Old Fort Peck Historical Marker
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- Historical Markers/Interpretive Sign, Historic Sites
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- General info
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On the west bank of the Missouri River, about 1 mile from the Dam was located Old Fort Peck.
The stockade was about 300 feet square with walls 12 feet high of cottonwood logs set vertically, 3 bastions and 3 gateways on the front, and 2 bastions on the rear, enclosed quarters for men, storehouses, blacksmith shops, stables, and corral. Built in 1867 by the firm of Durfee & Peck as a trading post, the fort was named for Colonel Campbell K. Peck. Although not an Army post, it often served as temporary headquarters for military men and commissioners sent out by the Government to negotiate with the Indians.
To peaceful Indians, it was an important trading post, to trappers and rivermen a safe shelter from warlike Indians. Sternwheel steamers loaded and unloaded here and took on wood for steam for their journeys.
Old Fort Peck is history. Its site lies peacefully, with its memories, covered by a man-made lake which is formed by the largest earth-filled dam ever built by man.
Old Fort Peck Historical Marker