North Dakota, Williams County, Williston
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Early explorers reported that America’s western mountains were rich in furs. As a part of a plan to extend trading into the Upper Missouri country, John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company built Fort Union here, near the junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, in 1829. This post soon became the headquarters for trading beaver furs and buffalo robes with the Assiniboin Indians to the north, the Crow Indians on the upper Yellowstone, and the Blackfeet who lived farther up the Missouri.
In its heyday, the Fort was a busy place and employed up to 100 people. A bourgeois (or manager) directed Fort Union’s operations and the activities of its traders and craftsmen.
Early explorers reported that America’s western mountains were rich in furs. As a part of a plan to extend trading into the Upper Missouri country, John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company built Fort Union here, near the junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, in 1829. This post soon became the headquarters for trading beaver furs and buffalo robes with the Assiniboin Indians to the north, the Crow Indians on the upper Yellowstone, and the Blackfeet who lived farther up the Missouri.
In its heyday, the Fort was a busy place and employed up to 100 people. A bourgeois (or manager) directed Fort Union’s operations and the activities of its traders and craftsmen.
During its thirty-eight years of operation, travelers and famed men passed through Fort Union’s gates. Adventurers, artists, scientists and priests---even princes—made their way up the Missouri to this site. As you enter the Fort, imagine you are a river traveler of the 1830’s, stepping off your steamboat and into one of the busiest and grandest of a network of fur trading outposts.
(Industry & Commerce • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
