Log Trading Posts

Competing Indian traders built three stockades at the mouth of Fountain Creek in the years 1836-38. One was a hollow square of logs belonging to Lancaster P. Lupton. The other two were owned by the firms of Bent & St. Vrain and Sarpy & Fraeb. All three were intended for winter use only. All were abandoned and in decay by the early 1840’s.

E. Williard Smith, 7 September 1839.

Smith rode west over the Santa Fe Trail with the supply train of Vasquez and Sublette. With him went twenty-seven men and four wagonloads of goods destined for the Indian trade on the South Platte River.

“We ate our dinner at a creek called Fontaine Quibouille, boilinq Spring, called so on account of the manner in which it boils from the mountain. We found a great quantity of wild plums on the banks of this creek. Saw signs of grisly bear in this vicinity. This is a famous resort in the winter for the Arapahoes and Shian Indians. The traders have houses here for trading with them in the winter.”

Source: "With Fur Traders in Colorado, 1839-40, The Journal of E. Willard Smith," with an introduction and notes by LeRoy R. Hafen. The Colorado Magazine, Vol.XXVII, No.3 (July, 1950).