Fort Union, trading post of the American Fur Company, erected in 1828 near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, on the Mont.-N.Dak. line; it controlled converging routes of travel from the Rocky Mts. For c.40 years it was the most important post in the U.S. fur country and was under the control of American fur trader Kenneth McKenzie. When the U.S. army assumed control in 1867, Fort Union was torn down and Fort Buford, a military post, erected nearby. Fort Union Trading Post is a national historic site (see National Parks and Monuments, table).
