William Bent
American rancher (1809-1869) · United States · On the map · Died at 59
William Wells Bent was a frontier trader and rancher in the American West, with forts in Colorado. He also acted as a mediator among the Cheyenne Nation, other Native American tribes and the expanding United States. With his brothers, Bent established a trade business along the Santa Fe Trail.
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1845 Santa Fe Trail and native tribal lands
Bent's Fort in 1848
Old Bent's Fort, Sketch by Lt. James Abert, published 1914
A view from outside Bent's Old Fort (reconstruction)
Daniel Jenks traveled to 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.![Owl Woman, Cheyenne princess (Mis-stan-stur). Drawing by Lt. James Abert.[39]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Owl_Woman.jpg)
Owl Woman, Cheyenne princess (Mis-stan-stur). Drawing by Lt. James Abert.[39]
A view inside Bent's Old Fort (reconstruction)About this person
In the early 1830s Bent built an adobe fort, called Bent's Fort, along the Arkansas River in present-day Colorado. Furs, horses and other goods were traded for food and other household goods by travelers along the Santa Fe trail, fur-trappers, and local Mexican and Native American people. Bent negotiated a peace among the many Plains tribes north and south of the Arkansas River, as well as between the Native American and the United States government.