List of forts in Colorado
List of forts in the U.S. State of Colorado
The location of the State of Colorado in the United States of America .
Bent's Old Fort 's internal courtyard and fur press
This is a list of military and trading forts established in what is now the U.S. State of Colorado .
History
The initial forts, built in the first half of the 19th century, were early communities of commerce between Native Americans, trappers, and traders. William Butler, who wrote about the fur trade in Colorado, stated that there were 24 trading posts built in the pre-territorial area of what is now Colorado .[ 1] The trading posts were of varying sizes. Gantt's Post had several small wooden buildings located along Fountain Creek . Near Pueblo, Fort Le Duc (Buzzard's Roost) was a small settlement. Bent's Old Fort was a large adobe stockade on the Arkansas River . Multiple trading posts were built along a 13-mile stretch of the South Platte River in the late 1830s: Fort Jackson , Fort Lupton , and Fort Vasquez . In the early 1840s, the fur trade collapsed and most of the trading posts were closed, although some served early communities of miners and farmers. Bent's Old Fort continued to operate as it was located on the Santa Fe Trail , serving people from the United States and the New Spain areas of what is now New Mexico.[ 1]
Table of Colorado forts
Name
Other names
Location
Current county
Year founded
Year abandoned
Type
Status
Pike's Stockade
Sanford
Conejos
1807
1807
U.S. Army stockade
Reproduction[ 2]
Spanish Fort
Fort Sangre de Cristo
Sangre de Cristo Pass
Costilla
1819
1821
Spanish Army fort
[ 2]
Fort Talpa
Farisita
Huerfano
1820s
Spanish post
[ 2] [ 3]
Fort Uncompahgre
Fort Robidoux
Delta area
Delta
1820s
1844
Trading post
Reconstruction[ 2]
Gantt's Picket Post
Fort Gantt
Las Animas
Bent
1832
1834
Trading post
No remains[ 4]
Fort Cass
Pueblo area
Pueblo
1834
1835
Trading post
No remains[ 4]
Fort Convenience
Welby area
Adams
1834
1835
Trading post
No remains[ 4]
Bent's Old Fort
Fort William[ a]
La Junta area
Otero
1834
1849
Trading post
National Historic Site and museum[ 4]
Fort Le Duc
Fort Maurice, Buzzard's Roost, El Cuervo
Wetmore area
Custer
1830s
1854
Trading post
No remains[ 4]
Fort Vasquez
Platteville
Weld
1835
1842
Trading post
Restored and museum[ 4]
Fort Jackson
Ione area
Weld
1837
1838
Trading post
Foundation remains[ 4]
Fort Lupton
Fort Lawrence
Fort Lupton
Weld
1837
1844
Trading post
Reconstructed[ 4]
Fort Saint Vrain
Fort George, Fort Lookout
Platteville
Weld
1837
1855
Trading post
Historical marker[ 4]
Fort Gerry
Kersey area
Weld
late 1830s
1840s
Trading post
[ 5]
Milk Fort
Fort Leche, Pueblo de Leche, Fort El Puebla, Peebles Fort, Fort Independence
Las Animas
Otero
late 1830s
Trading post / settlement
No remains[ 4] [ 5] [ 6]
Fort Davy Crockett
Fort Misery
Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge
Moffat
late 1830s
Trading post
[ 4]
Fraeb's Post
Fort Fraeb
Steamboat Springs area
Routt
1840
1841
Trading post
No remains[ 4]
El Pueblo
Fort Pueblo, Fort Nepesta, Fort Fisher, Fort Juana, Fort Spaulding, Robert Fisher's Fort
Pueblo
Pueblo
1842
1854
Trading Post
No remains[ 6] [ 7]
Fort Huerfano
Avondale
Pueblo
1845
Encampment
No remains[ 8] [ 9] [ 5]
Mormon Battalion and The Vanguard Company of 1847, Mormon Trail
Fort Independence
Pueblo
Pueblo
1846
1847
Mormon homes
No remains[ 7]
Fort Massachusetts
Fort Garland
Costilla
1852
1858
U.S. Army fort
Archaeological site[ 7]
Bent's New Fort
See Fort Lyon 1
Lamar area
Bent
1853
1860
Trading post
Foundation remains[ 7]
Fort Garland
Fort Garland
Costilla
1858
1883
U.S. Army fort
Reconstructed[ 7]
Fort Namaqua
Modena's Crossing, Namaqua Station, Mariano's Crossing, Big Thompson, Miraville
Loveland
Larimer
1858 or 1859
1868+
Trading post
Historical marker at Namaqua Park[ 7] [ 10] [ 11]
Fort Mary B
Fort Independence, Fort Independent, Fort Breckenridge, Fort Meribeh
Breckenridge
Summit
1859
Stockade
No remains[ 12]
Fort Lyon 1
Fort Fauntleroy, Fort Wise
Lamar area
Prowers
1860
1867
U.S. Army fort
Destroyed by fire[ 7] [ 13]
Fort Weld
Denver
Denver
