Fort Saint Vrain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fort St. Vrain was a former fur trading post in the Nebraska Territory. A historical marker notes the place where Old Fort St. Vrain once stood, located about seven miles north of Fort Vasquez, at the end of Weld County Road 40 in present-day Colorado.
Like neighboring forts, the structure was built to accommodate trade with Native American tribes and mountain men engaged in fur trapping. To that extent it resembled the adobe plaza reconstructed at Fort Vasquez and Old Bent's Fort. William Clark granted the Bent, St. Vrain Co. a license to trade on November 8, 1836. After construction, Marcellan St. Vrain, Ceran's brother, managed the trading post and employed such notable people as James Beckwourth, and Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.
After the Taos Revolt in 1847, Ceran and Marcellan returned to St. Louis. William Bent was left sole proprietorship by 1849 after Ceran sold his shares of the Bent, St. Vrain Co. William Bent moved to Fort St. Vrain before building a New Fort Bent.
[edit] References
- Whiteley, Lee; The Cherokee Trail: Bent's Old Fort to Fort Bridger; Lee Whiteley; 1999; Johnson Printing; Boulder, Colorado; ISBN 0-9671351-1-7
- Brotemarkle, Diane; Old Fort St. Vrain; Diane Brotemarkle; 2001; Johnson Printing; Boulder, Colorado; ISBN 0-9712372-0-4
- Ubbelohde, Carl; Benson, Maxine; Smith, Duane A.; A Colorado History: Third Edition; 1972; Pruett Publishing Co.; Boulder Colorado
