This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Fort Benton and the birth of western exploration in 1858
In September 1858 a party of prospectors miners and soldiers reached Fort Benton Montana from the west to meet Governor Isaac I Stevens on his first western trip. The governor read his commission and planned new public buildings as survey work continued to Missoula and The Dalles. Hard wintering forced subsistence on game and even horses while surveying for a transcontinental railroad. Captain John Mullan led the westward survey and the Pend Oreille river extension project seeks hundreds of workers for Metaline now.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Fort Benton
Montana
Walla Walla
Isaac I. Stevens
Gov
Stevens
Colorado
Oregon Territory
Washington
West
Rocky Mountains
Missoula
Dalles
American Fur Trader Company
Clark
John Mullan
The
Sound