Fort Benton, Montana
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Fort Benton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59442. It lies near The Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Fort Benton quadrangle. 1,449 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,621 feet above sea level.
On record in Fort Benton
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 10 records
I.G. Baker HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
I. G. Baker Houselisted 1980
Chouteau County Courthouselisted 1980
Fort Benton Bridgelisted 1980
Fort Benton Engine Houselisted 1980
Grand Union Hotellisted 1976
Masonic Buildinglisted 1980
St. Paul's Episcopal Churchlisted 1980- Citadel Rocklisted 1974
- Eagle Butte Schoollisted 2009
Population over time
2 figuresFort Benton fell from 1,464 to 1,449 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,464 | |
| 2020 | 1,449 | -15 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 14 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1890 USGS Fort Benton quadrangle1:250000
- 1892 USGS Fort Benton quadrangle1:250000
- 1897 USGS Fort Benton quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Fort Benton quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Great Falls quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Great Falls quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Fort Benton quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
5 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Fort Benton between 2010 and 2019, burning about 438 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 September 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 200 acres | Northeastern Land Office | not named |
| 30 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Chouteau County | FDH-MTLG19-99 |
| 18 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 acres | Chouteau County | FDH-MTLG19-70 |
| 20 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Northeastern Land Office | not named |
| 26 March 2010 | Smoking | 120 acres | Northeastern Land Office | WILRAY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Fort Benton: 3 unknowns, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naesethe Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
3 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fort Benton in 3 storm reports between 1993 and 1995: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kershaw | 3.8 miles | 14 | |
| Pleasant Valley (historical) | 9.1 miles | 13 | |
| Tunis | 9.3 miles | 13 | |
| Loma | 11.9 miles | 14 | |
| Ophir (historical) | 12.9 miles | 14 | |
| Patterson (historical) | 13.1 miles | 13 | |
| Shonkin | 14.0 miles | 13 | |
| Montague | 14.8 miles | 13 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Fort Benton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q285655 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1750122. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.






