El Pueblo (Colorado)

Last updated

El Pueblo
Trading post
Nickname(s): 
Fort Pueblo, Fort Nepesta, Fort Fisher, Fort Juana, Fort Spaulding, Robert Fisher's Fort, Pueblo Almagre [1]
USA Colorado location map.svg
Red pog.svg
El Pueblo
Site of former El Pueblo, now El Pueblo History Museum
Coordinates: 38°16′3.58″N104°36′39″W / 38.2676611°N 104.61083°W / 38.2676611; -104.61083
CountryUnited States
State Colorado
County Pueblo
Nearest town Pueblo

El Pueblo, also called Fort Pueblo, was a trading post and fort near the present-day city of Pueblo in Pueblo County, Colorado. It operated from 1842 until 1854, selling goods, livestock, and produce. It was attacked in 1854, killing up to 19 men and capturing three people. A recreation of the fort is located at the El Pueblo History Museum at the site of the original fort.

Contents

History

The independent trading post was established in 1842 by traders, trappers, and hunters of Hispanic, French, Anglo, and Native American heritage. [2] [3] The idea began with Bent's Old Fort trader George Simpson. Other likely individuals include Mathew Kinkead, Joseph Mantz, Francisco Conn, Robert Fisher, Joseph Doyle, and Alexander Barclay. Teresita Sandoval played an instrumental role in the daily operations of the post. [3] James Beckwourth claimed to have been an original builder of the fort [4] but efforts to discredit his claims have been suggested as due to racism. [5] John C. Fremont stated of his visit in 1843 that the men were mostly mountain men and the women were from Taos. [6]

It stood just west of the mouth of the Fountain Creek and on the north side of the Arkansas River, [1] which was the border between Mexico and the United States at that time. The Cherokee Trail and Trapper's Trail, also called the Taos Trail, were nearby trading routes. [3]

The fort was believed to have looked like the Mexican Ranch by Colonel Henry Inman, published in The Old Santa Fe Trail, 1897 Mexican ranch by Colonel Henry Inman 1897.jpg
The fort was believed to have looked like the Mexican Ranch by Colonel Henry Inman, published in The Old Santa Fe Trail, 1897

The fort was about 200 x 200 feet, with an entrance on the east side and bastions on the corners. The common, flat room was supported by large wooden beams. [8] Made of adobe, it offered protection against "Indians and thieving whites". [2] It is believed to have been a gated property with a central courtyard. The structure is believed to have had a windowless exterior wall and an internal plaza, with entry to rooms via the plaza. [3] Francis Parkman described it as "nothing more than a large square enclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and dilapidated". [6] Up to 100 [3] or 150 people [8] lived at El Pueblo, with several rooms for each trader and their families. [3] The types of rooms included those for trading, living, cooking, storing, and performing blacksmith work. [8]

Goods were traded in the central plaza. [3] People who lived at the post raised crops and livestock, which were traded along with goods. [3] Buffalo hides were bartered, as the demand for beaver fur had dropped. [8] The traders bartered with Native American tribes for hides, skins, livestock, as well as cultivated plants, and liquor. Evidence of this trade, as well as other utilitarian goods, such as Native American pottery shards were found at the recently excavated site. [9] Its customers also included traders from Taos and American trappers. [10] Visitors included James Beckwourth, Richens Lacey Wootton, and Kit Carson. [3]

The business at the post declined with the beginning of the Mexican–American War in 1848. [3] Some of the traders followed the California Gold Rush of 1849. [6] The demand for buffalo fur and robes dropped about 1850. [8] Pressure of new emigrants passing through former Native American lands and failure of the United States to honor treaties created conflict in the area and by 1854, there was a massacre at the post. [3]

Massacre of 1854

According to accounts of residents who traded at the plaza (including that of George Simpson), the Fort Pueblo Massacre happened sometime between December 23 and December 25, 1854, by a war party of Utes and Jicarilla Apaches under the leadership of Tierra Blanca, a Ute chief. [9] They allegedly killed between fifteen and nineteen men, as well as captured two children and one woman. [11] Much of the building was dismantled during the attack. [12]

Aftermath

The trading post was abandoned after the raid, but it became important again between 1858 and 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1859. [13] In 1891, portions of the adobe walls were still visible along Union Avenue and the tracks of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. [12]

The river's courses had changed since the mid-1800s and the exact location was unknown until it was found in 1991 by the University of Southern Colorado during an archaeological excavation. [3] The Farris Hotel had been built over the site, which was found under the site of the hotel during excavation. [8] A smaller recreation of the fort and an archaeological site of the former fort is located at the El Pueblo History Museum. [8] [14] The post site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Beckwourth</span> Explorer, born into slavery

James Pierson Beckwourth was an American fur trapper, rancher, businessman, explorer, author and scout. Known as "Bloody Arm" because of his skill as a fighter, Beckwourth was of multiracial descent, being born into slavery in Frederick County, Virginia. He was eventually emancipated by his enslaver, who was also his father, and apprenticed to a blacksmith so that he could learn a trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John David Albert</span> American mountain man (1810–1899)

John David Albert was an American mountain man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Bent</span> American politician (1799–1847)

Charles Bent was an American businessman and politician who served as the first civilian United States governor of the New Mexico Territory, newly invaded and occupied by the United States during the Mexican-American War by the Military Governor, Stephen Watts Kearny, in September 1846.

