Kootenai Post (1808-1811) - This trading post was established in 1908 for the North West Company near Libby, Montana. Ti was relocated upstream three years later, near Jennings.

Lewis and Clark Fort (1810) - Also referred to as Three Forks Post, this short lived trading post was established in April, 1810 by Andrew Henry and Pierre Menard. Guided to the Three Forks of the Missouri Riverby John Colter, it was located between the  Madison and Jefferson Rivers. The post was surrounded by a 200' square stockade.  It was abandoned in the fall of 1810 because of Indian harassment. The site was first mentioned as a possible site of a fort by Lewis and Clark in their journals.

Having a reputation of readily accepting gunfire as the accepted method of ending any arguments, they quickly gained a rough reputation throughout the territory. However, as the only post situated between Martinsdale and Carroll, a distance of around 150 miles, travelers, traders and hunters had little other choice when needing supplies. During this time, the post's main 

business consisted of trading with Indians, chiefly in low grade liquor. Although selling liquor to the Indians was outlawed by the Federal government, the post was about 100 miles beyond the reach of any law authority, and the two men happily continued on with their profitable trade. In 1880, when numerous people began to settle in what would later become Lewistown, Reed took up new land and established another trading post nearer to the population. Soon, there were

"settlements," one which Reed called Reedsfort, and another trading post just ½ mile away called Fort Janeaux, operated by Francis Janeaux, a popular trader with the Metis people who had settled the area. Within no time Janeaux and Reed became intense rivals for the trade of area residents, which numbered less than 100. Reed established the first post office in 1881, which was officially called "Reedsfort."

However, one area resident named Dr. L. A. Lapalme, who was a a friend of Janeaux's and disgruntled with the mail service  began to circulate a petition for a new post office. Charging Reed "with gross neglect of his duties and some irregularities," it was known the Reed's parner, John Bowles, would simply put all the mail in a box that was placed on the floor in the corner of a room. When residents came into to get their mail, they were forced to sort through all the mail to find their own. One local resident named David Hilger would late say that "Reed was one angry postmaster when he read those charges!" Hilger would also say that Reed had confronted him when he found out that Hilger had signed the petition and Hilger "immediately envisioned a new mound in Major Reed's private cemetery." After some fast talking, Hilger finally convinced Reed that he had not read the petition that he had signed and Reed let him go unharmed. The post office also served a wide area surrounded by

Fort Maginnis, Judith Gapo and Philbrook. During the winter of 1881-1882, the mail was only delivered three times.

Either Lapalme's petition worked or Reed finally gave up, as he sold his holdings to Frank Day in 1882, who became the new postmaster. The following year, the post office name was changed to Lewistown. By 1890, the building was included in the county poor farm property. The old post office/trading post  was saved by Lewistown residents and today continues to stand in a park in Lewistown.

Saleesh House (1809-1824) - Established in 1809 by David Thompson for the North West Company, this trading post was located two miles east of Thompson Falls, on the Clarks Fork River just below its junction with the Thompson River. In 1824 it was moved to a site near Eddy, Montana, was renamed Flathead Post, and was operated by james McMillan and Ross Cox.

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated January, 2011.