Mullan Road Videos
The following videos were recorded in Missoula, Montana. They include a presentation given to the Montana History Group, "The History of Mullan Road" by Bill Weikel, March 28, 2013; the Bonner History Roundtable presentation "Cantonment Wright and the Mullan Road East of Missoula" with Kim Briggeman, Tom Yule, Willie Bateman, Dennis Sain, Bill Weikel and others. March 24, 2013; and proceedings of the 2014 Mullan Road Conference.
Mullan Chronicles
The Mullan Chronicles were published by the Mineral County Museum and Historical Society from November 1, 1989 through Winter, 2006-2007. Cathryn (Kay) Strombo and Deb Davis served as editors with Kay continuing as editor after Deb moved. The following is the Wecome from Volume One, Number One, November 1, 1989, written by Deb.
WELCOME!
Welcome to the first quarterly issue of the Mullan Chronicles newsletter. It is an outgrowth of the Mullan family reception held in Superior at this museum on July 3, 1989. We hope it will serve as a conduit through which Mullan fans like us can communicate. Our goals are to maintain an on-going interest in John Mullan and the Mullan Road; update enthusiasts of new developments and information; contact new enthusiasts; bring the man, the road and their contributions to public attention; further efforts to preserve the road and Mullan statues; and build a resource library for historic research.
This is a tentative project. We plan to try it for one year -- four issues. It costs $5 to subscribe. Let us know what you think of the project, and of any new information you may have found and we will include it in the "Reader's Forum." And take a copy to your local newspaper to spread the news. There might be other Mullanites out there!
Two last things. We still have a few commemorative Mullan special cancellation envelopes left at a special price of $2. Also, we are "mullin" over the idea of having another Mullan get-together next spring. What do you think? Write us... Deb.
Note: The first several issues were printed on long paper so there are double scans to record all of the information. Later issues were printed on standard sized paper.
The Mullan Road
Gustav Sohon's sketch of Cantonment Wright Lt. John Mullan’s camp was located at the confluence of the Big Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers during the winter of 1861-1862, when he was in the process of finishing his military wagon road from Walla Walla, Washington, to Fort Benton, Montana. Cantonment Wright was constructed in November 1861 on the high east bank above the Blackfoot where Milltown stands today.
The 624-mile Mullan Road was built in 1859-60 and improved and partially rerouted in 1861-62. Although designed as a wagon road to transport troops to the Northwest, the road was used only once for that purpose. Instead it served as a route to the early gold camps of Idaho and Montana, and led directly to territorial designations in 1863 and 1864, respectively. Permanent settlements that followed were also serviced by the road.
The bridge Mullan and his men built across the Big Blackfoot was located downstream from today’s Montana Rail Link bridge. Evidence of the road in this area was still noted on Anaconda Company maps in 1913, and on a subdivision survey map in 1946. Most remnants of the Mullan Road disappeared with construction of railroads, U.S. Highway 10 and, ultimately, Interstate 90 through Milltown in the 1960s.
In his official report of 1863, Mullan summarized the reasons for establishing Cantonment Wright after spending much of the fall of 1861 building bridges on the St. Regis River: “A portion of my escort, with its train, also went to the junction of the Hell’s Gate and Blackfoot rivers, under Lieutenant Marsh, that point having been selected as the site of our winter camps, where he was to erect the necessary log-houses. I was governed in this selection by the fact that the Big Blackfoot was here to be bridged, and my remaining work for the winter and spring lay along the valley of the Hell’s Gate…the party remaining at the main camp having completed their huts began getting out the necessary timbers for the Big Blackfoot Bridge…and by the 1st of March we had completed the entire bridge which was two hundred and thirty-five feet long with four spans."
Mullan broke winter camp on May 23, 1862. He sent some men back to the St. Regis River to complete bridgework from the previous autumn and proceeded to Fort Benton with a party of 16 soldiers, six civilians and a few employees heading east down the Missouri River.
"Cantonment Wright, so called in honor of General Wright, a warm friend of our enterprise, was now abandoned,” Mullan wrote. “Though a cold and bleak place it nevertheless proved a suitable point for our purposes. The camp was situated on the high flat in the forks of the Blackfoot and Hell Gate rivers where timber was abundant and close, but exposed to the bleak winds that at times come down the valley of the Blackfoot. It was found to be an abode of not over much comfort…"
Gustav Sohon, an artist, mapmaker, interpreter and guide with Mullan, sketched the area at the confluence. It was one of several sketches included in Mullan’s report of 1863. A lithograph was later made of the sketch, the first illustrations of an area that became so important to the timber, transportation and hydroelectric futures of Montana.