Tom Tobin (1823–1904) was an American adventurer, tracker, trapper, mountain man, guide, US Army scout, and occasional bounty hunter. Tobin explored much of southern Colorado, including the Pueblo area. He associated with men such as Kit Carson, "Uncle Dick" Wootton, Ceran St. Vrain, Charley Bent, John C. Fremont, "Wild Bill" Hickok, William F. Cody, and the Shoup brothers. Tobin was one of only two men to escape alive from the siege of Turley's Mill and Distillery during the Taos Revolt. In later years he was sent by the Army to track down and kill the notorious Felipe Espinosa and his nephew; Tobin returned to Ft. Garland with their heads in a sack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Vasquez</span> United States historic place

Fort Vasquez is a former fur trading post 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Denver, Colorado, United States, founded by Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette in 1835. Restored by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, it now lies in a rather incongruous position as U.S. Route 85 splits to run either side of the building. History Colorado took possession of the property in 1958 and runs it as a museum to display exhibits of the fur-trade era.

Andrew Whitley Sublette or also, spelled Sublett, was a frontiersman, trapper, fur trader, explorer, mountain man and brother to William, Milton, and Solomon, helped establish a trading post with Louis Vasquez in 1835. The present day, Fort Vasquez, located on Highway 85, next to Platteville, Colorado, is a reconstruction. After selling the trading post in 1840, Andrew left the mountains and was seen in El Pueblo around 1844 and 1845, traveling along the Arkansas River, following herds of American Bison.

Marcelino Baca was a 19th-century Mexican fur trader who helped to establish the fur trade in the American Southwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trapper's Trail</span> Historical trail or road

The Trapper's Trail or Trappers' Trail is a north-south path along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains that links the Great Platte River Road at Fort Laramie and the Santa Fe Trail at Bent's Old Fort. Along this path there were a number of trading posts, also called trading forts.

Fort Le Duc or Fort LeDuc was a square fort and trading post built near Wetmore, Colorado. It was named after trapper Maurice LeDuc or Maurice LeDoux, and constructed around 1830 or 1835.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taos Mountain Trail</span>

The Taos Mountain Trail was the historic pathway for trade and business exchanges between agrarian Taos and the Great Plains (Colorado) from pre-history through the Spanish Colonial period and into the time of the European and American presence. The Taos Mountain Trail, between northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, connected the high mountain traders and their trading partners north and south of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Also called the Trapper's Trail, the pathway was only wide enough for people on foot or horses in single file, but it shortened a trip from Taos to the plains farther north from nearly two weeks to three days in good weather. The Taos Mountain Trail was also known as the Sangre de Cristo Trail and the Aztec Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early history of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado</span> 17th to 19th century history of the valley

The early history of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado began in the 1600s and to the early 1800s when explorers, hunters, trappers, and traders of European descent came to the region. Prior to that, Colorado was home to prehistoric people, including Paleo-Indians, Ancestral Puebloans, and Late prehistoric Native Americans.

The Fort Pueblo massacre was an attack that occurred on December 25, 1854, against Fort Pueblo, Colorado, also known as El Pueblo, a settlement on the north side of the Arkansas River, 1⁄2 mile west of the mouth of Fountain Creek, above the mouth of the Huerfano. The attack followed the deaths of Chief Chico Velasquez and others who died of smallpox after having been given blanket coats which the Muache believed had been deliberately contaminated. Coalition forces of over 100 Muache Utes and Jicarilla Dindes under the leadership of Chief Tierra Blanco led the attack against Fort Pueblo, killing 15 men, and capturing one woman, and two boys. Later on, the Muache killed the woman south of Pueblo along Salt Creek. Two women and one man survived the joint military operation, and the two boys who were captured eventually returned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teresita Sandoval</span> Co-founder of El Pueblo (1811-1894)

Maria Teresa "Teresita" Sandoval Suazo (1811–1894) was among the first women of European heritage to live in the Arkansas Valley of present-day Colorado. She is one of the founders of El Pueblo in the current city of Pueblo, Colorado. She managed a ranch, the Doyle Settlement, in her later years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Autobees</span> Fur trader and American pioneer

Charles Autobees (1812–1882), whose last name was also spelled Urtebise and Ortivis, was a fur trader and pioneer in the American Old West. He was the founder of Autobees, Colorado.

