The site of Forts Kipp and Stewart near the Missouri
A sketch of Fort Campbell
This is an alphabetically arranged list of trading posts or forts in present-day Montana from 1807 to the end of the fur trading era in the state.
History
The North West Company fur trader Francois-Antoine Larocque travelled parts of the eastern present-day Montana in 1805,[1]: 156–220 and the following explorations of the Lewis and Clark Expedition opened the area further for commerce.[1]: 28 The first fur trading post built in the future state was Fort Raymond at the confluence of Yellowstone River and Bighorn River, where it carried out trade with the Crow Nation from 1807 to around 1813.[2]: 68 Soon after the establishment of Fort Raymond, trail-blazers from the fur companies found way to the heart of the country of every Native Nation in the territory. Decade by decade, at number of smaller and bigger posts established by different trading companies from both Canada and the United States dotted the banks of the major rivers winding their way through the plains and mountain valleys. The biggest forts stayed active year after year, while others lasted a season and were destroyed by wind and weather or burned by Native Americans. Some of the ruins and old places of bargain are now recognized as historic sites by the United States or Montana.[3]
List
| Name | Other names | Location | County | Company | Active | Main customers | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Horn Post#2[3]: 127 | Confluence of the Bighorn and the Yellowstone | Treasure | Rocky Mountain Fur Company | 1824- ? | The Crow | ||
| Brazeau Houses[3]: 110 | Braseau's Houses | Extreme lower Yellowstone | Richland | 1828- ? | |||
| Fort Alexander[3]: 114 | North side of the Yellowstone, six miles west of Forsyth | Rosebud | American Fur Company | 1842-1850[2]: 67 | The Crow | ||
| Fort Andrew[3]: 98 | At the Missouri, 30 miles east of James Kipp Recreation Area | Phillips | American Fur Company | 1862- ? | Inundated | ||
| Fort Benton (#1)[3]: 127 | At the confluence of the Bighorn and the Yellowstone | Treasure | Missouri Fur Company | 1821- 1824? [2]: 68 | The Crow | ||
| Fort Benton[3]: 35 | Fort Lewis, Fort Clay | At the Upper Missouri, city of Fort Benton | Chouteau | American Fur Company | 1846-1864 | The Blackfeet | National Historic Landmark |
| Fort Campbell[3]: 36 | Near the city of Fort Benton | Chouteau | Harvey, Primeau & Co. | 1846-1861 | |||
| Fort Cass[3]: 127 | At the confluence of the Bighorn and the Yellowstone | Treasure | American Fur Company | 1832-1838[2]: 68 | The Crow | ||
| Fort Chardon[4]: 46 | Fort F. A. Chardon | At the confluence of the Judith and the Missouri | Chouteau | 1843- ? | |||
| Fort Charles[3]: 129 | At the Missouri, right east of Oswego | Valley | 1861- ? | ||||
| Fort Connah[3]: 72 | Near Post Creek | Lake | Hudson’s Bay Company | 1845-1871 | |||
| Fort Cotton[3]: 36 | At the upper Missouri, 10 miles southwest of Fort Benton | Chouteau | Union Fur Company | 1843- ? (short-lived) | |||
| Fort Dauphin[3]: 129 | At the Missouri, south of Nashua | Valley | Louis Dauphin | 1860- ? | |||
| Fort Galpin[3]: 129 | At the Missouri, near the city of Fort Peck | Valley | LaBarge, Harkness and Company | 1862-1864 | |||
| Fort Hawley[3]: 98 | At the Missouri, 30 miles east of James Kipp Recreation Area | Phillips | Northwest Fur Company | 1866- ? | Inundated | ||
| Fort Jackson[3]: 111 | At the Missouri, near Poplar | Roosevelt | American Fur Company | 1833- ? (short-lived) | |||
| Fort Kipp[3]: 98 | At the Missouri, near the city of Fort Kipp | Roosevelt | 1860-1860 | Burned by Native Americans | |||
| Fort LaBarge[3]: 36 | At the Missouri, near the city of Fort Benton | Chouteau | LaBarge, Harkness and Company | 1862- ? | |||
| Fort Lewis[3]: 36 | At the Missouri, west of the city of Fort Benton | Chouteau | American Fur Company | ? – 1847 | Dismantled and rebuilt as part of Fort Benton | ||
