Description
Montana’s Benton Road
by Leland J. Hanchett, Jr.
Travel back in time along Montana’s historic Benton Road in Leland J. Hanchett, Jr.’s Montana’s Benton Road. First constructed by Captain John Mullan in 1862 as part of the Mullan Military Road from Walla Walla, Washington to Fort Benton, Montana, the Benton Road became the major transportation route between Fort Benton and Helena, Montana.
Montana’s Benton Road contains the personal and historic accounts of those who knew the road best—the men, soldiers, and coach drivers who built, traveled, and maintained the dangerous road. Travel the stage lines with Charles and Silas Huntely, deliver the mail with the Wells Fargo coach drivers, stay a night at John Brown’s Eagle Rock Stage Station. But watch out for outlaws!
Among the dangers along the Benton Road were raids by Indians and highway men. More dangerous however were the natural disasters which plagued the travelers along the road. The severe winters, sudden rain storms resulting in devastating floods, and wear and tear on the road itself as the result of heavy traffic, took a higher toll in lives and property than could possibly have been inflicted by humans.
Illustrated with historic black and white and color photographs, Montana’s Benton Road offers a complete history of the Benton Road—from its construction to its inevitable usurpation by the Montana Central railroad.
Paperback: 224 pages, 8 1/2” x 11”, 74 b/w photos, 32 color photos, appendix, 32 softcovers per case
