Just prior to the building of the original Fort Benton in present-day Montana, Mexico, in 1821, had thrown off the shackles Spain had placed upon it. This allowed Americans to trade in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although this new source of trade flourished there were those that were still more interested in the bountiful fur-bearing game in the Mexican mountains. For both situations new forts needed to be, and were, established.
A year earlier Manuel Lisa, who had established the Missouri Fur Company, had taken ill. He died on August 12,1820, leaving the company in the capable hands of Joshua Pilcher. Under Pilcher, in 1821, the Missouri Fur Company was reorganized. By Pilcher's direction Cedar Fort, also known as Fort Recovery, was erected on the Missouri River above the mouth of the White River. From there, Fort Vanderburgh was built at the Mandan Villages.
These two forts, Cedar and Vanderburgh, became the bases for a party under Robert Jones and Michael Immell, also belonging to the Missouri Fur Company, as they headed for the Yellowstone River. There, in present-day Montana, they built Fort Benton in Crow country near where Lisa's old fort had stood at the mouth of the Bighorn River.
There is often some confusion with early forts, especially those originally constructed by one fur company or the other, as they often changed hands, sometimes becoming a military post rather than a fur post. Occasionally this exchange of ownership created a change of name for the fort involved. Also, they were burned, either by accident or by design if no longer wanted by one fur company to prevent a competing company from using it. Often they were merely dismantled and moved to another more convenient site. This confusion applies to the original Fort Benton, as well.
Fort Benton, when first build by the Missouri Fur Company, was called Fort Lewis, although many reference sources not only fail to state or clarify this fact, instead they erroneously state that Fort Benton was built during the 1840s. It is correct that a Fort Benton was built at that later date but numerous sources fail to state that it was the 'second' Fort Benton. Equally in error, most sources fail to refer to the earlier fort as Fort Lewis, instead using the later name of Fort Benton for both forts. For this reason, in keeping with the majority of historical tradition, I, too, am using the name Fort Benton for the earlier fort.
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