Mullan Road

Kootenai County · dedicated 2025 · US-3, milepost 95.83

In 1858, Schitsu’umsh (Coeur d’Alene) learned Lieutenant John Mullan would build a road through their land. They vowed to stop him. In an Army display of power, Colonel Edward Steptoe marched 158 troops out of Fort Walla Walla. Schitsu’umsh and other warriors routed him at today’s Rosalia, Washington. Later, Colonel George Wright brutally avenged Steptoe’s defeat and forced tribes to accept road construction. Mullan initially built his road nearby in 1859. After it flooded, he charted a different route northwest of here. Completed in 1862, Mullan’s road connected the Missouri and Columbia Rivers. It brought settlers to the Northwest while transforming tribal lifeways.

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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