Alt Text

Map of the 1845 trading network for Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site. The United States is shown in beige with the states outlined in gray but not labeled east of modern-day Texas. Green, brown, blue, and purple lines capture waterways, routes, and trails across the country.

Extended Description

The state lines of the US follow present-day boundaries until they reach Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Territory north of Mississippi is unlabeled but is the same beige tone of the states to the east. A cream-white area to the west is labeled “United States Unorganized Territory” and “Arapaho Cheyenne.” A sand-brown area south of this is labeled “Area Claimed by Mexico and Texans.” Mexico stretches north through parts of present-day New Mexico and beyond. Ute territory is to the northwest, Kiowa southeast of this, and Comanche below.

A brown line labeled “El Camino Real” winds north from Mexico to pass along part of the Rio Grande and end at Santa Fe in the area claimed by Mexico and Texas. Taos is marked just north of this. From here, the Mountain Route, Cimarron Route, and the shared leg of the Santa Fe Trail are green. The Mountain Route passes Bent’s Fort, later Bent’s Old Fort, and the Santa Fe Trail passes Council Grove not far from the terminus in Westport, on the border of the unorganized territory.

The blue Missouri River picks up the trajectory here and passes Independence and St Louis before meeting the Mississippi River, which travels south to New Orleans, where a note reads “by ship to London and Paris,” and extending across the Gulf of Mexico and across the Atlantic Ocean. The Ohio River branches off the Missouri River as well, heading east near a note reading “by boat to New York.” A relatively short purple leg is labeled “Canals” along present-day Pennsylvania, where it ends in New York City. A note there reads “by ship to London and Paris” before the line turns blue again and heads across the Atlantic Ocean.

Legend

A scale in the top left corner of the map measures distances of 100 and 200 kilometers and 100 and 200 miles.