Name Marcelino Baca | Died 1862 | |
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Marcelino Baca (circa 1808 - 1862) was a 19th-century fur trader. He was one of the minority of trappers born in New Mexico who helped to establish the Southwest fur trade. A native of Taos, Baca first learned beaver trapping while accompanying American groups, as the Spanish government required Mexican citizens to accompany any foreign commercial operation.
After the fur trade in the American Southwest declined, Baca trapped in the northern Rocky Mountains, and eventually settled near Pueblo, Colorado. Under increasing threat from local Indian tribes, Baca moved his family to the small village of Rio Colorado, in New Mexico in 1854. With the advent of the American Civil War, Baca joined the New Mexico Volunteers and was killed in a battle with invading Texans on February 21, 1862. (Hafen, p. 6-7)