Up Fountain Creek

The old trail led north from the Arkansas Crossing up the broad valley of Fountain Creek. This little stream was christened Rio de San Buenaventura by the Spaniard Ulibarri, Rio de Sacramento by Governor Juan Bautista de Anza. Later French traders named it Fontaine qui Bouille (Boiling Fountain Creek), in obvious reference to the upstream springs of Manitou. The correct French spelling gradually deteriorated into Fontaine qui Bouit, Fontainee Qui Boniat, Fountain Qui Bourat, and Fountain Chabougha. Today it is known simply as Fountain Creek.

Juan Bautista de Anza, 31 August – 1 September 1779.

Governor Juan Bautista de Anza had come north from Santa Fe through the mountains with a force of 600 soldiers, including some 200 allied Utes and Apaches. His mission: to punish the Comanches and their arrogant leader, Cuerno Verde (Green Horn), for their frequent depredations against the Spanish settlements. Somewhere along Fountain Creek, Anza’s expeditionary force routed a large band of Comanches, who were awaiting the return of Cuerno Verde from the south. An Indian trail – the same trail that would someday become known as the Trappers Trail – was then followed down Fountain Creek, across the Arkansas River, to the foot of what later became known as Greenhorn Mountain. There Cuerno Verde and his son were killed, and the surviving Comanches scattered.

“[somewhere along Fountain Creek] ...I resolved to attack without delay. This was made from right, left, and center .... They [the Comanches] had already caught all their horses, the mounts as well as the spare ones, but withal they did not sally forth as customarily to meet the troop, whom they observed drawn up in a form they had never before seen. Consequently, all being mounted, even to the women and children, they undertook precipitous flight, notwithstanding that the number of familes equalled more than one hundred and twenty tents, whose wooden frames only had been set up. Disregarding this, we pursued them in best order possible. In three leagues we began to overtake the men, who faced us. The fight with them lasted about another league, during which we succeeded in killing eighteen of the most valiant and wounding many.
“It was necessary to take more than thirty women and children, the latter running where their fathers were. Thirty-four of these were captured, besides all the horse herd, more than five hundred head. This was the last thing done, after the horses could run no farther. None escaped except the mounts of the Indians fleeing. They lost all their goods and baggage; even the mosy necessary articles they abandoned where they had begun to make their camp ....
“At half-past four I returned to the watering place where the defeated enemy had been encamped. To this place the name of Rio del Sacramento [Fountain Creek] was given, this expedition having been dedicated to this most Holy Mystery.
“Notwithstanding that from the time the first prisoners were taken, I asked questions...I drew nothing certain from them until nine o'clock at night, when the last two informed me that their chief or captain-general, Cuerno Verde, having gone with four of his principal captains and many of his people on a campaign to our country, had ordered them all to gather at this place to receive him and celebrate the triumph that he flattered himself he would secure ....
“With this information...I determined to follow the trail of Cuerno Verde ....
“...I came upon it at ten o'clock, and having ordered that the advance scouts should always travel to the right and left of it, by day as well as by night, I pressed ahead. After seven leagues in the direction of the east-southeast, night forced a stop at the end of the same Sacramento River because many of the settlers' horses were jaded.
“A little before seven we forged ahead to the south, and after traveling three leagues recrossed the Rio de Napestle (Arkansas River) where we found horses of the enemy whom we were following. These were caught.”

Source: Forgotten Frontiers, A Study of the Spanish Indian Policy of Don Juam Bautista De Anza, translated into English, edited and annotated by Alfred Barnaby Thomas. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932).

John R. Bell, 12 July 1820.

Bell came west with the Long Scientific Expedition of 1820. The purpose of the expedition was to explore the southwestern boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition reached the Rocky Mountains via the South Platte River. They chose to proceed south along the Front Range, not by way of the old trail, but rather on a parallel route through the foothills. Unfortunately, this route took them so clse to the mountains that no one noticed the “higest Peake” (Pikes Peak) they were searching for. Only after rounding Cheyenne Mountain and sighting the Spanish Peaks to the south did the embarrassed guide realize the mistake. Major Long ordered “a retregrade movement” to allow the scientific members of the part an opportunity of visiting Pikes Peak. Camp was made along Fountain Creek, some distance below the mouth of Jimmy Camp Creek.

Fountain Creek

“Wednesday July 12th. [On the banks of Fountain Creek] ...where we arrived about 11 o'clock a.m., the same stream we left yesterday at 1 o'clock p.m. - here we halted and encamped - having a fine view of the sides and sumits of the mountains. Immediately sent out all our hunters & marksmen in search of game, not having eat meat since yesterday evening, and our allowance of cornmeal reduced to one pint per man for three days - before 4 o'clock p.m. they had all come in, having killed one buffalo and 4 deer. We again feasting on abundance of choice meat, around us is exhibited a curious and interesting sight - on one side is arranged a sparerib of a buffalo, the head of a deer, 8 or 10 pieces of buffalo meat of different sizes, all supported to the heat of the fire on small sticks - the opposite side of the fire is decorated in same manner, except in place of the rib and head, is two saddles of venison, suspended from the ends of short sticks, drove oblikely into the ground - what a sight!
“What a feast for an epicure!! Between 1 & 2 o'clock p.m. a shower of rain passed over from the direction of the mountains, which in an hour after, had increased the quantity of water in the creek to at least ten fold what it was before the shower~ when it was clear and pleasant to drink, but after the shower, it was thick with buffalo dung, washed from the bottom and prairies accompanied with a most intolerable stench, which impregnated the atmosphere for a considerable from the creek - another shower between 5 & 6 o'clock p.m. passed over accompanied with thunder, lightening & hail, which added to the rise of water & the filth floating in it - we were obliged to make use of this water - dipped it up in kettles & let it stand to settle the sand - then skim off the dung from the surface, pour off the water from the sand remaining in the bottom of the vessel. This clarified, we used it to drink and to boil our meat in, but the disagreeable smell remained in our camp ....”

