John Mullan's celebrated road - a 625-mile link that connected the Missouri and Columbia Rivers - established the West Point graduate as an accomplished engineer. After completing the Northwest's first engineered highway at age thirty-two, he lived for nearly another half century, a period of dynamic change. When he died in 1909, automobiles were making their initial crossings along his route. The arterial eventually became a critical link in America's longest interstate freeway, I-90. Yet despite frequent mentions in books about the nineteenth century Northwest, the soldier/explorer has remained little more than a caricature: a dashing young Army officer who comes West, builds one of its most important thoroughfares, and then disappears from regional literature. Now, in lively prose, Idaho State Historian Keith Petersen takes a fresh look at Mullan, whose road significantly impacted the development of the Northwest. Mullan's story includes business partnerships and personal relationships with some of the West's most intriguing characters: Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet, General William T. Sherman, Chico founder John Bidwell, Idaho gold discoverer Elias Pierce, Yakama Indian chief Owhi, and others. The first comprehensive portrayal of John Mullan's life, this deeply researched biography probes the explorer's complex personality, his rise to fame, and his fall from grace.

Armed Forces Officers, Avocats États-Unis Biographies, Biographies, Explorers, Explorers West (U.S.) Biography, History, Ingénieurs militaires États-Unis Biographies, Lawyers, Lawyers United States Biography, Military engineers, Military engineers United States Biography, Mullan Road History, Mullan, John, 1830-1909, Northwest, Pacific Biography

Prologue: New York City, May 7, 1863 Prelude: Out west, 1841 Annapolis West Point Railroad survey Explorer Killing time Prelude: Latah Creek, Washington Territory, 1858 "Lieutenant Mullan's party has been saved from destruction" Wright's revenge Mullan's Road, 1859-1860 Mullan's Road, 1861-1862 "Capt. Mullan wishes to be made Governor of Idahoe" Prelude: Office of the Governor, Sacramento, January 18, 1889 Family feud The Chico to Boise line "The notorious Captain John Mullan" Rise and fall Dear Papa America's great National Highway Epilogue: Mullan, Idaho, January 1, 2001