Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site is a partial reconstruction of the most important fur trading post on the upper Missouri, 1829-1867. The fort site is about two miles from the confluence of the Missouri River and its tributary, the Yellowstone River, on the North Dakota/Montana border, 25 miles from Williston, North Dakota.

In 1961, the site became one of the earliest declared National Historic Landmarks in the United States and was named Fort Union Trading Post by the National Park Service to differentiate it from Fort Union National Monument, a historic frontier Army post in New Mexico.

The historic site interprets how portions of the fort may have looked in 1851, based on archaeological excavations as well as drawings by contemporaries, including Rudolf Kurz, the post clerk in 1851.

History
Fort Union, possibly first known as Fort Henry or Fort Floyd, was built in 1828 or 1829 by the Upper Missouri Outfit managed by Kenneth McKenzie and was capitalized by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. Until 1867, Fort Union was the central, and busiest, trading post on the upper Missouri, instrumental in developing the fur trade in Montana.  Here Assiniboine, Crow, Cree, Ojibwe, Blackfoot, Hidatsa, Lakota, and other tribes traded buffalo robes and furs for trade goods including beads, clay pipes, guns, blankets, knives, cookware, cloth, and alcohol. Historic visitors to the fort included John James Audubon, Sha-có-pay, Captain Joseph LaBarge, Kenneth McKenzie, Father Pierre DeSmet, George Catlin, Sitting Bull, Karl Bodmer, Hugh Glass, and Jim Bridger.

At first, Indians traded beaver pelts for Euro-American goods because of the popularity of beaver hats in the East and in Europe. When silk and woolen hats became more popular during the 1830s, demand for beaver pelts decreased, and the trade shifted to bison robes.

During the historical period, Fort Union served as a haven for many frontier people and contributed to further economic growth on the American frontier. As headquarters for the American Fur Company, it played a primary role in the growth of the fur trade and allowed fur trade entrepreneurs to exert considerable influence in forming policies that affected the Indian nations of the region. The presence of the fort near the northern border of the United States also symbolized national sovereignty in the region.

The fort maintained a large inventory of firearms that were traded with Indian tribes for furs.  In turn, Indians used the firearms in hunting for furs and buffalo robes. Northern Plains Indians preferred the English-made "North West Gun," a smooth-bore flintlock, because of its reputation for quality and reliability.

Conflicts between Euro-American traders and Indians were less frequent around Fort Union than conflicts between the Indian tribes themselves. However, during the summer of 1863, when many tribes along the Missouri River became openly hostile to whites, Fort Union was nearly under siege, and steamboats and their passengers were exposed to significant danger.

See also
 Fort Buford, nearby site
 Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center
 Fur trade in Montana
 List of National Historic Landmarks in Montana
 National Register of Historic Places listings in Roosevelt County, Montana
 List of National Historic Landmarks in North Dakota
 National Register of Historic Places listings in Richland County, North Dakota

References

Bibliography

Online sources

External links
 
 Fort Union Trading Post Historic Site at NPS.gov

Category:IUCN Category III
Union
Category:History museums in North Dakota
Category:Missouri River
Category:Museums in Williams County, North Dakota
Category:National Historic Landmarks in North Dakota
Category:National Historic Landmarks in Montana
Category:National Historic Sites in North Dakota
Category:Native American museums in North Dakota
Category:Pre-statehood history of North Dakota
Category:Buildings and structures in Roosevelt County, Montana
Category:Government buildings completed in 1829
Category:Protected areas of Williams County, North Dakota
Category:Protected areas of Roosevelt County, Montana
Category:Trading posts in the United States
Category:Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Dakota
Category:Protected areas established in 1966
Category:1966 establishments in Montana
Category:1966 establishments in North Dakota
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Williams County, North Dakota
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Roosevelt County, Montana
Category:American Fur Company
Category:Forts along the Missouri River