| |
Original home
of the modern Salish (Flathead) and Pend
d'Oreille Indians |
|
1788
|
Claimed for
the United States in the Oregon Country
Acquisition. |
|
1805 |
Explored by
Lewis & Clark |
|
1806 |
Lewis & Clark
return through valley |
|
1812 |
Ross Cox
visits Flathead village |
|
1822 |
Michel Bourdon
led the first trapping brigade |
|
1823 |
Finian
McDonald and brigade of 65 men trapped in the
valley |
|
1824 |
Hudson Bay
Company sent a party of 64 men under the command of
Alexander Ross into the valley. Ross is
the first white man to mention the Ram's Horn
Tree or Indian Medicine Tree. On his
return trip in November, Ross had been joined by
Jedediah Smith and seven American trappers
including William Sublette, Thomas Eddie and
Arthur Black. |
|
1825 |
Peter Skein
Ogden, William Kittson and 56 men of the Snake
River brigade traveled through the valley in
January. |
|
1829 |
Jed Smith and
David E. Jackson passed through the valley in
July |
|
1832 |
Thomas
Fitspatrick and a party of trappers including
Kit Carson came into the valley from the Salmon
River |
|
1833 |
Warren Angus
Ferris and Doc Newell come to the valley in July
to trade with Flatheads |
|
1841 |
Father DeSmet
and Jesuit priests
founded St. Mary's mission near present site of Stevensville. |
|
1845 |
Father Ravalli
came to the Mission. |
|
1850 |
Fort Owen, the
first white settlement in Montana was
established at Stevensville when Major John Owen
took title to the Mission Property from the
Jesuits |
|
1853 |
Lt. Mullan
wintered in the Bitter Root with the stock used
by Governor I.J. Stevens Railroad Survey from
the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast.
Mullan's winter quarters were named Cantonment
Stevens, located on Willow Creek, northwest of
Corvallis. |
|
1855 |
Council Grove
Treaty was negotiated by Gov. Stevens with
Salish tribes. This took place 6 miles
below Hell Gate, west of Missoula. |
|
1855 |
Emanuel
Martin, Mexican Trapper, brought the first light
wagon into the valley following the old Indian
trail from trail creek into Ross Hole and French
Basin and over the hills South of Rye Creek. |
|
1856 |
Frank J. Woody
and others brought ox teams and wagons over
Martin's trail. |
|
1862 |
Lauretta,
daughter of Mr. & Mrs. G.W. Dobbins, first white
child born in valley |
|
1864 |
Houk and
Winslett opened a store at site of Stevensville |
|
1864 |
Marcus Daly
made two trips through valley |
|
1866 |
Thomas Harris
set out the first apple trees in the valley on
his farm in the Tree Mile area. |
|
1870 |
Corvallis was
established as a village at the Sunflower site. |
| 1872 |
General
Garfield made treaty with the Flatheads and
other Salish tribes. Chief Arlee left the
valley for the Jocko reservation with part of
the Flathead tribe. |
| 1877 |
Chief Joseph, 250-400
Nez Perce warriors and their families
passed through the valley in their futile
flight to freedom in Canada, in what is
known as the Nez Perce Indian War of 1877. |
| 1879 |
Pony Express
mail route from Missoula to Bannack passed
through the valley |
| 1881 |
Garfield post
office established |
| 1885 |
Grantsdale was
started by H. H. Grant |
| 1887 |
Marcus Daly,
Butte copper mining magnate, acquired 22,000
acres of land for Bitter Root Stock Farm and
built the now famous Daly Mansion east of
Hamilton. |
| 1888 |
Darby
established. Post office first named
Harrison then changed to Darby by Postmaster
James Darby |
| 1889 |
Garfield
changed to Victor in honor of Chief Victor of
the Salish Tribe |
| 1891
|
Chief Charlo
and the Salish and Flathead Indians, who had befriended the
white settlers for 86 years now, were forced
from their ancestral home. |
| 1893 |
Ravalli County
created; previously part of Missoula County |
| 1894 |
Town of
Hamilton, named after James Hamilton, a Daly
Employee, incorporated. |
| 1899 |
First building
erected by the National Forest Service at Alta
on the West Fork of the Bitterroot River by N.
E. Wilkerson and H. C. Tuttle. |
| 1915 |
Anaconda
Copper Mining Company Mill closed down. |
| 1917 |
Apple Boom
went bust. |
| 1927 |
Rocky Mountain
Laboratory established to research the cause of
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. |
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