Milk Fort, also known as Fort Leche, Pueblo de Leche, Fort El Puebla, Peebles Fort, and Fort Independence was a trading post and settlement in Otero County, Colorado in the late 1830s. There are no remains of the settlement.

Hardscrabble was a settlement established by traders and trappers in the 1840s near the fork of Adobe and Hardscrabble Creeks in present-day Fremont County, Colorado. It was called San Buenaventura de los Tres Arrollos—for three creeks Newlin, Adobe, and Hardscrabble—by its founders, George Simpson, Joseph Doyle, and Alexander Barclay. The name Hardscrabble became more common.

Alexander Barclay was an American frontiersman. After working in St. Louis as a bookkeeper and clerk, he worked at Bent's Old Fort. He then ventured westward where he was a trapper, hunter, and trader. Barclay entered into a common-law relationship with Teresita Sandoval, one of the founders of the settlement and trading post El Pueblo. He helped settle Hardscrabble, Colorado and built Fort Barclay in New Mexico.

Jimmy's Camp was a trading post established in 1833. The site is east of present-day Colorado Springs, Colorado on the southeast side of U.S. Route 24 and east of the junction with State Highway 94. Located along Trapper's Trail / Cherokee Trail, it was a rest stop for travelers and was known for its spring. Jimmy Camp was a ranch by 1870 and then a railway station on a spur of the Colorado and Southern Railway. After the ranch was owned by several individuals, it became part of the Banning Lewis Ranch. Now the land is an undeveloped park in Colorado Springs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte and Dick Green</span>

Charlotte and Dick Green were enslaved African Americans who worked at Bent's Fort along the Santa Fe Trail in the southwestern frontier, in what is now Colorado. The couple and Dick's brother Andrew came to the fort with Charles and William Bent in the early 1800s and became key figures in the history of the trading post. Charlotte, also called "Black Charlotte", was known for her tasty food and fandango dancing. Dick Green was particularly well known for his role as a soldier, avenging the assassination of then Governor Charles Bent during the Taos Revolt. For his bravery, the Greens were freed and returned to Missouri.

John Brown (1817-1889) was a mountain man and trader in the Arkansas River valley in Colorado in the 1840s. From the 1850s until his death he was a prominent businessman and citizen of San Bernardino, California.

References

  1. 1 2 Glenn R. Scott (2004) [1975], "Historic Trail Maps of the Pueblo 1° x 2° Quadrangle, Colorado" (PDF), U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, p. 50
  2. 1 2 Sons of Colorado. W. C. Bishop. 1907. p. 13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "El Pueblo". Colorado Encyclopedia. November 18, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  4. ↑ Wilson, Elinor (1972). Jim Beckwourth: Black Mountain Man And War Chief Of The Crows. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 103. ISBN   978-0-8061-1555-9.
  5. ↑ Towell III, Ph.D., John (2020). "Pueblo Founder: Mountain Man Jim Beckwourth". The Pueblo Lore. 46 (6): 1–5 – via The Pueblo County Historical Society.
  6. 1 2 3 Maxine Benson; Duane A. Smith; Carl Ubbelohde (December 4, 2015). A Colorado History, 10th Edition. Graphic Arts Books. pp. 60–61. ISBN   978-0-87108-323-4.
  7. ↑ Janet Lecompte (November 1, 1980). Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: Society on the High Plains, 1832-1856. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 51. ISBN   978-0-8061-1723-2.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jessen, Kenneth (May 3, 2014). "Replica of El Pueblo remains". Reporter-Herald. Loveland, Colorado. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  9. 1 2 Broadhead, Edward (1995). Fort Pueblo (Fourth ed.). Pueblo, Colorado: Pueblo County Historical Society. p. 23. ISBN   0-915617-01-3.
  10. ↑ Drea Knufken; John Daters (June 3, 2013). Backroads & Byways of Colorado: Drives, Day Trips & Weekend Excursions (Second ed.). Countryman Press. p. 241. ISBN   978-1-58157-161-5.
  11. ↑ Lecompte, Janet (1978). Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: The Upper Arkansas, 1832-1856 . Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. pp.  35–53, 54–62, 63–85, 246–253. ISBN   0-8061-1462-2. Sometime during the winter of 1841-42 George Simpson and Robert Fisher met with other men and planned the Pueblo.
  12. 1 2 Frank Hall (1891). History of the State of Colorado, Embracing Accounts of the Pre-historic Races and Their Remains. Blakely print. Company. p. 447.
  13. ↑ Dodds, Joanne West (1982). Pueblo: A Pictorial History. Virginia Beach, Virginia: Donning. pp. 16, 23. ISBN   0-89865-281-2.
  14. ↑ "El Pueblo History Museum". History Colorado. Retrieved June 10, 2018.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.