The 18ft palisades of Fort Union gleam white in the middle of a high embankment near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. Inside the reconstructed fort, the setting is dominated by the manager's Bourgeois House, a lavish reminder of the thriving trade sustained here by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. From 1828 to 1867, Native Americans exchanged beaver pelts and other furs for cloth, Sheffield knives and Venetian beads. Exhibits in the Bourgeois House, now the fort visitor center, trace the history of the fur trade at Fort Union and in North America. Living-history demonstrations are frequently offered in summer.