The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1916-10-12
WHEN MlSS0ULA
WAS HE'LL GATE
WAS BATTLING GROUND OF
FLATHEADS AND BLACK
FEET INDIANS.
William Hamilton Established First
Trading Post There in 1858; Town
Was Founded by Captain Higgins
and Major Mccormick.

AAA AANAdA WdA SCdI0-d Tu1uOT Ludt
all the tribes east of the Rock noun
tains were joining in a conspiracy to
drive the whites out Of the west led
to the discovery that the site where
Mlssoula now stands was logical
commercial center and resulted in the
founding of trading post that was
the precursor of the present flourish
ing city Of close to 10000 inhabitants.
The United States army had Just
succeeded, after suffering one severe
reverse, in putting down formidable
conspiracy in the Columbia river re-
gion when word came to Colonel
Wright, in command at Fort Walla
Walla, of new combine across the
mountains. Colonel Wright's most
trusted scout, William 7. Hamilton,
, Familiarity known as "Bill'' Hamil-
ton, who had passed sixteen years on
mountain and prairie as a trapper,
volunteered to find out whether there
was any truth in the rumor. Hamil-
ton took with him single companion,
a Scotch half-breed named Mckay,
and trading outfit. The two men
passed through the country of the
tribes that had only just been sub
dued, finding them "surly," as Ham
ilton relates in the account of his life
on the plains, "but on their good be-
havior.'
Where Indian Trails Converge.
owe camped one night" said Ham
ilton, "where Missoula, Montana, now
stands, and 1 noticed many Indian
trails converging. It struck me as an
ideal spot for trading post, and I
told Mckay that if we got back from
this trip with our lives I would return
and establish a trading post there,
which did late that fall"
The scouts found the report of
new uprising was groundless and re-
turned to Fort Walla Walla to report.
Hamilton laid in stock of goods to
give to the Indians in exchange for
furs and returned to Montana the
same year-1S5S - establishing his
trading post near the defile where the
Rattlesnake joins the Missoula, or
Clark s Fork Of the Columbia, as the
river is officially designated. This
canyon portal the Indians called Mis-
soula and the Hudson Bay traders
translated freely "Porte d'Enfer,'
or "Hell Gate" The same defile is
spoken of in an early description as
the "Canyon of Wild Roses" So it
may be readily inferred that it's sin
lister name was not due to anything
inherently dreadful in the character
of the country.
At the Stream of Ambush.
AS Hamilton remarked, here many
Indian trails converged despite the
deep significance in the more literal
translation of the word Missoula, cat
the stream of ambush.' Here the
war parties of the Flatheads and the
Blackfeet met in many grim en-
counter on their way to the buffalo
hunting grounds. Hence it came to
be known as "the place Of fear" or
"Hell Gate.'
Hamilton maintained his trading
post until 1864, when he sold out and
moved to Fort Benton. The founding
of the town is generally credited to
Captain Higgins and Major McCorm-
lex, who in that year established a set
Element where the trading post had
been. The first structure of a perma-
nent character, log cabin, was built ,
then and the town of He'll Gate moved
bodily up to the new site toward the
mouth of the canyon, ga good move"
remarks Arthur L. Stone-of Missoula. {
author of 'Following Old Trails,' {
"even if it had done nothing more !
than to change the name Of the =
town."
Known as Missoula Mills.
The pioneer merchants were Wor-
den & Co., who built a grist and saw
mill the following year and erected t
and opened store. For some time +
subsequent to this the settlement was :,
known as Missoula Mills. Tt finally :;
came to be designated simply Mis-
soula. In 1888 it was incorporated by !,
act of the legislature. The University !.
Of Montana was opened there in 1895. :
The city is the center of rich agri- y,
cultural and numbering region and a 7
large mining territory is tributary. =
The population in 1910 was 1860, , !,
but the increase in the last six years n
is believed to be at least so per cent. 5
cit is always refreshing to recall" !;
writes Stone, "that just beyond He'll -
Gate, lies Paradise. That is pleasing y
and it is even more so when we con-
slider that Missoula is on the Paradise
side of the gate. Some years ago the n
Northern Pacific undertook to simp- t,
ify the names of some of it's stations W
n western Montana. e. j. Pearson n
vas then the local superintendent of b
he road and one day he showed me a
etter that he had received, in which Y
lis correspondent wrote as follows: +
"'I see you have taken the h
Horse" from Plains and have re- t,
IN