1800 - 1850 in Chaffee County Colorado
| 1803 | French sell Louisiana Territory to the United
States |
| 1806 - 1807 |
Zebulon Pike begins exploration of new
territory. Pikes official mission was to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas
River (then thought to be the Red River) and he international boundary. |
| 1806 | December 6 - Pike and his men make their way
through South Park into the Arkansas River Valley . |
| 1811 | Missouri Fur Company trappers arrive in Upper Arkansas Valley and are greeted by hostile Indians. The unfortunate trappers were killed or captured by Indians.
|
| 1810- 1830 |
Beaver trade flourishes. Famous frontiersmen
such as Thomas Fitzpatrick, Kit Carson, Jim Beckwourth, the Bent Brothers
and Ceran St. Vrains arrived in the area. |
| 1820- 1840 |
Trappers explore the Arkansas watershed, camping
up and down the river gaining thorough knowledge or its topography and its
Indian trails. These early pioneers led the way for those to follow and
settle in the Valley. |
| 1833 | Kit Carson camps in the Arkansas Valley
(Chalk Creek or Cottonwood Creek) and Indians attempt to take his horses.
He escapes with all of his pelts and his horses. |
| 1836 | Texas claims all lands east and north of the
Rio Grande that were not in United States territory. Watershed on the south
side of the Arkansas River allegedly now belonged to Texas. The strip took
in the Sawatch Range. |
| 1845 | Texas becomes a state and the United Stated claims
all of Texas' former land. |
| 1853 | Captain John Gunnison, on a mapping expedition
of Colorado, included Poncha Pass in his investigations. |
| 1858 | Gold Discovered at Dry Creek in Colorado with
discoveries soon made in the mountains west of Denver. |
| 1859 | G. A. Kelley discovers gold on the Arkanasas four miles south of Granite. |
| Old Newspaper Articles from Chaffee County | |||||
| Mining | Railroad | Ranching | Industry | Wildlife | |
| Fire & Water | Governement | Recreation | People | Events | |