Introduction
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The fur trade post Fort
Union was established in 1828
at the confluence of the Yellowstone and
Missouri Rivers by the Upper Missouri Outfit
(U.M.O.) of the American Fur Co. For almost
40 years, Fort Union served as the headquarters
of the U.M.O. As the center of an immense
American economic empire, Fort Union controlled
the bison robe and fur trade over a huge
area encompassing what are now North and
South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.
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Detail
of Fort Union, ca. 1843, from a painting
by post clerk J.B. Moncravie (courtesy Midwest
Jesuit Archives, St. Louis.)
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In 1867, Fort Union
was sold to the U.S. Army.The post was razed
that year, its building materials used to
construct the Army post Fort Buford about
2 miles away. The site of the trading post
lay abandoned and largely neglected for a
century.
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site and reconstruction the post
led Congress to pass, in 1966, Public Law
89-458 establishing Fort Union Trading Post
National Historic Site as a part of the National
Park system. The trading post was partially
reconstructed from 1986 to 1989 with structures
appearing as they did in 1850-1851. |
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Bourgeois Alexander Culbertson,
his Blackfoot wife Natawishicksina, and
their son Joe (ca. 1840s)
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The
People of Fort Union
Fort Union employed up to 200
people, mostly Métis (a Native American
group of French and Indian ancestry) or
French Canadian, although men from many
nations were represented. Many employees
had Native American wives and lived with
their children in or near the fort. Fort
Union was the primary post for the Assiniboin
although individuals from other tribes and
bands came to trade as well.
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Families
often camped on the plains
around the post although those of
highest prestige were often housed
in the fort itself. Although the fort
was originally established for the
fur trade with a particular focus
on beaver pelts, bison robes were
the most common item traded at the
post store for cloth, guns, cooking
pots, and other trade goods. NEXT
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Mandeh-Pahchu,
Mandan by Karl Bodmer, 1833-34.
(courtesy Joslyn Art Museum,
Omaha)
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Buffalo chase; bulls
battling with men and horses by George
Catlin, 1832 (courtesy National Gallery
of Art)
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