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Fort Shaw

Travel Montana

Fort Shaw Directory Listings

A view from 1939:

FORT SHAW, (3,502 alt., 85 pop.), the trade center of a beekeeping area, was settled in 1867 as a military post protecting travelers on the Mullan Road and settlers in the Sun Valley from Blackfeet raiders. It was named for Col. Robert G. Shaw, a veteran of the Civil War. One fort building, 125 feet long, was the scene of many dances, and was sometimes a theater. The movable benches had no backs and the floor was merely hard-trodden earth; when it was necessary to dim the footlights, members of the orchestra rose and turned down the wicks of the kerosene lamps that lined the stage apron. Despite the primitive living conditions, the place was the social center of a large area; the first professional stage performance in Montana was given on this stage.
From Fort Shaw Gen. John Gibbon in 1876 led the Seventh Infantry to join Generals Terry and Custer in the campaign against the Sioux and Cheyenne. It was while Terry and Gibbon were attempting an encircling movement that Custer was wiped out on the Little Horn.

General Gibbon was interested in more than military affairs. He planted trees and flowers and made lawns and gardens about Fort Shaw. In 1890, when the fort was abandoned, the Government turned it over for use as an Indian school. In 1910 the Indian school was closed and one for white children was opened.

Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Montana; September, 1939.