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is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. A portion of the city was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1961.
The population was 1,594 at the 2000 census. It is named for Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri and was once an important port on the Missouri River. Steamboats routinely plied up the river with goods, merchants and settlers, coming from New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Hannibal, Bismarck, Kansas City, etc., as the city was formed as an early fur trading post. Fort Benton is also known as the place where General Thomas Francis Meagher was last seen, having disappeared while on a visit to the town. Besides being one of the most important ports on the Missouri-Mississippi river system, Fort Benton was once the world's farthest inland port.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.1 square miles (5.4 km²), all of it land.