Alexander Barclay (May 21, 1810 – December 1855) was an American frontiersman. After working in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

as a bookkeeper and clerk, he worked at Bent's Old Fort. He then ventured westward where he was a trapper, hunter, and trader. Barclay entered into a common-law relationship with Teresita Sandoval, one of the founders of the settlement and trading post El Pueblo. He helped settle Hardscrabble, Colorado and built Fort Barclay in New Mexico.

Early life

Born May 21, 1810, Barclay was raised by his mother, since his father was proven improvident. He had a brother George and sister Mary, with whom he would correspond throughout his life. He was said to have been raised in "genteel poverty". Barclay worked in

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, England as a corset maker as a young adult. He sold his business for 80 pounds and sought off for a new life by sailing for Canada in 1833, having been inspired by the actions of two friends. Arriving ill from his trip, he was quarantined in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

for a time and then traveled to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, and then settled north of

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

. He built a simple windowless log lodge, lived there with friends, and farmed the 120 acres he had obtained. After his cabin burned down with all of his possessions, he moved to St. Louis, arriving there in 1836. He first worked for one of his English friends as a bookkeeper. Barclay then got a job on a Mississippi River-cruising steamboat as a clerk.

Frontier life

Bent's Fort

Interested in exploring the frontiers of the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

, and tired of the mosquitos and humidity, Barclay took employment with the Bent, St. Vrain & Company. After surviving a serious illness he caught during the journey west, he began work in 1838 in present-day

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

at Bent's Old Fort on the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

. Barclay was a bookkeeper and superintendent of stores. He lived on a simple diet of game, occasionally bread, and no vegetables. Initially, he had difficulty managing the simple diet, the lack of trees, and the commotion from some of the Native Americans who lived outside the walls of the fort; the

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

were especially troubling to him. He grew accustomed to the new landscape, including the views of the

Spanish Peaks The Spanish Peaks are a pair of prominent mountains located in southwestern Huerfano County, Colorado. The Comanche people call them Huajatolla ( ) or Wa-ha-toy-yah meaning "double mountain" The two peaks, East Spanish Peak at elevation and ...

in the distance, and the experiences of meeting varied people along the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the ...

. For much of the year, Barclay was in charge of the fort while the Bent brothers were trading at

Fort Saint Vrain Fort Saint Vrain was an 1837 fur trading post built by the Bent, St. Vrain Company, and located at the confluence of Saint Vrain Creek and the South Platte River, about 20 miles (32 km) east of the Rocky Mountains in the unorganized terri ...

Taos Taos or TAOS may refer to: Places * Taos County, New Mexico, United States ** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico *** Taos art colony, an art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico ** Taos Pueblo, a Native American ...

, or traveling on the Santa Fe Trail. Barclay was made responsible for a wagon train bound for St. Louis in the summer of 1842. Instead of taking the customary trail, he was to travel north to the

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwestern United States, Midwest and the American Sou ...

and put the wagons on rafts, which was unsuccessful due to the low water level. He arrived at St. Louis, but decided to leave the trading company.

El Pueblo

After he tried raising buffalo calves, he began trapping in 1843-44 for furs along the upper Arkansas River. He also hunted for buffalo, moving north and westward. He had difficulty both in finding sufficient animals to obtain furs, and did not make much money when he tried to sell what he did get in St. Louis, due to a drop in demand. In 1844, he moved to the El Pueblo trading post to work as a trader. He met up with former friends, Dick Wooten, Joseph B. Doyle, George S. Simpson, and Mathew Kinkead. His trading business included travel through the mountains and plains of Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico and to St. Louis. For instance, in 1846 Barclay traveled in a circuit to

Ute Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute people, a Native American people of the Great Basin * Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah * Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah * Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern ...

camps in the Upper Arkansas River valley,

San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, making it the largest alpine valley in the world. It extends from the Continental Divide on ...

, and

Wet Mountains The Wet Mountains are a small mountain range in southern Colorado, named for the amount of snow they receive in the winter as compared to the dry Great Plains to the east. They are a sub-range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the southern Roc ...

