top of page
Mullan-Road-Conference-logo

2026 Conference Speakers

(Presenters confirmed to date.  Check back for updates!)

  • Dr. J. William T. Youngs — The Mullan Road: an Introduction
    Professor of History, Eastern Washington University—Cheney, WA
  • This talk will provide a brief overview of “everything Mullan” — the history of the building and use of the road, sketches of the folks who worked on the road, the story of John Mullan himself, and information on how to learn more about the road.
  • Bill Youngs learned the historian’s craft at Harvard (BA 1963) and Berkeley (Ph.D. 1970). He is the dean of the faculty by longevity at Eastern Washington University, having taught in Cheney since 1972. He has published five books, including the history of Spokane’s Expo ’74. His courses include one on the American Revolution and one on the History of National Parks. He has attended and organized Mullan Road conferences for some 15 years, as well as developing internet materials about the road.
  • Holly Claypool — Creating an On-Line Interactive Map of the Mullan Road
    Research assistant and GIS Technician, Eastern Washington University—Cheney, WA
  • The Mullan Road is not just a line on a map, but a collection of experiences. By bringing all types of material together on one website, Holly hopes to create an interactive map of the Mullan Road that is not only accurate but also shows the whole story (at least as much of it as possible!). This presentation will describe the progress in building this map. GLO maps, aerial imagery, LiDAR, and township surveys are used in creating the map itself and in determining where other landmarks, such as encampments, were located, and the places where Gustav Sohon’s prints were created. 
  • After trying her hand at banking, Holly Claypool returned to college and graduated from Eastern Washington University in 2026 with a BA in History and a Certificate in GIS. She is now a research assistant for Professor Bill Youngs.
  • Kenneth Robison — Crossing the Rockies in ‘61 on the Mullan Road
    Historian, Author, Montana Heritage Keeper—Great Falls and Fort Benton, MT
  • One of the great artists of the West, William de la Montagne Cary, at age 20 with two companions, boarded the steamboat Spread Eagle in St. Louis in the Spring of 1861 for an adventure that would shape his future. At Fort Union, the passengers all crowded aboard the smaller steamboat Chippewa, bound for Fort Benton. After a wild adventure, they reached Fort Benton and began the arduous journey over the almost completed Mullan Road, joining Lieutenant Mullan’s expedition in the Bitterroot Valley bound for Fort Walla Walla.
  • Ken Robison is an historian of neglected Montana history and author/co-author of 16 books, including Hidden History of Great Falls and Historic Tales of Fort Benton, as well as a chapter in The Mullan Road: Carving a Passage Through the Frontier Northwest. He is a trustee of the Montana Historical Society, and has been honored as their “Montana Heritage Keeper.” He led the River & Plains Society in hosting Fort Benton's Mullan Road Conferences in 2010, 2015, and 2022.
  • Connie Constan — The Benton Lake Mullan Road Segment from an Archaeological Perspective
    Executive Director, The History Museum & Research Center—Great Falls, MT
  • Archaeology and modern mapping can be used to better document the Benton Lake Segment of the Mullan Road in Montana. Listed on the National Register in 1974, the segment was originally mapped from 1966 aerial photos that poorly show the road’s alignment. Using LiDAR, satellite imagery, and computer mapping, the project will refine the route, ground‑truth it in the field, and produce updated maps and documentation to support interpretation at Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge and show how archaeology and LiDAR can clarify other, less well‑identified segments of the Mullan Road.
  • Connie Constan is currently the executive director of The History Museum & Research Center in Great Falls, Montana. She has a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeology from the University of Montana and a master’s and doctorate in Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of New Mexico. Prior to her position at the museum, Connie was an archaeologist with the federal government in Montana and in New Mexico. She has taught as adjunct faculty at Montana State University and at the University of New Mexico. She has experience with historic transportation sites, including roads, trails, and railroads.
  • LUNCH:  A Tribute to Paul D. McDermott (1937-2025)
    A conversation with Dr. Bill Youngs and Ken Robison
  • Friends called him "Dan" for his middle name. Raised in Seattle, he received degrees in cartography and geography from the University of Washington before launching his teaching career on the east coast. He served for 34 years as Professor and Chair of Geography and Cartography at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. In 2002, he published a bibliography, Gustavus Sohon's Cartographic and Artistic Works,  with co-compilers Ronald Grim and Philip Mobley. In 2010, he presented at the Mullan Road Conference when his book, Eye of the Explorer: Views of the Northern Pacific Railroad Survey 1853-54 came out.
