The Macdonald Pass tollhouse still exists, as part of a private home. The man for whom the pass is named, Ontario native Alexander MacDonald, was an employee of E. M. Dunphy, the man who built the road in 1870. MacDonald operated the tollhouse for Dunphy, and bought him out in 1876.

The first road was comprised simply of logs laid across a roadbed. Several men were employed full-time to cut logs and repair the road. MacDonald sold the road to David H. Gilmore in 1883.

For a detailed history of the romantic old routes of MacDonald, Priest and Mullan passes, click on the image below to download a pdf file of Jon Axline's "The Frenchwoman and MacDonald Pass", in the June 2005 Newsline - the Newsletter of the Montana Department of Transportation. Mr. Axline's history begins on page six...

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD PDF FILE

In 1920, the Montana State Highway Commission began the work of locating a new road over the Rockies. They looked at three routes: MacDonald Pass, Priest Pass and Mullan Pass.

A public controversy arose in 1925, when Lewis and Clark County commissioners proposed simply upgrading the Priest Pass road. It was pointed out by concerned citizens that not only was the east slope road on Priest Pass winding and dangerous, but the road on the west slope, in Powell County, was not maintained; much of it lying in low, wet ground. It was also noted that MacDonald Pass offered better scenic views, and that the area's decomposed granite would provide a superior roadbed. The cost of building a highway over MacDonald Pass, however, would be higher as there was no existing maintained roadbed over the grade.

By 1926, Lewis & Clark County Commissioners had turned their attention to upgrading Mullan Pass, an old road some seven miles north of MacDonald Pass. This proposal was likewise met with objections, the main one being that it would effectively reroute a great deal of traffic past Helena. As late as 1928, an Independent Record editorial objected to money being spent on the MacDonald Pass route, saying that improving other area roads was more important than building "...another pass over the mountains to the west."

In 1929, a federal Bureau of Public Roads survey was made of the MacDonald Pass route. On May 15 1930, it was announced in Helena by State Highway Commission and federal roads officials that 14 miles of highway would be constructed over MacDonald Pass. Most of the money would come from Forest Service funds. Contracts were let, and construction began in 1931...

The following is excerpted from a comprehensive report written by Jon Axline for the Williams Street Bridge nomination to the National Register of Historic Places:

"The Williams Street Bridge is an excellent example of a single-span pin-connected Pratt pony truss bridge. The bridge was built in 1894-1895 shortly after the opening of the nearby Broadwater Hotel and Natatorium resort and about the time the U.S. Army began construction of Fort Harrison about one mile north of the bridge. The bridge is located within a residential subdivision that was established in 1889 in conjunction with the resort.

"The Williams Street Bridge provided access to a portion of the Broadwater property, the residential subdivision, and the fort. It also facilitated access from the Helena Street Railway trolley to the Kessler Brewery and the Central Park. It was also constructed when Lewis and Clark County was improving its infrastructure system during the depths of the Panic of 1893.

"The bridge is also significant as the oldest pin-connected Pratt pony truss bridge remaining in Montana."

After it is dismantled in the summer of 2009, the bridge will be stored on Lewis & Clark County property in the Helena Valley.

Founded in 1868 by Luxembourg-born Nickolas Kessler, the Kessler Brewing Company was located just west of todays' Spring Meadow Lake.

Kessler also operated a brickyard near the brewery, and in this way helped to build the city of Helena. By all accounts, Kessler was an exceptionally friendly and honest man, and his death was widely mourned. Kessler School, one-third mile SE of the old brewery, is named for him.

Helena's world-reknowned Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts had its beginning in Kessler's brickyard. Click here for the story, courtesy of the State of Montana's visitmt.com website.

Repairs underway at the Kessler Brewery following the 1935 earthquakes. Vincent Kennedy and Ed O'Brien were killed by an earthquake on October 31, 1935 as they worked to repair the damaged brick stack seen here (this photo taken after the accident). Kennedy and O'Brien had come to Helena with a crew of brick masons from Salt Lake City, and were rooming at 118 North Warren.

The chimney had been badly cracked by a previous quake, and the two men were removing all the bricks from the top down to the start of the crack. They had just reached the place where the crack began when another severe earthquake occured. Much of the remaining stack collapsed, and the two men hit the ground in a cascade of falling brick. O'Brien died at the scene, Kennedy died a short time later at St. Peter's Hospital.

Built by brothers Joseph and Frank Mares between 1892-95, Central Park on Ten Mile Creek was for decades a popular leisure destination. Since 1946, the site has been home to the Green Meadow Country Club.

The immigrant Mares brothers made their fortune first through mining investments, then in the meat trade. They purchased the acreage along Ten Mile Creek in 1892, for use as a combination feed lot, pasture, and processing facility. The lake was to be their source of ice for refrigeration. The Northern Pacific tracks bisected the plot, providing handy access to shipping.

The brothers saw the opportunity to use the land south of the tracks for an amusement park, and constucted a wonderful complex that was a popular leisure destination for a quarter-century.

Central Park boasted a zoo, a saloon, the grand pavillion, boating on the lake, a bowling alley, stables, an aviary, a baseball diamond and more -- all set on beautifully landscaped grounds with broad walks. An electric streetcar line ran from Helena to the park, making for an easy excursion.

