The Mullan Road is carved into the face of the mountains high above the Clark Fork River west of here. Lieutenant John Mullan tried to keep his wagon road as close to the river as possible. But when his work crews ran up against a mountain spur that reached all the way to the edge of the river, he was forced to seek an alternate route. Mullan later wrote that "to make this six-mile cut through rocky spurs was an undertaking that I almost feared to attempt." On May 10, 1860, he assembled his entire work force of 150 citizens and soldiers at the west side of the spur. For the next six weeks, his men dug, whittled, and blasted their way up the mountain side to an altitude of a thousand feet above the river. A premature explosion while clearing a path through the rocks wounded one man and severely stunned another. When completed in June, 1860, the Big Side Cut segment was the most awe-inspiring of the entire 624-mile Mullan Road. A traveler wrote of the Big Side Cut in 1862 that it was "a narrow wagon track which left no room for careless or uncertain driving."

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

"Great Spirit: teach us to walk soft upon the mother earth with all the creatures we live with ... Mitakuye oyasin! We are all related!" "Eagle Man" Ed McGaa, Oglala Lakota Sioux

The Bald Eagle is the magnificent emblem of the United States of America. However, since the founding of our country, habitat reductions and human interaction have caused this beautiful high-flying raptor's population to decline drastically. Listed in Montana as a endangered species in 1978, the Bald Eagle is protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Its recovery is a great national success story.

But it is also a great Montana success story. By 1980, Montana populations had dropped to 17 known nesting sites. In just 25 years, management of habitats turned the plummeting trend around. As a result, these raptors began to thrive, with nesting sites numbering approximately 300 in 2005.

Across the river, in the tallest tree a couple of hundred yards downstream from here, is a nesting site that has been in use for many years and has successfully produced many offspring. (Use the peephole in the post to the right of this exhibit for a better look.) (missing).

If delisted from the Endangered Species Act, Bald Eagles will continue to be protected by the Bald Eagle Protection Act which prohibits killing, selling, or otherwise harming eagles, their nests or eggs. Please remember that this great bird is still protected as a symbol of our nation's freedom and should not be harassed in any way.

Bald Eagles are primarily fish eaters, often stealing from the abundant osprey near the river. However they also eat duck, young geese and small mammals. In winter, they will eat carrion (recently killed animals). The Bald Eagle's lifespan in the wild is approximately 20 years.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

During the last ice age about 15,000 years ago, an enormous glacier pushed down from British Columbia and blocked the Clark Fork River in northern Idaho. The glacier functioned as an ice dam creating the largest glacial lake known to have existed, Glacial Lake Missoula. The lake's waters backed up into the river's drainage in western Montana, creating a body of water comparable to today's Lake Ontario. As the lake filled and water at the ice dam deepened, it caused the lighter glacial ice to float and eventually break up, triggering floods of epic proportions. The water flushed through the Clark Fork drainage west of here enroute to the Pacific Ocean. The torrent scarred the landscape of eastern Washington, creating scablands that still define the landscape. The geologic record indicates that Glacial Lake Missoula filled and emptied on a cyclical basis over a period of about two thousand years. Indeed, the large road cut where the Interstate 90 bridge crosses the Clark Fork River at Nine Mile, ten miles east of here, preserves the record of at least 36 separate fillings of the lake. Other evidence of the glacial floods include ancient ice age shorelines on the mountains around Missoula.

Geo-facts:

• Glacial Lake Missoula was first created about 15,000 years ago when an enormous glacier created an ice dam across the Clark Fork River near present day Sandpoint, Idaho.

• The lake was comparable to the size of Lake Erie or Lake Ontario and covered much of western Montana.

• Glacial Lake Missoula filled and emptied on a regular basis over a period of 2,000 years. Catastrophic floods occurred when the ice dam broke, leaving scars on the landscape in eastern Washington.

• John Mullan built the first engineered road in Montana between 1859 and 1862.

Geo-Activity:

• Count how many times you can see old shoreline on the mountainsides along Interstate 90.

In 1860, 150 men under the command of Lieutenant John Mullan carved a wagon road through the colorful Precambrian mudstones on the mountainside north of here. The road took six weeks to construct and required the use of explosives to blast a route through the rocks. Called the Point of Rocks Segment of the Mullan Road, the road still traces its way across the mountainside above here. In 1908, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (Milwaukee Road) Railroad constructed its transcontinental line through the Clark Fork canyon enroute to Seattle. The railroad also excavated tons of rock to cut its way through these mountains to St. Paul Pass. The old railroad grade, later known as the Route of the Hiawatha for the celebrated passenger train that once used the line, is still evident along the north side of Interstate 90. In 1914, the Yellowstone Trail, blazed by distinctive chrome yellow signs with black arrows, passed through this canyon. The trail became U.S. Highway 10 in 1926. Interstate 90 bypassed it here in 1963.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

This structure is an example of how engineers incorporated a natural feature into the design of a bridge. Designed by Montana Highway Department bridge engineers, the bridge is a standard riveted Warren through truss. The bridge is unusual in that one of the piers is anchored to an rocks outcrop in the Clark Fork River. The bridge was once part of the Yellowstone Trail - which traversed Montana from Lookout Pass to the South Dakota boarder in southeastern Montana.

Responding to pressure from the lumber companies and the Yellowstone Trail Association, Mineral County embarked on an ambitious bridge-building program in 1916. Although the county was responsible for the construction, fiscal limitations and its location near the Lolo National Forest forced the county commissioners to seek financial aid from the federal government. In early 1917, the county contracted with the Missoula-based Lord Construction Company to build the bridge. Work progressed steadily on it for several months when the county ran out of money for its construction. After securing additional federal funds, the county commissioners called a referendum to raise money to complete construction of the bridge. Because of the law, however, the vote could not be held for several months. With the money eventually acquired, the bridge was completed in 1918 at a cost of $100,000.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.