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CCf; 6:~ 2 3 '' Althou h Ste hen Lon 's ex edition q p g p passed along the foothills of the Front Range, Americans were generally not welcome in the region at this time. However, after the Mexican Revolution in ~. 1821, the Mexican government allowed American traders into the territory and ushered in a new era. Traders and Trappers Period (1822-1848) " Trappers, most of them French or American (the original f "mountain men") were commissioned by entrepreneurial traders to obtain valuable pelts. Many of these trappers remain important in the region after the peak of the fur trade days had passed. One of these, William Bent, built a small stockade on the Arkansas River some time around 1824-1826. After a few years, he joined with his brother Charles Bent and Ceran St. Vrain (another early fur trapper) to build what became known as "Bent's ~ Old Fort" on the Arkansas, located six miles east of La Junta, Colorado in 1833. A newer fort was constructed further downstream in 1852. In an attempt to forestall American encroachment into the territory, the Mexican government made large land grants to Mexican citizens. in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, these land grants covered about half the area of the Raton Basin. The best known of these land grants are the Vigil- St. Vrain, Beaubien and Miranda (later Maxwell), and Nolan Grants. In 1848, the Treaty o! Guadalupe-Hidalgo placed New Mexico and other Mexican Territory under the jurisdiction of the united States. This event opened the region to American settlement. it also posed several problems .concerning the disposition of early settlers who had been given title to large blocks of land. Congress passed a law in 1860 giving nearly all 4 lands to the various grants; however, they approved only 97.651 - E acres of the original 4 sillion scree in the Vigil-St. Vrain Grant. Extensive debate and litigation over these grants ff~ L` continued until 1900. . ' Early Settlement (1848-mid 1870s) l: Settlement in the region vas slow at first, most of it consisting of trading posts and forts. Settlers of Hispanic heritage soon _ y ~ began trickling into the region from northern New Mexico. Many ~ of these early settlements were of the "plaza" variety, characterized by economically self-sufficient multi-family or r, extended family groupings. The Autobees Plaza was established at the mouth of the Huerfano River by Charles Autobees. Colonel J. M. Francisco established the Francisco Fort (Plaza) in 1862, pa its name later changed to La Veta. Along the Purgatoire River, `` ~ ~ Madrid Plaza was established by the Madrid family in 1864, and :Y ; " the Torres and Vigil Plazas were founded by New Mexico Families .~ in about 1866. Other settlements founded at this time include °~ :I Tijeras Plaza, Los Baros (later Segundo), Sarcillo Plaza, La