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Fort
Benton. The only Fur Post to survive to become the oldest
continuously inhabited place in Montana.
The head of navigation on the
Missouri River in 1860, it boomed during Montana's gold rush of
8162-1869. Down the Missouri by steamboat and mackinaw
went three fourths of the $100 million gold produced. A
small town of vast importance to Montana Territory, Fort Benton
survived the bust of the early 1870's by tapping the rich
resources in furs and robes of Canada's Northwest Territories.
By the early 1880's leading merchants had become millionaires.
Railroads ended the river traffic by the close of the decade and
also Fort Benton's importance. But the tales and history
linger.
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