Mullan, John, 1830–1909, American army officer and pioneer road builder, b. Norfolk, Va., grad. St John's Colllege, 1847, West Point, 1852. He was one of the chief aides of General I. I. Stevens in surveying a route for a railroad from St. Paul, Minn., to the Pacific, 1853–55; served in the Florida Seminole campaign in 1858; took a prominent part in the suppression of Native American uprisings in E Washington, 1858; and from 1858 to 1863 was engaged in surveying and building a military road from Ft. Benton, Mont. (the head of navigation on the Missouri River), to Walla Walla, Wash. The Mullan Wagon Road played an important role in opening up the Northwest to miners and settlers. His voluminous report (1863) to the secretary of war is a valuable historical document; his Miner's and Traveler's Guide (1865) was widely used by the gold prospectors of Idaho and Montana. Both added greatly to the knowledge of the country. He resigned from the army in 1863 and after two unsuccessful commercial ventures took up the practice of law.
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