Collections
| Back New Search Tips |
Mullan, John
| Last Name: | Mullan |
|---|---|
| First Name: | John |
| Dates: |
*1830 (Date of Birth)
*1909 (Date of Death)
|
| Biography/History: | Fresh out of West Point, Lieutenant John Mullan joined Isaac Stevens’ 1853 survey team working from the Missouri River through the newly-formed Washington Territory to the Columbia River. In Lolo Pass, Mullan noted, “The route is thoroughly and utterly impracticable for a railway…. I have never seen a more uninviting bed of mountains.” In 1858 Mullan began building a 624-mile wagon road from Fort Walla Walla to Fort Benton. When hostilities erupted between the Plateau Indians and newcomers, Mullan served briefly under Colonel George Wright, who was sent to “punish” the Indians. By 1861, the Mullan Road crossed the Palouse and the rugged Bitterroot Mountains, completed to Fort Benton. The military made only one 50-day journey over this difficult route, but its construction lessons aided railroad builders a decade later. Mullan is said to have fathered a son with a Plateau Indian woman before he married a white woman in 1863 and retired from the military. After a stay near Walla Walla, he began a San Francisco law practice and eventually moved to Washington, D.C. [170] |