Hell Gate
Near Missoula, Montana
Before Missoula existed, a small trading post called Hell Gate stood a few miles to the west, near the point where the Clark Fork River narrows between steep canyon walls. French Canadian fur traders gave the spot its name because the Blackfeet frequently raided parties of Salish and Pend d'Oreilles passing through the narrow gap, making it genuinely dangerous to enter. Christopher Higgins and Frank Worden established a trading post at Hell Gate in eighteen sixty, and it briefly served as the seat of Missoula County.
But when Missoula Mills was founded a few miles east in eighteen sixty-four, with a steadier water supply for its mills, Hell Gate began to fade, and the county seat moved there in eighteen sixty-six. The log buildings were dismantled and moved. Today only the name and a historical marker remain.
