Efforts to save the fort began in the 1920s, stimulated by the 1927 publishing of The Journals and Letter of Major John Owen, Frontier of the Northwest 1850-1870 by Seymour Dunbar, and the University of Montana History Professor Paul C. Phillips.
Serious investigations did not begin until after the fort was accepted by the State of Montana and administered as a State Historic Monument. The first archeological excavations were conducted by the University of Montana students under the direction of history and archeology professors William Smurr and Carling Malouf.
