An Adobe Outpost

An Adobe Outpost (HM1D30)

Location: La Junta, CO 81050 Otero County
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Country: United States of America
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N 38° 2.616', W 103° 25.891'

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Inscription

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

A Mud Castle Rises

In 1833, Bent, St. Vrain & Company built a trading post on the semi-arid reaches of the Arkansas River on the U.S. border with Mexico. Few if any buildings in the American West approached Bent's Fort in size and importance. The walls were fourteen or more feet high and thirty inches thick. Except for some support timbers, everything was built of adobe. It added up to a lot of bricks.

From Taos, 150 Mexican laborers were hired to do the work. Water was hauled from the river in barrels and dumped into huge pits. Straw and perhaps wool were mixed in with sand, silt and clay. The mud was trampled by oxen, packed into molds and laid out to dry. Tens of thousands of bricks were heaped against the horizon in a silent tribute to cross-cultural cooperation.

Kid's Corner
Adobe for Comfort & Safety
We live in an adobe fort. I help make adobe from mud and straw. The thick, high walls keep us safe. Adobe stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Details
HM NumberHM1D30
Tags
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Placed ByNational Park Service
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Thursday, October 23rd, 2014 at 1:12am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)13S E 637631 N 4211813
Decimal Degrees38.04360000, -103.43151667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 38° 2.616', W 103° 25.891'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds38° 2' 36.96" N, 103° 25' 53.46" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)719
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 332 Co Rd 35, La Junta CO 81050, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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