The area was first inhabited by white Americans in 1859 during the
Pikes Peak Gold Rush, when
gold was discovered along Buckskin Creek, on the east side of the
Mosquito Range. At the time of its first settlement, the town was in the western part of
Kansas Territory. The town was founded in 1860 as
Laurette, Kansas Territory, its name a contraction of the first names of the only two women in the camp, the sisters Laura and Jeanette Dodge. But it was always more popularly known as Buckskin Joe, after Joseph Higginbottom, an early trapper and prospector. Little is known for certain about Higginbottom. Some accounts refer to him as an
African-American; some accounts say that he was the one who first discovered gold in the vicinity of the town. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28, 1861, and on November 1, 1861,
Park County, Colorado Territory was created with
Tarryall as the
county seat. The
Laurette, Colorado Territory, post office opened on November 14, 1861, At its peak, the town was credited with a population of 5,000, but historian Robert L. Brown considers this number far too large. ,
Colorado and later sold to a private collector The
placer and vein gold deposits were rich, but were quickly exhausted. By 1866, the town was reported to be deserted, and the courthouse building was moved down the valley to the new
county seat of
Fairplay. In the late 1950s, Horace Tabor's general store was dismantled, hauled away, and reassembled at the tourist attraction and movie set also called
Buckskin Joe, away from the original site. It remained there until 2011 when it, along with the entire tourist attraction and movie set, was sold to a private collector and moved to a private ranch in
western Colorado. ==Geography==