To commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 10, 2022, members of the Missoula community and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes gathered to rededicate the bridge that connects downtown Missoula over the Clark Fork River via Higgins Avenue.
What was formerly known as the Higgins Avenue Bridge is now the Beartracks Bridge, named in honor of the Bitterroot Salish people who inhabited this land thousands of years before the appearance of western civilization.
“Beartracks” is a tribute to a prominent Salish family named Sx͏͏úytisSmx̣e (which loosely translates to “Grizzly Bear Tracks,” and is known to English speakers today as the Vanderburg family). Like many other Salish people at the time, the Bear Tracks family was forced out of the Bitterroot Valley in 1891 after 36 years of resisting removal from their homeland and escorted north to the Flathead Indian Reservation by U.S. troops. The bridge was a prominent site in a horrific event now known as the “Montana Trail of Tears.”
The namesake of the bridge now serves as a reminder to Missoula’s current inhabitants to become stewards of the place they call home. Visitors can learn more about the Bear Tracks family here or through the interpretive signs located on the south end of the bridge.
