In 1850, Major John Owen established a trading post on the original site of St. Mary's Mission. It was the first permanent white settlement in Montana and welcomed Indians, trappers, gold seekers, and settlers. By the late 1860s, major travel routes had bypassed Fort Owen for more strategically situated trading posts near present-day Missoula. In 1871, Major Owen sold the fort, and afterward its walls and structures slowly deteriorated.