Fort Benton is the seat of Chouteau County and lies 39 miles northeast of Great Falls on Hwy 80 near US 87 on the banks of the Missouri River.

As a trading post, military fort and head of steamboat navigation, this riverbank town was the world's innermost port and "toughest town in the West" from 1860 to 1887. Today it offers the Museum of the Northern Great Plains, Montana's agriculture museum, and the Museum of the Upper Missouri RiverSt. Paul's Episcopal Church, built in 1880, is one of Montana's oldest masonry buildings. The ferry crossing at nearby Carter operates March-Oct.