Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
1991
Abstract
The principal Fort Benton merchant houses that traded with the southwestern Canadian prairies from the late 1860s to the early 1890s helped determine the growth and vitality of the Montana economy. Particularly in north-central Montana, the region dominated by Fort Benton, the Montana-Canada commerce played a key role. Fort Benton's two largest merchant partnerships, T.e. Power & Bro. and 1.0. Baker & Co., became leaders among the pioneers in the big business of Canadian prairie trade during this period. They created international marketing and purchasing networks for importing buffalo robes and furs and for exporting foodstuffs, ready-made clothes, metal and wood products, and livestock to Canada
Comments
Published in GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY 11:3 (Summer 1991). Copyright © 1991 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.