| Fort McKenzie[3]: 36 | Fort Brulé[5]: 962 | At the Missouri, east of the city of Fort Benton | Chouteau | American Fur Company | 1832-1843 | The Blackfeet | Burned by Native Americans[5]: 962 |
| Fort Owen[3]: 107 | Bitterroot Valley, east of Stevensville | Ravalli | Major John Owen | 1850-1872 | The Bitterroot Salish | Now a state park | |
| Fort Piegan[3]: 37 | At the confluence of the Marias and the Missouri | Chouteau | 1831-1832 | The Blackfeet | Burned by Native Americans[5]: 961 | ||
| Fort Poplar[3]: 111 | At the Missouri, near Poplar | Roosevelt | A Charles Larpenteur post | 1861- ? | |||
| Fort Raymond[3]: 127 | Fort Remon, Fort Lisa, Fort Manuel Lisa, Big Horn Post | At the confluence of the Yellowstone and the Bighorn | Treasure | Missouri Fur Company[1]: 31 | 1807-1813(?)[2]: 68 | The Crow | |
| Fort Sarpy I[3]: 114 | On the north side of the Yellowstone, 10 miles east of Forsyth | Rosebud | American Fur Company | 1850-1856[6] | The Crow | ||
| Fort Sarpy II[3]: 127 | At the Yellowstone, 10 miles east of the mouth of the Bighorn | Treasure | American Fur Company | 1857- c. 1860[2]: 67–68 | The Crow | ||
| Fort Stewart[3]: 111 | At the Missouri, near the City of Fort Kipp | Roosevelt | Frost, Todd and Company | 1854-1860 | Burned by Native Americans | ||
| Fort Union[3]: 111 | At the Missouri, right east of the Montana – North Dakota border | Right east of Roosevelt | American Fur Company | 1828-1867[7]: 15 | The Assiniboine and Cree | National Park Service Area | |
| Fort Van Buren[3]: 114 | Fort Tulloch, Fort Tullock and Tulloch’s Fort[5]: 965 | At the Yellowstone, 10 miles east of Forsyth | Rosebud | American Fur Company | 1835-1842[2]: 68 | The Crow | |
| Fox, Livingston and Company Post[3]: 19 | At the confluence of the Little Bighorn and the Bighorn[5]: 965 | Big Horn | Fox, Livingston and Company | 1843- ? | The Crow | (Only [3]: 19 has a trading post of this name here) | |
| Henry’s Fort[3]: 57 | Three Forks Post | A mile east of Three Forks | Gallatin | Missouri Fur Company | 1810- ? | ||
| Howse’s Post[3]: 52 | Howse House | North of Kalispell | Flathead | Hudson’s Bay Company | 1810- ? | The Pend d'Oreilles and Salish | |
| Kootenai Post I[3]: 80 | At Kootenai River, near Libby | Lincoln | North West Fur Company | 1808- ? | The tribes at the upper Columbia | ||
| Kootenai Post II[4]: 49 | Near Libby Dam | Lincoln | 1811- ? | ||||
| Salish House I[3]: 117 | Saleesh House, Flathead Post | Near Thompson Falls | Sanders | North West Fur Company[4]: 49 | 1809- ? | ||
| Salish House II[3]: 117 | Ten miles east of Thompson Falls | Sanders | Hudson’s Bay Company | 1824- ? | |||
Map
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Map with many of the fur trading posts in Montana from 1807 to the early 1870s (map only approximately). The colours on the map show the different Indian territories as described in the first treaties between the Native American tribes in the area and the United States
References
- 1 2 3 Wood, Raymond W. and Thomas D. Thiessen (1987): Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains. Norman and London.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hoxie, Frederich E. (1995): Parading Through History. The Making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805-1935. Cambridge.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Montana Historic Preservation Plan (1975). Vol. II. Montana Historic Sites Compendium. Helena.
- 1 2 3 The Montana Historic Preservation Plan (1970). Helena.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Chittenden, Hiram Martin (1954): The American Fur Trade. Vol. II. Stanford.
- ↑ McDonnell, Anne (Ed.): The Fort Sarpy Journal, 1855-1856. Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana. Volume Ten. 1940.
- ↑ Fox, Gregory L. (1988): A Late Nineteenth Century Village of a Band of Dissident Hidatsa: The Garden Coulee Site (32WI18). Lincoln.
External links
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