In the winter of 1859 a petition had been addressed to the legislature of Washington by the settlers of Bitterroot Valley and the Flathead agency, to have a county set off, to be called Bitterroot County. This petition had seventy-seven names attached, and chiefly these of the Mullan wagon-road company, who could hardly be called settlers, although a few names of actual pioneers are to be found among them. The petition does not appear to have been presented until the session of 1860-1, when two counties, called Shoshone and Missoula, were created out of the region east of the later boundary of Washington, the 117th meridian.
The list is as follows:
- W. W. Johnson
- J. A. Mullan
- G. C. Taliaferro
- J. Sohon
- C. R. Howard
- James S. Townsend
- Theodore Kolccki
- W. W. De Lacy
- George H. Smith
- Cyrus Spengler
- A. J. Horton
- William Lowery
- A. E. D’Course
- J. Cashman
- William Plug
- Charles J. Clark
- Daniel F. Smith
- Robert P. Booth
- David Carroll
- James Conlan
- Isaac H. Rocap
- Frederick Sheridan
- W. L. Wheelock
- John C. Davis
- Thomas Hudson
- W. Burch
- D. Hays
- John Carr
- George Ruddock
- Patrick Graham
- Canhope Larard
- John Larard
- Joseph Tracy
- William O’Neil
- Patrick Mihan
- James N. Heron
- Edward Scully
- M. McLaughlin
- William Craig
- William Hickman
- J. C. Sawyer
- A. J. Batchelder
- A. L. Riddle
- James McMahon
- William Galigher
- L. Neis
- Zib. Teberlare
- George Young
- John Owens
- W. D. Perkins
- Richard Smith
- Loars P. Williams
- William Henry
- William Proyery
- C. E. Juine
- D. M. Engely
- J. B. Rabin
- Thomas W. Harris
- Henri M. Clarke
- S. H. Martin
- Jefferson Morse
- James Gotier
- Angus MacCloud
- John De Placies
- James Toland
- P. Macdonald
- E. Williamson
- John Silverthorne
- John M. Jacobs
- John Pearsalt
- Louis Claimont
- Louis G. Maison
- Narcisse Mesher
- A. Gird
- Joseph Lompeny
- Richard Grant
- Michael Ogden
Wash, Jour, House, 1860-1, 35-6.