Fort Connah

Fort Connah is a Montana historical marker in Lake County.

U.S. 93, MP 39, north of St. Ignatius

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Construction of the last Hudson Bay Trading Post, within the present borders of the United States, was started here in 1846, and completed in 1847 by Angus McDonald. Angus originally named the fort “Connen” after a river valley in his Scottish homeland, but later changed it to Connah for easier pronunciation by the Salish, Kootenai, Pend d’Oreille and other Indians in the area. Fort Connah was built about 1/2 mile east of here and remained an important trading center for the Indians until the U.S. Government forced the British owned company to abandon the post in 1871. At its height, Fort Connah consisted of only three buildings. The store house is the only original structure that still survives. The Mission Valley was thrown open for settlement in 1910. Prior to that time it was almost entirely virgin prairie, unplowed, unfenced and beautiful to see. You rode a saddle horse to get places. Some people wish it were still like that today. Many descendents of Angus McDonald still live in the Mission Valley.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1856 · Washington And Oregon. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1859 · Department of Oregon. Map of the state of Oregon and Washington Territory (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1861 · Rocky Mountains to Puget Sound. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1964 · Fort Connah, Montana (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1988 · Fort Connah, Montana (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Washington And Oregon, 1856, covering the location of Fort Connah, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Washington And Oregon, 1856, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Montana Department of Transportation, Montana's Historical Highway Markers, marker texts reproduced with the Department's written permission.

Fort Connah

Historical maps covering this location

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