Fort Benton – Birthplace of Montana

Nestled along the banks of the Upper Missouri River, in the heart of Chouteau County, Montana, lies the city of Fort Benton, a place steeped in history and brimming with tales of the Old West. Established in 1846, Fort Benton proudly holds the title of the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Montana, its story intricately woven with the threads of fur trading, steamboat commerce, and westward expansion. The city’s strategic waterfront location served as the keystone for its phenomenal growth throughout the 19th century.

The story of Fort Benton begins a year earlier, in 1845, when Alexander Culbertson, a shrewd agent representing the American Fur Company, sought to establish a trading post in the region. His initial venture, named Fort Lewis, was situated approximately 18 miles upstream from the present-day site of Fort Benton. The intent was to engage in trade with the Blackfeet Indians, a prominent and influential tribe in the area. However, the Blackfeet were not pleased with the location, deeming it inaccessible and inconvenient.

Responding to the tribe’s concerns, Culbertson made the pragmatic decision to relocate the trading post. In 1846, the log structures of Fort Lewis were carefully dismantled and floated down the Missouri River to a more suitable location. This new site, a broad, grassy river bottom on the north side of the Missouri, offered better accessibility and a more advantageous position for trade. The post was meticulously reassembled, retaining the name Fort Lewis, a tribute to Meriwether Lewis of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition, whose explorations had charted the course for future settlement in the region.

In the early years, Fort Lewis was actively involved in a competitive fur trade landscape. Traders were dispatched north into Canada, laden with whiskey, in an attempt to entice Indigenous populations away from the well-established trade networks of the Hudson’s Bay Company. While the Canadian Mounties actively worked to suppress the whiskey trade, their presence inadvertently created new opportunities for Fort Lewis. As they diligently policed the border, they also sought reliable sources of supply, leading to increased trade with the American post.

While this trade proved profitable for Fort Lewis, the unscrupulous practice of selling liquor to Indigenous peoples nearly cost the American Fur Company its valuable trading license. It was through the intervention of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton that the company was spared, securing its continued operation in the region.

Recognizing the need for a more robust and defensible structure, Albert Culbertson, during a visit to Fort Laramie in Wyoming, was impressed by the durability and resilience of adobe buildings. Understanding that such construction would offer superior protection against the harsh Montana climate and potential attacks, he initiated the construction of new adobe buildings at Fort Lewis in the fall of 1848. During this period of intense brick-making activity, the post was often referred to as Fort Clay.

Culbertson’s own two-story dwelling was the first structure completed, followed by a series of essential buildings, including a new trade store, trader’s quarters, a warehouse, and workshops for blacksmiths and carpenters. For defense, two imposing 20-foot blockhouses were strategically positioned at opposite corners of the fort. These blockhouses were designed with reinforced second stories capable of supporting the recoil of brass-barreled cannons. One of the blockhouses served a dual purpose, acting as a powder magazine and armory. A formidable 14-foot-high adobe wall connected the blockhouses, enclosing the entire post. The new post was completed in 1850, marking a new chapter for the trading hub, and it was renamed Fort Benton in honor of Senator Thomas H. Benton, acknowledging his crucial role in preserving the American Fur Company’s trading privileges.

For the next two decades, Fort Benton flourished as a central hub of commerce and the primary base of operations for the American Fur Company. The trading post served both Indigenous peoples and white fur traders, facilitating the exchange of pelts and hides for essential goods such as clothing, arms, liquor, and other supplies. The post also played a significant role in fostering peaceful relations between local Indian tribes and the burgeoning white settler population, culminating in a landmark peace treaty in 1855. This treaty granted the U.S. Government the right to construct roads and navigate the Missouri River in exchange for annual annuity payments to the Blackfeet tribe and secured buffalo hunting rights for the Crow Indians.

The fur trade era spurred the initial widespread use of the Missouri River as a vital transportation artery. Initially, keelboats, mackinaws, bull boats, and canoes were employed to transport traders, supplies, and valuable furs. However, the immense profits to be made soon attracted the attention of steamboat captains, who were willing to brave the treacherous waters of the Missouri. While steamboat navigation on the Missouri River had begun as early as 1831, with the steamer Yellowstone reaching Pierre, South Dakota, it would take several years before steamboats could successfully navigate the more challenging waters upstream to Fort Benton.