For additional information, visit the Eastern Washington University's Mullan Road history site.
Welcome! The 2014 Mullan Road Conference is coming to Missoula May 2-4, just in time to help Montana celebrate its 150th year of territoryhood.
Take a step back to the 1860s to hear stories from some of the nation's foremost experts about what happened and what's happening on the road that built Montana.
The conference evolved out of the annual Mullan Day celebration that was initiated 25 years ago by the Mineral County Historical Society in Superior, Montana. Since 2006 it has been held each spring along the 624-mile military wagon road that Lieutenant John Mullan and his crews engineered and built in 1859-62 through the Northern Rockies from Walla Walla to Fort Benton.
A Friday night reception hosted by Fort Missoula museums will be followed on Saturday by a day of presentations and an evening banquet at Ruby’s Reserve Street Inn. On Sunday we'll take a tour of the road east of Missoula and, weather permitting, get a chance to walk in a rare existing footprint of the road.
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Schedule of events
The Mullan Road Conference 2014 is funded in part by a grant from Humanities Montana, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, & the Mineral County Historical Society.
Conference Speakers
Julie Cajune, actor and award-winning educator from the Confederated Salish-Kootenai tribes
Ken Egan of Missoula, executive director of Humanities Montana and author of the upcoming sesquicentennial book Montana 1864
Dan McDermott of Winchester, Va., co-editor of the soon-to-be published anthology The Mullan Road: Carving a Passage Through the Frontier Northwest, 1859 to 1862
Stewart Nash of Townsend, professional land surveyor, western history novelist and author of an upcoming biography of John Mullan
Keith Peterson of Moscow, Idaho, Associate Director and State Historian of the Idaho State Historical Society and author of John Mullan: The Tumultuous Life of a Western Road Builder to be released this spring
Ken Robison of Great Falls, historian at the Overholser Historical Research Center in Fort Benton, newspaper history columnist, and author of several books including the 2013 Montana Territory and the Civil War
Sally Thompson of Missoula, anthropologist, ethnohistorian, filmmaker, independent researcher, and collaborator on People Before the Park, due out in 2014
Bill Weikel of Missoula, Montana Surveying Reenactors Corps and a director of the Surveyors Historical Society
Bill Youngs of Cheney, Washington, Eastern Washington University history professor, author and past Mullan Road Conference organizer
Kim Briggeman of Missoula, newspaper reporter and Montana history writer
On Sunday we'll trace the Mullan Road corridor from the site of historic Hellgate Village east through Missoula and 35 miles beyond. The day will include a rare opportunity to walk in a mountainside footprint of the 1862 Mullan Road.
Clark Fork River Valley: First stop is the Milltown Bluff Overlook, Milltown State Park's version of HBO. Watch the history of early and modern Montana pass by against the panorama of a key site along the Mullan Road at the confluence of the Big Blackfoot. Requires a 250-yard walk along paved trail to the overlook. A shuttle cart will be available, courtesy of Canyon River Golf.
Three Mile Grade: East of Bonner and Turah climb the remnants of the mountainside road Mullan’s crews constructed in the winter/spring of 1862 to avoid two river crossings. We’ll stop for an overview from across the river, then those who wish will get a chance to hike a quarter of a mile to access the road from a private residence. This will also serve as our lunch stop, sandwiches provided by Ruby’s Inn.
Other points of interest: Beavertail Hill (From 1863 Mullan Report: "Thirty-first day.-Move to Lannon's camp, nine miles; road excellent; may have to double team at Beaver Tail butte; good wood, water, and grass abundant."); Medicine Tree Hill, where Mullan threw the road to the south side of the river for the first time since St. Regis.
Committee
Missoula contacts:
Bill Weikel This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(406) 880-2183
Kim Briggeman This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (406) 239-9301
Marcia Porter This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (406) 728-0594
Superior contact: Kay StromboThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (406) 822-4626
Past Conferences
Mullan Road Conference 2013 in Spokane and Cheney, Mullan Road Conference 2012 in Walla Walla, Ken Robison's blogspot wrapup of the 2010 conference in Fort Benton, Copies of the Mullan Chronicles.