US 93, Mile Post 13, South of Sula

Alexander Ross, of the Hudson Bay Company, with 55 Indian and white trappers, 89 women and children and 392 horses, camped near here on March 12, 1824 en route from Spokane House to the Snake River country. Nearly a month was spent here in a desperate attempt to break through the deep snow across the pass to the Big Hole, and from their hardships and tribulations, Ross called this basin “The Valley of Troubles.”

Behind the Scenes – Installed in 1938 and replace with a routed marker in the early 1950’s (and now displayed at the Ravalli County Museum in Hamilton), this is the last of the original routed signs and among the shortest in text. Ross’ Hole is also where Lewis and Clark met the Salish Indians in 1805.

Buy the e-book of all Montana Historical Highway Markers: https://mhs.mt.gov/pubs/Publications/montanas-historical-highway-markers

Credits and Sources:

Sign text.

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