was hard not to imagine quet hungry. Fol- what it must have been like for the travelers to finally lowing the excel- reach the city. After traveling for months to reach Santa lent meal we were Fe -- walking, riding a mule or horse or in a wagon -- the treated to a fine city was a welcome site. In contrast, we arrived with our performance by 200 horsepower plus motors in our air-conditioned vehi- area youth on the cles, and as in days gone past, experienced that sense history of the 3 LaDonna Hutton and Larry Justice of relief that we'd reached our destination and in antici- Trails. The pro- pation of the events to come. gram was truly the highlight of the Conference. Many thanks for Miss Long and all the children for their hard Over forty current and new Bent's Fort Chapter work and dedication. Bravo to all! members attended the 3 Trails Conference (El Camino Many thanks also go to Pam Najdowski of the Santa Real de Tierra Adentro Trail, Old Spanish Trail, and the Fe Trail As- Santa Fe Trail) from September 17-20. I think we'll sociation agree that it was an enjoyable and informative event. (End of the Some of us trekked over to Santa Fe Wednesday Trail Chap- for the all-day tours on Thursday, the 17th. Others ter, Santa came on Friday Fe) and Pat and chose be- Kulhoff of the tween the three Old Santa Fe half-day tours. Trail Associ- For those of us ation for the on the El Camino many hours, Real Tours, after days and seeing the older months they historic sights, we put in to help Three Trails Childrens’ Musical ended our day at make the the road originally Conference truly a success! ☼ designated as Walking along “Route 66” ————————————————————————-- Hwy 66 ("Route Bent’s Fort Chapter 66") until 1926.