Fort Morgan Colorado

Fort Morgan had its start as a military fort from 1864 to 1868. It was situated at the junction of the South Platte Trail, known also as the South Branch of the Overland Trail, and the Denver Cut-Off which was where the trail took off across the prairie. Since it didn’t follow the river, the route was a faster way to get to the Denver area for supplies for Fort Morgan, but there was a trade-off with little water and hostility with the Native American Indian tribes in the area. The gold rush was going strong and prospectors and miners were making their way to the Colorado mountains to find their fortune. The South Platte Trail was the main east west route for supplies to get to Denver and the gold fields in the mountains and for the gold to get back east.

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When the Union Pacific Railroad completed the rail line from Nebraska to Wyoming, people began arriving via this northern route, and so the amount of people traveling through Fort Morgan waned. The army Fort was now unnecessary and shut down operations in May of 1868. Today, the Fort Morgan Museum shows the history of the Native tribes and people who called the area home over the decades. From the Apache nation of the 1600’s to the Comanche and Ute tribes of the 1700’s until the 1820’s when the Arapahoe and Cheyenne came through, Fort Morgan had many nomadic residents. As the white settlers and travelers came to the area, they established agriculture and ranching as an economy which is still viable today. In the 1880’s the irrigation of fields was first introduced to the valley via the Weldon Valley Ditch, and then the Fort Morgan Canal was a project which greatly improved the area where the current city of Fort Morgan is today.

In 1889 Morgan County was formed from a part of Weld County and Fort Morgan became the County seat. Nearby towns to Fort Morgan include Brush and Akron to the east and Wiggins and Hudson to the west. The area is best known for the livestock and dairy farms and many Fort Morgan residents are well represented in the annual National Western Stock Show held every January in Denver for the past 105 years in the 2011 season.  All of Morgan County is abundantly rich agriculturally with many irrigated and dry land farms as well as beef, sheep and dairy ranches. The town of Fort Morgan retains its small town charm, but offers some amenities of city life as well. They welcome you to come for a visit and see a part of Colorado history.

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