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 24, 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

9. Frank Higgins

Son of Missoula founder C. P. Higgins, Frank Higgins was born on December 28, 1863 at Hell Gate. He earned a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1886 and was admitted to the bar of Montana. Recognized as the Democratic leader of western Montana, Higgins was elected to the first legislative assembly in 1889 and 1890, and was elected mayor of Missoula in 1890.

Higgins organized Troop F, Third U. S. Volunteer Cavalry at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. The troop spent the long, hot summer at Camp Thomas in Georgia, fell victim to the heat, disease and official neglect and never fought, returning to Missoula in September 1898. Higgins was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1900 and died in 1905 from malaria contracted in Georgia.

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