MRC 2014 Schedule of Events
5:30-7:30 p.m.: Evening reception at the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History at Fort Missoula, in conjunction with The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Registration and pre-registration packets will be available.
Saturday, May 3 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Presentations at Ruby's Inn and Convention Center, 4825 N. Reserve St., Missoula
8 to 9 a.m.: Conference registration and pre-conference Meet and Greet
9:00 to 9:15 a.m.: Welcome and announcements - Reports from Mullan Road Regions
9:15 to 10:00 Stewart Nash “Mullan”s Character”
10:00 to 10:45 Sally Thompson “Senkoposa' 1859” (Garrison Junction)
10:45 to 11:00 Break
11:00 to 11:30 Dan McDermott “The Wright Campaign of 1858 as Seen By Gustavus Sohon”
11:30 to noon Bill Youngs "The Mullan Road after John Mullan"
12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Prepaid lunch or lunch on your own
1:00 to 1:45 Ken Egan “Love and Outlaws at Sun River Indian Farm”
1:45 to 2:45 Julie Cajune “A Tribal Perspective of the Mullan Road”
2:45 to 3:00 Break
3:00 to 3:30 Ken Robison "The Mullan Road, the Civil War, and the Formation of Montana Territory"
3:30 to 4:15 Bill Weikel “Mapping the Mullan Military Wagon Road and Subsequent Road Changes.”
4:15 to 4:30 Kim Briggeman “Mullan on the Hellgate”
6:30 p.m.: Dinner at Ruby's Inn. Keynote speaker: Keith Petersen “John Mullan: The Man Behind the Road”
Tour heads east of Missoula up the Clark Fork River to Medicine Tree Hill, 35 miles east. Highlights include the history bluff overlooking Mullan’s Cantonment Wright at the mouth of the Big Blackfoot, and Three-Mile Grade, constructed by the Mullan road crew during the devastating winter of 1861-62.
Driving Directions
Download Driving Directions (PDF)
Ruby’s Inn & Convention Center, 4825 N. Reserve St., is conveniently located just off Interstate 90 at exit 101- Reserve Street in Missoula, Montana.
Exiting from I-90 to Ruby's Inn:
Take the I-90-Reserve St exit 101 to Ruby’s- .3 mile. Ruby’s is on the west, or right hand side of Reserve St.
From Ruby’s to Fort Missoula:
Turn right on Reserve Street and go to South Ave 4.1 miles (8 lights).
Turn west on South Ave to the museum signs at Guardsman Lane: .7 mi,
Turn south on Guardsman Lane, across from Big High School.
On Guardsman Lane, you will pass the historic Fort Missoula Post Cemetery. (You may want to stop and pay your respects to 1st Lt. Edward Belger. His death, Oct 8, 1879, was caused by a severe case of dysentery contracted while working on the Mullan Road. We’ll have a flag at his grave.)
Follow Guardsman Lane to Col. Burt St. The Historical Museum is the red brick building ahead.
Turn right on Col. Burt St and the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History is on Gen. Foster Ave to the left.
If you are coming from Hwy 93 S.
Turn left at Reserve St. At the next light is South Ave.
Turn west on South Ave to the museum signs at Guardsman Lane.; .7 mi. across from Big High School.
Turn south on Guardsman Lane.
On Guardsman Lane, you will pass the Fort Missoula Post Cemetery. (You may want to stop and pay your respects to 1st Lt. Edward Belger. His death, Oct 8, 1879, was caused by a severe case of dysentery contracted while working on the Mullan Road. We’ll have a flag at his grave.)
Follow Guardsman Lane to Col Burt St. The Historical Museum is the red brick building ahead.
Turn right on Col. Burt St and the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History is on Gen. Foster Ave to the left.
Keith Peterson
Keith Petersen is the Idaho State Historian and Associate Director of the Idaho State Historical Society. The author of numerous articles and books about Idaho and the Northwest, he is the only person to have twice received the Idaho Book Award for the Outstanding Book on Idaho. His research for John Mullan: The Tumultuous Live of a Western Road Builder literally took him from coast to coast tracking down pieces of the Mullan story in local museums, county historical societies, and some of the nation’s largest archival repositories.