Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site
Fort Union Trading Post was an economic and social landmark. The primary fur trading station in the northern Rocky Mountain west, the fort featured a blacksmith shop, dwelling range, storehouse, and bourgeois hours—the components of a small, functioning community. Fort Union became a center of cultural mingling among European Americans and many American Indian tribes.
Fort Union Trading Post became a state historic site in 1938, a national historic landmark in 1961, and then a national historic site in 1966. Congress created Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site to “commemorate the significant role played by Fort Union as a fur trading post on the Upper Missouri River.
Today, a partially reconstructed fort exits at the same location as the original, constructed with information gained through extensive archaeological investigations, historic paintings, and archival documentation.
Relationships with surrounding American Indian groups are critical elements of Fort Union Trading Post’s history and remain key to interpretation today. At least eight groups played a significant role in the fort’s history: Assiniboine, Crow, Blackfeet, Plains Cree, Plains Chippewa, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Sioux. The park sponsors events and programs that encourage American Indian participation and generate increased interest in the ethnic diversity of the region, and staff are working on an ethnographic study to enhance interpretation and understanding of American Indian connections to the fort.
An assessment of the conditions of cultural and natural resources at the fort indicates that, overall, cultural and natural resources are in fair condition. Cultural resources scored 71 out of 100, while natural resources scored 67 out of 100.
