The Mullan Road

The railroad Mullan foresaw went under his pass, not over it. The Northern Pacific's line of 1883 crosses the divide through the Mullan Tunnel, about 330 feet below the 5,902-foot summit that Mullan first crossed on March 22, 1854. As built it was less than thirteen feet wide, leaving some loads a few inches to spare; in 2009 it was widened, raised and shortened by 400 feet to 3,426, partly to keep the helper locomotives on the grade from overheating.

What the plaque says

The Mullan Road From this point west to the Idaho line, US Highway 12 and I-90 follows the route of a military road located and constructed in Montana between 1859 - 62 by Captain John Mullan. The road was 624 miles long and connected Fort Benton, Montana, with Fort Walla Walla, Washington. Originally an Indian trail, Mullan mapped the road over the pass in the 1850s. In 1860, it was incorporated into the military road that would bear his name. The Captain aside from his engineering ability, was a man of considerable insight as evidenced by the following excerpt from his final report. He prophesied "...the locomotive engine will make passage of the ... wild interior at rates of speed which will startle human credulity." Indeed, two decades later, in 1883, the Northern Pacific Railway constructed its main line over Mullan Pass. Mullan himself might have been incredulous had he seen the freight train that crossed this divide in 1865. Seven camels, each laden with 600 pounds of flour, made the trek from Helena to the Deer Lodge area mines. One of the less successful experiments in American transportation history, the dromedary carried tremendous loads, was sure footed, had great stamina, but the horses, mules and oxen of the teamsters and mule packers stampeded at the sight and smell of them. The camels were gone from Montana by 1867.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Montana State Capitol — 18 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 — 20 mi
  A Métis trader's 1862 house, a cattle king's headquarters, and a grandson who threw nothing away.

More markers nearby

• The Frenchwoman's Road — 3.7 mi
• Over a Billion Years of Montana's Geologic History — 5.1 mi
• Marysville Montana — 14 mi
• A Booming Little Place — 14 mi