[7] He then built a rectangular limestone[4] or sandstone trading post and fort in the summer and early fall of 1853.

[6] The new fort was built on a hill overlooking the Arkansas River with a view for miles of the Santa Fe Trail.

[11] For example, cutting down cottonwood trees adversely affecting habitat for wildlife, reducing game available for hunting.

[11] For instance, the Arapaho, led by Little Raven, who camped near the fort had difficulty sustaining life by 1857 and children had distended stomachs from starvation.

Hunger, plans for a railroad to cut through Cheyenne and Arapaho hunting grounds, and the increased pressure of settlers resulted in apprehension among Native Americans.

[3] By 1860, an area near the fort was a distribution point for annuity goods for the Cheyenne and Arapaho, who were starving and in need of the provisions as they headed east for a buffalo hunt; "their women and children had become very faint and hungry."

[12] Annuity goods were provided by treaties in exchange for reduced access to ancestral land, such as hunting grounds.

The Bent's Fort, Colorado Territory, post office operated from June 4, 1863, until December 2, 1873.