Historian revisits Mullan Road at 'Jail Break' event
Sanders County Historical Society and the Old Jail Museum resurrected memories from the early days of early Clark Fork River, Heron, Belknap, Trout Creek and Thompson Falls on Saturday during its “Jail Break" event.
Living historian and reenactor Mike Inman spent over an hour sharing his many stories about the early years of Sanders County, dating back from the 1850s through the early 1900s. He is associated with the Society of Civil War Surgeons, the Washington Civil War Associations, Montana Heritage Commission, Montana FWP and the Us Army Frontier Regulars.
Inman is a regular late 1800 period reenactor for Montana’s Bannack State Park Bannack Days celebration. He has also taken part in the famous Gettysburg battle reenactments. Inman has been sharing his knowledge about life during the late 1800s for the last 17 years all over the Northwest and has given lectures at 17 schools during 2024.
Along with the story time, Inman arrives with an extensive collection of Civil War antique rifles, pistols, swords and surgical equipment.
On Saturday, Inman spoke about the high costs, difficulties and time it took to travel the Mullan Trail toward lucrative gold diggings in Montana and farther west. Miners seeking to get rich came from both the east along the Mullan Road and west up the Columbia River.
At the time of the big gold strikes, the Mullan Road was in disrepair. Government resources were being used to fight the Civil War. Miners who used the western approach rode steamboats up the Columbia River, requiring several portages connecting with the Mullan Road to Plantes Ferry in the Spokane Valley, crossing the Spokane River. Miners proceeded northeast toward Lake Pend Oreille and worked their way to what is now known as the Clark Fork River, which required several portages around rapids including where the Noxon dam is now.
The trip east required using a couple of different boats along the way, ending with a steamboat called “The Missoula.” Rapids ended steamboat travel on the Clark Fork River at the location that is now known as Thompson Falls. It is here where passengers were dropped off, requiring a land route.
From Thompson Falls it was an overland route through Horse Plains and over the hill to Camas Prairie, ending up back on the Mullan Road in Frenchtown, for the balance of their trip to the gold fields in Helena and beyond.
Sanders County Historical Society events coordinator Tanya Schmell said, “We are going to have more events that have to do with the culture and history (of Sanders County) off season called the Jail Break Events. We will have a number of different topics like the sheriff that was involved in shootings many, many years ago. We are going to have a mountain man talk about the fur trade. We are going to have Inman come back and give a more in-depth Civil War connection to this area.”
The next event for the Historical Society is the 27th annual gingerbread contest on Saturday, Dec. 7. The Society is always looking for people to become members of the museum. Those interested can call the museum at 406-615-2050 or e-mail at tfoldjailmuseum@gmail.com.
A detail of the 1860s calvary uniform worn by historian Mike Inman. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)