Trapper and Taos trader, Ceran St. Vrain was the son of a noble family dispossessed during the French Revolution of 1789. He was well-known and highly respected in Santa Fe, and his relationships in New Mexico were invaluable to the Bents. When St. Vrain was away, his quarters became a guest room. One of the most notable guests was Lieutenant James Abert, a topographical engineer surveying the west with a U.S. Army expediton. In 1845, Abert described peace talks between the Cheyenne and the Delaware, and sympathized with the changes forced on the Indians by white settlers. As a naturalist, he sketched and studied the plants and animals of the area. While recuperating from an illness in 1846, the drew plans of the fort, which provided architects with the necessary information to rebuild it in 1976.
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