Magruder Corridor

In 1863 Lloyd Magruder was murdered while he traveled through the Bitterroot Mountains on the southern Nez Perce Trail. The travel route that now bears his name was used for centuries by the Nez Perce to travel between buffalo hunting grounds to the east and salmon fishing rivers to the west. In the 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps built the road through this rugged country. In 1980, when the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness was designated by Congress the “corridor” was formed, as this is the only road that divides what would otherwise be 3.5 million acres of contiguous wilderness between the Frank Church River of No Return wilderness and the Selway Bitterroot wilderness.