Milk Fort (La Junta, Colorado)
La Junta · Colorado
History & Significance
Milk Fort was a trading post and settlement in the late 1830s. In September 1839, physician and explorer Frederick Adolphus Wislizenus established the fort four to five miles upstream from Bent's Old Fort along the Arkansas River near present-day La Junta.
The adobe fort contained thirty interior rooms that lined the walls surrounding a central courtyard, with each twelve-foot square room featuring a corner fireplace. The settlement was inhabited by people of Spanish, Native American, and French heritage.
The name derives from the goat's milk consumed by the fort's inhabitants. The fort was established around 1839 by settlers from Taos and Santa Fe as a trading post to facilitate exchanges with Native American tribes and support self-sufficient living through agriculture and herding.
The settlement lasted only until 1840 or 1841 before succumbing to competition from Bent's Old Fort. There are no remains of the settlement.
Key Facts
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_Fort
- https://grokipedia.com/page/milk_fort
- https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/0930/report.pdf