US 93, Mile Post 67, Stevensville Junction at Cross of North Kootenai Creek

Between 1831 and 1840 the Flathead Indians sent our three delegations, with St. Louis as their objective, to petition that “Black Robes” be sent to teach them. As a result Father DeSmet, a Catholic missionary, established the original St. Mary’s Mission here in 1841. He and his assistants hewed logs and built a dwelling, carpenter and blacksmith shops, and a chapel. They drove in the first oxen with wagons, carts, and plows that year and in 1842 brought cows from Colville, Washington, and raised a crop of wheat and garden produce, probably the first in Montana.

In 1842, assisted by Father Ravalli, and others, he build the first grist mill. The stones were brought from Antwerp, Belgium, via the Columbia River.

The Mission was sold to Major John Owen in 1850. On its site he build a trading post and fort, the north wall of which stands. The Major was a genial and convivial host when travelers came that way, and for many years For Owen was an important trading center for whites as well as Indians.

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Credits and Sources:

Sign text.

Montana's Historical Highway Markers, Jon Axline, Montana Historical Society Press. 2008.

This sign is no longer in place.