Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence
Confluence Overlook near Fort Union, Williston, ND
Williston, ND
The place where the clear Yellowstone joins the wide Missouri, a river crossroads that shaped the whole history of the upper plains.
At the far northwest corner of North Dakota, the Yellowstone River, running clear off the plains and mountains of Montana, meets the wider, muddier Missouri in a broad junction of channels, sandbars, and cottonwood bottoms. This confluence was for centuries a crossroads of the Northern Plains, a natural landmark on the great river highway that carried native nations, explorers, and traders across the West.
The Lewis and Clark expedition reached this junction in the spring of 1805 and recognized at once that it would be an important place, noting its promise in their journals. In the decades that followed, the confluence became the heart of the upper Missouri fur trade, and the reconstructed Fort Union trading post still stands beside it. Today it is a quiet, historic scene where the two rivers still run together as they always have.
What Guests Love
- Standing where two of the great rivers of the West flow together
- The broad, quiet scene of cottonwood bottoms, channels, and sandbars
- Following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, who marked this spot
- The pairing with the reconstructed Fort Union and its interpretive center
Worth Knowing
- The confluence sits in remote country near the Montana border, so plan your route and fuel
- It pairs naturally with Fort Union and the confluence interpretive center nearby
- River banks and bottoms can be muddy and buggy in warm months, so dress accordingly
- This is open, exposed river country, so bring sun protection and water for any walking
Details
Williston, ND
Learn about Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence
A landmark of the native plains
Long before any map named these waters, the confluence was known to the peoples of the upper Missouri, among them the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, today the MHA Nation, and the Assiniboine and other tribes who ranged the northern grasslands. The rivers were the roads of their world, and this junction was a place of travel, trade, and gathering.
The tribes of this country are living nations whose ties to the Missouri and its tributaries continue today. Their long presence here is the deepest layer of the confluence's story, older by far than the explorers and traders who followed the same rivers west.
Lewis and Clark's crossroads
When the Corps of Discovery came up the Missouri in April of 1805, the confluence with the Yellowstone struck them as a place of consequence, a natural site for future trade and settlement, and they paused to survey and celebrate it. Among the party was Sakakawea, the young Shoshone woman from the Hidatsa villages downriver, whose presence and knowledge helped carry the expedition through the western country.
Following the same river junction today, you stand where the explorers stood, looking out over the meeting of the two rivers. Little of the immediate scene has changed: the cottonwoods, the sandbars, the wide sky over the water are much as the expedition described them.
The fur trade and Fort Union
The strategic value the explorers saw was soon realized. In the 1820s Fort Union rose near the confluence and grew into the most important fur-trade post on the upper Missouri, where the tribes of the region traded buffalo robes and furs for manufactured goods brought upriver. It was a bustling meeting ground of cultures for decades, until the collapse of the buffalo trade brought its era to an end.
The reconstructed Fort Union stands beside the confluence now, its whitewashed walls and bourgeois house rebuilt on the original site, and a nearby interpretive center tells the fuller story. Together with the river junction itself, they make this one of the most historically layered stops in North Dakota.
Wildlife and the seasons
The confluence bottoms are rich with life. Bald eagles, pelicans, herons, and geese work the channels and sandbars, deer and beaver move through the cottonwoods, and the river draws waterfowl in great numbers during migration. It is a reminder that this was prized wildlife country long before it was prized for its history.
Summer is warm and the fullest season for exploring the confluence, Fort Union, and the interpretive center together. Spring and fall bring quieter days and often clearer air, good times to walk the river country and watch the birds. Winter is cold and still, the rivers slowed and the wide land at its starkest and most beautiful.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Williston
Fort Union Trading Post
At the confluence
A reconstructed 1800s fur-trade post, once the most important trading center on the upper Missouri.
Confluence Interpretive Center
About 1 mile
A center telling the story of the native peoples, Lewis and Clark, and the fur trade of the upper Missouri.
Williston
About 20 miles east
The hub city of northwest North Dakota's oil country, with services and dining.