Arkansas River-Fountain Creek Crossroads

The confluence of Fountain Creek and the Arkansas River in modern-day Pueblo was a favorite winter campground of the western Indians. It was used not only by the Mountain Utes, but also by the nomadic tribes of the plains - first by the Apache, then by the Comanchee, and finally by the Kiowa, the Pawnee, the Arapahoe and the Cheyenne.

With the arrival of American explorers, traders and trappers in the early 19th century, the old Indian campground became the site of several temporary structures: the 1806 breastwork of Zebulon Pike, the 1820 cabin of Jacob Fowler, the log trading posts of three competing trading houses, the adobe Pueblo of independant traders, the cottonwood cabins of Mormontown, and the gold rush town of Fountain City.