Fort Connah

By editor

St. Ignatius, Lake County, Montana, 1846

When the Hudson's Bay Company decided to build a trading post in the Mission Valley in 1846, they sent Angus McDonald to do the job. McDonald, a man who knew a good location when he saw one, chose a spot near Post Creek, a few miles north of the present-day town of St. Ignatius. He named it Fort Connah, a name that sounds vaguely Scottish but is actually a corruption of the Salish word for "river." It was the last trading post built by the Hudson's Bay Company in the United States, a fact that probably didn't matter much to the local tribes, who were just happy to have a place to trade their furs for blankets and beads.

The fort was a modest affair, consisting of a few log buildings surrounded by a stockade. It was never intended to be a major center of commerce, but rather a convenient stopping point for trappers and Indians traveling through the valley. McDonald, a genial host who was always ready with a story or a drink, ran the post for several years, trading with the Salish, the Kootenai, and the Pend d'Oreille. He even married a Nez Perce woman named Catherine, who proved to be a valuable asset in his dealings with the local tribes.

For the next two decades, Fort Connah was a quiet outpost in a rapidly changing world. The fur trade was dying, replaced by the gold rush and the cattle drives. The Hudson's Bay Company, realizing that the days of the beaver were numbered, eventually sold the fort to the United States government in 1871. The government, in its infinite wisdom, promptly abandoned the post, leaving it to rot in the sun.

Today, Fort Connah is a state monument, a quiet reminder of the days when a man could build a trading post in the middle of nowhere and make a living trading blankets for beaver pelts. The buildings have been restored, the grounds manicured, and the history neatly packaged for the benefit of tourists. You can walk through the trading room and imagine the sound of men haggling over the price of a buffalo robe, or sit by the fire and listen to the wind howling through the valley. It is a peaceful place, far removed from the struggles and hardships of the men who built it, which is exactly how we prefer our history.

See also

• Fort Connah at St. Ignatius, Lake County (Erected by Montana Historical Society)
• St. Ignatius Mission, a nearby Jesuit mission established in 1854