In 1831, James Kipp led 75 employees of the American Fur Company to the Marias to build a trading post for trade with the Piegan Indians. They soon encountered a large Piegan party, and Kipp avoided trouble by persuading the chiefs to withdraw their people for 75 days while the post was built. The Indians returned on the appointed day, and trading was brisk; over 10 days, more than 2,400 beaver skins were exchanged in a very successful beginning. Later that same winter, a band of Blood Indians attacked the fort. It was abandoned and burned the following spring. This was the American Fur Company's first foothold in Blackfeet country above Fort Union in present-day North Dakota, and Fort McKenzie, 8 miles upriver, replaced it the following year. Its exact location is unknown, and any remnants were probably eroded by the shifting river channels.