Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site is a partial reconstruction of the most important fur trading post on the upper Missouri River from 1829 to 1867. The fort site is about two miles from the confluence of the Missouri River and its tributary, the Yellowstone River, on the Dakota side of the North Dakota/Montana border, 25 miles from Williston, North Dakota.
The historic site interprets how portions of the fort may have looked in 1851, based on archaeological excavations and contemporary drawings. Among the sources were drawings by Swiss artist Rudolf Kurz, who worked as the post clerk in 1851.
Fort Union, possibly first known as Fort Henry or Fort Floyd, was built in 1828 or 1829 by the Upper Missouri Outfit managed by Kenneth McKenzie; it was capitalized by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, Astor having created a virtual monopoly in fur trading.[5]
At first, Indians traded beaver pelts for Euro-American goods because there was demand for beaver hats in the East and in Europe. During the 1830s, silk and woolen hats became more popular and demand for beaver pelts decreased. The trade shifted to bison robes.[10]
During the historical period, Fort Union served as a haven for many frontier people and contributed to economic growth on the American northwestern frontier. As headquarters for the American Fur Company, it played a primary role in the growth of the fur trade. Fur trade entrepreneurs, such as Astor and successors, exerted considerable influence on government policies that affected the Indian nations of the region. The presence of the fort near the northern border of the United States also symbolized national sovereignty in the region.[11]
The fort maintained a large inventory of firearms that were traded with Indian tribes for furs. In turn, Indians used the firearms in hunting for furs and buffalo robes. Northern Plains Indians preferred the English-made "North West Gun," a smooth-bore flintlock, because of its reputation for quality and reliability.[12]
Conflicts between Euro-American traders and Indians were less frequent around Fort Union than were conflicts among the Indian tribes themselves.[13] However, during the summer of 1863, following the Dakota Wars of 1862, many tribes along the upper Missouri River became openly hostile to whites. At times Fort Union was nearly under siege, and the steamboats and their passengers were exposed to significant danger along the river.[14]
^Sudbury, J. Byron, 2009. Politics of the Fur Trade: Clay Tobacco Pipes at Fort Union Trading Post (32WI17). Historic Clay Tobacco Pipe Studies Research Monograph 2. Ponca City, Oklahoma: Clay Pipes Press. http://www.claypipes.com/FortUnion.htm
—— (1990). "Fur Trade Era Blacksmith Shops at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, North Dakota". Historical Archaeology. 24 (23). Springer: 23. JSTOR25615792.
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