Founded in 1846 as a fur post, Fort Benton became the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Montana. From its palisaded walls grew the most important transportation center in the Northwest. Trails led in every direction, carrying goods and supplies to the U.S. and Canada. Steamboats docked at Fort Benton's levee, and freight was loaded into giant wagons pulled by hundreds of mules and oxen for distant places in Idaho, Washington, and Alberta. When the railroads crossed Montana and Alberta in the early 1880's, the town ceased to be a transportation center, but the area continued to prosper with cattle, sheep, and wheat.