The repair of wagons and the resulting movement of merchandise was critical to the success of Bent's Fort. The superior maintenance of wagons, especially on the wheels and the running gear underneath, helped the company achieve a preeminence in the freighting industry. During some periods of the fort's history it must have resembled a wrecking yard - broken axles, fractured hubs, splintered side boards, mounds of white canvas and piles of abandoned tongues and spreaders. The fort's craftsmen were especially anxious to salvage the iron parts, which could be reworked into useful pieces.

Scattered about the room are saws, axes and adzes, planes, shaves and drawknives, dowels, mallets, and spoke dogs. Tucked away in cabinets, one might find hooves and rawhide for glue, rope, bundles of pine tar, and oakum.