Fort Bonneville

There were two Fort Bonnevilles, and this was the second. Benjamin Bonneville, an Army captain on leave, had built the first that summer on the Green River in Wyoming and left it within weeks; trappers called it Fort Nonsense. The rival who mocked this one was Warren Ferris of the American Fur Company. Bonneville stayed only until Christmas, cached his goods and moved on. His leave was for a year. He came back in 1835 to find himself dropped from the Army's rolls, and was reinstated in 1836 with President Jackson's help.

What the plaque says

Fort Bonneville In a grove of cottonwoods across the river, Capt. B. L. E. Bonneville established a winter fur trade post, Sept. 26, 1832. His fort, described by a rival trapper as "a miserable establishment"---"consisted of several log cabins, low, badly constructed, and admirably situated for beseigers only, who would be sheltered on every side by timber, brush etc." But several bands of friendly Flathead and Nez Perce Indians camped nearby, and Bonneville fully enjoyed his hunter's life here in the midst of "a wild and bustling scene." 241 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sacajawea Interpretive, Cultural and Educational Center — 5.5 mi
  In the valley where she was born, a center that spells her name the way many of her people say it.
• Lemhi Pass — 28 mi
  Lewis walked up a Shoshone road looking for the Pacific and saw only more mountains.

More markers nearby

• Historic Lemhi Co. — steps away
• Lewis and Clark — 12 mi
• Sacajawea — 17 mi
• Lewis and Clark — 17 mi