James Madison Museum of Orange County Heritage

We pick up with Stevens and his teams on October 16, 1853 as they are traveling through the Cœur d’ Aéne prairie. In his narrative,...

General Report Plate # 35, Coeur d’Alene Mission St. Ignatius River by Stanley Del. Reading Isaac Stevens's reports are engaging because...

October 9-12, 1853. Before breaking camp near the Bitter Root river, Stevens found that one of his best riding horses had died during...

The earlier editions of this series can be read on our website: www.thejamesmadisonmuseum.net. In the prior segment, Stevens’s narrative...

October 6, 1853. “Lieutenant Donelson moved off this morning on to the route of the Jocko river and Clark’s Fork. Mr. Lander, who had...

I've been breaking up the series of the 1853 surveys and explorations to determine the most practicable route for the railway system,...

Before rejoining Isaac Stevens’s narrative of 1853, I want to share a little information. The surveying team was about reach the...

Fort Benton Toward the Bitteroot River On September 23, 1853 the surveying groups headed off in their separate directions. Lt. Saxton...

While a number of Native Americans had been skirmishing with Americans, “the Blackfeet, had been conducting an unofficial war on...

From the 7th through the 11th both Tinkham and Lt. Saxtons teams traversed, in different directions, over rather rough terrain with no...