Big Timbers

---

title: "Big Timbers" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["geography-of-prowers-county,-colorado", "santa-fe-trail", "native-american-history-of-colorado", "cheyenne", "arapaho"] description: "Wooded area in Colorado, United States" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Timbers" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Wooded area in Colorado, United States ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Big_Timbers.jpg" caption="Big Timbers along the Arkansas River. An illustration from Richard Irving Dodge (1883). ''Our Wild Indians; Thirty-three Years' Personal Experience Among the Red Men of the Great West''"] ::

Big Timbers is a wooded riparian area in Colorado along both banks of the Arkansas River that is famous as a campsite for Native American tribes and travelers on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail.

Description

The Spanish knew this area as La Casa de Palo or the House of Wood, because wood was scarce along the banks of the Arkansas River except for that specific area. Cottonwood was the primary type of timber found there. It was known by its Spanish name following Juan Bautista de Anza's defeat of Cuerno Verde and the parties signed a peace treaty there in 1785–1786. At its greatest extent, Big Timbers may have stretched from the mouth of the Purgatoire to the present-day Kansas-Colorado border, a distance of 100 km

Winter camping ground

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Cheyenne_Village_at_Big_Timbers_1853.jpg" caption="The only surviving [[daguerreotype]] from [[Solomon Nunes Carvalho]]'s journey West in 1853 depicts a view of the Cheyenne village at Big Timbers. A pair of figures stand to the left; drying hides hang on the right. Courtesy of [[Library of Congress]]."] ::

Seasonally the Cheyenne that camped at Bent's Old Fort moved 30 miles down the Arkansas River from their camp to Big Timbers. Alongside the Arkansas River for 40 miles Big Timbers was a prime location for hunting buffalo, a major source of food for the Cheyenne. The tribe also lived on roots and berries. due to the relatively mild weather.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/BigTimbersPlaque.jpg" caption="Prowers County]] Historical Society at Big Timbers Museum, [[Lamar, Colorado"] ::

According to Hyde, William Bent's wife, Owl Woman and her children traveled with her tribe to Big Timbers during the winter months and were at the fort itself during the summer. During the Cheyenne's winter visit to Big Timbers, Bent accompanied his family with goods for trading.

::quote

::

Trading

A favorite camping ground for the Cheyenne and Arapaho, William Bent located Bent's New Fort near Big Timbers and present-day Lamar to trade with the Native Americans. Alexander Barclay and William Tharp also traded at Big Timbers.

Notes

References

References

1. Hämäläinen, Pekka. (2008). "The Comanche Empire". [[Yale University Press]].
2. William B. Butler. (2012). "The Fur Trade in Colorado". Western Reflections Publishing Company.
3. 0-8032-5753-8
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080210021423/http://www.nps.gov/beol/planyourvisit/upload/beolguide-2.pdf Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site - A Self-Guiding Tour], National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Summer 2002.
5. 0-306-81320-3
6. 0-306-81320-3
7. 978-0-8032-2405-6
8. 0-306-81320-3 p. 42.
9. (1994). "Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site General Management Plan (GMP), Development Concept Plan, Otero County: Environmental Impact Statement".
10. William B. Butler. (2012). "The Fur Trade in Colorado". Western Reflections Publishing Company.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::