Yellowstone River Trading Posts

The board's last post, given up in 1876, belonged to no fur company. Fort Pease went up in June 1875 just below the Bighorn's mouth, a cottonwood stockade raised by Bozeman traders who hoped it would become the head of steamboat navigation, on hunting ground the Lakota held. They besieged it through the winter. When Major James Brisbin's 2nd Cavalry arrived on March 4, 1876, six of its forty-six men had been killed, eight wounded and thirteen had gone; he took the nineteen left to Bozeman. Gibbon's column found it still standing that April.

What the plaque says

Yellowstone River Trading Posts Even before the Lewis and Clark Expedition returned to St. Louis in 1806, enterprising fur traders looked to the upper Missouri and Yellowstone rivers as a source of profit. At various times between 1807 and 1876, eight trading posts were located between the mouths of the Big Horn and Tongue rivers. Most were owned and operated by the American Fur Company - a firm organized in 1808 by John Jacob Astor. Rather than rely on the rendezvous system and the mountain men, the "Company" built a series of fixed posts designed to encourage the local tribes to trade at the forts. American Fur Company forts were virtual duplicates - each was about 100 feet square with cottonwood palisades and block houses at opposite corners. The forts included Fort Remon or Manuel Lisa (1807-1809), the first Fort Benton (1821), the second Big Horn Post (1824), Fort Cass (1832 -1835), Fort Van Buren (1835 - 1843), Fort Alexander (1842 -1850) and two named Fort Sarpy. Nearly all the existing accounts of the forts tell stories of a lively trade that was often filled with danger for both trader and Native American. By 1876, the fur trade was no longer profitable and the trading post was abandoned. While their presence was fleeting, they significantly impacted the lives of Native Americans and those who chose to garrison these isolated places. The trading posts represented a colorful era in Montana's history.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Jedediah Smith — steps away
• Hysham and Treasure County — steps away
• The Yellowstone Valley — 11 mi
• Buffalo Country — 22 mi