Indians camped near Fort McKenzie, Montana.
Kenneth McKenzie, a Missouri fur trader working for the American Fur Company, built Fort McKenzie, Montana, in 1832. It was built to trade with the Blackfeet Indians on the Missouri River near the Mouth of the Marias River.
In 1833, Alexander Philip Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, a noted German scientist and explorer, visited the fort. He stayed for several months, studied the local Indians, and collected plant and animal specimens. Karl Bodmer, an artist, accompanied him and sketched and painted the Indians and scenes in the surrounding countryside.
In 1844, the fort was managed by a fur trader named Francis A. Chardon, who withdrew from the fort when hostilities with the Blackfeet were renewed. He soon established the short-lived post of Fort Chardon opposite the mouth of the Judith River. This lasted one season when another party was sent from Fort Union, North Dakota, to recover the Blackfeet trade and establish a new post about three miles upriver from present-day Fort Benton. The site is located on the Missouri River, six miles above the mouth of the Marias River, near Loma, Montana.
By Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated September 2026.
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