The independent trading post was established in 1842 by traders, trappers, and hunters of Hispanic, French, Anglo, and Native American heritage.

[6] It stood just west of the mouth of the Fountain Creek and on the north side of the Arkansas River,[1] which was the border between Mexico and the United States at that time.

[3] Francis Parkman described it as "nothing more than a large square enclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and dilapidated".

[8] The traders bartered with Native American tribes for hides, skins, livestock, as well as cultivated plants, and liquor.

Evidence of this trade, as well as other utilitarian goods, such as Native American pottery shards were found at the recently excavated site.

[8] Pressure of new emigrants passing through former Native American lands and failure of the United States to honor treaties created conflict in the area and by 1854, there was a massacre at the post.

[13] In 1891, portions of the adobe walls were still visible along Union Avenue and the tracks of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

[12] The river's courses had changed since the mid-1800s and the exact location was unknown until it was found in 1991 by the University of Southern Colorado during an archaeological excavation.