Fort Union: The Land and Sky

More than 180 years after the American Fur Company chose the location to build its grandest Upper Missouri trading post, the landscape remains one the posts' builders and employees would readily recognize. The location selected wasn't one they'd themselves picked out, however; it was a spot suggested by members of the Assiniboine tribe long-familiar with the region. They knew the dense gravel deposits on the Missouri River's north bank west of the Yellowstone River helped to prevent the land's erosion. That wisdom alone helped to preserve the fort's remains, which made it possible to reconstruct the post on its original location in the 1980s and 1990s. This is why the views from today's Fort Union so closely resemble the historic scenes preserved in drawings, paintings, sketches, and photogrphs produced during the post's active years, 1828-1867.

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Where Bodmer painted

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3.2 MB

Bodmer Overlook: A higher pers...

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2.5 MB

Frost along the river trail

1200 x 900
0.4 MB

Tepees at sunset

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0.9 MB

Frost in the trees

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1.3 MB

Prairie grass at sunset

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1.2 MB