Fort Benton National Historic Landmark
Fort Benton is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, because of the importance it played as the head of navigation on the Missouri River and the opening of the northwest and western Canada.
Established in 1846, Fort Benton is known as the “Birthplace of Montana”. An American Fur Company trading post at first, it became the hub for travel throughout the northwestern United States and Canada. Fifty steamboats a season would dock along its levee, bringing fur traders, gold seekers, and settlers to the land of their dreams. Freight destined for isolated settlements would be loaded onto wagons and pulled by thousands of oxen along the trails of the northern plains.
Today, you can walk along the steamboat levee and the part of town once known as “the bloodiest block in the west”. Explore Historic Old Fort Benton, the Museum of the Upper Missouri, the Museum of the Northern Great Plains, and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument Interpretive Center
Distance Unit:
Fort Benton Engine House, Front Street, Fort Benton, MT, USA
Distance: 0.20 Away
Old Fort Benton Bridge, 15th Street, Fort Benton, MT, USA
Distance: 0.25 Away
Lewis and Clark Memorial, Front Street, Fort Benton, MT, USA
Distance: 0.26 Away
Old Fort Benton, River Street, Fort Benton, Montana 59442, USA
Distance: 0.31 Away
Museums and Interpretive Centers Forts
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Museum of the Northern Great Plains, 20th Street, Fort Benton, MT, USA
Distance: 0.38 Away
Museums and Interpretive Centers
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1205 20th Street, Fort Benton, Montana, USA
Distance: 0.38 Away
Museums and Interpretive Centers
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Upper Missouri River Guides, Main Street, Fort Benton, MT, USA
Distance: 0.53 Away
Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center, 7th Street, Fort Benton, MT, USA
Distance: 0.66 Away
Museums and Interpretive Centers
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Missouri River Outfitters, State Highway 387, Fort Benton, MT, USA
Distance: 1.04 Away
38870 US-87, Fort Benton, MT 59442, USA
Distance: 1.85 Away
Decision Point, Loma Ferry Road, Loma, MT, USA
Distance: 10.77 Away
LC Features Outdoor Experiences
View ListingOur bi-weekly newsletter provides news, history, and information for those interested in traveling along along the Lewis & Clark Trail.
