Fort Morgan, Colorado: Long's Expedition

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Early Views of the Mountains

Early travelers through the Fort Morgan area write of long miles of prairie, huge horse-flies, and buffalo – thousands and thousands of buffalo. Sometimes these travelers encountered Indians and sometimes they did not, but nearly all rejoiced at their first view of the mountains which occurred around the Fort Morgan area.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Bijeau of Bijou Creek

In the early 19th century, various fur trapping companies set up posts along the front range of the Rocky Mountains in what is now Colorado. Trappers working for these companies went out into the wilderness, including the lands along the South Platte River, to trap beaver and buffalo sending the prized pelts back east. The trappers left little written evidence of their travels, but a few were known to have traveled along the South Platte River and likely through the Fort Morgan area including: William H. Ashley, Jim Beckwourth , John Gantt, Andrew Sublette and Kit Carson . But one trapper is of particular interest as a major landmark in the Fort Morgan area still bears his name.

Bijou Creek...

Historic Overview

From my youth I brought with me only a vague impression of the history of the small town in which I was raised. Fort Morgan, Colorado, built on the site of a short-lived military fort in the heart of the great American desert; a fort that had never been attacked, never seen a battle. On little more than a whim I went in search of the fort’s operational dates (1864-1868), expecting this information would come readily to hand and that would end my curiosity - the fort once again fading into the midst of vague memory. To my surprise, I instead found a door opening to the history of the west.

The history of Fort Morgan will never rival that of Denver or glisten with the same gold dust of the mountain mining towns, but this little town on the plains of Colorado was central to the story of the Romantic west; it's story connecting with the major events of the age. Everyone has a history and every place is central to a story. What follows is the story from the land - of the land - on which Fort Morgan would rise.