Fort Union, where Woman Chief met Denig and Kurz in 1851, was one of the most important trading posts on the upper Missouri River and one of the central nodes in the economic network that connected the Crow and other plains nations to the broader American and global economy.

The American Fur Company built Fort Union in 1828 at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers — a location specifically chosen for its accessibility to the nations of the region and its position on the river transportation network that connected the fur trade to eastern markets.

The post was a substantial facility, with multiple buildings enclosed within a wooden stockade, capable of hosting large numbers of traders and their customers.

The Crow, like other nations of the region, traded at Fort Union regularly.