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Arteries of Montana History
The creation of roads reflects mankind's attempt at changing and alternating the landscape to suit their own essential purposes. Roads assume various forms: trails, carriage roads, and automobile roads. Therefore, roads mirror the history of the state of Montana while at the same time transforming it. For instance, the changing of road names notes the evolutions that have occurred in an individual town or in the state itself. Furthermore, as a landscape changes due to the creation of roads so too does a people',s perception of that landscape change. However, landscapes are not mere recipients of human interaction but due to their own unique characteristics effect changes within the human psyche as well. For example, the sheer immovability of mountains demands the human endeavor in traveling through it to alter and adapt modes of transportation, furthermore; fast moving rivers and unpredictable weather patterns force humans to pause and rethink how best to proceed.
This educational digital exhibit was created for classroom use - we encourage teachers to review the associated lesson plan.
Roads Reflect the Exploration of Montana
“It was indeed a desperate venture. Unknown dangers beset the uncharted way. No white man, so far as La Verendrye knew, had ever crossed this trailless wilderness.” (History of Montana, page 41)
The current road system and townships in Montana suggest the human footprint of exploration prevalent throughout its colorful history. Native Americans first traversed the landscape thus creating trails as they lived off the land by hunting its wildlife. These trails empowered other feet to trod on them as well. Merriweather Lewis and William Clark’s trek through the state pathed the way for the creation of towns such as Fort Benton, Three Forks, and Great Falls. The mere existence of these towns illustrates the lasting legacy of these explorers and allowed for the creation of roads such as the Mullan Road. According to the researcher, Randall A. Johnson in his work, “the Mullan Military Road was an artery that permitted wagon traffic between Fort Benton, at the head of Missouri River navigation, and old Fort Walla Walla, near present Wallula, on the Columbia River. Its length was 611 miles and it cost the taxpayers $230,000. Once the surveys were completed, a task covering some five years, the road was put through in just two years.” (HistoryLink.org)
These constructions of human ingenuity testify to the desire to conquer nature; to bend it to suit the individual needs of civilization. Moreover, the Mullan Road’s skeletal remains can still be imagined if one travels down Interstate 15 and Interstate 90.("The Mullan Road")
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Roads Reflect the Development of Montana’s Natural Resources
“Nearly all of the richest mines are easily approached by natural and ungraded roadways–an advantage found in few other mining regions in the World.” (The Resources of Montana Territory and Attractions of Yellowstone National Park, page 5)
The abandoned roads that lead to forsaken mining towns dot the landscape of Montana and testify to the essential part roads played in the development of the state’s natural resources. The discovery of gold in 1858 permitted mining towns to spring up wherever an active vein presented itself. ("A History of the Montana Gold Rush")
These mining towns were connected by a spider web of wagon roads and trails some of which are still evident today. Some of these mining towns still exist today as well. Helena, the most important one, sprang up due to gold being discovered in 1864. The writer Albert Richardson in his work Beyond the Mississippi in describing Helena stated “This city is the legitimate successor of Virginia, as is Virginia of Bannack. It has now outgrown the anxious stage, which comes to all new settlements, and in which every arriving stranger is instantly asked: 'Well sir, how do you like our town?’ Helena is about three years old, with a population of four thousand. Its two principal streets are in the form of a cross. At my visit it did not boast a hotel. Now it has several, with pleasant residences, ample business blocks, and a thriving trade. It is the supply point for the rich placer mines of the Black-foot country and other northern gulches. I have never been in any other region where gold dust in the hands of working miners circulated freely in so large quantities. Several nuggets, worth from two to four thousand dollars have been taken out... Single claims have produced one thousand dollars per day. These are very unusual cases; but Montana is the richest placer mining region ever discovered in the United States.” (Beyond the Mississippi, From the Great River to the Great Ocean: Life and Adventure on the Prairies, Mountains, and Pacific Coast, page 482)
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'New Departure' Mine, Beaverhead County, Montana, between 1890-1940
View of several buildings on a hillside, possible tailings in the foreground, identified as the New Departure Mine in Beaverhead County, Montana.
Hydraulic gold mining in Montana, between 1871-1872.
View of five men working in a rocky gully using a high-pressure jet of water from a hose to dislodge rock material from the hillside in search of gold. This was likely taken in the Alder Gulch region of Montana Territory.
Sixty Stamp Mill and Surroundings
View of the Montana Mining Company Limited's 60-stamp mill and nearby buildings at Marysville, Montana, between 1886-1895.
Helena, Montana
Overview of Helena, Montana, looking northeast, between 1871-1872,
Bridge Street, Helena, Montana
View of Bridge Street, Helena, Montana, from the west, with covered wagons moving up the street, 1865. All buildings appear to be log structures, many with false fronts.
