Historical Fort Missoula

Annual Events

Forestry Day

Forestry Day CompetitionForestry Day Competition

Sharpen up your axes and get ready to go! It’s time for annual Forestry Day at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Saturday, April 30, from 9:00 to 4:00.

Annual Forestry Day is produced by the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, The University of Montana Woodsman Team, and the Montana Society of American Foresters. Activities include collegiate and professional lumberjack competitions, including crosscut sawing, pole climbing, wood chopping, ax throwing, hot saws, and log rolling. There will also be an impressive array of historic forestry and logging equipment, operating steam-powered sawmill, restored fire lookout tower, hands-on opportunities for all, displays of crafts, and venders. Food and beverage will be available from Woodsman Team.

Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for senior citizens, and $1 for students; children under 6 and members of the Friends of the Historical Museum are admitted free. As part of Missoula’s Bike/Walk/Bus Week, admission is also free to all who bike, walk, or take the bus to the event.

While you're at the Museum, take the opportunity to see the new exhibit: When The Mountains Roared: The Fire Of 1910.

Missoula History Minutes

TEMP

11. Isaac Stevens

The Oregon Territory was divided in 1853 and western Montana became part of the newly-created Washington Territory with Isaac I. Stevens as governor. His duties included serving as Superintendent of Indian Affairs and exploring and mapping the territory for a transcontinental railroad.

Governor Stevens called a meeting with the chiefs of the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreille tribes in 1855. At Council Grove, a treaty was drawn up in which the tribes agreed to settle in either the Mission or Bitterroot Valleys after the areas were surveyed. Also, it was agreed the three tribes would become one nation, called the Flathead Nation, with Victor as head chief. In return, the tribes would transfer 25,000 acres of land to the United States government.

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