Hardscrabble was a settlement established by traders and trappers in the 1840s near the fork of Adobe and Hardscrabble Creeks in present-day

Fremont County, Colorado Fremont County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 48,939. The county seat is Cañon City, Colorado, Cañon City. The county is named for 19th-century explorer ...

. It was called ''San Buenaventura de los Tres Arrollos''—for three creeks Newlin, Adobe, and Hardscrabble—by its founders, George Simpson, Joseph Doyle, and

Alexander Barclay Dr Alexander Barclay ( – 10 June 1552) was a poet and clergyman of the Church of England, probably born in Scotland. Biography Barclay was born in about 1476. His place of birth is a matter of dispute, but William Bulleyn, who was a ...

. The name Hardscrabble became more common. It was built on the former site of a Bent brothers trading post and near the Fort Le Duc trading post. Houses were built together to form a square, as a protection from attack by

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

and

Ute people Ute () are an Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin, Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico.Pritkzer''A Native American Encyclopedia'' p. 242 Historically, their t ...

. Teresita Sandoval lived at Hardscrabble beginning in 1844. After Lawrence Lupton left his Fort Lupton trading post in 1845, he came to Hardscrabble to farm and run the trading post in 1848. He and his family left for California in 1849. Hardscrabble was visited in November 1848 by

John C. Frémont Major general (United States), Major-General John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was a United States Army officer, explorer, and politician. He was a United States senator from California and was the first History of the Repub ...

. At that time, many inhabitants had moved away as it was too far from 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 ...

to garner much trade business. The Hardscrabble marker, installed 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 ...

, is located near the site of the extinct settlement.

References

External links

Hardscrabble
historical marker {{Authority control Former populated places in Fremont County, Colorado 1840s establishments in the United States Former populated places in Colorado