Was it was because it was the hub of western montana. To the north, you have the Saint Ignatius mission. To the south, you have increasing settlers in the bitter root rally. In 1860, you have lieutenant benton inn at fort the east to walltowall in the west. Everybody going from one direction to the other is coming through here. Before White Settlement was here, this was the native american land. Tribes now known under the name of the flathead indians. This was their homeland. As far as we know, there was never any type of permanent settlement here in missoula. They settled everywhere. But in here they did a lot of , hunting. There was a great deal of hunting and gathering. The fruits of the bitter roots were cherished and a whole field of them existed pretty much where we are now. Establishedlage was in 1860. What happened was captain christopher p. Higgins had been the wagon master on governor stevensons expedition. Stevens was taking off as the first territorial governor, which at that time included montana. He first saw this area coming through here in 1853 when stevens was negotiating with the indians. Eventually he moved out to walla walla and olympia with the governor, stayed for number of years, but realized his future was not in the military, and he remembered this valley. So, he bought out the old isaac concern of the store in walla walla and convinced his clerk and his new partner that they needed to relocate from walla walla to western montana. And they set up shop about four miles from the current downtown. Hellgate,lage named ,amed after the gates of hell after the prominent geographical feature here. They established their little village. There were never more than 14 permanent inhabitants. Nine violent deaths, by the way. Not good odds. But they were immediately successful because they fit a need. They fit the need to supply the , and,rs, indians increasingly, the miners. We have no mineable things here, but we knew how to supply others. After four or five years, higgins and his partners decided to move their operations four miles up what was then called the missoula river. They relocated their store. They first built a sawmill, a gristmill. They relocated their store. They started building their homes there. Within three years, hellgate village ceased to exist. There is nothing there. There were some efforts to save the one remaining structure which was Saint Michaels church which has a great deal of historical significance. Plus, being one of the first structures built by white people out here. That has a storied history, it thenaved there, restored, moved downtown and served as a boys boarding school, a girls school, a commissary, a storehouse for st. Patricks church. Then it was moved back to hellgate village. The development took over it. The friends of missoula worked hard to obtain it and bring it to Museum Grounds where we can preserve it and tell those andies about early hellgate make history come alive. Fort missoula was established in 1877. For many years, the leading citizens of missoula lobbied the territorial government, state government, and the federal government for a fort. During this time, this is the worst of the indian wars. You are pretty much in the midst of the sioux wars, which were devastating. In 1876, you have custers defeat at the little bighorn. There are lots of fears about the indian menace. The flathead indians, very peaceful. The nez perce, very peaceful. But theres the threat of the sioux indians, the cheyenne, the blackfoot from up north, so there was a fear for that. Plus, in my opinion, the missoulaleaders of understood that once you get the government in, you cant get them out. And they pay an ungodly amount of money to the community. I think it was a shrewd decision by the city founders to pursue having a fort. Theres the noncommissioned officer quarters. Theres the root cellar. And the carriage house. Those are the only three structures that still remain. In the early 1900s, it is called the milliondollar fort. Rather than close it, the senator scott 1 million to invest more in it. So, we got a lot, a lot of those structures left on the historical Museum Grounds. Is not rest of it which part of the museum, but still there, still active, not militarily, contains the old row, the old barracks building, supply houses, cook houses. Those were the parts that were theemely valuable during and alsod of the fort the internment camp. Its important to understand the origins of the community in order to understand where it is today. I think its particularly increasingly important as more and more people from outside come in. They need to be immersed in local history to understand what we are. In order to understand exactly what we are as a community. They see as. Lets move there. Why . Its wonderful. It is wonderful because of men like higgins, hammond. All of these men have an important aspect in developing the fundamental aspect of what makes missoula missoula. Our cities tour staff recently traveled to missoula, montana, to learn more about its rich history. To watch more video from missoula and other stops, visit cspan. Org citiestour. Youre watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan 3. See what is new for American History tv and check out all of the cspan products. Each year, the u. S. Capitol Historical Society honors the history and accomplishments of the congressional committee. Next, a tribute to the Senate Finance committee. Present and past members discuss the committees work since it was formally created in 1816. My name is jane campbell. I am the president of the Historical Society. I just took the job in february. This is my new adventure. But this organization has been around for more than 50 years. We are delighted to have you all join us for a