1861
1865
U.S. Army post
Historical marker at 8th/Vallejo[ 7]
Camp Collins / Fort Collins
Fort Collins
Larimer
1862
1867
U.S. Army camp / fort
No remains[ 14]
Francisco Fort
Fort Francisco
La Veta
Huerfano
1862
1902
Civilian fort
Refurbished, now a museum[ 14] [ 15]
Fort Morgan
Camp Tyler, Camp Wardwell
Fort Morgan
Morgan
1864
1868
U.S. Army post
Historical marker in city park[ 14]
Fort Wicked
Merino
Logan
1864
1868
House
Historical marker at US-6/CR-26[ 14]
Fort Sedgwick
Post at Julesburg, Camp Rankin, Fort Ranking
Sedgwick
Sedgwick
1864
1871
U.S. Army post
Historical marker[ 14] [ 5]
Fort Reynolds
Avondale
Pueblo
1867
1872
U.S. Army post
Historical marker[ 14]
Fort Lyon 2
Las Animas
Bent
1867
1897
U.S. Army post
[ 14]
Fort Lewis 1
Cantonment at Pagosa Springs
Pagosa Springs
Archuleta
1878
1880
U.S. Army post
Site is a city park[ 14]
Fort Flagler
Camp at Animas City
Durango
La Plata
1879
Temporary stockades
[ 14]
Fort Meeker
Cantonment on White River
Meeker
Rio Blanco
1879
1883
U.S. Army camp
Quarters refurbished, museum[ 14]
Fort Lewis 2
Hesperus
La Plata
1880
1891
U.S. Army post
Converted to Indian boarding school
Fort Crawford
Cantonment at Uncompahgre
Montrose
Montrose
1880
1891
U.S. Army post
Historical marker[ 14]
Fort Narraguinnep
Dolores area
Montezuma
1885
Rancher's fort
U.S. Forest Service sign[ 14]
Fort Logan
Fort Sheridan
southwest Denver
Denver and Arapahoe
1887
1946
U.S. Army post
One building is a museum[ 14] [ 5]
Notes
^ Between 1830 and 1834, William Bent operated Fort William near what is now Pueblo. It was also called Bent's Picket Post.[ 2]
See also
References
^ a b Newton, Cody (April 6, 2015). "Nineteenth-Century Trading Posts" . Colorado Encyclopedia . Retrieved June 7, 2018 .
^ a b c d e Jolie Anderson Gallagher (April 2, 2013). Colorado Forts: Historic Outposts on the Wild Frontier . Arcadia Publishing Incorporated. p. PT8. ISBN 978-1-61423-903-1 .
^ Best Books on (1941). Colorado, a Guide to the Highest State . Best Books on. p. 350. ISBN 978-1-62376-006-9 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jolie Anderson Gallagher (April 2, 2013). Colorado Forts: Historic Outposts on the Wild Frontier . Arcadia Publishing Incorporated. p. PT9. ISBN 978-1-61423-903-1 .
^ a b c d e Phil Payette; Pete Payette. "Colorado forts - Fort Huerfano" . American Forts Network. Retrieved June 6, 2018 .
^ a b 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 , pp. 4, 50
^ a b c d e f g h Jolie Anderson Gallagher (April 2, 2013). Colorado Forts: Historic Outposts on the Wild Frontier . Arcadia Publishing Incorporated. p. PT10. ISBN 978-1-61423-903-1 .
^ Frank Hall (1891). History of the State of Colorado, Embracing Accounts of the Pre-historic Races and Their Remains . Blakely print. Company. p. 446.
^ Colorado Magazine . State Historical Society of Colorado, State Museum. 1966. p. 281.
^ From the Grave: A Roadside Guide to Colorado's Pioneer Cemeteries . Caxton Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-87004-565-3 .
^ Jessen, Kenneth (July 26, 2014). "Spanish-Speaking Mariano Medina built a fort" . Reporter-Herald . Loveland, Colorado. Retrieved June 10, 2018 .
^ Hague, Rick (November 30, 2015). "How the early runs on Peak 7 at Breckenridge got their names" . Summit Daily . Retrieved June 13, 2018 .
^ Thomas J. Noel (May 29, 2015). Colorado: A Historical Atlas . University of Oklahoma Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8061-5353-7 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Jolie Anderson Gallagher (April 2, 2013). Colorado Forts: Historic Outposts on the Wild Frontier . Arcadia Publishing Incorporated. p. PT11. ISBN 978-1-61423-903-1 .
^ Dawson, John Frank. Place names in Colorado: why 700 communities were so named, 150 of Spanish or Indian origin . Denver, CO: The J. Frank Dawson Publishing Co. p. 31.
External links
Overview Trading posts and civilian forts
U.S. and Spanish military forts
Extinct or museums Active National cemeteries Major events
Related articles
38°59′50″N 105°32′52″W / 38.9972°N 105.5478°W / 38.9972; -105.5478 (State of Colorado )