Last updated: June 10, 2024
Place
Carpenter's Shop
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Amenities
2 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Tactile Exhibit
George Bent labeled this room as a carpenter's shop; its proximity to the blacksmith seems reasonable given the preponderance of wagon work that each man performed. The repair of wagons and the resulting movement of merchandise was critical, one writer even calling the Bent's "...the greatest masters of Santa Fe Trail transportation." The superior maintenance of wagons, especially on the wheels and the running gear underneath, helped the company achieve a pre-eminence in the freighting industry.
During the Mexican War, the United States Army used Bent's Fort as a supply base for the invasion of New Mexico and California. It has been suggested that "By the latter part of October 1846, wagons were being forwarded from Bent's Fort at the rate of 30 per week." During this time Bent's Fort 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, especially anxious to salvage iron parts, collected hound bands, wagon tires, chains, and assorted pins and plates that could be repaired or later 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, and bundles of pine tar and oakum.
During the Mexican War, the United States Army used Bent's Fort as a supply base for the invasion of New Mexico and California. It has been suggested that "By the latter part of October 1846, wagons were being forwarded from Bent's Fort at the rate of 30 per week." During this time Bent's Fort 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, especially anxious to salvage iron parts, collected hound bands, wagon tires, chains, and assorted pins and plates that could be repaired or later 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, and bundles of pine tar and oakum.