A half-dozen horseback riders traveled back into the 1840s last week on the Comanche National Grasslands. Their mission: to spend three days living like the frontiersmen who traveled this country more than 150 years ago. Their destination was the same as many of the travelers they were emulating: Bent’s Old Fort on the Arkansas River. As reported by Colorado Public Radio, the riders were on their way to the 2015 Fur Trade Symposium, which was being held at the fort. The triannual gathering hasn't been held in Colorado for decades.
The Fur Trade Symposium brings together both academics and amateur historians with a passion for the era. Bent’s Old Fort is an ideal setting for the gathering; the massive adobe fortress was reconstructed by the National Parks Service in the 1970s as a National Historic Site.
