Mullan Road history presentation Tuesday

POST FALLS - Keith Petersen, who is an author as well as an associate director and state historian with the Idaho State Historical Society, will present the history of John Mullan and the Mullan Military Road at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Post Falls Library, 821 N. Spokane St.

The event is free and open to the public.

The trail started in 1859 and was named for the Army engineer Captain John Mullan who was in charge of its construction, completing the road in 1862 at the age of 32. The road was 624 miles long and cost $230,000. It connected Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia River in Washington to Fort Benton on the Missouri River in Montana.

Portions of the old Mullan Military Road, which ran through North Idaho, are still recognizable today. Parts of the road are now on the National Register of Historic Places in three states and the road was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in the 1970s.

Petersen, who is currently working on a biography of John Mullan, is the author of several books about Idaho and the Northwest and is the only author to have won the Outstanding Book on Idaho Award twice.

The presentation is part of the "Your Place in History" local history program series sponsored by North Idaho College's Molstead Library, the Museum of North Idaho and the Kootenai County Public Libraries and supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council.

Information: 769-3355