Lancaster Platt Lupton was the son of William Lupton, Jr. (a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 Lawyer). He attended West Point

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

, graduating with the class of 1829. In 1835, Lieutenant Lupton was a member of Colonel Henry Dodge's

Henry Dodge

Henry Dodge was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son was Augustus C. Dodge with whom he served in the U.S. Senate, the first, and so far only, father-son pair to serve concurrently....

 United States Regiment of Dragoons

U.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment

The 1st Cavalry Regiment is a unit in the United States Army which has its antecedents in the early 19th Century in the formation of the United States Regiment of Dragoons. To this day, the unit's Special Designation is "First Regiment of Dragoons".-Origins:The "United States Regiment of Dragoons"...

 when they passed through the South Platte Valley

South Platte River

The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West, located in the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska...

 in what would become the state of Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. Lupton saw the potential for a successful trading post on the banks of the South Platte River. He resigned his commission and returned the next year to build Fort Lancaster.

Lupton took Tomas, the daughter of an Indian Chief, as his wife. They remained married until his death in 1885.

Fort Lancaster operated as a fur trading post until 1844, when a particularly harsh blizzard caused the fort to close and Lupton moved his family south to an area near modern day Pueblo, Colorado

Pueblo, Colorado

Pueblo is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The population was 106,595 in 2010 census, making it the 246th most populous city in the United States....

. Later, they moved to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 during the 1849 Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

. Lupton lived in California until his death in 1885.