LaCrosse Community Pride
~Supporting Economic Vitality and Historical Preservation in LaCrosse, WA~
Proud to be the smallest
Main Street Community in Washington
and the 3rd smallest in the United States
Located just off of Washington State Route 26 , West of LaCrosse, to the North of the highway, this 6 mile stretch of the Mullan Road is under gravel, but still can be travelled on by modern day vehicles. The portion on the south side of SR 26 has reverted to grazing.
Mullan Road
Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland Northwest. It was constructed between 1859-1860 by U.S. Army Troops under the leadership of Lt. John Mullan. The road began at For Benton, Montana and traversed 624 miles of rough terrain and ended at Fort Walla Walla. Originally it was designed as a wagon transport road to move troops into the Pacific Northwest, it was only used once for this purpose. Instead, gold seekers used this road as a means to travel to gold camps. It is estimated that over 20,000 people used Mullan Road in it's first year of existence.