The Missouri River in Montana was notorious for its hazardous conditions, teeming with submerged trees, snags, shifting sandbars, and unpredictable currents. These obstacles made navigation incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for conventional vessels. However, the development of a new, broad-bottom steamboat design in the 1850s revolutionized river transport. In 1859, Captain John LaBarge, accompanied by Charles Chouteau of the American Fur Company, attempted to reach Fort Benton aboard the Chippewa. Unfortunately, they were forced to unload their cargo just 12 ½ miles short of their destination, at the former site of Fort McKenzie. Undeterred, they returned the following year and successfully reached Fort Benton, proving that the Missouri River was indeed navigable to that point. This triumph was quickly followed by other steamships, including the Key West, which reached Fort Benton in July 1860, solidifying the city’s position as the head of navigation on the Missouri River.

Albert Culbertson managed the upriver trade from Fort Benton until his retirement in the late 1850s. He was succeeded by Andrew Dawson, who oversaw operations until his own retirement in 1864. Isaac G. Baker then took over as supervisor of the post until the following spring when the American Fur Company withdrew from the upriver trade. By this time, the northern fur trade had significantly declined. However, a thriving settlement had grown around the trading post, and Isaac Baker, recognizing the potential, opened a mercantile store with his brother. In 1865, the American Fur Company sold the post to the U.S. Army. The Army was interested in Fort Benton because it sat at the eastern anchor of the Mullan Wagon Road, a road built from Washington Territory in 1859-1860. However, it would be several years before military troops occupied the site.

As the northwestern point of debarkation on the Missouri River and the eastern terminus of the Mullan Wagon Road, the town of Fort Benton flourished, becoming a bustling hub of activity. Steamboats arrived in great numbers, carrying goods, merchants, and settlers, particularly after gold was discovered in Idaho and Bannack and Virginia City, Montana, in the early 1860s. Stage lines, bull trains, and mule trains were readily available to transport the incoming supplies destined for points beyond Fort Benton. "All trails lead out of Fort Benton" was a common saying, reflecting the town’s central role in connecting various routes. In addition to the Mullan Road to Washington, the town also lay along the Fisk Wagon Road to St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Whoop-Up Trail that extended into Canada.

As Fort Benton grew in importance, numerous buildings were constructed along the levee, stretching for a mile upriver to the fort. Fort Benton earned a reputation as the "world’s innermost port," and it became known as one of the toughest towns in the West. In 1865, Fort Benton was designated as the county seat of the newly formed Chouteau County. This period also saw a surge in population as the Civil War ended and thousands of people migrated westward in search of opportunity. Riverboat traffic was heavy, with steamboats transporting men and supplies to the goldfields and returning downriver laden with valuable products. Most travelers and goods made the journey on steamboats from St. Louis, Missouri, as it was a much faster and safer alternative to the arduous overland route.

The steamboat trip typically took 60-65 days, with passengers paying an average of $150. On their return trips downriver, the steamboats carried the rich gold finds of Montana. In 1866, one steamboat departed Fort Benton with a staggering cargo of 2 ½ tons of gold dust from Confederate Gulch, valued at $1,250,000, making it the wealthiest cargo ever transported down the Missouri River. During the peak year of 1867, approximately 1,500 people arrived in Fort Benton by steamboat.

By this time, the town of Fort Benton had become prosperous, with new buildings lining the levee. However, it also gained a rowdy reputation. Front Street, between 15th and 16th Streets, was notorious as the "bloodiest block in the West." This area was home to more than a dozen saloons, dance halls, gambling parlors, and brothels, where violence was a frequent occurrence. Amidst this wicked block, the infamous Eleanor Dumont, better known as "Madame Mustache," operated her blackjack table in a gambling den called "The Jungle."

