Welcome to Fort Owen

By editor

Stevensville, Ravalli County, Montana, 1850

When Major John Owen arrived in the Bitterroot Valley in the fall of 1850, he found a group of Jesuits who were thoroughly tired of the Blackfeet and eager to sell their mission. Owen, a man who recognized a bargain when he saw one, bought St. Mary's Mission for $250. He promptly renamed it Fort Owen, which was a bit presumptuous considering it was mostly a collection of log cabins and a grist mill, but a man has to start somewhere.

Owen set about turning his new acquisition into a trading post, a decision that proved to be remarkably lucrative. He traded with the Salish, the trappers, and anyone else who happened to wander through the valley. He built a stockade, a blacksmith shop, and a new grist mill, transforming the quiet mission into a bustling center of commerce. He even married a Shoshone woman named Nancy, who proved to be a valuable asset in his dealings with the local tribes.

For the next two decades, Fort Owen was the center of the universe in the Bitterroot Valley. It was a place where a man could buy a new rifle, trade a stack of beaver pelts for a sack of flour, or simply sit by the fire and listen to the latest rumors from the gold camps. Owen himself was a fixture at the fort, a genial host who was always ready with a story or a drink. He kept a detailed journal of his activities, recording everything from the weather to the price of beaver pelts, providing a fascinating glimpse into the life of a frontier trader.

But progress, as it always does, eventually caught up with Fort Owen. The Mullan Road bypassed the fort, taking the trade with it. The gold miners moved on to richer strikes, and the settlers began to arrive in earnest, bringing with them the usual assortment of lawyers, politicians, and tax collectors. Owen's health began to fail, and when Nancy died in 1868, he lost his will to continue. The fort was sold at a sheriff's sale in 1872, a sad end to a grand enterprise.

Today, Fort Owen is a state monument, a quiet reminder of the days when a man could buy a mission for $250 and turn it into an empire. The buildings have been restored, the grounds manicured, and the history neatly packaged for the benefit of tourists. You can walk through the barracks and imagine the sound of men trading stories and pelts, 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

• Welcome to Fort Owen at Stevensville, Ravalli County (Erected by Montana Historical Society)
• St. Mary's Mission Historic District, the original mission that Owen purchased