About Missoula
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A River Runs Through It
Sale Price: $8.74*
Retail: $24.95 (65% off!)
(Audible.com)
Life for the MacLean family in Missoula, Montana, in 1937 centers around family, fly fishing and the Big Blackfoot River. Fly fishing is the one activity where the family can bridge troubled relationships, ...
Merchant: Audible.com
Missoula is a city in western Montana, United States, and it is the county seat of Missoula County. As of the United States 2000 Census, it had a total population of 57,053, making it the second-largest city in Montana, behind Billings. Missoula is the home of the University of Montana. It is the birthplace of Jeannette Rankin (1880 - 1973). Missoula is nicknamed the Garden City. The state flower of Montana, the bitterroot, grows near Missoula. Local newspapers include the Missoulian and the Missoula Independent (external).
History
The first inhabitants of the Missoula area were American Indians from the Salish tribe. They called the area "Nemissoolatakoo," from which "Missoula" is derived. The word translates as "river of ambush/surprise", a reflection of the inter-tribal fighting that commonly took place in the area. Their first encounter with whites came in 1805 when the Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the Missoula Valley. There were no white settlements in the Missoula Valley, however, until 1860 when C. P. Higgins and Francis Worden opened a trading post on the Blackfoot River near Hellgate Canyon, on the eastern edge of the valley. They named the trading post "Hellgate Village". It was followed by a sawmill and a flour mill, which the settlers called "Missoula Mills". The "mills" was eventually dropped from the name. The completion of the Mullan Road, connecting Fort Benton, Montana, with Walla Walla, Washington, and passing through the Missoula Valley meant fast growth for the burgeoning city. Further accelerating the growth of the new town were the establishment by the U.S. Army of Fort Missoula in 1877, and the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883.
Up to the mid 1970's logging was a mainstay industry of the town with numerous logyards throught the city, many of which ran "teepee burners" to dispose of waste material, which contributed to the general smokey haze that sometimes covered the town. Over a period of several years all the mills shut down, resulting in a localized economic recession. The current site of Southgate Mall was once the location of the largest log processing yard within several hundred miles which ran 24 hours a day. The saws could be heard over two miles away on a clear summer night.
Missoula is located within the flyfishing "golden triangle" (external) and also provides ample opportunity to hunt mule deer, elk, bear, moose and a variety of other game animals. This provides Missoula with an ample tourism industry based on hunting and fishing that dates back to at least the 1950's.
Other major draws to the area include the University of Montana - Missoula, which opened its doors in 1895, and the regional headquarters for the United States Forest Service, which opened in 1908.