This statue of pioneer John Mullan was one of the original thirteen monuments erected in 1918, this one apparently originally a gift to the city of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Identical to all the originals, it stands fourteen feet tall and is set upon a marble base which rests on a three to four foot tall concrete base. On the front face of the marble base are inscribed the words:
CAPT. JOHN MULLAN TRAIL 1853 - 1855.
ERECTED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IDAHO
AND THE SOCIETY OF MONTANA PIONEERS
GIFT OF Wm. A. CLARK Jr. OF BUTTE MONT.
TO THE CITY OF
COEUR D'ALENE. 1918.
SURVEYOR AND CONSTRUCTOR
OF THE MILITARY ROAD
FROM FORT BENTON, MONT.
TO WALLA WALLA, WASH.,
COMPLETED 1862
The monument now stands at the
Mullan Road National Historic Site beside a historical marker and a large frame and sign made of heavy timbers. According to The Smithsonian, the monument was created in 1918 but not dedicated until September 11, 1921.
The thirteen Captain Mullan monuments were placed in towns and cities situated along the Mullan Road, which stretched 642 miles from Fort Benton, MT to Fort Walla Walla, WA. Mullan surveyed and built the road in the years 1853 to 1860. It was the first road to cross the Rocky Mountains into the Pacific Northwest.
Designed by Western frontier artist Edgar S. Paxton and fabricated by Western Montana M & G Company, the original statues of
Captain John Mullan were fourteen feet tall, cut from white Vermont marble and placed on concrete bases. They were initially placed at various points along
The Mullan Road. This monument was erected under the auspices of the Montana Society of Pioneers and was dedicated in 1918. The statue was a gift to the city of Coeur d'Alene by W.A. Clark Jr., the son of one of the four Butte Copper Kings, W.A. Clark Sr.
It is described by the Smithsonian thus:
Administered by United States Forest Service 1201 Ironwood Coeur d'Alene Idaho 83814
Located 4th of July Pass, off I-90 Kootenai Idaho
Installed 1918. Dedicated Sept. 11, 1921
A standing figure of John Mullan, with his proper right hand holding the top of a gun barrel. The butt of the gun rests on the outside of his proper right foot. His proper left arm is bent at the elbow and his proper left hand rests on his proper left hip. A pistol is tucked in his belt. He has a beard and is wearing a hat. The figure stands on a small base that protrudes from an obelisk-shaped block behind him.
After graduating from West Point, Capt. John Mullan joined Isaac I. Stevens to find routes for roads and railroads from the upper Mississippi to the Pacific Northwest. Several John Mullan statues mark the route of the Mullan Road through Idaho at Post Falls, Fourth of July Pass, Kellogg, Wallace, Mullan, and St. Maries. The sculptures were donated by William A. Clark, Jr., of Butte, Montana, and the forerunners of the Montana and Idaho historical societies. IAS files contain an undated brochure entitled Mullan Military Road.
From the Smithsonian![]()