Capt. Christopher Powers Higgins (March 16, 1830 – October 14, 1889) was an American Army captain and later businessman who with
Frank Worden founded the
Hellgate Trading Post and the nearby city of
Missoula, Montana
Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
. He erected one of the first lumber and flouring mills on the
Clark Fork River
The Clark Fork, or the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, is a river in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho, approximately long. The largest river by volume in Montana, it drains an extensive region of the Rocky Mountains in western Montana and ...
near present
Downtown Missoula
Downtown Missoula is the central business district in Missoula, Montana, and West-Central Montana. Downtown Missoula's rough boundaries are the Clark Fork River to its south, Madison St. to its east, the old U.S 93 highway/ North Orange St. to i ...
as well as many of Missoula's first buildings and establishments. He was one of the original county commissioners, member of first legislature of the
Montana Territory
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana.
Original boundaries
T ...
, and incorporator of
The Montana Historical Society
The Montana Historical Society (MHS) is a historical society located in the U.S. state of Montana that acts to preserve historical resources important to the understanding of Montana history. The society provides services through six operationa ...
. Higgins Avenue and bridge as well as the Higgins block in Downtown Missoula are named after him. He is buried in
Missoula Cemetery.
Early life
Christopher P. Higgins was born in Ireland March 16, 1830. He immigrated to the United States in 1848, immediately moved to the western frontier and joined the army. In 1853 in joined newly designated
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
Governor
Isaac Stevens
Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represen ...
and
Lieut. John Mullan as wagon master for the Stevens survey of the Bitterroot and Missoula Valleys, done for the planned construction of a railroad through to region to connect the Mississippi River with the Pacific Ocean. Governor Stevens, also acting as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, signed the
Hellgate treaty
The Treaty of Hellgate was a treaty agreement between the United States and the Bitterroot Salish, Upper Pend d'Oreille, and Lower Kutenai tribes. The treaty was signed at Hellgate on 16 July 1855. Signatories included Isaac Stevens, superintend ...
to which Higgins was a witness with the
Bitterroot Salish
The Bitterroot Salish (or Flathead, Salish, Selish) are a Salish-speaking group of Native Americans, and one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. The Flathead Reservation is home to th ...
,
Pend d'Oreille
The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range a ...
, and the
Kootenai
The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...
tribes that guaranteed passage.
Founding of Missoula
![Higgins Block - Missoula](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Higgins_Block_-_Missoula.jpg)
In 1860 Higgins partnered with
Frank Worden, a general merchandise store owner in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
to set up the Hellgate Trading Post in the Missoula Valley along the
Mullan Road
Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by U.S. Army troops under the command of Lt. John Mullan, between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860. It led from Fort Benton, ...
, which had only just reached the area that summer. On March 30, 1863, Higgins married Juliet P Grant, the daughter of another Missoula pioneer Richard Grant (for whom Grant Creek is named). Hellgate would never grow very large because the water supply was unsuitable to power the lumber and flour mills Higgins and Worden wanted to construct. The settlement was moved four miles east to the location of today's
Downtown Missoula
Downtown Missoula is the central business district in Missoula, Montana, and West-Central Montana. Downtown Missoula's rough boundaries are the Clark Fork River to its south, Madison St. to its east, the old U.S 93 highway/ North Orange St. to i ...
in 1865 and renamed Missoula Mills. In 1873, Higgins organized the Missoula National Bank as one of the first banks in Montana Territory and located it next to his and Worden's store built two years earlier and now called the Worden & Company Store. The store itself had, in fact, been built on the location of Higgins' former log home before he constructed a larger home several blocks east. In 1888, Higgins began construction of the Higgins Block but died before its opening in 1889. The building is now on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
[Montana Mainstreets: A guide to historic Missoula
Allan JamesMathews - Montana Historical Society Press - 2002]
Rivalry with A. B. Hammond
Andrew B. Hammond arrived in Missoula in 1872 and within four years he was an owner and managing partner of the Eddy, Hammond and Company (reorganized as the Missoula Mercantile in 1885), which soon replaced Worden and Company as the leading mercantile in western Montana. As the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad approached Missoula, both Higgins and Hammond wanted to ensure the railroad would stop there. Higgins and Worden offered prime real estate to the rail line with the hope of ensuring not only a stop, but the lumber contract for the ties, bridges, and buildings that would need to be constructed. The city secured the railroad, but Eddy, Hammond and Company received the lumber contract.
In 1881, Hammond began buying stock in Higgins' Missoula National Bank and by 1888 Higgins was forced out and the bank's name changed to First National Bank of Missoula.
Higgins rivalry with Hammond would last until his death in 1889, and would continue with his family. C. P.'s son
Frank G. Higgins would become
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of Missoula in 1892 despite opposition from Hammond, and two years later when the Higgins Avenue Bridge was to be replaced there was debate as to whether the bridge should go straight across north-and-south or diagonal toward the Bitterroot with the Higgins preferring the latter. When it was put to a vote, Higgins prevailed.
Legacy
Higgins' name is given to both Higgins Avenue and the Higgins Avenue Bridge where the
numeric center of Missoula is. On land donated to the city for the construction of the University of Montana in 1893, the streets are named after Higgins' seven children:
Francis
Francis may refer to:
People
*Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome
*Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Francis (surname)
Places
* Rural M ...
, Maurice, Arthur, Helen, Hilda,
Ronald, and Gerald. The name ''Gerald Avenue'', in fact, replaced what was once named ''Hammond Avenue'' after Andrew Hammond.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Christopher P.
History of Missoula, Montana
American city founders
Members of the Montana Territorial Legislature
County commissioners in Montana
People from Missoula, Montana
1830 births
1889 deaths
Irish emigrants to the United States
Montana pioneers
19th-century American legislators