Roads Highlight the Unique Geography in Montana
“The altitude, the character of the surface, prevailing winds, nature of the soil, and many other conditions, give us entirely different climates on the same lines of latitude.” (The Resources of Montana Territory and Attractions of Yellowstone National Park, page 9)
Roads may at times display similar characteristics but no two roads are completely and utterly the same. Each road possesses in a sense its own unique features and has in a way its own personality if a road can be viewed even in a limited sense as a living breathing organism. For example, the roads in Eastern Montana by their very nature are different then the roads in Western and Central Montana. This is no surprise considering the bulk of the state’s mountain ranges are confined to the latter instead of the former. Mountains introduce exceptionally difficult situations for the creation of roads. The blasting away with explosives through hard rock and thus the constant threat of erosion materializing in the form of mud slides along presents a very real threat. The creation of the United States National Park system brought these problems into focus as millions of Americans began to flock to Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park to witness the countless geographical marvels each park possesses. Thus, roads existed as a vital link to any visitors to the state ensuring the state’s survival through such an economic endeavor as tourism.
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1912 - Superintendent Dill at Camp #9
View of a man in a horse-drawn buggy, another man on horseback visible to the right. Timber on a wagon and scattered on the ground, cart tracks visible in the foreground. Chief Mountain in background. Superintendent Dill at Camp #9 (Camp Fletcher), north of Babb, Montana.
Thirteen women passengers in and around a tour bus at the Hudson Bay Divide
Thirteen women passengers in and around a tour bus at the Hudson Bay Divide, Glacier National Park. On the back of the photo, the tour bus driver, Ector Bossati, wrote, "One of my bus loads!"
Going-to-the-Sun Road
Red buses traveling east on the Going-to-the-Sun Road along St. Mary Lake, Glacier National Park. Little Chief Mountain prominent in background.
Bears on the road in Glacier Park
Bears on the road near Avalanche Campground, Glacier National Park, Montana. Three automobiles are pulled over onto the side of the road. One bear has its front paws on the door of the automobile in front of the row of cars.
Roads Reflect the Practical Needs of a Community and Nation
“The dirt roads of America are heavy drinkers. They lead a staggering and uncertain course from town to town; smear themselves with thick mire; for four months in the year are unfit for the company of respectable people.” (The Gospel of Good Roads A Letter to the American Farmer, page 4)
Roads are essential for the sustaining of any community much less a nation itself. Roads impassable threaten the very essence of a community. According to the researcher, David A. Pfeiffer, “in the summer of 1919, just months after the end of World War 1, an expedition of 81 Army vehicles–a truck convoy–set out from Washington, D.C., for a trip across the country to San Francisco. The convoy’s purpose was to road-test various Army vehicles and to see how easy or how difficult it would be to move an entire army across the North American continent.” ("Ike's Interstates at 50: Anniversary of the Highway System Recalls Eisenhower's Role as Catalyst")
The mission proved in the minds of all that were a part of it that the country’s road system was in dire need of an upgrade. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, then a Lieutenant Colonel and a part of the expedition, was struck by the poorly maintained roads. He never forgot the poor conditions and when he was elected President sought to change the road system in the United States. It was under his administration that both the Federal Highway Acts of 1954 and 1956 were signed into law. Montana, like countless other states, benefited enormously from such a system of roads, the positive effects of which are still felt today.
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Buick touring car
Original description: 1925 Ford. A man drives the automobile, and two women sit in the back seat with a baby. A child sits between the driver and the women. The car sits off the road with a cliff in the background. Location unknown, probably Montana. Library note: The car is likely a Buick, circa 1910, having right-hand drive.
Missoula's north side before Interstate-90
Demolition of houses on Missoula's north side before Interstate 90 construction
Missoula's north side before Interstate-90
Demolition of houses on Missoula's north side before Interstate 90 construction.
Interstate 90 construction near Alberton
Interstate-90 construction near the Clark Fork River between Alberton and Superior, Montana.
An Interstate highway
An Interstate highway with traffic at some unknown location (possibly Billings, MT).
Exhibit Author: Levi Cook
Bibliography
Discovering Montana. "A History of the Montana Gold Rush." Last modified June 4, 2022. https://discoveringmontana.com/history-of-the-gold-rush/
Fort Benton The Birthplace of Montana. "The Mullan Road." Last modified 2013. http://www.fortbenton.com/mullan.html
HistoryLink.org. "The Mullan Road: A Real Northwest Passage." Last modified November 5, 2009. https://www.historylink.org/File/9202
Pfeiffer, David A. "Ike's Interstates at 50: Anniversary of the Highway System Recalls Eisenhower's Role as Catalyst." National Archives and Records Administration, Summer 2006, Vol. 38, No. 2. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/summer/interstates.html
Potter, Isaac B. The Gospel of Good Roads A Letter to the American Farmer. New York: The League of American Wheelmen, 1891. https://archive.org/details/gospelgoodroads00highgoog/mode/2up
Richardson, Albert D., Beyond the Mississippi, From the Great River to the Great Ocean: Life and Adventure on the Prairies, Mountains, and Pacific Coast, Hartford: American Pub. Co., 1867. https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/beyondmississip00rich
Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald. A History of Montana Volume 1 (01/01/1913 - 31/12/1913). Chicago, New York: Lewis Pub. Co. 1913. https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/5083
Strahorn, Robert E. The Resources of Montana Territory and Attractions of Yellowstone National Park (01/01/1879 - 31/12/1879). Helena: Montana Legislature, 1879. https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/6258]https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/6258
Western Mining History. "Helena, Montana." Last modified 2020. https://westernmininghistory.com/towns/montana/helena/
Photo and Map Credits:
Glacier National Park Archives
