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 vent Duration: 60 Minutes.