Richens Lacey Wootton

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Richens Lacey Wootton
Richens-Lacey-Wootton.jpg
Richens Lacey Wootton
Bornc. 1816
Virginia
Died1893 (aged 7677)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationFrontiersman

Richens Lacy (or Lacey) Wootton (c. 1816 - 1893), often referred to as "Uncle Dick" Wootton, was an American frontiersman born in Virginia, but lived most of his life in what is now Colorado,much of it before the formation of Colorado.

In his early life Wootton was a mountain man and trapper, then a hunter at Bent's Fort. In 1866, he hired a tribe of Utes under Chief Conniache to build a toll road through Raton Pass. He later sold the road to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad [1] and the railroad named one of their locomotives after him. [2]

He appears as a character in Flashman and the Redskins when Flashman employs him as a guide. Flashman and his caravan are forced to abandon him when he catches cholera.

He is referenced in Michener's "Centennial ".

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References

  1. "Richens Lacy "Uncle Dick" Wootton". www.sangres.com.
  2. "Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society : Resources". old.atsfrr.org.

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