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 Fremont County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,939. The county seat is Cañon City. The county is named for 19th-century explorer and presidential candidate John C. Frémont. Fre ...

. 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 Dr Alexander Barclay (c. 1476 – 10 June 1552) was a poet and clergyman of the Church of England, probably born in Scotland. Biography Barclay was born in about 1476. His place of birth is matter of dispute, but William Bulleyn, who w ...

. 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 Fort Le Duc or Fort LeDuc was a square fort and trading post built near Wetmore, Colorado. It was named after trapper Maurice LeDuc or Maurice LeDoux, and constructed around 1830 or 1835. Geography The fort was located by the junction of Mineral C ...

trading post. Houses were built together to form a square, as a protection from attack by

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

and

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 ...

Teresita Sandoval Maria Teresa "Teresita" Sandoval Suazo (1811–1894) was among the first women of European heritage to live in the Arkansas Valley of present-day Colorado. She is one of the founders of El Pueblo (Pueblo, Colorado), El Pueblo in the current city o ...

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. Hardscrabble was visited in November 1848 by

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

. At that time, many inhabitants had moved away as it was too far from 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, th ...

to garner much trade business. The Hardscrabble marker, installed by the Arkansas Valley Chapter of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

, is located near the site of the extinct settlement.

References

External links

Hardscrabble
historical marker {{Custer County, Colorado Former populated places in Custer County, Colorado 1840s establishments in the United States Former populated places in Colorado