Source: "The Journal of Captain John R. Bell," edited by Harlin M. Fuller and LeRoy R. Hafen. The Far West and Rockies Historical Series 1820-1875 (Glendale, CA: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1957).

Captain Lemul ford, 29 July 1835.

Captain Ford belonged to the First Regiment of U.S. Dragoons, who marched west under Colonel Dodge in order to encourage peaceful relations with the Plains Indians. The dragoons followed the Long Expedition’s route up the South Platte River and down along the Front Range of the Rockies to the base of Pikes Peak. There the Colonel declared a day of rest. The next morning his rejuvenated troops turned south down the old trail which paralleled Fountain Creek. The scenic wonders of that day’s march found their way into Captain Ford’s journal.

“Yesterday morning at 10 o'clock, we bade farewell to our snug little camp near Pike's Peak, and following an Indian trail about forty-five miles, we struck the Arkansas river, a short distance below the point where it leaves the mountains. The first thirty-six miles of our march lay along the left bank of the Fontaine qui bouille, and parallel with the mountains.
“The valley through which this beautiful stream has its course is unsurpassed, I verily believe, by any spot on earth, in all those natural advantages of soil, climate, and scenery, which have so long rendered Italy and Switzerland famous in song and story. The soil is composed of a rich black mould, and covered with most luxuriant grass, and an innumerable variety of flowers. Through the centre of this valley, which is from one to three miles wide, the Fontaine qui bouille is seen winding along, with its banks studded with timber, its water as clear as crystal, and nearly as cold as the snow from which it is formed. While standing on the bank of this lovely little stream, viewing its sparkling, dancing current, as it murmured along like a thing of life, it was really an unpleasant reflection, that in a few short miles this proud little river would be overwhelmed and swallowed up by that red-faced, filthy, loathsome monster, the Arkansas.”

Source: "A Summer Upon The Prairie," by Captain Lemul Ford. Army and Navy Chronicles, Vols.II & III, 1836.

John C. Fremont, 12 - 13 July 1843.

Fremont was on his way down Fountain Creek to the Pueblo, where he hoped to buy supplies and mules for his second expedition. On his return five days later, he managed a visit to the boiling springs from which the creek took its name.

“...encamped in the afternoon on the Fontaine qui-bouit (or Boiling Spring) river, where it was 50 feet wide, with a swift current. I afterwards found that the spring and river owe their names to the bubbling of the effervesing gas in the former, and not to the temperature of the water, which is cold ....
“July 13.- ...We resumed our journey very easy down the river, following an extremely good lodge-trail, which issues by the head of this stream from the Bayou Salade, a high mountain valley behind Pike's peak. The soil along the road was sandy and gravelly, and the river well timbered. We halted to noon under the shade of some fine large cottonwoods, our animals luxuriating on rushes (equisetum byemale,) which, along this river, were remarkably abundant. A variety of cactus made its appearance, and among several strange plants were numerous and beautiful clusters of a plant resembling mirabills jalapa, with a handsome convolvulus I had not hitherto seen, (calystegia). In the afternoon we passed near the encampment of a hunter named Maurice, who had been out into the plains in pursuit of buffalo calves, a number of which I saw among some domestic cattle near his lodge. Shortly afterwards, a party of mountaineers galloped up to us - fine-looking and hardy men, dressed in skins and mounted on good fat horses; among them were several Connecticut men, a portion of Wyeth's party, whom I had seen the year before, and others were men from the Western States.”

Source: "The Expeditions of John Charles Fremont,' ed. by Donald Jackson and Mary Le Spence. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1970).

George Ruxton, April 1847.

During the early spring of 1847 Ruxton was in camp at the base of Pikes Peak. He had originally intended to stay two or three months, but was soon driven from the area by a large fire that “extended into the prairie towards the waters of the Platte, upwards of forty miles, and for fourteen days its glare was visible on the Arkansas fifty miles distant.” The flames and smoke forced Ruxton to move his camp several dozen miles down Fountain Creek.

“I then encamped in a thickly-timbered bottom on the Fontaine-qui bouille, where the ground, which had been burned by the hunters in the winter, was studded like a wheatfield with green grass. On this the animals fared sumptuously for several days - better, indeed, than I did myself, for game was very scarce, and in such poor condition as to be almost uneatable. While enacamped on this stream, the wolves infested the camp to that degree that I could scarcely leave my saddles for a few minutes on the ground without finding the straps of rawhide gnawed to pieces; and one night the hungry brutes ate up all the ropes which were tied on the necks of the animals and trailed along the ground; they were actually devoured to within a yard of the mules' throats. One evening a wolf came into camp as I was engaged in cleaning my rifle, one barrel of which was still serviceable, and a long hickory wiping stick in it at the time. As I was hidden by a tree, the wolf approached the fire within a few feet, and was soon tugging away at the apishamore or saddleclth of buffalo calfskin which lay on the ground. Without dreaming that the rifle would go off, I put a cap on the useless barrel, and, holding it out across my knee in a line with the wolf, snap - ph-i-zz - bang - went the charge of damp powder, much to my astonishment, igniting the stick which remained in the barrel, and driving it like a fiery comet against the ribs of the beast, who, yelling with pain, darted into the prairie at the top of his speed, his singed hair smoking as he ran.”

Source: Ruxton of the Rockies, collected by Clyde and Mae Reed Porter, ed. by LeRoy R. Hafen. (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1950).

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