Fort Union

Today we made our way to the impressive edifice on the northern North Dakota prairie, Fort Union! One of the rangers there told us that so many stories of the big white fort were told among the Native Americans that members of the Nez Perce made the journey over the Rocky Mountains not to trade but just to see this incredible edifice for themselves! While we were there today Native American dancers, drummers, and narrators came to give us a little insight into their culture and traditions much as their ancestors would have come here to participate in the ceremonies that surrounded the transfer of furs and trade goods. Costumed interpreters helped us understand some of the history of the American Fur Company and how they did business here in the early Nineteenth Century. Despite the impression we got from Aerial America, there is no evidence that John Jacob Astor, America’s first multimillionaire ever came here. It was his trading post in that he was instrumental in its establishment but he wasn’t directly involved in its daily operation. As a bonus we got to witness the firing of a four pounder cannon such as would have been used here primarily for ceremonial purposes. The building here is entirely a replica. After the trading post ceased operations the fort was purchased by the US Army, dismantled, and the materials used for the 1867 rebuilding of Fort Buford, a military installation just a few miles away.