Fort Construction



 
 
 

It’s not known where this marker stone was originally located at the fort.



            Construction on Fort Assinniboine began in 1879.  Unlike other military posts in the old west, there would be no protective wall surrounding this post. Its purpose was to be offensive, not defensive.  On paper the plan called for a military reservation of about 700,000 acres that would cover a span 40 miles long by 15 miles wide.  While the size of the post made it the largest military reservation west of the Mississippi it was never quite able to maintain such grandiose proportions.  Most of the Bear Paw Mountains were included as part of the military reservation.
            As a regimental headquarters, it would also be responsible for the all other Montana forts and Indian reservations.
            L. K Devlin was contracted to build the fort, but the troops themselves did much of the work.  C. A. Broadwater, a successful early Montana transportation tycoon and businessman, contracted to manufacture the bricks on site.
            Beaver Creek flowed just east of the fort, which the early planners hoped would provide a reliable water supply.  This however proved not to be the case due mostly to the large number of beaver dams upstream causing stream flows to be unreliable.  The problem was solved by damming the stream and creating a pond or lagoon and by the addition of two wells.  Two pumping stations were built near the lagoon to transport water to facilities on the post.  This included a water tower that was eventually heated to provide hot water.  Two icehouses were also built near the lagoon to house meat rations and to supply ice.  The ice was obtained from the lagoon during the winter months.  The post was also designed with its own sewage system.

            More than 100 buildings were eventually erected in the northwest corner of the military reservation.  Laid out in a rectangular pattern, they surrounding a massive parade ground that extended from the flagpole at the south end to the fort's hospital on the north, a distance of about a quarter mile.
            The first permanent building constructed was the Post Traders Building on the south end of the parade grounds.  C.A. Broadwater had more than just a contract for manufacturing bricks, he also contracted to provide other goods and services to the troops.  The Traders Building was, in fact, a retail store that sold tobacco, coffee, books, personal care items and whatever else a soldier needed.  The H-shaped building also served as a
hotel.  Broadwater constructed an elegant home just behind the Traders Building and brought three of his cousins Edward, William and Al from Missouri to run his business interests at the fort.  His cousins would later start some of the first businesses in Havre.
            Because of the fort's isolated location, many of the facilities goods were obtained locally from ranchers and farmers, who themselves became wealthy thanks to the fort and C. A. Broadwater.  Simon Pepin was one such resident who became wealthy providing beef to the fort for Broadwater.  He would later become one of Havre’s most prominent citizens.
            An officers club was also eventually added to the southeast end of the traders building.

Only the south wing of the Fort Trader's Building
remains today.  This end of the building also served
as the Officer's Club.
             The status associated with rank was an obvious 
consideration in the fort's construction.  All officers quarters lined the east side of the parade grounds with the enlisted men's quarters lining the west side.   There was a Bachelor Officers Quarters building situated on each end of officer's row with Married Officers Quarters and Commanding Officers Quarters between them.  The southern most building was adorned with a tower that was ultimately to be adorned with castling, giving the structure a medieval appearance.  A similar tower was constructed on the west side of the parade grounds marking the first of five enlisted men's barracks.  The Post Headquarters Building separated the second and third barracks on enlisted men's row.  A large bathhouse was located directly
behind the Headquarters Building.  Appearances, however, are where the similarity between the quarters ended.
            While the officers quarters consisted of what today would be called apartments, enlisted men lived in dormitories where several troops would occupy a common sleeping area.  Officers
were also allowed to have housekeepers at the fort.  Unfortunately, it was hard to keep good help at Fort Assinniboine because single women were so few at the post they rarely remained single for long.
            A often repeated story tells of one commander writing a letter to his superiors requesting that additional housekeepers be sent to the fort.  In the letter he is to have requested they send him the ugliest women they could find, “preferably women that are cross-eyed,” he said.