List of fur trading posts in Montana explained

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, and the following explorations of the Lewis and Clark Expedition opened the area further for commerce. 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. 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.

List

style=text-align:left	Name !	Other names		Location !	County		Company !	Active	Main customers !	Remarks
Big Horn Post#2^[1]		Confluence of the Bighorn and the Yellowstone	Treasure	Rocky Mountain Fur Company	1824– ?	The Crow
Brazeau Houses	Braseau's Houses	Extreme lower Yellowstone	Richland		1828– ?
			Rosebud		1842–1850^[2]	The Crow
Fort Andrew			Phillips	American Fur Company	1862– ?		Inundated
Fort Benton (#1)		At the confluence of the Bighorn and the Yellowstone	Treasure	Missouri Fur Company	1821– 1824?	The Crow
	Fort Lewis, Fort Clay	At the Upper Missouri, city of Fort Benton	Chouteau	American Fur Company	1846–1864		National Historic Landmark
Fort Campbell		Near the city of Fort Benton	Chouteau		1846–1861
		At the confluence of the Bighorn and the Yellowstone	Treasure	American Fur Company	1832–1838	The Crow
Fort Chardon	Fort F. A. Chardon	At the confluence of the Judith and the Missouri	Chouteau		1843– ?
		At the Missouri, right east of Oswego	Valley		1861– ?
		Near Post Creek	Lake		1845–1871
		At the upper Missouri, 10 miles southwest of Fort Benton	Chouteau		1843– ? (short-lived)
			Valley		1860– ?
			Valley		1862–1864
		At the Missouri, 30 miles east of James Kipp Recreation Area	Phillips		1866– ?		Inundated
			Roosevelt	American Fur Company	1833– ? (short-lived)
Fort Kipp		At the Missouri, near the city of Fort Kipp	Roosevelt		1860-1860		Burned by Native Americans
		At the Missouri, near the city of Fort Benton	Chouteau	LaBarge, Harkness and Company	1862– ?
		At the Missouri, west of the city of Fort Benton	Chouteau	American Fur Company	? – 1847		Dismantled and rebuilt as part of Fort Benton
	Fort Brulé	At the Missouri, east of the city of Fort Benton	Chouteau	American Fur Company	1832–1843	The Blackfeet	Burned by Native Americans
			Ravalli		1850–1872		Now a state park
		At the confluence of the Marias and the Missouri	Chouteau		1831–1832	The Blackfeet	Burned by Native Americans
		At the Missouri, near Poplar	Roosevelt	A Charles Larpenteur post	1861– ?
Fort Raymond	Fort Remon, Fort Lisa, Fort Manuel Lisa, Big Horn Post	At the confluence of the Yellowstone and the Bighorn	Treasure	Missouri Fur Company^[3]	1807–1813(?)	The Crow
		On the north side of the Yellowstone, 10 miles east of Forsyth	Rosebud	American Fur Company	1850–1856^[4]	The Crow
		At the Yellowstone, 10 miles east of the mouth of the Bighorn	Treasure	American Fur Company	1857– c. 1860	The Crow
		At the Missouri, near the City of Fort Kipp	Roosevelt		1854–1860		Burned by Native Americans
		At the Missouri, right east of the Montana – North Dakota border	Right east of Roosevelt	American Fur Company	1828–1867^[5]	The Assiniboine and Cree	National Park Service Area
	Fort Tulloch, Fort Tullock and Tulloch's Fort^[6]	At the Yellowstone, 10 miles east of Forsyth	Rosebud	American Fur Company	1835–1842	The Crow
		At the confluence of the Little Bighorn and the Bighorn	Big Horn		1843– ?	The Crow	(Only has a trading post of this name here)
	Three Forks Post		Gallatin	Missouri Fur Company	1810– ?
	Howse House		Flathead	Hudson's Bay Company	1810– ?
			Lincoln		1808– ?
Kootenai Post II^[7]			Lincoln		1811– ?
	Saleesh House, Flathead Post		Sanders	North West Fur Company	1809– ?
		Ten miles east of Thompson Falls	Sanders	Hudson's Bay Company	1824– ?

Notes and References

https://archive.org/stream/montanahistoricp1975mont/montanahistoricp1975mont_djvu.txt Montana Historic Preservation Plan (1975)
Hoxie, Frederich E. (1995): Parading Through History. The Making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805–1935. Cambridge.
Wood, Raymond W. and Thomas D. Thiessen (1987): Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains. Norman and London.
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.
Chittenden, Hiram Martin (1954): The American Fur Trade. Vol. II. Stanford.
The Montana Historic Preservation Plan (1970). Helena.