A twenty minute drive North of Denver, Raintree Lakes are halfway between Longmont and Platteville, Colorado, on a remote part of the St. Vrain River. The view from Raintree Lakes is magnificent with the Rockies, Rocky Mountain National Park and it's crown jewel the 14,255 foot Long's Peak directly west on the Continental Divide. In 1820, Major Stephen H. Long was sent by President Monroe to explore the southwest boundary of the Louisiana Purchase. Longs' Party came up the South Platte river and thus Long's Peak was named for him. Fort St. Vrain was built about 1837, on the Overland Trail, by Col. Ceran St. Vrain, near the confluence of the South Platte and St. Vrain rivers, only a few miles east of the Rain Tree Lakes. Fort St.Vrain was one of the most important fur trading posts in the West.
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