19. Chouteau County

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One of the original nine territorial counties created on February 2, 1865, Chouteau County covered all of north central Montana. Eventually Meagher (Number 47), Fergus (8), Cascade (2), Teton (31), Broadwater (43), Hill (12), Blaine (24), Toole (21), Phillips (11), Wheatland (44), Glacier (38), Pondera (26), Liberty (48), Judith Basin (36), and Petroleum (55) counties would all be formed (at least in part) from land taken from the original Chouteau County.

Pierre (1789 - 1865) and his brother Auguste (1786-1838) Chouteau grew up in an important American fur trading family. Their father (Pierre, senior) and uncle (Auguste) were born into a French family in New Orleans, New France, and uncle Auguste later founded St. Louis, Missouri. The older generation, still French nationals, proved very helpful to Lewis and Clark, The younger generation were involved in John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company and founded several mercantile forts including Fort Pierre (across the river from Pierre, South Dakota) and Fort Benton (now the county seat of Chouteau County). Choteau, Montana (Teton County's seat) bears Pierre's name and Chouteau, Oklahoma was named for Auguste. The Chouteau brothers named Fort Benton after their friend, influential Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.

The Chouteau County Court House
Fort Benton, Montana

The Chouteau brothers established Fort Benton in 1847, making it one of the oldest communities in the American West. It was the last trading post on the Missouri River, and as such the town around the fort grew into a major shipping center. Steamboats based as far away as New Orleans docked at Fort Benton, and in 1860, the U.S. Army began construction of the 642 mile Mullan Road, designed to connect the Missouri River at Fort Benton to the Columbia River (well, actually the Snake River) at Fort Walla Walla (now in Washington State). The city's website claims that the town was once the "world's innermost port." Built in 1884, the county's court house is the second oldest such building still in use in Montana. Fort Benton is also home to the first bridge built in Montana spanning the Missouri River, the Grand Union Hotel (once deemed the "finest accommodations between Minneapolis and Seattle"), the "Bloodiest Block in the West" where twelve of the thirteen establishments were saloons, dance halls, or brothels, the Museum of the Upper Missouri, and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument Interpretive Center. It is also home to Montana's oldest Episcopal Church, St. Paul's, in continuous service since 1881. In short, there's plenty of places to visit in historic Fort Benton.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
The Oldest Episcopal Church in Montana

Chouteau County today covers 3,997 square miles, of which 24 are water. The 2010 U.S. Census counted 5,813 county residents, down from 5,970 in 2000. The highest population count for Choteau County in its present formation was in 1930, when the Census counted 8,635 residents. The county is Montana's number one winter wheat producer, and as across all of Montana, agriculture forms the principal industry. Forty-seven percent of the industry in Chouteau County is agriculture, dwarfing the second largest industry, construction, with eight percent. Forty-four percent of the men and eight percent of the women are employed as farmers, farm managers or agricultural workers. The average size farm is 2,924 acres, and 63.15% of all farms in the county are owned by individuals or families.

At the very northern edge of the county, you'll enter the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation (most of which is in neighboring Hill County.) Rocky Boy is home to the Chippewa-Cree tribe, made up of Chippewa and Métis who moved south from Canada and Cree who moved west from North Dakota. Rocky Boy, the smallest of Montana's seven reservations, is home to Stone Child College, one of the tribally run junior colleges in Montana.

The Missouri River, which divides the county in half and was responsible for the county's historical importance, is the county's most prominent topographical feature, along with its tributaries the Teton and Marias Rivers. US Highway 87 is the only federal highway in the county. Fort Benton sits 40 miles north of Great Falls and 75 miles south of Havre on the east side of US 87, a two-lane road. The highway passes miles and miles of wheat fields, and bypasses the towns of Floweree, Carter, Loma, Big Sandy and Box Elder as you cross the county. For my money, the best way to cross Chouteau County is the same way Lewis and Clark, the Chouteau brothers, and thousands more did it--on the Missouri River.

The Old Fort Benton Bridge
Fort Benton, Montana

Driving north from Fort Benton, about fifteen miles past Loma, you will see a sign on the right pointing to Virgelle. Turn off 87 and take the dirt road approximately seven miles to the Virgelle Mercantile. You can't miss it. It's the only building in Virgelle. The Virgelle Merc is a combination bed & breakfast and antique store, and is the home of Don Sorensen and the Missouri River Canoe Company. Don will put you up overnight, fully outfit your trip, and send you on the adventure of a lifetime. I know, I did it four years in a row back in the mid 1990s, and I'd gladly do it again and again. Once on the river, you'll see the country virtually unchanged from the way Lewis and Clark saw it in 1804. There are no bridges on a fifty-mile stretch of the river, and once you put in at Virgelle Landing, you can spend the next four days crossing one of the most amazing landscapes in the western United States. Be forewarned, Montana weather is highly unpredictable, so be prepared for everything from blazing sun to pouring rain. The river is slow, and there are stretches where you will have to paddle with all you've got in you, just to move on downstream against the prevailing head winds. But oh is it worth it. And by all means, take along the relevant portion of Lewis & Clark's journals. As you camp each night, you can read about the section you've just passed and feel as if you've traveled back two hundred years in time. (I'll take my canoe over their boats, though, and my tent, sleeping bag and air mattress over their gear any day.)

The Missouri Breaks
Chouteau County, Montana

Photo Information:

Chouteau County Sign: Taken 4/23/2011 on the Chouteau/Hill County Line, US Highway 87. ISO 200, f /16.0, 1/125 second. Nikkor 16-85 mm lens set at 32 mm.

Chouteau County Court House: Taken 3/14/2010 in Fort Benton, Montana. ISO 125, f /11.0, 1/60 second. Nikkor 16-85 mm lens set at 16 mm.

St Paul's Episcopal Church: Taken 3/14/2010 in Fort Benton, Montana. ISO 125, f /11.0, 1/20 second. Nikkor 16-85 mm lens set at 16 mm.

Fort Benton Bridge: Taken 3/14/2010 in Fort Benton, Montana. ISO 125, f /11.0, 1/180 second. Nikkor 16-85 mm lens set at 22 mm.

Missouri Breaks: Scanned from a photograph taken in August, 1995, looking down at the Missouri River. No data available.