The Frenchwoman's Road

The Bird Boy was nineteen, and he crossed the divide a few miles north of here, over Mullan Pass. Cromwell Dixon, born in Ohio in 1892, had flown a pedal-powered airship of his own, the Sky-Cycle, at fourteen, and earned pilot's license number 43 in August 1911. On September 30 he took off from the Helena fairgrounds in a Curtiss biplane and landed at Blossburg, west of the pass, twenty-six minutes later; the flight back took forty-three. A campground on top of MacDonald Pass now carries his name.

What the plaque says

The Frenchwoman's Road Constant Guyot built a toll road across the Continental Divide near here in 1867. Because it provided the most direct way over the mountains between Deer Lodge and Helena, it was a popular route for travelers. Guyot's wife ran a two-room "hotel" and restaurant in a log cabin on Dog Creek near present Elliston. Madame Guyot was famous for her hospitality and the hearty meals she served to hungry travelers. Within a short time, the operation was known as The Frenchwoman's. In 1868, she was found murdered in the cabin. Her killer was never caught, but evidence pointed to her husband, who had fled the territory shortly after her death. According to local folklore, her ghost haunted the cabin for many years afterwards. Elijah M. "Lige" Dunphy took over the toll road in 1870 and hired Alexander "Red" MacDonald to manage it. Because of his long association with the road, it became known as MacDonald Pass. In September 1911, Cromwell Dixon, the "Bird Boy," earned a $10,000 prize when he became the first aviator in America to fly over the Continental Divide not too far from this spot. He died two days later when his biplane crashed at the Inland Empire Fair in Spokane.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Montana State Capitol — 14 mi
  A copper-domed capitol won in a copper kings' election, with a Russell painting that put the Salish at the center.
• Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site — 23 mi
  A Métis trader's 1862 house, a cattle king's headquarters, and a grandson who threw nothing away.
• Mann Gulch — 30 mi
  Thirteen markers on a grass slope above the Missouri, where a fire outran a crew of smokejumpers in 1949.

More markers nearby

• Over a Billion Years of Montana's Geologic History — 1.7 mi
• The Mullan Road — 3.7 mi
• Unionville — 11 mi
• Marysville Montana — 13 mi