Fort Le Duc or Fort LeDuc was a fort and trading post built between present-day

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and

Wetmore, Colorado Wetmore is an unincorporated community and a U.S. Post Office located in Custer County, 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, ...

. It was named after trapper Maurice LeDuc or Maurice LeDoux, and constructed around 1830 or 1835.

Geography

The fort was located in the Hardscrabble valley between present-day

and

on a bluff above Mineral Creek and Adobe Creek. It was off of the Hardscrabble Trail, an old Native American trail at the foot of

Greenhorn Mountain Greenhorn Mountain is the highest summit of the Wet Mountains range in the Rocky Mountains of North America. The prominent peak is located in the Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness of San Isabel National Forest, southwest by west ( bearing 238� ...

. The trail went through the

Wet Mountain Valley The Wet Mountain Valley is a high elevation mountain valley mostly located in Custer County, Colorado, Custer County but extending southward into Huerfano County, Colorado, Huerfano County in south-central Colorado. Westcliffe, Colorado, Westclif ...

and

Sangre de Cristo Mountains The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountai ...

, through the

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 down to

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 ...

and Santa Fe where fur skins were traded for goods. They traveled there along Indian trails and 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 ...

. Trapper's Trail was another route used by trappers and traders in Colorado.

Maurice Le Duc

Maurice Le Duc, a French Canadian, grew up in

La Crosse La Crosse ( ) is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population was 52,680 as of the 20 ...

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

. He left the area as a boy, perhaps with his father, who was a

trapper Animal trapping, or simply trapping or ginning, is the use of a device to remotely catch and often kill an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including for meat, fur/feathers, sport hunting, pest control, and wildlife man ...

also named Maurie Le Duc. The younger Le Duc partnered up with Thomas "Pegleg" Smith and trapped in the far west of the

American frontier The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the Geography of the United States, geography, History of the United States, history, Folklore of the United States, folklore, and Cultur ...

by the age of seventeen. He spent time in

. Le Duc married a

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 ...

woman.

History

Le Duc is believed that he may have obtained money to start the fort and trading post from the Bent brothers, Charles and

George Bent George Bent, also named ''Ho—my-ike'' in Cheyenne (c. 1843 – May 19, 1918), was a Cheyenne-Anglo (in Cheyenne: ''Tsėhésevé'ho'e'' - ″Cheyenne-whiteman″) who became a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War and waged war again ...

. LeDuc had several circumstances that helped him succeed at the site. The Mexican government licensed him to trade, he was able to purchase the moonshine Taos Lightning, and his wife had many Native American friends who traded at the post. Utes passed through the area as they traveled between the hunting grounds of the plains and west through the Wet Mountain Valley. LeDuc established the post with William LeBlanc and other trappers. He cultivated crops, trapped for furs, and operating the trading post. The fort was wide, made of picket lots, and had bastions at the corners. There were wooden gates on the west side of the building that led to a 48-square foot central plaza. An adobe house within the enclosure provided living quarters. The fort, with eight rooms, protected settlers from often hostile Native Americans. It was in service until 1848 or 1854, when settlements such as Hardscrabble were established in the area. There are no remains of the fort today. A historical marker was installed in 1969 in recognition of Fort Le Duc by the Arkansas Valley Chapter of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

, Colorado Department of Highways, and Colorado Historical Society. It is located seven miles south of

. The historical marker is entitled "Hardscrabble".

Notes

References

External links

Hardscrabble
historical marker {{Forts in Colorado Le Duc 1830 establishments in the United States Former populated places in Custer County, Colorado Former populated places in Colorado Trading posts in Colorado Historic trails and roads in Colorado