Bent's Old Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Celebrates 30th Anniversary with Story Telling

Description: The Bent's Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Celebrated Its 30th Anniversary at the Rawlings Museum in Las Animas in January... photos and article by Sue Keefer...

Bent's Old Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail 30th Anniversary and Story Telling

39 members of our chapter came to our celebration of our 30th Anniversary and Story Telling event on 11th of January. We started off by electing officers for 2025. Elected for President – Larry Bourne, Vice-President – Park Wood, Secretary – LaDonna Hutton, and Treasure – Shannon Venturi. I want to welcome Park Wood to our board. LaDonna Hutton stepped down from Vice-President and volunteered to take on the duties of Secretary.

We also announced our 2024 members of the year, Ed & Clara Lee Stafford. This was an easy choice for us because Ed & Clara Lee have been stellar members of our chapter for years. This past year Ed wrote a wonderful article about the history of our chapter for the past 30 years. In October Ed & Clara Lee put on the reading of ‘Voices Under the Wind’ for our chapter event. This reading was written by Ed and Tim Walsh that was first performed at Bent’s Old Fort in 1983.

Steve Bourne provided us with a very delicious roast beef and roasted potatoes, and green beans for our meal. We decided because of this being a 30th Anniversary celebration, the meal would be free for members. Linda Bourne provided a cake and made a wagon scene table center decorations and trail related candies for each table. I made placemats for each place at the tables with stories I found from old newspapers articles related to the SFT. We also had a 50–50 drawing, and a silent auction of SFT items for sale.

I started off the story telling from some research I had done from old newspapers, “on why there was a renewed interest in the Santa Fe Trail from 1885 to 1920.” Park Wood, read one of the placemats about the bridge between Fort Lyon and Old Las Animas and then reminisced about his blacksmithing experiences at various historic places along the SFT. Shannon Venturi talked about how she grew up living on the Granada Fort Union Trail and finding items along the ruts on the trail. Ed Vela talked about how he got interested in the SFT from hearings stories about trail related stories while working on the SFT Railroad, and at Fort Lyon.

Rick Wallner, retired Head Park Ranger at Bent’s Old Fort NHS and Head Interpreter talked about his time at the fort and all the wonderful events and experiences he was part of, and all the living history volunteers that made the fort the jewel of the NPS. Teresa Garica, the new Director of the John W Rawlings Center and Museum, talked about how Las Animas got its start because of the SFT and how it impacted the growth of SE Colorado. LaDonna Hutton talked about how our past members shaped our chapter and all the wonderful events and trips over the past 30 years.

Charlie Fowler talked about his ranch south of Lamar, which will be in his family for 100 years in 2029. The ranch headquarters was originally a Stagecoach Change Station back in the 1870’s and 80’s along the Granda Fort Union Trail and also serviced SE Colorado. He talked about how he has tried to keep the site as original as possible, and the challenges he has faced in his endeavors in doing so.

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Photos by Sue Keefer