Eastern Plains
Bent County
12 Porch Notes tied to Bent County — the local details that change from one part of Colorado to the next.
Water and land (2)
Water and land
In the lower Arkansas Valley, farm water can be bought and moved away
In Bent County and the rest of the lower Arkansas Valley, irrigation water rights have long been sold to Front Range cities, which changes what a farm property can grow.
Read note ->Water and land
On a Bent County parcel, the house water and the field water are different things
A rural Bent County property may rely on a permitted well for the household and on ditch or canal shares for irrigation, and each follows its own rules and gets confirmed in its own way.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire (3)
Outdoors and wildfire
In winter, bald eagles roost in the trees near Lake Hasty
John Martin Reservoir's mix of open water, prairie, and riverside cottonwoods draws birds year-round, and in winter bald eagles gather to roost in trees near the Lake Hasty area, making the cold months a prime time to watch birds in Bent County.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
John Martin Reservoir is a state park and a flood-control dam at the same time
John Martin Reservoir in Bent County is a federal flood-control and irrigation reservoir on the Arkansas River that is also a Colorado state park for fishing, boating, and birding.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The Red Shin Trail loops the quiet side of John Martin Reservoir
The Red Shin Trail at John Martin Reservoir State Park is a named loop below the dam and around Lake Hasty that ties together prairie, wetland, and a Santa Fe Trail marker.
Read note ->Cars and driving (1)
Local rules (1)
History and culture (5)
History and culture
Boggsville sits where the Santa Fe Trail met the river bottom
Boggsville, near Las Animas, is a preserved 1860s settlement on the Santa Fe Trail that helps explain why people first put down roots along the rivers in Bent County.
Read note ->History and culture
Fort Lyon, near Las Animas, is where Kit Carson died
Fort Lyon, east of Las Animas near the mouth of the Purgatoire River, was a frontier army post where Kit Carson died in 1868, and it later became a veterans hospital and a national cemetery.
Read note ->History and culture
The county's name comes from a trading fort on the Arkansas
Bent County is named for the Bent family, whose adobe trading post on the Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River was a meeting place for traders and Plains tribes.
Read note ->History and culture
The railroad helped move Bent County's seat from Boggsville to Las Animas
Bent County's seat sat at Boggsville for a time in the early 1870s, moved more than once, and ended up at the railroad town that grew into today's Las Animas — an example of how a rail line could pick the winners among early plains towns.
Read note ->History and culture
The Rawlings Heritage Center is where Bent County keeps its story indoors
The John W. Rawlings Heritage Center in Las Animas gathers Bent County's history under one roof, from an early telephone exchange to the first bank, making it the indoor companion to the county's outdoor history sites.
Read note ->