It's because the state line was drawn in the wrong place.
The state line was supposed to follow the Continental Divide. The survey crew started at the south end and worked their way north. Missoula was supposed to end up in Idaho (it's well west of the Divide) and the mayor of Missoula didn't want to end up in Idaho. So he took some wagons loaded with whiskey, plus a bunch of women from the brothels in his town, up to the spot where the Bitterroot Range branches off from the Continental Divide.
He got them good and drunk. The next morning, as they were nursing hangovers, he pointed down the Bitterroots and told them that was the ridge that they wanted to follow.
By the time they discovered their mistake, they were hundreds of miles away and not inclined to go all the way back and fix it.
We have lots of great stories of the Old West out here in the West.
It's because the state line was drawn in the wrong place.
The state line was supposed to follow the Continental Divide. The survey crew started at the south end and worked their way north. Missoula was supposed to end up in Idaho (it's well west of the Divide) and the mayor of Missoula didn't want to end up in Idaho. So he took some wagons loaded with whiskey, plus a bunch of women from the brothels in his town, up to the spot where the Bitterroot Range branches off from the Continental Divide.
He got them good and drunk. The next morning, as they were nursing hangovers, he pointed down the Bitterroots and told them that was the ridge that they wanted to follow.
By the time they discovered their mistake, they were hundreds of miles away and not inclined to go all the way back and fix it.
We have lots of great stories of the Old West out here in the West.