Old Missoula

Old Fort Missoula

By Clarence Bernard Propes

Fort Missoula, three miles west of Missoula, Mont., is a lonely, beautiful military reservation with much the same status as an old soldier: Half expecting to be called into service at any time and utterly convinced he does not belong in modern warfare. But whatever the fate of the fort it has entered into the fabric of the history and folklore of the United State army.

It is very hard to separate these two elements. Here are two versions of the same story about Fort Missoula. One version says the commanding officer once issued, as an order of the day, a command that no buffalo were to be shot on the parade. The order was given, not through any sympathy for the animals, but because the CO found his life in jeopardy. The officers are said to have sat on their front porches and shot the animals as they crossed the parade grounds on their way to the Bitterroot for water. It seems that the commanding officer’s home was in the direct line of fire!

A newspaper account of the same incident says the order was found under the floor of a fort house in the mid 20’s. This version attributed the order to the fact that when the critters were shot their bodies were left on the parade to rot.

There are logical holes in both these stories, but it would be shameful to spoil good stories by holding them up to the light for exacting examination.

We do know that in the middle 1870s the people of western Montana were worried about the Indians. There were Chief Charlot and his Flatheads down in the Bitterroot valley. Chief Arlee had taken the majority of the tribe north with him to the reservation, but Charlot stubbornly refused to follow. He understood that the treaties with the United States had granted his tribe the valley. He remained with a few families to watch the settlers take over the lands. The Flatheads were logically considered good material for an uprising for they were hungry, ragged and miserable. The settlers watched them with suspicion and then the Nez Perce became restless. The worry about the Indians became very real then. They demanded protection.

Congressman Maginnis of Montana urged the establishment of a fort. In February of 1877 the army acted by sending Colonel Wesley Merritt to look for possible sites. The people of Missoula welcomed the colonel with enthusiasm and gave him a stupendous party. They showed him three sites. One was at the junction of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers, another on Grant creek, while the third was to the south of town at a place called Higgins Meadows. The colonel, full of food, beverages and good fellowship was enthusiastic about all the locations. He recommended that a fort be established on all three of the sites!

In June of that same year Colonel Gilbert came from Fort Ellis, Mont., with a detachment of men to make the final selection and establish a fort. He camped at where Bonner stands today and marched straight through Missoula. No reason is given for him not stopping at Missoula but one can guess that he had heard of the hospitality of the people of Missoula and he wanted to remain sober. Whatever the reason he did not stop until he came to the Bitterroot river where the flag was raised for an overnight camp.

The following day the colonel climbed a nearby butte and looked over the surrounding country with binoculars. He then said, according to tradition, “The fort will be established where we raised the flag last night!” One of his aides, Major McCauley, a veteran of many Indian skirmishes called the colonel’s attention to the fact the site he had selected was not one of the recommended ones. He called further attention to the fact that the people of Missoula might know what they were talking about. The colonel ended the discussion at this point, by saying, or perhaps roaring, “Major! That is an order!”

The colonel returned to Fort Ellis, leaving a detachment at the fort. A survey was made and construction was immediately started on temporary quarters, stables as well as a sawmill in a timber tract in Pattee canyon, six miles from the fort.

Probably the first structure to be erected is the log building that still stands beside the site of the original flagpole. According to one account the building burned several times. Today it is a rambling structure with many afterthoughts in construction and additions.

Another building at the fort, the residence of the county caretaker, is probably very cold. It is a log structure with clapboard over the logs.

On the banks of the river is a powder magazine – a small stone building with a steel door. It is an ageless type structure that could be ten or a hundred years old.

We do know that the sawmill immediately went into production. It produced lumber for the four gray houses that still stand as solidly as ever. They are rambling structures with large front porches and high ceilings. Members of the faculty of Montana State university live in these houses today. They can tell you of the brass hardware in the doors, fireplaces framed in hand-hewn timbers, and of the square nails that hold the houses together. They can also tell you how cool these thick-walled houses are in the summer and how hard they are to heat in winter. The houses are 80 feet from front to back door, testimony to the sizes of families in those days.

The soldiers had more than construction on their mind, though, for the Nez Perce were moving their way. At that point came the epic of Fort Fizzle. Captain Rawn learned that Chief Joseph and his tribe were coming up Lolo creek. The captain went to battle with 79 officers and men, and 200 civilian volunteers. They built a barricade across the valley to stop the Indians. The Indians ignored the barricade. They marched around it and went on their way. The settlers went home and Captain Rawn and his men were left with their fortification that has become known as Fort Fizzle.

In August of 1877 Fort Missoula soldiers participated in the Battle of Big Hole where Chief Joseph was defeated. All in all, this battle was a not too glorious chapter in America’s history.

Soon after this battle the troops were alerted to a possible uprising among the Flatheads on their reservation. Five Indians were involved in the murder of one of their fellow tribesmen. The tribal council refused to hand them over for a civil trial in Missoula. The authorities became worried and called the troops. But before they marched the government agent persuaded the council to hand over the accused.

The fort then settled back to fairly peaceful living. There were patrols and minor skirmishes, but on the whole it was very quiet. There was some unusual excitement at the post at times. We get a hint of it in a manuscript at the Missoula public library. It tells of a corral built on a “landing” below the fort. It says, “Soldiers had some strange experiences while on guard duty there. Some were amusing and some not very pleasant. The officers would tell strange stories of adventure while making their after-dark inspection.” These officers did not tell of their “strange experiences” so we are left wondering.

