From 1806, when Captain Lewis'
itchy finger made fur trading in Blackfoot country a hair-raising
experience, until the last steamboat docked in Fort Benton, the
history of the region centered around this "Birthplace of
Montana".
It was not until 1828 when Fort
Union was built at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone
rivers that anything resembling permanency existed in Blackfoot
country, and then only on the edge. After a treaty in 1830, the
Blackfoot agreed to permit trading posts, but forbid the presence of
any trappers in their territory. Fort Peigan was built in 1831 by
James Kipp just down river from Fort Benton where the Marias river
joins the Missouri. It survived just a year, but paved the way for a
succession of forts until the establishment of Fort Benton itself in
1846 as the American Fur Company's headquarters for the lucrative
Upper Missouri River fur trade.
Built on the wooded banks of the
Missouri River, Fort Benton is the oldest town in Montana and is
designated a National Historic Landmark District for its historic role
in the development of the US & Canadian West. As the uppermost
navigable point on the Missouri River - 3,484 miles from the Gulf of
Mexico - prior to the arrival of the railroad, Fort Benton was
Montana's most important city. It was the transportation center and
the stepping off point for the fur and buffalo robe trade, the gold
rushes of the Old West, and the settlement of the US Northwest and the
Canadian West.
