Members and friends of the Bent’s Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association will meet November 11 at the Koshare Museum on the Otero College Campus in La Junta. The meeting will begin at 1:00 p.m. where attendees will be entertained by Dr. Michael Olsen and his wife Patti’s tale of the early days in the life of Miguel Antonio Otero, Jr. 

Miguel was the bane of his parents’ existence. His father was one of the leading merchants on the Santa Fe Trail, and his mother was a genteel woman from South Carolina. He gave them many a sleepless night. 

At the age of eleven Miguel, Jr. was hobnobbing with Wild Bill Hickok in Hays City, Kansas. A year later he went buffalo hunting with the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia and General Phil Sheridan. Four times his parents enrolled him in Catholic Schools in St. Louis, put him on the eastbound train, which he promptly jumped off down the line and caught the next train west.   

But all ended well as he later became a territorial governor of New Mexico. This presentation will follow his footsteps along the Santa Fe Trail and explain it from a child’s perspective.

Dr. Michael Olsen is retired from New Mexico Highlands University where, for 30 years, he taught a variety of history classes, including the history of the Santa Fe Trail. He has published extensively on aspects of the Trail. Patti Olsen taught 6th grade Language Arts in the Las Vegas City Schools system, often using Santa Fe Trail themes in her curriculum. 

The meeting and presentation are free and open to the public. To get to the Koshare Museum, from Hwy 50 in La Junta go west on Colorado Avenue for 1.1 miles then turn right onto18th St.  Continue on 18th Streett, the Museum will be on your right. The address of the Koshare Museum is115 W. 18th St., La Junta, CO 81050. 

Membership in the Bent’s Fort Chapter is $15 per year. To learn more about the event or the Chapter, email bentsfortchapterSFTA@gmail.com. The Bent’s Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to protect and preserve the Santa Fe Trail and to promote awareness of the historical legacy associated with it.