I thought this would be another military fort such as the ones I visited along the south Atlantic coast. But I discovered that Fort Union was actually a private enterprise and existed as a trading post in the northwest corner of North Dakota.

Starting in the mid 1820s and operating until 1869, the trading post was used by several local tribes and independent trappers. They traded their pelts, and other goods for merchandise brought up from St Louis.

Through its entire existence, the residents of the fort had no problems with the native populations, other than those times that two tribes who did not like each other were at the fort at the same time! After the Civil War, need for the trading post dwindled and it was eventually lost to time. The current structure is a reproduction of the original, made accurate by drawings of an artist who lived in the original fort.