. This became one method of trading, aside from operating trading posts and attending annual

Rocky Mountain Rendezvous The Rocky Mountain Rendezvous was an annual rendezvous, held between 1825 and 1840 at various locations, organized by a fur trading company at which trappers and mountain men sold their furs and hides and replenished their supplies. The fur co ...

, after fur trading shifted from beaver pelts to buffalo skins. In addition to furs, Barclay also received livestock and

castoreum Castoreum is a yellowish exudate from the castor sacs of mature beavers used in combination with urine to territorial marking, scent mark their territory. Both beaver sexes have a pair of castor sacs and a pair of anal glands, located in two c ...

glands in trade.

Hardscrabble

Around 1843, Barclay met Teresita Sandoval, one of the founders of El Pueblo and the common-law wife of Mathew Kinkead. She was also the mother-in-law of George Simpson and Joseph Doyle. In 1844, Barclay moved with the 33-year-old grandmother and her children to Hardscrabble, where Barclay and Sandoval's son-in-laws built the settlement. Sandoval helped establish the settlement at Hardscrabble and Greenhorn. Kinkead had moved to California with their son, Juan. At Hardscrabble, Barclay and Sandoval operated a store, raised horses and cows, and grew crops. Native Americans and wolves depleted their stock, and they had difficulty with most of their crops. In January 1846, he recorded in his journal that the "Arapahoes threatened to rub me out", during a trip to

Fort Laramie Fort Laramie (; founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte Rivers. They joi ...

. In June of that year, after much of his crop was killed by a heavy frost, he learned of the onset of the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, which might bring Mexican soldiers to the Hardscrabble area. Barclay was made

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

of the upper Arkansas area in 1846 after the Americans conquest of New Mexico. Even though Hardscrabble was located within the Mexican Republic, Barclay continued to travel after the war began in May 1847 to El Pueblo to trade, dance, and socialize. He and Sandoval also hosted others from the Arkansas Valley, including friends from Bent's Fort. Making use of his skills as a corset-maker, Barclay had been making hand-sewn garments out of buckskin. He hunted for large game in the area, and he imported cats to take care of the rats in the corn crib. His trading business saw a boost in the arrival of troops to fight in the war; they bought corn and mules. In August, about 500 Mormons set up a temporary settlement near Pueblo, thereby increasing his business activity. He then lived in Pueblo for about a year, trading at the fort. After several skirmishes in the area with Native Americans, Barclay sold his property in Pueblo. Over the years, he traded at Fort Saint Vrain (near present-day Denver) and in Taos, traveling via the Trapper's Trail (versus traveling along the native's superhighway, Huerfano River trail).

Fort Barclay

Barclay reportedly moved to

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

to build a permanent house for Sandoval. He left Hardscrabble with their belongs, children, and animals for an area near

Mora Mora may refer to: People * José Maria Mora (1847–1926), Cuban-American photographer, often credited as "Mora" * Mora (singer) (born 1996), a Puerto Rican singer * Mora (surname), a Spanish name (includes a list of people with the name) Plac ...

and La Junta Canyon in April 1848. They built adobe houses and began planting crops, including wheat, corn, and "California pumpkins". They were near sources of supplies and being along the Santa Fe Trail, they could employee travelers as hired hands. That year, Barclay and Doyle built Fort Barclay at the confluence of

and Sapello Rivers (east of present-day Holman, New Mexico). It was 64-foot square, with two stories, two circular

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s, and a courtyard with a well. It had a block of buildings, adobe and log houses, corrals, a blacksmith, and dams. Travelers of the Santa Fe Trail lodged at his fort. His trading post sold a wide range of goods, including whiskey, his homemade wine, and livestock. It was a strong fortress, but it was also damp. He tried to sell it to the U.S. Army, but they refused and built Fort Union. Barclay was described as broken when the fort was not sold to the Army. Soon after, Joseph Doyle left on October 10, 1853, with a number of families, including Sandoval, her son Tomas, and other family members. It is also stated that Sandoval stayed with him until his death. Barclay died in December 1855 at the fort. He was 45 years of age. He was "a very quiet, cool and considerate gentleman", known for his intellect and dignity. His papers, sketches, and correspondence are in the

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collection in

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