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F 752 B2S2
1800
Glass
F752
Book
Basa
The History OF Bannock County Idaho
-
The History
OF Bannock County Idaho
BY ARTHUR C. SAUNDERS 11
POCATELLO, IDAHO, U. S. A. THE TRIBUNE COMPANY. LIMITED 1915
F752 B2 S2
COPYRIGHT 1915, BY THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, LTD.
337761 2.5
.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction
9
CHAPTER I
Preliminary History
11
CHAPTER II
Some Natural History.
23
CHAPTER III
The Indians
35
CHAPTER IV
The Cowboy
46
CHAPTER V
Fort Hall
55
CHAPTER VI
The Nez Perce Indian War.
66
CHAPTER VII
The Bannock Indian War and the
Sheep-Eaters
76
CHAPTER VIII
The Stage Coach
88
CHAPTER IX
The Railroad
101
CHAPTER X
General Conditions and Develop-
ment
CHAPTER XI
.111
Pocatello
122
CHAPTER XII
Conclusion
136
25- 4488
INTRODUCTION
Although Bannock county is not yet twenty-five years old, it has seemed desirable to collect her history, before the adventures and legends of early days have been lost in the more pro- saic and pressing interests of today.
Probably no state in the union is less known than Idaho. Wyoming has her "Buffalo Bill," Colorado her Pike's Peak, Nevada her far, but ill- famed Reno; Utah her famous salt lake; all known throughout the Eng- lish speaking world. But Idaho, rich in natural resources, fertile and pros- perous, has furnished no wild-west tragedy like that of Custer in Wyo- ming, to attract the attention of writ- ers. She possesses no natural won- der to rival the Niagara Falls or Grand Canyon; she has produced no Kit Carson or Daniel Boone to fire the adventurous blood of ten-year-olds.
Few people in the eastern states can accurately locate Idaho. They know dimly that it is in the great northwest, but whether it is hill or plain, mine or ranch, they have for- gotten along with much of the other lore of early school days.
The history of Idaho, however, has already been published by men whose long residence in the state and ex-
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History of Bannock County
perience in its public affairs emmi- nently fitted them for the task. It is our more humble and less preten- tious pleasure to record the annals of our own county-Bannock-than which no other in Idaho is more beau- tiful in scenery, more romantic in history or more promising for the future.
It is a pleasure to make grateful acknowledgment here of the valuable and ready help so courteously given in the compilation of this history by the heads of the various United States departments at Washington, the offi- cials of the Oregon Short Line, the city and county officers and the many private persons whose personal knowl- edge or study of the early days of Bannock county made their assistance indispensable. The list is too long to reproduce, but in most instances the authority has been cited in the text, although in several cases names have been omitted at personal request.
Of course, what we call Bannock county today has existed since the time of Adam. And so-not to begin in the middle of the story-the first chapter is devoted to a rapid sketch of the territory comprising Bannock county, before the county was created.
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THE HISTORY OF BANNOCK COUNTY
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY HISTORY
The territory now comprising Ban- nock county first entered the pages of history when, in 1662, the French Sieur de la Salle planted his coun- try's flag in what he called "Louisi- ana," after his sovereign, Louis XIV, of France. In order to prevent Eng- land from gaining it, and hoping at the same time to win an ally, Louis XV ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762. Napoleon traded it back from Carlos IV of Spain, but later sold it. This was the territory purchased for the United States by Thomas Jefferson in 1803 and for which the country paid $15,000,000. It included the greater part if not all', of the present state of Idaho, and certainly all of Bannock county.
The northwestern section of this purchase became known as the North- west Territory and included all land west of the summit of the Rocky Mountain range, between the forty- ninth and forty-second parallels of latitude. This was later called the
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History of Bannock County
Oregon territory, and contained not only the present state of Oregon, but also Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming.
In 1789, Captains Robert Gray and John Kendricks skirted the coast of this territory and traded for furs with the Indians, and three years later Captain Gray discovered the Columbia river, up which he sailed several miles. The Lewis and Clark expedition, which left St. Louis in May, 1804, headed by Captains Meri- wether Lewis and William Clark. gave such encouraging accounts of the re- sources of the Northwest Territory that many of the more adventurous people in the states were induced to undertake settling it.
For a time Spain, Russia and Great Britain, as well as the United States, claimed the northwest, there being some dispute between the latter two countries as to the boundary line be- tween Canada and the northern limits of the Louisiana purchase.
Great Britain and the states, by treaty of October 20, 1818, agreed that the subjects of both countries should settle the territory jointly for a period of ten years. Before the ten years had passed, both Spain and Russia had ceded their claims to the United States-the former in 1819, the latter in 1824. At the expiration of the ten years, the treaty between
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History of Bannock County
Great Britain and the United States was renewed indefinitely, to be an- nulled by either party after one year's notice.
