Montana State University - Sentinel Yearbook (Missoula, MT)

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BOOK OF ADMINISTRATION 1»

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CAMPUS LORE Montana ' campus is rich in the traditions of an early day. The site of the thriving: University, its buildings grouped artistically at the foot of old Mount Sentinel, has a history romantic and unique among the annals of American colleges. Its situation on the eastern rim of the basin which the first white settlers knew as Hell Cale Ronde the ancestral domain of Chief Victor and his Selish tribes, makes it one of the important spots in the building up of the state. At the southern post of Hell Gate Canyon lies the University campus. The name of the famous pass, so incongruous with its natural beauty, is traceable to the experience of the early Selish (misnamed Flathead) occupants of the valley. The canyon, as well as affording an eastern gateway into Missoula valley, was the one available route to the exten- sive plains of the Black foot country where larj-rc herd of buffalo ran in the summer and autumn months. Both Blockfeet anil Flatheads looked upon the skins and meat of these animals as the natural gifts of the Great Spirit to them alone. Each tribe was stubborn in the belief that the privilege to hunt U| oii these plains was, theirs by ancestral right. Although the Flatheads were justified in their belief by early prece- dent, the Blackfeet had managed to obtain from the Astor trading posts firearms to which Chief Victor ' s warriors could oppose only their bows and arrows and their unflinching outrage. The Blackfeet, ever cowardly and treacherous, and having the natural advantage of greater tmifiU ' rs. were wont to ambush on the eastern slopes of Jumbo when they knew their enemies to be starting on a hunt. Cruel conflicts which ensued caused Indians lo name the country round about — it was near the conflu- ence of the Rattlesnake and the Missoula rivers— Mn-i-sul-ctiku, which means at the stream of ambush. This minn 1 the- Hudson Bay men aj - plied to the Canyon in the picluivsrpie and more vigorous French phrase Porte lie 1 ' Knfer U lull ' s Gate). Thf English significance has flung to the pass and was, for many years, the name of the first actual white .settle- ment of Missoula Valley. The river, flowing through the canyon and the city, ill its mouth retain the name Missoula. which leather Pulladid has traced to it-s Indian source — Mn-i-subetiku. Before the days of transcontinental and electric railroads, Htdl Gate Canyon was singularly beautiful. An early description calls it The Canyon of Wild Roses ' for it was arched in places with sprays of the wild brier. The trail, itself, easily traversed save for a narrow passage or two, led through a splendid forest unbroken for miles.