Larimer County Bail Bonds

Larimer County is one of the original 17 counties organized with the admission of Colorado Territory in 1861. The area that comprises Larimer County has been occupied for thousands of years by indigenous people from the Clovis to Folsom cultures and more recently the Ute, Lakota, Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne Native American Tribes. The area of Larimer County has long been a crossroads of travel. The earliest incursions of Europeans was by the Spanish in the 1500’s, who explored as far north as Wyoming, and east into the great plains. During the early 1700’s, French trappers and traders were reportedly operating in the area of northeastern Colorado and trading with native tribes. By 1803, the area had been ceded back to the French and was sold to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. For the next four decades there were not any permanent settlements established, but trappers moved along the river valleys and into the mountains, pursuing beaver and other pelts to satisfy the fashion trends of the eastern US. The US Government began sending expeditions into the west to explore the the newly acquired land of the Louisiana Purchase. Zebulon Pike set out across the southwest in 1806 and explored large areas of Colorado. As the settlement of the Northwest increased a need for routes across the Rocky Mountain (including areas to rest and resupply) became increasingly important. In 1835 Colonel Henry M. Dodge travelled west along the Platte River to the Rocky Mountains in an effort to establish a trail to Oregon. He noted the “cache de la Poudre River” on maps published of the expedition. John C. Fremont, known as the “Great Pathfinder”, conducted five expeditions between 1842 and 1854, including one in 1843 that crossed the Rockies at the Cache de la Poudre River and included William Gilpin, who would go on to become the Governor of Colorado. Fremont’s expedition continued the efforts to locate water sources and routes for settlers to follow to Oregon. The first known permanent settlement in Larimer County was that of Antoine Janis in 1844 near the present site of La Porte. In 1861 with the formation of Colorado Territory, La Porte was made the county seat. The military established Camp Collins at La Porte in 1862, but moved it farther downstream after heavy flooding in 1864 and renamed it Fort Collins – finally abandoning it in 1867. In 1868 citizens voted to move the county seat to Fort Collins. While Larimer County had its fair share of mining activity, the real economic boom in early years was as an agricultural center providing much of its produce to Denver and the surrounding area. Many early gold seekers that had passed through on their way to the areas of heavy mining returned to claim lands and try their hand at agriculture after having failed to strike it rich.