Last updated: September 30, 2024
Lesson Plan
Trading Post Labor
Labor at Bent's Fort was multicultural
NPS photo/D. Ocheltree
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 3.L.4, 3.L.4.a, 4.L.4, 4.L.4.a, 5.L.4, 5.L.4.a
- State Standards:
- 4th History 1.1.a. Draw inferences about Colorado history from primary sources such as journals, diaries, maps, treaties, oral histories, etc. 4th Econ. 3.1.d. Explain how productive resources (natural, human, and capital) influenced goods/services in CO.
- Additional Standards:
- 4th Economics 3.1.c. Explain how people respond to positive and negative incentives. c. Give examples of the kinds of goods and services produced in Colorado in different historical periods and their connection to economic incentives.
- Thinking Skills:
- Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.
Essential Question
1. Other than being a merchant selling goods, what types of employment would have been needed at Bent’s Fort?
2. Describe the origins and status of people William Bent hired at his trading post?
Objective
Describe several types of employment and the source of human resources essential to the operation of a trading post during the 1830s and 1840s.
Background
INTRO: At about fourteen years of age, Lewis H. Garrard, read John C. Fremont’s Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, an account published in U.S. newspapers in 1843. Fremont’s descriptive account enticed Lewis to venture West by himself only three years later. Garrard wrote his own book of experiences lasting from 1846-1847 titled Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail. “Wah-to-yah” is a Comanche word meaning “double peaks,” which described the mountainous Spanish Peaks found in southeastern Huerfano County, Colorado. As Lewis set off, Ceran St. Vrain, the founding partner of the Bent, St. Vrain, & Company, guided his wagon from Independence, Missouri to the trading operation along the Arkansas River, known as Bent’s Fort, in September of 1846.
This lesson immerses the learner into the material culture of the Bent's Fort trading post by viewing close-ups of trade goods to determine their identity and the occupation associated with them. From there, an overview of labor will be given with a concentration on the multicultural make-up of the workforce.
Preparation
Materials Needed:
- Lewis Garrard Multicultural Trading Post Labor narrative text
- "Who Used This" images document
- 1840s Santa Fe Trail map
- Exit Ticket
Materials
Companion text for Lewis Garrard Trading Post Labor lesson
Download Multicultural Trading Post Labor Narrative
Companion maps for geographical context of the fur trade era
Download 1800s maps of North American territories
Companion images document with macro-photos to use with Trading Post Labor lesson
Lesson Hook/Preview
Activity: Pair students to identify the occupation associated with macro-pictures of various materials and equipment used during Bent's Old Fort's operation. Pass out “Who used this?” macro photos. Give students three minutes to suggest an occupation associated with each one.
Procedure
1. As a whole group, ask for volunteers to supply their photo answers with support. Make a list for the whole group to see. After group has finished, provide correct answers.
Correct Answers:
- 1. clerk’s ledger
- 2. Beaver fur – trapper
- 3. Bellows – blacksmith
- 4. Buffalo fur – hunter
- 5. Butter churn – cook
- 6. Candlestick with wax – chandler or domestic servant
- 7. Barred rock chicken – cook
- 8. Hemp rope – vaquero or livestock herder
- 9. Goat – cook (milking)
- 10. 3-point wool blanket – Plains tribal member
- 11. Abalone shell button – tailor
- 12. Adobe brick – masons
- 13. Leather whip – driver/teamster
- 14. Cowhide drum – Plains tribal member
- 15. Wood file – carpenter
- 16. Fur press thread – merchant
- 17. Stone wheel grinder – blacksmith or carpenter
- 18. Anvil – blacksmith
- 19. Iron knob on vice grip – carpenter
- 20. Wagon axle – merchant/driver
3. Read Lewis Garrard “Multicultural Trading Post Labor” narrative. Make note of the types of occupations and cultures associated.
4. After reading, consider the fairness of why occupations seemed to fall on ethnic lines (white collar, blue collar, domestic).
5. Decide which occupation would have been the most challenging to you and support your choice.
6. Pass out Exit Ticket.
Vocabulary
adobe - clay material used to make sun-dried bricks for building
expertise - expert skill or knowledge
procure - to obtain or get
quartermaster - a military officer responsible for providing living quarters, food, clothing, and other supplies
ancestry - family heritage
slap-jacks - pancakes
livestock - domesticated animals used for farming, ranching, or transportation purposes
inventory - a complete list of items such as property or goods
unruly - misbehaving
skirmish - sudden fighting
insurrection - violent uprising against an authority or government
beeves - cattle
Assessment Materials
Lewis Garrard Trading Post Labor Exit TicketExit Ticket containing essential questions from Lewis Garrard Trading Post Labor lesson
- Other than being a merchant selling goods, what types of employment would have been needed at Bent’s Fort?
- Describe the origins and status of people William Bent hired at his trading post?
Exit Ticket assessment for Lewis Garrard Trading Post Labor lesson
Rubric/Answer Key
Lewis Garrard Trading Post Labor Exit TicketPossible answers to Exit Ticket for Lewis Garrard Trading Post Labor lesson
- Other than being a merchant selling goods, what types of employment would have been needed at Bent’s Fort? Cooks, domestics, carpenters, blacksmiths, clerks, doctors, herders, vaqueros, hunters, tailors, masons, buffalo processor, teamster, accountant, store manager
- Describe the origins and status of people William Bent hired at his trading post? Adobe masons, herders, and vaqueros were Mexican. These skilled trades were not considered of higher class. Cooks and domestics were either African-American or mixed ancestry, also considered lower class. Carpenters, blacksmiths, clerks, managers, doctors, tailors, accountants were of Anglo descent and considered middle to upper class. Buffalo hunters and processors were Native American and also considered a lower class.
Possible answers to Exit Ticket for Lewis Garrard Trading Post Labor lesson
Supports for Struggling Learners
Pre-read definitions to vocabulary prior to reading narrative text. Read aloud the narrative as a whole group or place students in small reading groups.
Enrichment Activities
Social/Emotional Enrichment:
During this period along the Plains, many cultures worked side by side for long periods of time without conflict. We know that the entire country was building toward war with Mexico. We also know it continued negotiating and breaking treaties with tribal nations and was being pulled apart on the issue of slavery. Why doesn’t Lewis Garrard indicate any signs of cultural intolerance when it comes to multicultural labor along the Santa Fe Trail? What attitudes or behaviors do you think employees adopted which contributed to successful employment and ongoing relationships with others from different cultures?
Extension Reflection:
In the 2nd paragraph of the narrative text, Lewis gives high praise to the Mexican “rancheros.” Argue whether or not Lewis’ comments would have been a source of pride or insult for these workers.
There were few female workers at the fort. What might have kept women from visiting or working at the Fort during this time?
“Beeves” are beef cattle. Lewis commented that beeves were branded by the government and herded by Bent, St. Vrain and Company's employees. What do you think the military planned to do with them?
Related Lessons or Education Materials
*Lewis Garrard "Business Ventures" from this unit pairs well with this lesson.