Q 01/05

Fort Collins was founded in 1864 as what kind of settlement?

A) A U.S. Army outpost

B) A gold-mining camp

C) A railroad division point

D) A fur-trading post

Answer · why

A) A U.S. Army outpost

The post never had walls and was decommissioned just three years later, in 1867, but settlers had already begun arriving around it.

Q 02/05

Colonel William O. Collins commanded which Wyoming Army post when he authorized the site named for him?

A) Fort Lyon

B) Fort Laramie

C) Fort Kearny

D) Fort Bridger

Answer · why

B) Fort Laramie

Collins's son Caspar was killed in 1865, and the garrison near present-day Casper, Wyoming, was renamed in the son's honor.

Q 03/05

What wiped out the original Camp Collins near Laporte in June 1864, prompting the move downriver?

A) A prairie fire

B) A blizzard

C) A flood

D) A cavalry mutiny

Answer · why

C) A flood

The camp had been built to protect the Overland mail route, and travelers on the Overland Trail used to camp there.

Q 04/05

Fort Collins is the seat of which Colorado county?

A) Weld

B) Boulder

C) Jefferson

D) Larimer

Answer · why

D) Larimer

The county seat moved to Fort Collins from Laporte in 1868 after a campaign led by local businessman Joseph Mason.

Q 05/05

In what year did the county seat move from Laporte to Fort Collins?

A) 1868

B) 1873

C) 1879

D) 1883

Answer · why

A) 1868

The first school and church had opened in 1866, and the town was platted the following year.