Nothing remains of the now deserted ghost town in Jefferson County, except a historical marker on the south side of 44th Avenue, between the cities of Golden and Wheat Ridge.

The town was laid out by George B. Allen, and according to founding treasurer Thomas L. Golden in a letter to the Missouri Republican it was named after the Arapaho tribe after chiefs warned residents to "quit their country".

Arapahoe City was a base camp town laid out on a grid to serve miners washing placer gold from nearby Clear Creek.

[7] The free Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28, 1861,[8] and the Arapahoe post office closed on October 12, 1861.

The two dredges, not advanced enough to save large amounts of the fine gold at Arapahoe Bar, were disassembled, one taken to French Gulch near Breckenridge, Colorado and its twin taken to the American River around Sacramento, California.