         At that conference, a core group of Mullanites, led and instigated by Dan, agreed to publish what became The Mullan Road: Carving a Passage Through the Frontier Northwest, 1859-62. He masterfully coordinated the whole effort with 14 contributors each providing chapters. The first copies arrived the day before the 2015 conference! Dan also kept coming to conferences, bringing fresh, great talks to our meetings. The Mullanites owe an immense debt of gratitude to Dan for his knowledge and expertise about Sohon and Stevens, his access to and research in the Library of Congress, his superb writing, and his key role in editing The Mullan Road.
  • Jon Axline — A Tale of Three Mountain Passes
    Historian/Cultural Resources Specialist, Environmental Services Bureau, Montana Department of Transportation—Helena MT
  • The best way across the mountains west of Helena was a big question for a time in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Mullan Pass was well known to travelers for centuries, but were there better ways to cross the continental divide? This presentation will discuss the three passes west of Helena:  Mullan, MacDonald’s, and Priest’s. This presentation will provide brief histories of all three, their development, and the decisions that went into deciding which one would be the main route across the mountains west of Montana’s capital city.
  • Jon Axline is the (soon-to-be retired) historian and interpretive marker coordinator at the Montana Department of Transportation. Long ago, he graduated from Montana State University (Go Bobcats!) with an MA in American history. Jon has published a number of articles and books on a variety of Montana history subjects ranging from dinosaurs, historic bridges, to cold war sky watchers, and, most recently, a flying saucer film. He lives in Helena with his wife Lisa, as well as a Corgi, an Australian Shepherd, and a very spoiled dachshund. 
  • Brenda Wahler— John Mullan's Swan Song: The Last Spike of the Northern Pacific
    Author and Attorney—Helena, MT
  • John Mullan was among the honored guests at the "Last Spike" ceremony marking completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad on September 8, 1883, held at Independence Creek, a few miles west of Garrison, Montana. Though Mullan was snubbed as a speaker in favor of a procession of endless politicians and company executives, his military wagon road project was key to the Northern Pacific’s routing decisions.  The infamous ceremony, described as “a miserable burlesque,” was a fiasco of epic proportions, but nonetheless marked the completion of a transcontinental railroad and the end of the era Mullan launched.
  • Brenda Wahler is a practicing attorney, writer, and independent historian who explores the complex legacy of the American West. She is the author of three books, including Marcus Daly’s Montana Empires: Copper Mining, Racehorses, & Politics, published in 2026 by The History Press.​ This talk is based in part on her article, "A Miserable Burlesque," published in Montana Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Winter 2024).
  • Jake Rehm — The Colville–Walla Walla Military Road—A Major Inland Northwest Thoroughfare
    Full Lecturer, Eastern Washington University—Cheney, WA
  • The Fort Walla Walla - Fort Colville Military Road was built in 1858, and runs in proximity to (as well as concurrent with) the Mullan Military Road. This presentation explores the history of this lesser-known route, which began as a natural north-south corridor for Indigenous people, was used extensively by British Fur Traders in the early 19th century, and only later used by Americans. The influence of Hudson Bay Company/British trade in the region was significant, and contributed to emboldened indigenous resistance to American intrusions in the 1850s. 
  • Jake has taught for the Wellness and Movement Sciences Department at Eastern Washington University since 2013. He earned an MA from EWU in 2022, and his research on Mullan Road monuments earned him the John Fahey Award for Best Historical Writing in EWU’s History Program. He lives in Cheney, Washington, with his wife Jessica and 5-year-old, Keelie
  • BANQUET KEYNOTE — Dr. J. William T. Youngs  — 'Ships of the Desert'—and of the Mountains: Camels on the Mullan Road and Throughout the Frontier West
  • Horses, Mules, and Burros all have an indelible place in the story of the Frontier West. In contrast, the camel — awkward in appearance and gait — is hardly known at all in the mythology of the West. When the Lone Ranger, for example, shouts “Hi Ho Silver, Away,” we hardly expect him to speed off astride the hump of a camel! And yet camels did play a role in early western transportation, under the supervision of the US Army, private companies, and individual entrepreneurs. This is their story….
bottom of page