The Trapper's Trail or Trappers' Trail is a north-south path along the eastern base of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

that links the Great Platte River Road at Fort Laramie 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 ...

at Bent's Old Fort. Along this path there were a number of

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

s, also called trading forts.

History

In 1802, after the Spanish territory of Louisiana was given back to France through treaty in 1800, trappers began entering the

Louisiana Territory The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805, until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed the Missouri Territory. The territory was formed out of t ...

and trapped beavers in the mountains. In 1803, the United States purchased the land which encompassed the present state of Colorado with the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

and explorers came to the area to survey the land. The trail was an important

trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over land or water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a singl ...

for

fur trapper A fur is a Softness, soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily #Guard hair, guard hair on top and thick #Down hair, underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching t ...

s and traders in the

North American fur trade The North American fur trade is the (typically) historical Fur trade, commercial trade of furs and other goods in North America, beginning in the eastern provinces of French Canada and the northeastern Thirteen Colonies, American colonies (soon- ...

from about 1820 and into the Pikes Peak Gold Rush beginning 1859. Trapper's Trail was first known to be used in 1820 for Stephen H. Long’s expedition. Colonel

Henry Dodge Moses Henry Dodge (October 12, 1782 – June 19, 1867) was an American politician and military officer who was Democratic member to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Bla ...

used it in 1835 for the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition or First Dragoon Expedition. Trapper’s Trail was also used by

John C. Fremont John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

(1843-1844) and General Stephen W. Kearney (1845). In 1846 it was used by a group of

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

immigrants who established a branch of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

near the southern end of the trail. The sick detachments of the Mormon Battalion used this trail to return to the

Mormon pioneers The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter-day Saints, who Human migration, migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the ...

on the

Mormon Trail The Mormon Trail is the route from Illinois to Utah on which Mormon pioneers (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) traveled from 1846 to 1869. Today, the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails Syst ...

. It was also used during the gold rush of 1859.

Route description

From north to south, the main legs and stops along the trail are:

Fort Laramie to Denver area

The trail starts at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, which is located along the

North Platte River The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 I ...

. The trail follows Crow Creek to the Latham, Colorado area, where it traversed along 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 ...

. Traveling along the river, four trading posts were built in the late 1830s and are located and are part of the South Platte Trail. The most northern trading post is Fort Saint Vrain. The following are: Fort Vasquez, Fort Jackson, and Fort Lupton, first called Fort Lancaster. The trail continues along the South Platte River to an area near

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Denver area to Colorado Springs area

There are three trails between these areas. The oldest route, runs the closest to the mountains. It follows along the East Plum,

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

and Fountain Creeks and roughly ran along what is now I-25. The Cherry Creek Trail follows Cherry Creek and runs essentially along the current Highway 83 between present day Denver and northern Colorado Springs near I-25. There are two stops along the Cherry Creek Trail. Twenty Mile House, located at the junction of Parker Road and Highway 83 in Parker, has a historical marker noting it was a stop on Trapper's Trail. California Ranch was a

stage station A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a facility along a main road or trade route where a traveller can rest and/or replace exhausted working animals (mostly horse riding, riding h ...

and stockade at the junction of Highways 83 and 86 near Franktown. It also has a historical marker its role on the trail. The Jimmy Camp Trail joins the Cherry Creek Trail near the present town of Franktown, runs through Falcon, and down Highway 24. The trail runs between 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 Platte Rivers. Jimmy's Camp site (now a ghost town in El Paso County) is east of Highway 24 at Jimmy Camp Creek. The Charles Fagan Grave, also called Fagan's Grave, is about 12.5 miles due north of Falcon.

Colorado Springs area to El Pueblo

From the present Colorado Springs area to El Pueblo, the route is similar to the I-25 route.

South and east of El Pueblo

From El Pueblo, also called Fort Pueblo, there are two routes. One is east to Bent's Old Fort, the trading post historical site is along 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 ...

, and the trail follows Highway 50 and the Arkansas River from Pueblo. Another route is from El Pueblo to Taos which is called the Taos Trail. The trail goes south, near the present day route of

Interstate 25 Interstate 25 (I-25), also known as the Pan-American Freeway, is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States. It is primarily a north–south highway, serving as the main route through New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. I-25 st ...

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and Luisa Brown's trading post (1845-1849) was where the trail crossed a creek near present day Colorado City, Colorado. The trail continued southward to Huerfano Butte north of Walsenburg, then southwest to La Veta Pass following the route of U.S. Route 160 to Fort Garland then south to Taos through the San Luis Valley along the approximate route of Colorado State Highway 159 and New Mexico Highway 522. From Pueblo to Taos the distance was approximately

Notes

References

{{Colorado Trails and roads in the American Old West Historic trails and roads in Wyoming Historic trails and roads in Colorado