Fort Lisa ( North Dakota ) The first Fort Lisa ( 1809 - 1812 ) , also known as the Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post and as Fort Manuel , was started by the notable fur trader Manuel Lisa of the Missouri Fur Company in 1809 . It was located near the Gros Ventres village located between the mouth of the Little Missouri and that of the Big Knife rivers in what is now North Dakota . This fort was likely where Sacagawea died ; she had been the guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition . Fort Lisa superseded Fort Raymond , the first outpost built by Lisa in 1806 - 1807 at the mouth of the Bighorn River in Montana , as the uppermost post of the Missouri Fur Company on the Missouri River . In 1812 Lisa built a replacement fort downriver near present - day North Omaha , Nebraska , which he also named Fort Lisa . History . Although dates vary according to account , at some point in 1806 - 07 the fur trader Manuel Lisa established Fort Raymond at the mouth of the Bighorn River , where it entered the Yellowstone River . This was the first permanent structure of its kind on the Upper Missouri . It was at first just " two rooms and a loft " . Lisa named it after his son , but traders also called it Manuel ' s Fort or Fort Manuel . Lisa built it for the company which he and William Clark jointly owned ; it was called the St . Louis Missouri Fur Company . At the time of its establishment , Fort Raymond / Manuel was the first permanent structure of its kind on the Upper Missouri . Lisa established the only trading post in the Great Plains region . This made the Fort instrumental in American relations with local tribes , as well as the early settlement of the Nebraska Territory . In 1808 George Drouillard , a member of Lewis and Clark ' s Corps of Discovery , was tried for the murder of a deserter from Fort Lisa . He had mortally wounded the man while trying to capture him . ( Given the date , this source is probably referring to Lisa ' s first fort , Fort Raymond / Manuel . ) In 1809 Lisa was one of the founders of the St . Louis Missouri Fur Company , later known as the Missouri Fur Company , which included members of the Chouteau family , founders of St . Louis . On his fur expedition in 1809 with 300 men , Lisa and his company built another fort further east , near the Gros Ventres village located between the mouth of the Little Missouri and that of the Big Knife rivers in what is now North Dakota . This was named Fort Lisa , or , as in the excerpt below , Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post . He abandoned Fort Raymond / Manuel and shifted operations to the new post . The famous Astor Expedition would have stopped at Fort Lisa in 1811 . Henry Brackenridge , a fur dealer at Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post on the Missouri River , wrote in his journal in 1811 that Sacagawea , the notable Native American guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition , was living at Fort Lisa with her husband Charbonneau . He wrote that Sacagawea " . . . had become sickly and longed to revisit her native country . " The following year , John Luttig , a clerk at Fort Manuel Lisa , recorded in his journal on December 20 , 1812 , that " . . . the wife of Charbonneau , a Snake Squaw , died of putrid fever . " ( Note : Often called childbed fever , this was a frequent complication of childbirth . ) Luttig noted that she was " aged about 25 years . She left a fine infant girl . " Charbonneau had already entrusted his and Sacagawea ' s son Jean Baptiste into Clark ' s care for a boarding school education . Clark was fond of the boy and offered to support his education . Fort Lisa was abandoned soon after this period . Because of difficulties with Indians and shipping at this location , in 1812 Lisa built a third fort downriver about 12 miles north of present - day Omaha . He named this Fort Lisa , too , and shifted his operations to this location . This became the main post of the Missouri Fur Company and its successors under various names .