Reed and Bowles Trading Post in Montana.
Reed’s Fort, located in what is now Lewiston, Montana, was a trading post established by Alonzo S. Reed and John Bowles in November 1874 to capitalize on the trade along the old Carroll Trail between Helena and Crow Island at the mouth of the Musselshell River.
The Reed and Bowles Trading Post sat on lower Spring Creek and served as the only stage stop for 150 miles between Carroll and Martinsdale.
Reed, who had earlier served four short months as an Indian agent at the Milk River Agency in 1870, went by “Major,” though it is doubtful he ever served in any actual military capacity. While serving his brief time as an Indian agent, he was dismissed for misconduct, including trafficking in alcohol and firearms, stealing agency property, including cattle, falsifying sales receipts, and trading agency items to the Indians for furs. He was also accused of killing an Assiniboine Indian. Though he was dismissed, he was not charged with any criminal activity, though he was clearly involved in it. Later, when he and John Bowles opened their trading post, often called the Reed and Bowles Trading Post, the pair acted no better.
With a reputation for readily accepting gunfire as the accepted way to end arguments, they quickly gained a rough reputation throughout the territory. However, as the only post in the area, travelers, traders, and hunters had few other options when they needed supplies. During this time, the post’s primary business consisted of trading with Indians, chiefly in low-grade liquor. Although the federal government outlawed selling liquor to Indians, the post was about 100 miles beyond the reach of any legal authority, and the two men happily continued their profitable trade.
Trading with the Indians.
In 1880, when numerous people settled 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 of 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. Soon, Janeaux and Reed became intense rivals for trade with area residents, who numbered fewer than 100. Reed established the first post office in 1881, which was officially called “Reedsfort.”
However, one area resident, Dr. L.A. Lapalme, a friend of Janeaux’s and disgruntled with the mail service, began circulating a petition for a new post office. Charging Reed “with gross neglect of his duties and some irregularities,” it was known that Reed’s partner, John Bowles, would put all the mail in a box that was placed on the floor in the corner of a room. When residents came in to get their mail, they had to sort through it all to find their own. One resident, David Hilger, later said that “Reed was one angry postmaster when he read those charges!” Hilger also said Reed confronted him when he learned 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, selling his holdings to Frank Day in 1882, who became the new postmaster. The following year, the post office was renamed Lewistown. By 1890, the building was included in the county’s poor farm property. Lewistown residents saved the old post office/trading post, and today it continues to stand in its original location in a park below the mouth of Casino Creek in Lewistown.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
Also See:
Sources:
Enjoy Lewiston
Hidden Montana
Montana Memory
Sievert, Ken and Ellen; A Guide to Historic Lewistown; Montana Historical Society, 1999.