Stand where two rivers meet two states at this free North Dakota fur trade outpost

It’s free, and it spans two time zones

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site straddles the North Dakota-Montana border right where the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers come together.

The reconstructed fort, with its white palisade walls, rises on a high gravel bank above rolling prairie and river. You can walk in without paying a dime, any day of the year.

The site actually crosses two time zones, though the Park Service runs everything on Central Time. The 444 acres hold nearly four decades of history, and the story starts with a handshake, not a battle.

Built at the request of the Assiniboine Nation

In 1828, John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company put up a trading post right where the Missouri meets the Yellowstone. The Assiniboine Nation asked for it.

Over the next 39 years, the Assiniboine, Crow, Cree, Blackfeet, Ojibway, Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara and other Northern Plains tribes brought in buffalo robes, beaver pelts and furs. They walked out with cloth, guns, blankets and beads.

The post moved more than 25,000 buffalo robes a year and pulled in over $100,000 in merchandise annually. In 1867, the U.S. Army bought the place, tore it apart and used the lumber to build nearby Fort Buford.

One million artifacts came out of the dirt

The Park Service took over in 1966, and archaeologists started digging two years later. They kept at it into the early 1970s, then came back between 1986 and 1988.

What they pulled from the ground totaled about one million individual fur-trade-era artifacts.

Reconstruction started in the mid-1980s and wrapped up in the early 1990s, built to match how the fort looked in 1851 at the peak of the buffalo robe trade.

Architects used those archaeological finds, written accounts and artwork by Karl Bodmer and George Catlin to get it right.

Today you can walk through palisade walls, a stone bastion, the Indian Trade House and the Bourgeois House.

The head trader’s home is now a museum

The Bourgeois House used to be where the fort’s head trader lived and ran the operation. Now it serves as the visitor center.

Inside, you’ll find museum exhibits covering life at Fort Union from 1828 to 1867, with displays of archaeological artifacts and examples of the furs that moved through here. A nine-minute film plays on demand at a video kiosk.

There’s also a bookstore run by the Fort Union Association that carries Native American-made items, reproduction trade goods and regional history books. Free Wi-Fi works inside the building.

See how a trade deal started with a pipe

The reconstructed Trade House sits just inside the fort’s main gate and shows you what commerce looked like in the 1850s.

From Memorial Day through Labor Day, rangers dress as 1850s fur traders and run interpretive programs inside. Shelves hold replicas of the goods that changed hands here, from beads and blankets to knives and cookware.

Tribal leaders met American Fur Company traders in the Reception Room to hash out terms, and according to the Park Service, they often started with ceremonial pipe-smoking before anyone talked business.

Hike to where Karl Bodmer sketched the West

The Bodmer Overlook Trail takes you to the exact spot where Swiss artist Karl Bodmer stood in 1833 and drew one of the most famous images of the American West. The trail runs about two miles round trip.

Bodmer traveled up the Missouri with German naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied, and together they produced one of the most thorough visual and written records of the Upper Missouri tribes.

His paintings later gave architects the detail they needed to rebuild the fort in the late 1980s and early 1990s. From the overlook, you can see the fort, the Missouri River and open prairie in every direction.

White pelicans and wildflowers along the Missouri

The Missouri River Trail covers about 2,000 feet round trip and drops you through river-bottom terrain to the banks of the Missouri.

Prairie stretches wide around the fort on all sides, the same open landscape Northern Plains tribes and fur traders knew. Birders should watch for Canada geese and white pelicans along the river corridor.

In spring, purple-petaled pasqueflowers push up through the grasslands near the Bodmer Overlook. Two of the West’s most storied rivers sit right here, giving this historical site a natural edge you don’t expect.

The Rendezvous brings blacksmiths and black powder

Every third full weekend in June, the Fort Union Rendezvous turns the site into a living history trade fair. Reenactors travel from across the United States and Canada to set up camp.

The 2026 event runs June 18 through 21. You’ll see blacksmithing, black powder shooting, pottery, frontier cooking, spinning and weaving.

Trader’s Row lines up with vendors selling goods like the ones that moved through here in the 1800s. A Kids Day kicks things off with hands-on activities for families.

The whole event costs nothing to attend.

Powwow drums and beadwork in August

The Indian Arts Showcase, typically held the first weekend in August, puts Northern Plains tribal culture front and center.

Past events have brought Native American music, dancing, beadwork and other traditional crafts, and some years have included a traditional powwow.

Later in the season, Living History Weekend fills the fort with costumed interpreters and demonstrations that pull you back into the 1800s.

Dates and details can shift from year to year, so check the Park Service calendar before you plan a trip around a specific event.

Kids earn a Junior Trader badge for free

The Junior Ranger and Junior Trader programs give kids of all ages a reason to dig into the site.

You pick up a free Junior Ranger booklet at the Bourgeois House Visitor Center, and the whole thing takes about an hour.

Adults can complete the Junior Ranger program too, but the Junior Trader program is for children ages 3 through 16. A self-guided walking tour of the fort grounds works well for families any time of year.

During summer, ranger-led talks and demonstrations round out the day for everyone.

Catlin, Bodmer and Audubon all came here

Fort Union drew some of the biggest names in 1800s art and science, all working to document the West before cameras existed. George Catlin showed up in 1832 and painted scenes of Native American life at the fort.

Karl Bodmer arrived the next year with Prince Maximilian of Wied and produced detailed sketches and watercolors of the Assiniboine people and the post itself.

John James Audubon, the famed naturalist and bird artist, also made the trip to study the region’s wildlife.

Their paintings, sketches and journals traveled back East and across Europe, making the Upper Missouri one of the best-documented stretches of the frontier.

Sitting Bull surrendered just a few miles east

Fort Buford State Historic Site sits a few miles east of Fort Union and holds what remains of the Army post built partly from the trading post’s own lumber in 1867.

Fort Buford ran as a frontier military post for 29 years and earned its place in history when the Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull surrendered there in 1881.

Nearby, the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center covers the spot where these two rivers meet, a location Lewis and Clark visited in 1805 and 1806.

The three sites together span fur trade, military and exploration history.

Fort Buford and the Confluence Center charge a small admission fee and are run by the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

Visit Fort Union Trading Post in North Dakota

You can walk into Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site any day of the year without spending a cent.

The site sits at 15550 Highway 1804, about 25 miles southwest of Williston, N.D., and 24 miles northeast of Sidney, Mont. Hours run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

The Trade House opens seasonally in summer. Leashed pets can join you in the courtyard, Trade House and on trails, but not inside the visitor center.

Wheelchair-accessible parking, restrooms and visitor center are all on site, with a ramp to the Bourgeois House available on request. Cell service can get spotty out here, so download what you need before you arrive.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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