Trading

In the summer of 1837, Henry Fraeb and Peter Sarpy arrived at a location on the South Platte River a few miles north of present-day Fort Lupton . They arrived with $10,909.75 worth of goods for trade with the Cheyenne and Arapaho who frequented the area. Upon arrival, Fraeb and Sarpy began...

The historic fur trade era in the Colorado region, which began in the early nineteenth century, ushered in a period of direct contact between Native Americans and whites. By this time, the hides and robes provided by Colorado’s furbearing animals had become valuable commodities in American and...

The Overland Trail, also known as the "Central Overland Emigrant Route," was an important nineteenth-century corridor for explorers, colonists, miners, and traders that ran from Atchison, Kansas, to Fort Bridger, Wyoming. It followed preexisting Indigenous and early explorer trails throughout most...

The trading of animal skins has been a prominent activity throughout the known human occupation of Colorado. These skins—as hides, furs, or robes—provided protection from the elements as well as a valuable commodity traded for economic gain; their trade strengthened and maintained political...