Autobees, also known as Autobees Plaza, is an

extinct town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

located in

Pueblo County Pueblo County ( or ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 168,162. The county seat is Pueblo. The county was named for the historic city of Pueblo which took its name from the Spanish la ...

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 ...

, United States. Founded in 1853, Autobees Plaza was the original seat of Huerfano County, Colorado Territory from its creation on November 1, 1861 until 1868. In 1868, the county seat moved to Badito, which was on a main trail along the foothills. When Autobees was the county seat, Huerfano County was almost the entire southeastern portion of the state. Now, the site of the former settlement is within

Pueblo County, Colorado Pueblo County ( or ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 168,162. The county seat is Pueblo, Colorado, Pueblo. The county was named for the historic city of Pu ...

History

Fort Huerfano

Charles Autobees Charles Autobees (1812–1882), whose last name was also spelled Urtebise and Ortivis, was a fur trader and pioneer in the American Old West. He was the founder of Autobees, Colorado. Early life Charles Autobees was born in St. Louis in 1812 to ...

had a small encampment about 1845 or 1846 on the Huerfano River. The site later became the county seat of Huerfano County. The encampment has been called Fort Huerfano. Across the Arkansas River from the mouth of the Huerfano River was an old Cherokee trail and campground, which is now the town of Boone, Colorado.

Settlement

He left

Taos, New Mexico Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...

and settled in the area in 1853, establishing a ranch two miles from the confluence of the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

and

Huerfano River Huerfano River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in Pueblo and Huerfano counties in Colorado, United States.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed March 31, 2011 Descr ...

s. He built the ranch within the four million acre Vigil and St. Vrain Land Grant, a Mexican

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

. His goal was to establish a colony near his ranch. There were Native American and Mexican people living at his ranch. The settlement was also called New Huerfano. Autobees never had a post office. He and other residents of the settlement farmed the land, using irrigation ditches for watering the plants. Autobees ran a ferry service across the Arkansas River, which was used by soldiers of the nearby Fort Reynolds. He remained at his ranch until his death. There are no remains of the ranch due to floods and other issues, but there is a monument to Charles Autobees near the site.

References

External links

State of Colorado

History ColoradoEarly Colorado map
{{authority control 1853 establishments in unorganized territory of the United States Former county seats in Colorado Former populated places in Pueblo County, Colorado Geography of Pueblo County, Colorado Ghost towns in Colorado History of Colorado Populated places established in 1853 Pre-statehood history of Colorado

History

Fort Huerfano

Settlement

See also

References

Further reading

External links