In the March 2010 Issue...

March 2010 COVER STORY:

Marrying Well in the Orbit of Bent’s Old Fort

An excerpt:

istorians credit the partners, Charles and William Bent and Ceran St. Vrain, with quickly dominating the fabulously wealthy Santa Fe trade without really explaining how they did it. They accomplished this by making strategic marriage alliances between the partners and their employees and a variety of Indian tribes and influential New Mexico families. Far from being an ad hoc policy, the company was imitating time-tested fur trade practices based upon Indian perceptions of the meanings of kinship.

From 1825 to 1831, the Bents and St. Vrain entered the Santa Fe trade, sized up the competition, problems and potentials, and formed a partnership. From 1831 to 1841, the company extended its influence by making use of kin alliances, by maintaining separate trade establishments and by arranging treaties between the conflicting tribes with whom it traded. From 1841 to 1849, when the partnership ended, marriage changed radically from an extensive posture (intermarriage with many tribes) to an intensive one (marriage with a small cluster of New Mexico families) in response, at least partially, to the decline in the buffalo and beaver trade.

The Southwest in the 1820s and 1830s held the promise of the fabled Cities of Cibola. In the era of opportunity, merchant adventurers rushed to open the trade routes between the mines of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico; the buffalo grounds and beaver streams of the southern Rockies; the trade outpost of St. Louis; and the ranchos of California. With the independence of Mexico from Spain and Jedediah Smith’s epic trek to the Pacific in 1828, the territory was opening up. To the young men of the frontier settlements, the Southwest beckoned them to a new life, full of possibilities.

The individuals who converged at the New Mexico outposts of Taos and Santa Fe, entrepôt of the Mexican, Indian and fur trapping trade, were reckless, opportunistic and entrepreneurial. All were not Anglo-Saxon stock and only a few were successful. The Southwest between the 1820s and 1840s witnessed meetings among several cultural groups. There were mestizos, native New Mexicans, who shared the language and religion of the Spanish, but who hand many cultural affinities with the Pueblo Indians and held a loyalty to their own group. The French trappers, always in the vanguard of the trade, were Catholic, but often irreverent, their blood infused with that of countless Indian tribes.

According to legend, many of these Frenchman established themselves in New Mexico a decade before the Americans arrived. Then, there were the Americans: discontented Missouri farm boys and apprentices; veterans of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and brigades up the Missouri River; and the established fur barons of French and Spanish stock.

Of course, there were the Indians, whose mobility patterns, economic bases, territorial domains, and inter-tribal relations had been radically altered by exposure to new diseases and the acquisition of guns, liquor, horses and trade goods.

One cannot overemphasize how quickly the Plains tribes adapted to changed conditions. Indians who had been “removed” from east of the Mississippi put territorial pressure on the southern Plains tribes, while the emergence of the Texas ranches gave some an outlet and a profitable pastime stealing horses and livestock.

Our other March features…

Welcome to Tombstone, Afghanistan – Trappings of the Wild West are part of the architecture at a forward operating base in Helmand province, a key area in the war between NATO forces and the Taliban. The entrance is guarded by an image of Wyatt Earp. That’s just the beginning.

On the Santa Fe Trail in Southeastern Colorado – The Sierra Vista trailhead near La Junta, Colo., provides an access point to a marked, three-mile section of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. It’s a cold and tough go on a winter day, but the experience can’t be beat..

Notes on the Stampede for Alaska’s Gold – Long after his time in Tombstone, Epitaph founder John P. Clum was in the vanguard bound for Alaskan gold. Ever the observer, Clum’s diary provides a unique perspective on the gold seekers’ dreams ‒ and the reality they experienced.

Dealing with a Rat Problem – After becoming worked up over the presence of a rat in his home, a southeastern Arizona rancher decided to deal with the problem ‒ with explosive results.

And Much More – Our regular features, including Frontier Fare, Book Bag, YesterWest, The Adventures of Randy Jones and Booger Red, Twisted Tails, and the antics of the Buffalo Gals.

New Feature: Just Around the Bend, a free listing of upcoming Old West events. For more information, contact Gary Ledoux at epitaphads@tombstoneepitaph.com