Fort Union Trading Post Historic Structures Report (Part II) Historical Data Section

Dr. Matthews mentioned "the ruined adobe walls to the west of the old fort" which were the "remains of some buildings erected by opposition traders in 1866 and 1867." Among the opposition to Fort Union at that time was none other than Charles Larpenteur, who had been the last bourgeois at Fort Union under the management of Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Co. Larpenteur now worked for a different company and, in the summer of 1867, returned to Fort Union to establish his own trading enterprise in opposition to Hubbell and his partners.

Larpenteur did not say where he built his structures, the main building being 96 by 20 feet, but throughout the summer his diary is filled with references to his new adobe buildings. He even erected his own bastion. But the real trade now was with the soldiers at Fort Buford and not with the few poor Indians who still came into Union. Before the year was out Larpenteur abandoned his adobes and moved down to Fort Buford to begin again. Other competition at Fort Union about this time included Gregory, Bruguier, and Geowey. This small firm had two wooden buildings outside Fort Union, one they valued at $100, the other at $10. Whether to their relief or dismay, the Indian agent at Fort Union ordered the two structures demolished and used for firewood before the Sioux set fire to them. Not knowing the date of the Bedticking sketch, it is not possible to say if these might be the structures shown to the east of the fort. They probably are not Matthews' "adobe" ruins.