Fort Le Duc (Between Florence and Wetmore, Custer County, Colorado)

Between Florence and Wetmore, Custer County · Colorado · Indian Wars

Quick BriefFort Le Duc was a trading post built between present-day Florence and Wetmore, Colorado, named after trapper Maurice LeDuc and constructed around 1830 or 1835. It remained in operation until 1854, when it was attacked and burned by Ute Indians. Today, nothing remains of the old trading post, and the site is located on private property.

History & Significance

This fur-trade post occupied a bluff above Mineral Creek and Adobe Creek in the Hardscrabble valley, positioning off the Hardscrabble Trail that led through the Wet Mountain Valley and Sangre de Cristo Mountains to Taos and Santa Fe, where fur skins were traded for goods. Named after trapper Maurice LeDuc (or LeDoux), a French Canadian who grew up in La Crosse, Kingdom of France, the fort was strategically designed for commerce.

The Mexican government licensed LeDuc to trade, he was able to purchase Taos Lightning liquor, and his wife had many Native American friends who traded at the post. The fort measured 144 feet wide, was made of picket walls with corner bastions, featured wooden gates on the west side leading to a 48-square-foot central plaza, and contained an adobe house for living quarters.

It remained in service until 1848 or 1854, when settlements such as Hardscrabble were established in the area. A historical marker was installed in 1969 in recognition of Fort Le Duc by the Arkansas Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colorado Department of Highways, and Colorado Historical Society—located seven miles south of Florence and entitled "Hardscrabble."