Old Missoula

These are the Men Who Started It All 100 Years Ago

Pitching of a tent in August 1860 by two pioneers, Frank L. Worden and Christopher P. Higgins, proved to be the start of the small and wild frontier town of Hell Gate and resulting Missoula.

The two, partners under the firm name of Worden & Co., arrived from Walla Walla, Wash., carrying a sutler’s license to trade with Indians and a load of merchandise. A pack train carried their wares.

It had been their original intention to locate at Fort Owen in the Bitter Root or at the Jocko Agency, then being established. But they decided to settle between the two to get business from both directions, north and south, in the main traveled route of those days.

Natural for Trade

It was also a natural spot to catch the trade of any parties traveling east and west along the Clark Fork River.

Frank A. Woody, an employee of Worden while at Walla Walla, accompanied the party. Along with Worden and Higgins, he played an important part in the progress of Hell Gate and later Missoula.

With winter approaching the trio began to build a more permanent structure, using cut logs for a 16-by-18-foot cabin. They purchased the material from David Pattee who was living with Capt. Grant about two miles to the north. Pattee Canyon and Grant Creek were named after these two men.

The actual construction of the first wooden building at Hell Gate, the Worden & Co. store, was done by Narcisse Sanpar, a Frenchman of the area. He used poles covered with sod for the roof of the building. The next year the firm erected another store building at Hell Gate to better serve their growing trade.

It was in the fall, winter and spring of 1864-1865 that the firm erected a gristmill and sawmill four miles upstream or east on the Clark Fork River and that the store was moved to the same site to mark the beginning of what is today Missoula. It was called Missoula Mills at the start, but the Mills part of the name was dropped after a few years.

Bonner Starts Mercantile

Also in 1865 E. L. Bonner established a trading post at Bear Gulch and not long after a mercantile business in Missoula which eventually became the Missoula Mercantile Co.

Associated with Bonner in the Missoula enterprise were R. A. Eddy and Dan Welch, under the firm name of E. L. Bonner & Co., with a store 100 feet east of what is Hotel Florence. Bonner & Co. then merged with Hiram Robertson to open a store at Deer Lodge.

After a stay in California, Bonner returned to Montana to establish stores in Missoula and Frenchtown. His partners were A. B. Hammond, his former clerk and R. A. Eddy, his previous associate.