In June 1867, as she dealt cards at her table, she spotted an incoming steamboat called the Walter B. Dance approaching the dock. Upon hearing reports that the boat was carrying smallpox, she leaped up, ran down the stairs, and across the street to the levee, where she brandished two pistols, warning the captain not to dock. While the infamous madame is better known for her other exploits across the West, she may have saved the flourishing town from a devastating outbreak.

Just a month later, another significant event captured the town’s attention. In the summer of 1867, General Thomas Francis Meagher, then acting governor of Montana Territory, traveled to Fort Benton to receive a shipment of guns and ammunition sent by General William T. Sherman for use by the Montana Militia. On the evening of July 1st, Meagher, who had been ill, fell overboard from the steamboat G. A. Thompson into the rushing waters of the Missouri River. His body was never recovered. The circumstances surrounding his death were suspicious, leading to speculation that he may have been murdered, but the truth was never definitively determined.

Meanwhile, the old trading post of Fort Benton, though owned by the U.S. Army, remained abandoned for four years. When troops finally occupied it in 1869, intending to use the post as a supply base for Forts Shaw and Ellis, it had already begun to deteriorate. Despite the fort’s occupation for the next six years, little was done to improve its condition. Lieutenant James H. Bradley, who served at the post during this time, wrote in his journal: "Gradually the wild country became too tame for the great fur traders. The forts passed into the hands of the federal troops, and the heroic role of the trapper and trader had played. He had found the trails which the settler followed. He had explored and named the lakes and the streams. He had learned how to deal with the tribes, so their full fury was never unleashed upon the settlers. He released a primitive source of wealth that built nations." In 1875, the military abandoned the fort, and private families occupied its buildings for the next few years. However, by 1881, the fort was completely empty and left to decay.

The peak of the riverboat trade to Fort Benton occurred in 1879, when 47 boats transported 9,444 tons of cargo up the river. However, the following decade saw Fort Benton transitioning towards a more respectable image. Brick buildings replaced the more shoddily constructed saloons and brothels, and the levee became more peaceful, having shed its rowdy reputation. In 1882, the Grand Union Hotel opened, boasting the finest accommodations between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Seattle, Washington. It hosted the rich and famous, but its excellent reputation was short-lived. The completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad to Helena in June 1883 ended the Benton Road’s long supremacy as the Territory’s most important highway. Two months later, in August, the Canadian Pacific Railroad reached Calgary, abruptly ending the importance of the northern roads into Alberta and Saskatchewan. This development dealt a mortal blow to Fort Benton, and the Grand Union Hotel failed in early 1884. Over the next century, the once-luxurious hotel passed through a series of owners, steadily declining. However, it has since been restored to its former glory and continues to stand in Fort Benton, operating as a Bed and Breakfast Inn and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The arrival of the railroad to Fort Benton in 1887 marked the end of the significant steamboat era. The last commercial boat unloaded its cargo at Fort Benton in 1890. From 1860 to 1890, an impressive 600 steamboats had reached the head of navigation. Despite its decline from its previous heydays, Fort Benton persevered and thrived during an agricultural boom spurred by the Homestead Act.

By 1900, the old Fort Benton post had fallen completely into ruins. Only the fort’s crumbling northeast blockhouse and a portion of the adobe wall remained. However, in 1908, the Daughters of the American Revolution rescued the remnants with donated funds, including $1,500 from the Montana legislature. Thanks to their efforts, the oldest building in Montana still stands today. Over the years, several other historic buildings have been reconstructed, including the Trade Store, the Warehouse, the Blacksmith and Carpenter’s Shop, and the main "Sally Port" Gate.

Today, Fort Benton is known as the "Birthplace of Montana" and is home to approximately 1,600 people. It proudly showcases its rich heritage through several museums and a walking tour of the historic district, which features numerous well-preserved historic buildings. The Fort Benton waterfront area was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

Fort Benton remains a haven for history enthusiasts and recreation seekers seeking solitude and the unique beauty of the Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River. It lies along several trails, including the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, the Nez Perce National Historic Trail, the Mullan Road, the Whoop-up Trail in Alberta, Canada, and the Fort Walsh Trail in Saskatchewan.