Fort Benton Historic District

Founded in 1846 as the fur trade shifted from furs to buffalo robes, Fort Benton served as both a trading post and a center for distribution of Indian annuities. In the early 1860s, Montana's gold rush and the beginning of steamboat traffic made the town a freighting and transportation hub, a military post, and the toughest town in the Northwest. Hopeful miners and adventurers traveled up the Missouri River past the White Cliffs and landed on Fort Benton's levee, then many returned in the fall headed for "the states," along with many who served or preyed upon them. Millions of dollars in gold traveled with the lucky few aboard steamboats and mackinaws. After the placers played out, Fort Benton merchants found new markets north along the Whoop-up Trail, first with trade goods that included whiskey to the Indians and later with more respectable merchandise for settlers and the Northwest Mounted Police. Entrepreneurs I.G. Baker, T.C. Power, W.S. Wetzel, and Charles William Conrad built the territory's largest banking and mercantile operations. Wagons rolled in all directions from Fort Benton, the self-proclaimed "Chicago of the Plains." The world's innermost port flourished until railroads reached the region. In 1887, the glory days of the steamboat trade ended, and the economy shifted toward sheep and cattle, with area ranchers shipping large herds to markets in Chicago. In the early 1900s, thousands of homesteaders flocked to the region, and Fort Benton prospered as the center of trade for the fertile "Golden Triangle."

Fort Benton, Montana · United States