Fort Union was built in the Upper Platte region in 1829 by a division of
the American Fur Company.  Located at the mouth of the Yellowstone River,
it served as the headquarters for steamboat navigation for the entire
area. The fort was a meeting ground f or traders, settlers, and Indians
alike, form all over the region, and it both encouraged and depended on
trade with the Indians.  By 1865 the American Fur Company had withdrawn
from the area as white hide-hunters moved in, slaughtering game and
depleting the natural food supplies of the Sioux and other tribes.  Fort
Union began to take on a less commercial and a more military function. 
Pictured above are Sioux Indians stampeding around the fort in May 1868,
in midst of the Sioux wars.