Sec. A Page 28 Missoulian Centennial Maj. Owen Played Big Role in Area
Maj. Owen Played Big Role in Area
Maj. John Owen, a man who probably was not a major, gave his name to Fort Owen which was not really a fort, at least for military purposes.
Maj. Owen’s title has come down through history without any reference to the means through which the title was conferred. His “fort” was the trading center of the Bitter Root Valley. Maj. Owen purchased St. Mary’s Mission in 1850 and with improvements the property became the headquarters for both Indians and white men in the area.
A wall was built around the establishment for protection against the hostile Blackfeet. This undoubtedly led to the fort designation.
Maj. Owen had unlimited abilities. He raised vegetables and grain and introduced agricultural machinery into the valley. He constantly strived to improve the conditions of the Indians. He gathered together a library and kept open house for travelers. Always having had an eye toward the future, he kept an account of his activities, later published by the Historical Society of Montana.
As a government agent for the Flathead Indians, he urged government officials to assist the Indians in farming and education. It was only through his intervention that Indian hostilities were prevented.
The gold rush was not as interesting to Maj. Owen as were the prospectors. He supplied them with provisions and housed and fed those en route to mining camps.
He died the same year in which the territory became a state in the city in which the nation’s constitutional convention met – Philadelphia, 1889.