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Hardscrabble, Colorado

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Settlement or village in Colorado, United States
Hardscrabble
Settlement or village
Hardscrabble is located in ColoradoHardscrabbleHardscrabbleApproximate location of Hardscrabble Show map of ColoradoHardscrabble is located in the United StatesHardscrabbleHardscrabbleHardscrabble (the United States)Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 38°19′30″N 105°04′37″W / 38.325°N 105.077°W / 38.325; -105.077
CountryUnited States
StateColorado
CountyFremont
Nearest townWetmore
Elevation5,400 ft (1,600 m)

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. 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. 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 and Ute people. 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.

Indeed, the men who have located here are all those whom the wreck of the mountain trade and hunting parties have left on the surface, unfitted to return to former haunts or avocations, with minds alienated by new convictions from home and early friends, and habits transformed by constant excitement and daring adventure from the dull plodding of the sober citizen to the reckless activity and thrilling interest of a border life, open to the aggression of the savage and the pursuit of free will, free trade, and free thinking.

—Alexander Barclay in a letter about life in Hardscrabble

Hardscrabble was visited in November 1848 by John C. Frémont. At that time, many inhabitants had moved away as it was too far from the Santa Fe Trail to garner much trade business. The Hardscrabble marker, installed by the Arkansas Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is located near the site of the extinct settlement.

See also: Early history of Fremont County, Colorado

References

  1. "Brief History". Westmore Historical Society.
  2. Google Earth
  3. ^ "Tales Told with Markers" (PDF). Colorado Magazine. Summer 1970. pp. 200–201. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  4. ^ William B. Butler (2012). The Fur Trade in Colorado. Western Reflections Publishing Company. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-937851-02-6.
  5. "Groundbreaker: Alexander Barclay". The World Journal. October 15, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  6. Janet Lecompte (November 1, 1980). Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: Society on the High Plains, 1832-1856. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-8061-1723-2.
  7. Vincent C. de Baca (1998). La Gente: Hispano History and Life in Colorado. Colorado Historical Society. p. 13.

External links

Municipalities and communities of Custer County, Colorado, United States
County seat: Westcliffe
Towns
Map of Colorado highlighting Custer County
Unincorporated
communities
Ghost towns
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