Judith Landing, Montana, courtesy of Wikipedia.
After a fight with the Blackfeet Indians at Fort McKenzie, Montana, near the mouth of the Marias River on February 19, 1844, Francois Auguste Chardon of the American Fur Company, in strict secrecy, moved far downriver and constructed a trading post on the North bank of the Missouri River, directly opposite the mouth of the Judith River.
He named it Fort Chardon in his honor. Francois Chardon was an unscrupulous trader, hated both by whites and Indians, and as a result, the fort was an unsuccessful venture as it was constantly in a state of siege by Indians. In the summer of 1845, Chardon and his partner, Alexander Harvey, left and were replaced by Alexander Culbertson, a kindly trader with an Indian wife who restored the business. However, shortly after, Culbertson abandoned and burned the post, so the trading post lasted only one year.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
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