The Upper Missouri River and the Grand Union Hotel flow with stories and flavor. Found in north Central Montana, Fort Benton is known as the birthplace of Montana, and is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the Treasure State.
The river holds stories from when Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark journeyed through this area in 1806 for scientific and commercial research. The Grand Union Hotel also carry tales of western pioneers and steamboat travelers who stayed at what once was known as the “Waldorf of the West”. Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Jack Benny and Esther Williams were some of the influential and famous people who found luxury and reprieve in this gem built in 1882.
Missouri River Outfitters
Missouri River Outfitters, owned by Nicolle Fugere, offers another kind of luxury on the river. A guest can experience the waterway explored by Lewis and Clark in comfort with Fugere and her team doing all the work except for paddling one’s canoe. They do all the heavy lifting - moving boats, loading gear, cooking, and setting up tents. Cots are provided for slumber in shelters that allow for standing upright while food served is fresh and sourced locally.
Nicolle and her mother Jenice purchased Missouri River Outfitters in 2017. After spending 8 years on the river guiding, Nicolle wanted to continue the legacy that started in 1965.
“So it started with a group of educators here in Fort Benton when it was owned by Bob Singer, and they saw the value and the need to record some of the history on the river,” Nicolle says. “Their first trip, they utilized life rafts, and they learned the valuable lesson of the river receding and the need to move those rafts deeper and deeper in the water.”
The company then went to oil barrel boats made from fastening empty 55-gallon drums to a rigid frame when Larry and Bonnie Cook took over the company. Since operating the vessel required licensing when Mike and Meredith Gregson bought the business, they went to guided trips in canoes.
Nicolle worked for the Gregsons. “I would say that the river raised me,” she admits.
“Starting on this river at 19, I got to know this passion, this area that I never knew before.”
Fate brought her to Fort Benton to now running Missouri River Outfitters. When she first started with the company, she says she was just looking for a job. Gregson hired her because during her interview “she sounded healthy on the phone.”
“I’ve always had a knack for preparing food and started when I was really young. My mom used to always say, ‘You should be a chef,’ and I used to take insult by it, because I wanted to go to college, and I didn’t think it was the same thing. But looking back, I think I would have loved being a chef.”
Nicolle’s love of cooking shows in the meals she prepares and organizes for her river trips as outings can range from one to five days.
“Preparation for river trips is all about portioning. Whenever we get food in, maybe fresh or frozen, you got to think what food can go in these coolers, frozen, such as homemade soup. We can make it ahead of time, freeze it, and then out there they can just warm it up, where we also will incorporate fresh salad,” Nicolle says. For the salads, she takes into consideration, “what type of lettuce keeps versus others.” Kale may be found at the end of the trip with spinach offered in the beginning.
For the sweet endings, “We will prepare desserts ahead of time, so our cookies for all the lunches and our cakes, but for the rest of it we basically prepare everything two days before the trip.”
Nicolle’s goal in her menus is to offer locally sourced ingredients. “Here, in Fort Benton, we are part of the Golden Triangle. What that is, is its big wheat production, it goes all the way through Canada, and along with wheat we have a lot of access to garbanzo beans, to lentils, to hemp hearts, to split peas, things like that. So, I really like to incorporate those into my menu. There is group called Timeless Seeds, and that’s who I get a lot of my grains from. Along with that, we do have quite a few Hutterite colonies that I utilize for eggs and other fresh produce, depending on the season. Lastly, I do forage for some of our food, which I find really fun,” Nicolle shares of harvesting choke cherries, asparagus, milk weed and yucca.
Grand Union Hotel
Executive Chef Keith Chinn at the historic Grand Union Hotel also has the goal of highlighting local bounty in the Union Grille Restaurant and catering. “My focus is mainly just to find me with local producers, farmers and get to know the area. There’s a lot of great wild game out here – duck, elk, and venison, buffalo, bison. So I really want to incorporate what Is solely found out here and incorporate things I’ve learned in my travels into it.”
Chef Chinn started cooking for the hotel back in October. He chose Fort Benton because “it’s a very quiet, peaceful town, and I’ve worked for some small inns, historic inns before, so I really like the atmosphere. It’s very family oriented. It’s not a corporate setting, so it’s very intimate.”
He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and brings a pastry background with an apprenticeship t the Scottsdale Princess Resort, culinary school at the CIA in Hyde Park, New York and experience at resorts and restaurants in Napa, Charleston, and Massachusetts. “I kind of found my way back into cooking and traveled the country just to kind of learn different cuisines, different regions, different techniques, and I found my way coming back out West to be closer to family.”
Inspirations from Chef Chinn’s pastry knowledge and world culinary knowledge show up on the dishes he offers at the Union Grille. His Small Plates dish of PROSCUITTO comes with slice prosciutto accompanied with Cabernet gelee and fig jam while the UNION BURGER comes with brandied onion jam and Grilled Pork Chop with peach chutney. Shallot Dijon Cream Sauce is an option for Certified Angus Beef choices.
For the summer, “I have a s’mores cake that I do. It’s got a graham cracker cake, so it’s like a graham cracker sponge, and it has a chocolate anglaise, which is almost like a filling, but it sets up very nicely, so it’s very rich and decadent, and then it’ll be topped with a nice marshmallow filling, and then we’ll caramelize it. A Summer Berry Chiffon Tart and Key Lime Pie are other offerings.
Co-owner Colette Tihista-Longin purchased the Grand Union Hotel with her husband Tony Longin in 2022 from long time proprietors Jim and Cheryl Gagnon who had been the caretakers of the establishment for 27 years. Wanting to expand their in-house offerings of food and assembly, the Longins purchased the Banque Club across the street.
“We spent the last year remodeling the Banque Club, that is where our new meeting space will be,” Colette shares. Currently the living room adjacent to the entrance to the hotel provides space for meetings and special events, and when the room is occupied guests cannot hang out there.
The option is especially important in the winter time when wandering to local coffee shops or other places can be less inviting.
Colette wants to continue to keep the nostalgia and history of the Grand Union, the spirit from yesteryear as the “Waldorf of the West.” She hopes that all visitors who come through her doors, “take and understand that they’re part of this history. They stayed here, they’re part of the ongoing legend of this beautiful hotel, and I hope they really feel like they were welcomed and taken care of.”