In his History of Idaho, Mr. Hiram T. French gives the following brief sketch of Jim Bridger, after whom Bridger street in Pocatello was named :
"Among the men who trapped on the headwaters of the Missouri and its tributaries for the fur companies, probably none was better known than Jim Bridger. He made his headquar- ters at a place now in southwestern Wyoming, which became known as Fort Bridger, and was later one of the landmarks along the old 'Oregon Trail.'
"Jim Bridger is authoritatively credited with being the first white man to see Salt Lake. In 1824 he was trapping along Bear river in what is now Idaho territory. He fol- lowed the stream to the canyon lead- ing out of Cache valley. Climbing the high hills, he saw off to the south a large body of water. His interest aroused, he went on until he reached the shore, tasted the water and found it salty. Later an exploring party went around the lake and determined that it had no outlet.
"After having spent many years among the Indians, Bridger lost his life at their hands."
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History of Bannock County
The fate of Jim Bridger was not an uncommon one in the early days. A number of white men deserted their own kind to become the adopted mem- bers of Indian tribes. They took to themselves Indian wives, and dressed, spoke and lived as Indians. But their fate was nearly always the same. Sooner or later they were usually killed by the people of their adoption.
Two American expeditions visited this country in 1832, one headed by Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., and the other by Captain Wyeth.
Already some of the names in this narrative must have struck the read- er's ears as locally familiar-Clark, Lewis, Bonneville and Wyeth. All the cross streets in Pocatello, except Center, which divides the city into north and south, are named after early explorers, Indian fighters, hunt- ers or men who otherwise distin- guished themselves in daring during the early days. Hence, Wyeth street, Bonneville street, etc. The streets parallel with the railway on the east side of the city are numbered, while those on the west are named for the various presidents, as Arthur, Gar- field and Hayes.
In this way Pocatello has linked to herself the names and therefore the history and adventures of the daring and hardy pioneers of the great north- west. The history of her street names (14)
History of Bannock County
would be one of romance and adven- ture, of daring and hardship, suffer- ing and triumph, such as it would be hard to equal. For this heritage of nomenclature, the city is indebted to Daniel Church, former mayor of Pocatello, to the Tribune, and others who selected this system of names.
Captain Bonneville's expedition was one of exploration only. Captain Wyeth came to trade with the In- dians, but in this he met with small success. The Hudson Bay Company, a wealthy English corporation, had entered the territory and was most ably represented by Doctor-some- times called Captain - McLoughlin. He was an honorable, kind and brave man, but far-seeing and shrewd. He covered the country with a network of English, Canadians, French and Indians, and met American competi- tion everywhere by offering higher prices for furs than his rivals could afford. Consequently Captain Wy- eth's expedition was not a business success, but he deserves more than passing notice, not only because his name is now a household word in Pocatello, but more especially because he established Fort Hall, which he named after a member of the firm for whom he had come west.
Captain Nathaniel Wyeth, having heard of the profits to be made in fur-trading, led an expedition over-
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History of Bannock County
land from Boston, arriving at Fort Vancouver in the fall of 1832. Here he was to meet a vessel laden with supplies and sent by a Boston com- pany with which he was associated. But the ship never came. After wait- ing all winter Wyeth decided that she had been lost, and returned to Bos- ton.
In 1834, Captain Wyeth returned to the northwest and this time a ship containing supplies did come to meet him. In his party were three Metho- dist ministers-Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Cyrus Shepherd and Rev. T. L. Ed- wards, who were the first missionaries to land in Oregon. It was on this second trip that Captain Wyeth built Fort Hall, on the banks of the Snake river, as a trading post, and here, on July 27, 1834, Rev. Jason Lee con- ducted the first Christian service held in Idaho.
Competition with the Hudson Bay Company and the loss of many men by desertion and death, finally forced the captain to sell out and return to the east.
Two women deserve notice here as being the first white women to pass through what is now Bannock county. They are Mrs. Whitman, wife of the Rev. Dr. Marcus Whitman, afterward killed by the Indians, and after whom Whitman College in Oregon, and Whitman street in Pocatello, are
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History of Bannock County
named, and Mrs. Spalding, wife of the Rev. Spalding. They came to the Northwest in 1836, and settled in Oregon.
Another expedition, under Captain John C. Fremont, after whom Fre- mont street, Pocatello, is named, was sent to survey parts of this territory in 1843.
At this time the condition of Amer- icans in the Northwest Territory was far from satisfactory. They had un- dergone great hardships and risks in order to establish themselves in the new land, but their home government had done nothing to either protect or organize them. Petition after peti- tion was sent to congress, but without effect. So, on May 20, 1843, the Americans met at a place called Shampoig, near where Salem, Oregon, now stands, and organized a provi- sional government, designating Ore- gon City the capital. The first legis- lature met in a carpenter shop, and adopted the laws of the state of Iowa, because an Iowa man, with a copy of the Iowa laws in his pocket, happened to be present.
This provisional government was entirely successful and continued un- til 1846, when a new government was formed and Hon. George Abernathy was elected governor.
