Fort Benton: The birthplace of Montana

Fort Benton rests along the mighty Missouri River. Founded in 1846, it's the oldest town in Montana. During its first century, Fort Benton would become a springboard for trade as goods would be offloaded at the navigable end of the Missouri River and transported west by wagon. Flood control and other initiatives in the 1940s rendered Sioux City the new head of navigation on the Missouri, as the Great Northern railroad would become the primary means of transportation to the community. Today, the tracks end just to the south of town, but the sense of history and importance to the area is ever-present.

Spotters once sighted steamboats chugging up river eight miles away from Signal Point that rises from a sandstone bluff north of town. Word then went out to the townsfolk that a steamboat was "round the bend!" Today from the Signal Point and other places on this high perch, one gets a great view of the big Missouri, historic Fort Benton, the Bear's Paw Mountains to the northeast and the Highwoods to the southeast.

The Corps of Discovery led by Captains Lewis and Clark passed by the area on July 13, 1805, after having camped downstream about eight miles.

In 1845, Alexander Culbertson of the American Fur Co. established Fort Lewis, a trading post just upstream from today's Fort Benton. Ice jams and floods made reaching it in winter and spring difficult, so the post's structures were dismantled and floated to the present day site in the spring of 1847. The first residents, though, arrived at the new location in autumn 1846, giving birth to what would become Montana. This oldest continuing settlement in the state was at the head of navigation on the lifeline to Montana Territory, the Missouri River.

The new edifice was named Fort Clay, but on Christmas day 1850, the name was changed to Fort Benton to honor Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, a patron of the American Fur Co. It soon became a boisterous "old west" town of legend. As Winfield Stocking wrote, "Although it continued to be a mere village in size, in a commercial way it was the Chicago of the plains. It was the door through which all the gold hunters, adventurers, speculators, traders, land-seekers, big game hunters, fugitives from justice, desperadoes ... on the top of the earth entered the Northwest." A sign on the levee states that the street along the river was "the bloodiest block in the west."

The Missouri River Steamboat Era, lasting from 1859 until 1888, gave this riverbank community new life at a time when the fur trading was dwindling. The first boat to dock was The Chippewa from St. Louis, on July 2, 1860. One tried in 1859 but didn't make it. Throughout this colorful period, an average of 20 boats a year steamed up the Missouri towards Fort Benton. An estimated 600 of them arrived between 1860 and 1888.

Gold discoveries in western Montana created a rush that attracted would-be miners to the territory. Missouri steamboats were the most practical way to get here, and an estimated 10,000 people made the journey along with countless tons of freight. The trip to Fort Benton from St. Louis took 60 days and cost about $150.

From the time the ice melted in the spring until the river froze in the fall, the one and 1-half-mile-long levee was piled with goods headed for the gold camps of southwest Montana. "All trails lead out of Fort Benton" was a familiar statement in those days. The settlement also was the anchor of the 625-mile-long Mullan Road, completed in 1860, that led to Walla Walla, Washington. Stage lines, bull trains and mule trains were used by travelers heading out of town.

In September 1887, the railroad arrived at Fort Benton, signaling the end of the era of river trade, and it seemed the town would die. But a Canadian trade boom opened, resulting in the establishment of the 240-mile-long Whoop Up Trail pointing north to Fort Macleod, Alberta. Although plenty of legitimate commerce was carried out, the trail became known for the illegal whiskey transported on this dangerous and adventure-filled route.

Fort Benton is one of the most fascinating and prettiest towns in Montana to visit, especially when seen in the spring, summer and fall months. The cottonwood-lined Missouri River flows peacefully along a well-maintained levee area of commercial buildings and old homes. It's hard to imagine that this peaceful agricultural town was as boisterous and raucous as the stories tell. But the sights and sounds of history past are part of what makes Fort Benton so special today. The townsfolk have gone out of their way to preserve important reminders of a way of life that once was.

Remains of the adobe fort buildings, two museums – the Museum of the Northern Great Plains and the Museum of the Upper Missouri – restored homes, a levee with a keelboat, interpretive signs and a bridge that has spanned the Missouri since 1888, add to a pleasant walking tour under massive and stately cottonwoods. You can see the 1883 firehouse and learn of the story of "Old Shep," a legendary Fort Benton collie. The Bureau of Land Management also maintains a good river visitor's center. Here you can obtain information on floating the river, as well as learning of outfitters who will guide you and of places that rent canoes.

Then there is Fort Benton's pride and joy, the newly refurbished Grand Union, Montana's oldest operating hotel. This historic landmark was originally opened on Nov. 1, 1882, and as one of the levee signs says, "US Army officers, Canadian Mounties, trappers, miners, traders, river captains, stockman, missionaries, Indian agents and road agents rubbed shoulders in the Grand Union's lobby, spacious dining room and adjourned to its well-stocked bar for the relaxation due the frontiersman at a weary journey's end."

Although the hotel did operate fairly consistently from 1882 to 1983, it was essentially just a shell when Jim and Cheryl Gagnon bought it and embarked on their dream to restore the building to its former glory and to preserve as much of the historic value as possible.

And what a magnificent job they've done. The lobby and the staircase are still the same, but the hotel rooms are a now comfortable and luxurious mixture of what's new and old, so that everything works in this modern era.

This is a town and a place that every Montanan should visit at least once. If you were born here, it is part of your heritage. Many folks begin and end their float of the 150-mile-long stretch of the Wild and Scenic Missouri that commences at Fort Benton with a well-deserved stay at the Grand Union. Breakfast comes with the room, and the Union Grille provides riverside, gourmet dining at night.