Remember When?

70 YEARS AGO • AUGUST 2, 1950

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF WESTERN SANDERS COUNTY

Early French-Canadian trappers were quick to notice the peculiar boxlike recesses in the gorge of the Clark Fork River near the present Montana-Idaho state line. To those unique formations they applied the French equivalent for cabinet, or room, and this spectacular rock-walled gash has been known ever since as Cabinet Gorge. From it the Cabinet Mountains and the Cabinet National Forest derived their names.

The name of David Thompson is indissolubly linked with this region. A fur trader and land geographer for the Northwest Fur Co., he entered the country by way of Lake Pend Oreille early in the last century. A few miles from the present town of Thompson Falls he built, in November 1809, a structure which is believed to have been the first house in Montana used as a dwelling by white man.

Known as Salish House, it was used as a trading post for several years by the Northwest Fur Co. The location was such that war parties crossing Bad Rock (referred to in early accounts Roche Mauvais, Mova Rohra or Es-em-mowela (Salish) on the old Kootenai Trail) could be readily seen, and thus the danger from hostile Indians was materially lessened.

Thompson was far better educated than the average trapper and trader of those days. He was an engineer and prepared maps of surprising accuracy, maps which tie in very closely with those made at a later time by surveyors with much better instruments.

To the Indians, Thompson’s knowledge appeared miraculous and they regarded him with superstitious awe. They believed his sextant enabled him to see all things and that an Indian woman could not even mend a pair of moccasins without his knowledge. “Koo.Koo.Sint,” Thompson’s Indian name, meaning “the man who looks at the stars,” is perpetuated in Koo-Koo-Sint Ridge, lying just north of the Clark Fork River and overlooking the site of old Salish House. A river, a mountain and falls on the Clark Fork also honor the name of the explorer.

Citizens of Thompson Falls have erected a monument to David Thompson. Its stones were taken from Thompson Prairie, on which Salish House is supposed to have stood.

The old Kootenai Trial, originally part of the transcontinental route between Montreal and the Pacific Coast, followed the north side of Clark Fork River from the mouth of the Flathead River to Idaho. It apparently crossed the “Horse Plains” or “Horse Prairies” near the present site of the town of Plains. Points mentioned in early writings connected with the trail include “Bad Rock,” about a mile and a half east of Thompson River and “Fallen Mountain,” about 3 miles east of Eddy. This trail was used at one time for pony express service between Missoula and Spokane, and the late Senator W.A. Clark is said to have once held a mail contract for this route.

It’s identity long since lost, most of the Kootenai Trail is now obliterated. But the fact remains that for years it was the main artery of travel through the lower Clark Fork Valley for Indian, trapper and trader.

About 40 miles down the Clark Fork from Salish House, Astor’s Pacific Fur Co. built a rival post. The exact site is believed to have been about where the Kootenai Trail crossed Bull River, a short distance north of the present highway.

One of the important steps in the early development of this region was the construction of the so-called Mullan Trail, a rough road which linked the head of navigation on the Missouri with Walla Walla, Washington. Completed in 1862 by Capt. John Mullan, who had been placed in charge of the work by Isaac I. Stevens, then Governor of Washington Territory, the story of this famous way is one of the fascinating chapters of Northwest history.

Its route followed the Clark Fork to a point near the present town of St. Regis. Thence it turned up the St. Regis River and across the mountain to the Coeur d’Alene country. Much of it utilized the old Indian trail by the Nez Perce and Coeur d’Alene tribes on their way to eastern buffalo grounds. With a total length of 624 miles, built at a cost of $230,000, it served its purpose well; for years it was the only road through the country.

During the winter of 1859-60 the Mullan party camped on the St. Regis River between the present towns of Henderson and Deborgia.

Their little settlement was called Cantonment Jordan, and it was while camped here that the heavy grades between St. Regis and Frenchtown were constructed.

In 1883 the Northern Pacific railway completed its main line and brought the rumble of transcontinental travel and with it accelerated settlement and development of to the mountain valleys.

In the same year occurred the famous Coeur d’Alene gold strike, Belknap was the nearest railroad point to the discovery and, at first men and supplies went in from there. For a short time it was a thriving little town with an organized government and a newspaper. Then an easier route up Prospect Creek was built and Thompson Falls became the supply point.

Transportation from Thompson Falls to the mines was by Concord Stages, Pony Express and freight wagon. But by 1889 the Coeur d’Alenes had been reached by a branch of the Northern Pacific and the Thompson Falls boom ceased.

Foregoing article is through the courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service.