page_title: John Mullan (road builder)
section_title: Building the road: 1860
hierarchical_section_title: John Mullan (road builder) / Construction of the Mullan Road / Building the road: 1860
caption_attribution_description: English: Clark Fork River in Montana
context_page_description: John Mullan Jr. was an American soldier, explorer, civil servant, and road builder. After graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1852, he joined the Northern Pacific Railroad Survey, led by Isaac Stevens. He extensively explored western Montana and portions of southeastern Idaho, discovered Mullan Pass, participated in the Coeur d'Alene War, and led the construction crew which built the Mullan Road in Montana, Idaho, and Washington state between the spring of 1859 and summer of 1860.
  He unsuccessfully sought appointment as Territorial Governor of the new Idaho Territory, although he played a significant role in the territory's formation and the establishment of its boundaries. Leaving the United States Army in April 1863, he failed at several businesses before profiting immensely as a real estate dealer and land attorney in California. At one point, the law firm he co-founded was the largest land speculator in the state. He later became an agent and lobbyist for the states of California, Nevada, and Oregon and for the Washington Territory, securing reimbursements from the federal government.
context_section_description: In order to avoid complete isolation from the world, Mullan paid two of his men to travel back and forth to Fort Walla Walla with mail. Mail arrived twice a month, once a month in bad weather. Another man was sent to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to buy replacement mules, while P.M. Engle was sent to Fort Benton to buy cattle and supplies. In early January, Mullan sent engineer Walter Whipple Johnson to back to Fort Walla Walla with instructions to proceed to Washington, D.C., and dispel rumors that the road crew was in crisis. During the winter, Mullan also reassessed his route. He realized that his road should have followed the north shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Clark Fork River. Significantly over budget, Mullan told his crew that he might not be able to pay their wages. Five left.
  In Washington, D.C., a struggle was under way to appropriate more money for the Mullan Road. On December 1, 1859, Secretary of War Floyd told Congress of "the existence of great mineral wealth in the mountains through which a portion of the road passes." On January 18, 1860, Senator Joseph Lane (D-Oregon) announced he would submit legislation to appropriate funds to finish the road. The bill (S.93) was introduced the following day and referred to the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. On February 16, Isaac Stevens introduced a companion bill (H.R. 702) in the House, which was referred to the House Committee on Military Affairs. Despite the legislation, in April 1860 Captain Andrew A. Humphreys at the War Department decided to cancel the road, citing Mullan's cost overruns. Johnson arrived in the capital in April just as the appropriation seemed lost, and he and Isaac Stevens began to press for its passage. They received extensive support from Floyd, who was increasingly convinced by Mullan's September report that vast gold deposits awaited in the Rocky Mountains. H.R. 702, which provided $100,000 to complete the road, moved first. The House considered the bill as a Committee of the Whole on May 12, which recommended its passage. Later that day, the House passed the bill on a voice vote. The bill was referred to the Senate, which adopted it on a voice vote on May 23. President Buchanan signed it into law on May 25.
  Walter Johnson had a secondary mission as well: To have the War Department send a unit of soldiers over the Mullan Road.  This would not only put an end to talk that the road was intended for commercial (not military) use, but also prove the road's value. Johnson successfully convinced Floyd to give the order.  Instead of returning to Fort Walla Walla with a letter from Humphreys canceling construction, Johnson returned with a letter from Floyd with the good news about the new appropriation.
  Determined to keep the road construction going, on February 20 Mullan sent his civilian workers ahead to the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers (near modern-day Missoula), where they were to construct a large flatboat ferry and five small flat-bottomed pirogues for use by the construction crew and the route scouts. Mullan ordered the soldiers in his party to begin building the road from Cantonment Jordan to the Blackfoot River as soon as weather permitted. By June 4, the 85-mile (137 km) road had been cut through to the Blackfoot, and Cantonment Jordan was abandoned. Mullan himself left Lt. White in charge on February 26 while he rode to a by-now much-enlarged and prosperous Fort Owen. He spent two weeks resting and waiting for the weather to improve, then began meeting with the Kalispel, a large number of whom wintered in the Bitterroot Valley.  His excellent relations with this tribe convinced 17 Kalispel to take 120 horses and accompany Gustav Sohon across the mountains to Fort Benton, and return laden with the supplies which the War Department had shipped there via steamboat. The Indians and Sohon left on March 16, and returned a month later.
  Mullan was now running out of time. Major George A.H. Blake was steaming up the Missouri River with 300 men, with the intent of using the Mullan Road to travel to Fort Walla
caption: The Clark Fork River in Montana. Mullan largely followed this river from Lake Pend Oreille through the Bitterroot Mountains, until it reached the Bitterroot Valley. Its twisting bed and broad, fast-flowing waters required extensive bridging.
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