Fort St. Vrain T-Shirt

In November 1836, the Bent brothers and Ceran St. Vrain received a license authorizing them to trade on the South Platte in what is now Colorado. The main business at Fort Lookout, as it was first named, was trading trinkets and beads for buffalo hides and tongues and beaver pellet, and accommodating passing mountain men. Fort Lookout was renamed fort George in honor of George Bent, one of the Bent brothers; however, this fort was generally known as St. Varin’s Fort or Fort St. Vrain.

Fort St. Vrain was located one mile north of St. Vrain Creek on the east side of the South Platte River, on the “Trapper’s” or Taos trail, which ran from Fort Taos, New Mexico, past Bent’f Fort in Colorado to Fort Laramie in Wyoming. Fort St. Vrain was said to be exactly halfway between Bent’s Fort and Fort Laramie.

During the years it operated as a trading post, St. Vrain’s Fort served as a waystation and provisioning point for travelers. The Fort’s history includes...

Photography is all about using light to capture the emotion and beauty of a fleeting moment. For me, this adventure began with a single spring image using a small Kodak film camera of a freshly watered central Kansas ditch and has come full circle using modern digital techniques. My first camera was acquired by trading an ancient Royal typewriter to a fellow college student who was desperate to finish a term paper. It was a long time ago and that camera was my passport to an art that has fascinated me ever since. I owned and operated a professional studio in central Kansas for 20 years and moved to Colorado in 1994. Part of the studio's early success came from creating outdoor portraiture using controlled lighting...