The nationally significant Bent's New Fort in the Lamar vicinity was built by William Bent in the winter of 1852–1853.  The fort was used as a trading post and the Upper Arkansas Indian Agency from 1853 to 1859, after which time the U.S. Army leased it from 1860 to 1866. 

Founded in 1866, Boggsville is one of Colorado’s earliest extant agricultural and trade centers. It is an important site for understanding the critical role played by Hispanic and Indigenous women in early Colorado trade networks.

Fort Lyon is important for its role as an army post, a navy hospital, and a veterans’ hospital.  Beginning in 1867, the fort served as part of the army’s Department of the Missouri, a regional network of forts and military facilities in the Missouri River drainage.  

Built in 1870, the interior of this adobe house blends Hispanic folk art with Victorian furnishings.  It is now operated as part of the Trinidad History Museum by History Colorado. 

Raton Pass provided the shortest and most practical route from the upper Arkansas Valley to New Mexico.  Both a barrier and a gateway, the Raton Mountains symbolized the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail.  Although not highly significant in the routine progress of trail development, the Mountain Branch and its most important feature, Raton Pass, played a significant role in military history. 

These trail segments are part of the larger Santa Fe Trail Mountain Route that provided a vital transportation link between the United States and the newly independent Mexico fostering not only commercial trade, but also establishing social ties that were pivotal to regional development and expansion of the United States from 1832-1879.  Contrary to popular perception, the Santa Fe Trail was not a single trail with two branches, but a complex transportation system made up of various routes, starting points, and destinations.  The sites contain visible trail ruts of the Santa Fe Trail Mounta

This site northeast of La Junta once contained Bent’s Old Fort, an important trading post near the Arkansas River along the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail.  Constructed around 1833 by brothers Charles and William Bent and partner Ceran St. Vrain, the fort occupied an area that at that time was the border between the United States and newly independent Mexico.

These trail segments are part of the larger Santa Fe Trail Mountain Route that provided a vital transportation link between the United States and the newly independent Mexico fostering not only commercial trade, but also establishing social ties that were pivotal to regional development and expansion of the United States from 1832-1879.  Contrary to popular perception, the Santa Fe Trail was not a single trail with two branches, but a complex transportation system made up of various routes, starting points, and destinations.

These trail segments are part of the larger Santa Fe Trail Mountain Route that provided a vital transportation link between the United States and the newly independent Mexico fostering not only commercial trade, but also establishing social ties that were pivotal to regional development and expansion of the United States from 1832-1879.

These trail segments are part of the larger Santa Fe Trail Mountain Route that provided a vital transportation link between the United States and the newly independent Mexico fostering not only commercial trade, but also establishing social ties that were pivotal to regional development and expansion of the United States from 1832-1879.  Contrary to popular perception, the Santa Fe Trail was not a single trail with two branches, but a complex transportation system made up of various routes, starting points, and destinations.  The sites contain visible trail ruts of the Santa Fe Trail Mounta