Fort Namaqua, some of its other names are Mariano's Crossing and Namaqua Station, was a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

from 1858 or 1859. It was located in the present-day city of

Loveland, Colorado The City of Loveland is the home rule municipality that is the second most populous municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver and is the 14th most populous city ...

Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359,066. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins. The county was named for William Larimer, Jr., the founder of Denver. ...

. In 1862, it became a

stage station A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...

for travelers along the foothills to Denver. A fort was built at the site after 60 horses were driven off the property. Modena also developed a small settlement with people from his hometown of

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...

. The site was named Namaqua in 1868, with the establishment of a post office. Buildings were used until the 1920s and were later dismantled. A historical marker is located at Namaqua Park, near the site of the former fort and station.

History

Mariano Medina (also Modena), a scout from Taos, operated a stage station and trading post, one of the earliest businesses in the pre-state history of Colorado. It was located on the crossing of several trails, including the Texas and

Overland Trail The Overland Trail (also known as the Overland Stage Line) was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail w ...

s, the Denver and Laramie Trails, and branches off the

South Platte 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 Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. Its ...

, and old

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what ...

s. Medina spoke Spanish and English, and likely spoke some French and Indian dialects, as his wife was Native American and there were French fur trappers in the area. The fort was located west of the present-day Namaqua Road and on the north side of the

Big Thompson River The Big Thompson River is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 78 miles (123 km) long, in the U.S. state of Colorado. Originating in Forest Canyon in Rocky Mountain National Park, the river flows into Lake Estes in the town ...

, where Medina built and operated a toll bridge. The first permanent settler in the Big Thompson Valley, Medina had built log buildings and recruited people from his hometown of Taos to help build a settlement of 100 people at the trading post. Sixty of his horses were looted by

Ute people Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...

in 1861. He followed the Utes for 25 miles and shot one of them as the remaining men fled. He then built a stone fort on the north side of the Big Thompson, with six gun ports. The walls were up to 20 inches thick and the roof was built with logs, sandstone slabs, and topped with a foot of earth. Holladay Overland Stagecoach at Denver office

Holladay Overland Stagecoach at Denver office

In 1862, the fort became a stage station for the Holladay Overland Stage company along the

Cherokee Trail The Cherokee Trail was a historic overland trail through the present-day U.S. states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming that was used from the late 1840s up through the early 1890s. The route was established in 1849 by a wagon train head ...

, specifically in this area between Laporte and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. It was officially named Namaqua in 1868 when a post office was established at the fort and station. He also operated a farm in the area, where he was buried in 1878. After the fort was no longer needed and abandoned, the stone building was converted to an ice house. Until the 1920s, the log buildings were continued to be used. They then fell into disrepair and were dismantled, except for Medina's cabin which was restored and preserved at the Loveland museum. Medina's grave was moved to Namaqua Park in 1960. A marker was placed in the park near the site of the former stage station.

References

External links

Fort Namaqua
Reporter-Herald
Namaqua settlement
Reporter-Herald
Historic marker
Namaqua Park {{Forts in Colorado Namaqua 1859 establishments in Kansas Territory Buildings and structures in Larimer County, Colorado

History

References

Further reading

External links