In 1878 an expedition consisting of settlers and soldiers intercepted a tribe of Indians who were trying to return to the Clearwater country from Canada. As soon as the Indians were sighted the settlers decided to go home. The soldiers went into battle with the aid of one civilian, a scout by the name of Shirtcollar Bill. The soldiers and Shirtcollar defeated the Indians.

Captain Moss made history in 1897 by leading 20 men on a bicycle trip from Fort Missoula to St. Louis, Mo. In 1896 the captain experimented by taking a group of soldiers on a bike trip through the Yellowstone. He was so pleased with the results that he persuaded the war department to let him lead his men on a longer expedition.

He made a careful study and selection of equipment and men. On June 14, 1897, he led his smartly uniformed men through the gates of the fort. They were smartly uniformed for only a few hours. They immediately encountered rain which lasted three days – the time it took them to cross the Continental Divide. From then on it was straight sailing if you discount rutted roads, boulders, cacti, dust and floods. In spite of their hardships the cyclists arrived in St. Louis 40 days after leaving Fort Missoula!

Anyone who has ridden a bike over rough terrain can appreciate the difficulties they must have encountered. It seems to have been a dreary procession of flat tires, broken wheels and twisted frames. At times the men enjoyed the expedition and it was found they averaged a gain of five pounds when they arrived in St. Louis!

Moss wanted to lead them back, but General Mills, commander of the fort at that time, ordered them to return by train. The United States army did not use the results of Moss’ findings but the French high command became interested and bicycle troops became regular components of French divisions.

Soon after the Spanish American war the fort was abandoned and left in charge of Sergeant Pillow with a detachment of cavalry. Sergeant Pillow is remembered not because of his Pickwickian name, but because he was an unusually tall Negro with positive ways.

In 1910 the fort was reactivated and made a regimental command post. Congress was generous with money to rebuild the fort – so extremely generous that it became known throughout the service as “The Million Dollar Post.”

Little remains to support that name. Many of the buildings of that period still remain. Among them are the concrete barracks and the stucco houses now occupied by army personnel. All these buildings are unimpressive to modern eyes. The finest structure on the post is a warehouse. It is built of red brick, the roof is pierced with dormer windows and the wood trim is white. These buildings are what remains of the “The Million Dollar Post.”

This glory was brief for in 1912 the fort was again abandoned. During World war I it became a mechanics school under the direction of the university and then it drearily sank into the doldrums again.

It was suggested that the army turn the fort over to the university or give it to the forest service for the training of fliers. The army refused to relinquish its hold for it said the post was classified as the site for a first class air base.

In 1921 it was once more reactivated. During World War II it became an internment camp for Italians and Japanese. Fences were thrown up around new barracks, watch towers were built and the fort settled down for the war.

According to all accounts the Italians and Japanese did not like each other. They refused to eat in the same messes or sleep in the same barracks. An Italian is said to have neatly cut the head off a Japanese. The army decided to keep them in separate stockades rather than wait for riots.

In 1947 the fort, with the exception of some areas was declared surplus property. Today it is headquarters for the Montana military district, and some of the buildings are used by the national guard. The remainder of the reservation is under lease to Missoula county. They, in turn, have subleased it to a variety of businesses including a bottling plant, a construction outfit, a moving company, and the state fish and game commission. Members of the faculty of Montana State university live in many of the houses at the post. The county proposes to purchase the fort with a bond issue and turn it into an airfield, fair grounds and recreation center.

The bond issue must be voted on by the people of the county, and such a vote is always uncertain. Although the army has shown no particular interest in the reservation, one can’t be too sure of its attitude for the army moves unexpectedly in time of war. There is a delicate balance between the army and county and it is impossible to predict the fate of Fort Missoula. One thing we do know is that the name Fort Missoula, “The Million Dollar Post,” will not soon die in the memory of man.

 

The above article appeared in The Spokesman-Review on April 1, 1951.

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An article in The Daily Missoulian in 1909 (May 30) mentioned the new Million Dollar Fort:

“To the southwest of Missoula lies Fort Missoula, where is stationed a battalion of the Sixth United States Infantry. At the fort everything is now ready for a complete remodeling of buildings and ground, a change that means the erecting of new structures and a rearrangement of their grounds – the establishment of a million dollar regimental post. The buildings of the new Fort Missoula will be of reinforced concrete, with red tile roofs and constructed according to the Spanish style of architecture. The new post will really be in the form of a regimental park, with an elliptical parade ground 1,000 feet wide and 2,000 feet long, facing the Bitter Root river. An island in the river, itself one of the prettiest streams in the state, is to be made into a park and will be connected with the post by a bridge. Besides the present quota of troops, the new fort will have assigned to it a squadron of cavalry and a battery of field artillery.”

 

Mr. Propes was involved in the Montana Institute of the Arts for a short time while he lived in Missoula. He was the author of a book about Missoula – “The Fascinating Missoula Montana” – written apparently with the idea of exposing some of the taboo subjects in Missoula’s history. The Missoulian gave it a short review in 1951, saying, “The reader will find a great deal of laughter in the book.”

With his son, Stephen C. Propes, he was also the author of an auto-biographical book, ‘The Hobo Diaries’, about his early life during the great depression. Mr. Propes moved back to California in the 1950’s, where he wrote for a Long Beach newspaper, the Independent Press-Telegram. He died in Los Angeles in 1974.