The Mares brothers entered into a promotional agreement with the Northern Pacific Railroad to display beside the tracks a kind of living tableau of the west, featuring elk, bison, deer and even some Native Americans, who lived in tipis just east of the park. The trains would slow down while passing through the area, giving passengers an opportunity to see these novelties up-close.

The carousel at Central Park. Your editor saw one of these horses when I was a youngster, probably about 1955. It was stored in a barn in the Seymer Park addition, west of the Central Park site. The barn was near the home of Eliza Whyte, on what is now Terrace Ave. Eliza's son, Everett Whyte, was a groundskeeper at the Green Meadow Country Club, and may have aquired the horse there.

Prohibition in 1920 and the elimination of Helena streetcar service in 1928 put a damper on business at Central Park. The saloon was opened as a restaurant, but it soon changed hands...

The woman is Hazel Kilmer, who in a few months would join the Women's Army Corps, serving as a parachute rigger in England.

The Fort was built from 1894 to 1896. In 1895, a detachment of the Hospital Corps from Fort Assinboine south of Havre and several small military posts, which were scheduled to close in the Dakotas, began training at the post. The Montana National Guard began utilizing Fort Harrison for training in 1911, after abandoning Fort Ellis near Bozeman.

Fort Harrison was abandoned and left in the charge of a caretaker by the U.S. Army in 1913. The Montana National Guard occupied the Fort in September 1915, beginning the development of the military post we see today. In June 1916, the Montana National Guard was notified by the War Department to mobilize to guard the U.S./Mexican border. With the start of World War I, the Guard was again trained and mobilized in 1917 to protect major railroad and industrial facilities, until they could be dispatched to eastern camps and eventually overseas. After World War I, the Fort became a Public Health Service hospital and eventually a Veterans Administration medical facility (No. 72). During the first years, it was designated as a tuberculosis hospital and expanded to 300 beds. In 1925, the designation was changed to a general medical and surgical hospital.

After the October 1935 earthquakes that rocked the Helena area, the hospital facility was closed and the patients transferred to facilities in Washington and Oregon. The Hospital facility was reopened in 1937. The Guard continued to use the reservation for training after the earthquake.

During the Second World War, the U.S. Army assumed control of the facility and used it for very new and distinctive military units. These units included the First Special Service Force, the 474th Quartermaster Truck Regiment and the War Dog Training Center (Camp Rimini).

Fist Special Service Force Patch

This was on the south side of the circular drive which runs through the campus. Your editor remembers this gun from the mid-1950s.

Since 1947, the Fort has been used for training by numerous active and inactive combats, support and combat service support units. Numerous major improvements and increased training facilities were completed at Fort Harrison in 2001.

Fort Harrison is the site of the Montana State Veterans Cemetery, and the home of the Montana Military Museum.

Helena Sand and Gravel had its beginnings in 1929, partially a result of the catastrophic 1928 downtown Helena fire. George Jacoby, son of Charles Jacoby (a 2nd generation contractor, Frank Jacoby and Son) saw the need for clean aggregates for construction and railroad ballast in Montana. He bought 36 acres of tax title gravel land two miles west of Helena, which included the old stone John Stedman Foundry and Machine Company buildings, and utilized the Jacoby Speeder shovel (used in the reconstruction of downtown) to dig for gravel. The resulting pit opened up underground springs, and it soon became an expanding lake.

Helena Sand and Gravel also delivered ready-mixed concrete, and were involved in large building projects in the Helena area. In 1951 Jacoby got into the street paving business with the addition of an Amalga-Pave cold mix asphalt facility.

Jacoby retired in 1955, selling the business to W.A. "Bill" Carson who further carved out the channels and islands of the lake. Carson died in 1964, by which time the gravel had run out. A real estate developer planned to build condos on the site, and called it “Spring Meadow”, but the project was never carried out.

In the early 1980s the State of Montana purchased the property for a State Park. Remnants of the old Helena Sand and Gravel plant, and the earlier Stedman Foundry - the future home of the Montana Wildlife Center - can still be seen.

These beautiful photographs are from the collection of artist and graphic designer Kathryn Fehlig, granddaughter of George Jacoby. Many thanks to Kathy for sharing these wonderful images!

A Jacoby family portrait from about 1922, taken near Lincoln, Montana. Left to right: Charles Jacoby, Frank Jacoby, Dorothy Ann Jacoby, and George Jacoby.

Frank Jacoby was the pioneer, arriving in Helena before 1878. He was a carpenter and formed a company with his son, Charles, called "Frank Jacoby and Son." In 1915 Charles formed a partnership with his brother Frank under the same name. George Jacoby worked for the firm until forming his own business in 1929 (Helena Sand and Gravel).

Frank Jacoby and Son built many buildings in Helena during the first half of the 20th century,
including St. Johns Hospital, the YWCA, the old Western Life building, Shodair Hospital, Colorado Building, LaLonde Block, Granite Block, 7th Avenue Gym, and Carroll College.

View from the hoist, showing material traveling up the 20-inch conveyor belt to the washer. At the right is the six-inch water pipe running from the pump house to the washer. In the background on the right can be seen the old Kessler School, which was damaged in the 1935 earthquakes and subsequently demolished.