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-3- <br />business of the region and indeed ma.ty well-known fur men such <br />C. :.s Kit Carson, Hanry Fraeb, Tim Goodale, and Jim Balser fre- <br />quented the fort. It was a miserable structure according to <br />4 <br />visitors, but it served its purpose. By 1844, the fort had <br />disappeared as had the iur business in the northwest part of <br />Colorado. <br />The fur trappers of the region had only a few problems with <br />the Indians. In 1841, Henry Fraeb and Jim Baker were surrou-.ded <br />by hostile Arapaho, Shoshone, and Cheyenne Indians near Battle <br />Creek, Colorado where several trappers including Fraeb were <br />killed. The natives lost several warriors. This battle hzs <br />been called the largest single trapper-Indian fight in Colorado <br />5 <br />history. <br />The next movement into northwestern Colorado came in the <br />form of explorers. These men were generally private citizens <br />who were seeking a way to the west coast or they were U.S. Army <br />explorers who wanted to blaze practical trails for settlers to <br />fallow. The major agency involved in Army exploration was the <br />Topographical Engineers who did all the actual-government work. <br />The first explorers into this region, other than idilliam <br />Ashley, were adventurers <br />while seeking a trail to <br />Yampa River to the Green <br />The party noted [hat the <br />6 <br />useless. In 1840, E. k' <br />such as Thomas Jefferson Farnham, who, <br />Oregon, crossed the area following the <br />River where he visited Fort Crockett. <br />land was dry and barren and seemingly <br />illiard Smith, another private traveller, <br />visited the Brown's Hole region, but he left very little <br />7 <br />® information behind. <br />