Descendant recounts Missoula founder Frances L. Wharton’s role in early trading post, mill and water system

Hannah Wharton, a descendant of Frances Lyman Wharton, told meeting attendees that her ancestor and C.P. Higgins founded Missoula’s first trading post, later moved the settlement to the Clark Fork River and established a mill, post office and an early municipal water system.

Wharton spoke during the meeting’s public-comment period, saying, "He was born in Vermont in 1830," and recounting that Wharton worked in New York, went west during the gold rush, and later opened a trading post in Oregon before partnering with Christopher Higgins to explore the area that became Missoula.

Wharton said the first Hellgate trading post was built around 1860 on Mullen Road and that the family later moved a few miles east to be nearer the river, where they built a mill and started the first post office in Missoula. "They built that mill for the longest time and then the railroad started to come in," she said, adding that the town grew as the railroad arrived.

She told the meeting that the original trading-post building on Mullen Road was torn down "about 10, 15 years ago" to make way for storage units despite family objections, and that family-held boards and nails from the original structure were donated "to the fort." She said family members had tried for years to have the site cleaned and preserved.

Wharton also recounted personal and genealogical details: she said Wharton married Lucretia after they returned to Missoula; that Wharton was about 35 and Lucretia about 14 at the time of marriage; that the couple had seven children with four surviving to adulthood; and that Frances L. Wharton died of pneumonia in 1887 at about age 56.

She closed by noting several generations of her family attend local events, and by showing historical photographs and a small replica of the trading post during her remarks. The presentation included no formal motions or actions by the meeting body.