Fort Benton (Chouteau County, Montana)
Chouteau County · Montana · Indian Wars
History & Significance
Alexander Culbertson of the American Fur Company established a trading post on the upper Missouri River in 1846 and named it Fort Clay, after the unusual clay banks found there. In 1850 the name was changed to Fort Benton in honor of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, the company's congressional ally.
The original Fort Lewis was dismantled and floated downstream by spring 1847; reconstruction using adobe bricks made from Missouri River clay began in 1848 and continued through 1860. As the fur trade transitioned from beaver pelts to buffalo robes, Fort Benton functioned as both a trading post and center for Indian annuity distribution.
Throughout the 1860s, fifty steamboats a season docked at the fort's mile-long levee. In the early 1860s, Montana's gold rush and steamboat traffic made the settlement a freighting and transportation hub, the toughest town in the Northwest, and a military post.
The fort was sold to the military in 1865 as the fur and robe trading era ended. By 1900 only the crumbling northeast bastion remained; the Daughters of the American Revolution rescued this last structure in 1908. The site is now a National Historic Landmark featuring a reconstructed trading post open seasonally.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- World's innermost port on the Missouri River system; preserved historic waterfront district and commercial buildings
- Indian Wars–era fur trading post and steamboat commerce hub
- National Historic Landmark status
- Gateway to Montana gold fields and westward expansion
- Museum exhibits on frontier trade and riverboat history
Sources
- https://historicmt.org/items/show/1
- https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/127755
- https://www.dar.org/national-society/historic-sites-and-properties/old-fort-benton-blockhouse
- https://www.nps.gov/places/fort-benton-national-historic-landmark.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Benton,_Montana
- https://www.achp.gov/preserve-america/community/fort-benton-montana