Fort Lupton: Early trading post on the South Platte

This article first appeared in the Broomfield Enterprise.

Along the quiet banks of the South Platte in 1837 Colorado, a pelt trader named Lancaster Lupton and his Mexican crew built an adobe fort and began operating a trading post. Lancaster Lupton was an unlikely character for this scene. From a prominent New York family, he was not the sort of fellow you’d expect to put on a fringe coat and haggle over buffalo robes.