From the Bodmer Overlook - Public domain scan / drawing

A summertime view of Fort Union Trading Post from the north. The photograph was taken from Bodmer Overlook, the spot where Swiss artist Karl Bodmer sketched his famous drawing of the most prominent fur trade post on the Upper Missouri River. Passing by the trading post's front, or south, gate, the Missouri River was the major transportation route into the northern plains during the fort's active years, 1828-1867.