In this same year, 1846, Great Brit- ain ceded to the United States her
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History of Bannock County
claim to the Northwest Territory, with the exception of the Hudson Bay Company's holdings and those of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. In July, 1863, the United States pur- chased the interests of these com- panies for $450,000 and $200,000 re- spectively, the final payments being made in 1865.
On March 3, 1853, congress passed an act creating and organizing Wash- ington territory, which included all the Northwest territory except the present state of Oregon. Ten years later to a day, the territory of Idaho was created and organized, containing all of Washington territory, except the present state of Washington. The following year, 1864, Montana was cut off from the territory of Idaho, and that of Wyoming in 1868, when Idaho took her present geographical limits, being three hundred miles long across her southern portion and only sixty across the northern panhandle.
In February, 1864, the territory of Idaho was divided into Shoshone, Nez. Perce, Idaho, Boise, Owyhee, Alturas and Oneida counties, the last of which included the present county of Ban- nock. Soda Springs was the first county seat, which was afterward moved to Malad City.
Bingham county was created Janu- ary 13, 1885, out of the northern and eastern parts of Oneida county, the
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History of Bannock County
southern part of which was made into Bannock county, March 6, 1893. This county was named after the Bannock Indians, who were its original inhab- itants, and who still own many acres within the county limits.
In speaking of conditions at the time when the first seven counties were created, Mr. John Hailey, in his "History of Idaho," says: "Quite a percentage of the whole population was engaged in some kind of trade, merchandising, hotel and restaurant- keeping, butcher, feed and livery busi- ness, blacksmithing, sawmilling and carpentering. A large number were engaged in the transportation of mer- chandise and passengers. Some few had settled on ranches and were cul- tivating and improving them. A few were engaged in the stock business and many more than was necessary were engaged in the saloon and gam- bling business, with a few road agents, ready and willing to relieve any person of his ready money with- out compensation, whenever a favor- able opportunity presented itself. The primary object of all seemed to be to gather gold. But I think I may truthfully say that ninety-five per cent of these people were good, in- dustrious, honorable and enterpris- ing, and to all appearances desired to make money in a legitimate way."
In this same connection Mr. Hailey
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History of Bannock County
also says: "Most of the first settlers of Idaho were poor in purse, but were rich in muscle and energy, and most all possessed a good moral character. The rule that was in common prac- tice was for each person to attend to his own private business, and to have an affectionate regard for his neigh- bors and his neighbors' rights, and to extend a helping hand to the unfor- tunate that needed help. I speak from experience, having an extensive busi- ness and social acquaintance with many of the early settlers of Idaho, when I say (with a few exceptions), the early settlers were as noble, patri- otic, industrious, unselfish, intelligent, good, generous, kind and moral peo- ple as ever were assembled together in like number for the reclamation and development of an unsettled country, inhabited only by untutored, savage Indians, wild animals and varmints." Surely, we people of Idaho have a proud heritage to live up to!
The following list of prices, quoted by Mr. Hailey from the Boise News of December 26, 1863, published at Bannock City (afterward Idaho City) may give pause to some people who complain of the present high cost of living :
"Prices current. Corrected weekly by Higbee & Company, dealers in gen- eral merchandise, groceries and pro-
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History of Bannock County
visions, corner Main and Wall street, Bannock City.
"Groceries and produce :
Butter, per pound $ 1.25
Chickens, per dozen 36.00
Eggs, per dozen
2.00
Ham, per pound .75
Lard, per pound 40 to .50
Salt, per pound
.35 to
.40
Side bacon, per pound .... 60 to .70
Tea, per pound .. $ 1.50 to 2.00
Flour, per 100 lbs. .$33.00 to 36.00
Onions, per pound .25 to .30
Rice, per pound .50
Sugar, per pound 70 to .75
Candles, per pound. 1.00
Nails, cut, per pound.
.40 to
.50
Clothing.
Women's hip boots
$30.00
Women's calf boots 6.00
Men's calf boots 12.00
Woolen drawers, per pair
Red drawers, per pair. $2.50 to $1.50 to 2.00
3.50
Men's quilted brogan 3.50
Gum boots, long legs 12.00
Gum boots, short legs 11.00
Men's cavalry boots .. $12.00 to 15.00 Men's boots, long gr
10.00
Cal. best blankets.
16.00
Salem blankets .
$13.00 to 15.00
Oregon socks, per doz. 9.00
Best Cal. wool shirts ... $3.00 to 4.00 Buck gloves, per doz .. $18.00 to 30.00 Red undershirts, per doz ......
$30.00 to 36.00
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History of Bannock County
Wines and Liquors.
Best Champagnes, per doz .. .$48.00 Cal. Wine, per case. 24.00
Claret Wine, per case. 24.00
Sherry, per gal., in wood 7.00
Port, per gal., in wood. 7.00
Baker's Bitters, per case. .$24.00 to 30.00
Goddard Brandy, per gal .... . . 10.00
Hermitage Whiskey, per gal .. 7.00
Kerosene Oil, per gal. . $8.00 to 9.00
(The above prices were usually paid in gold dust at the rate of $16.00 to the ounce, when the real value of gold dust was only $14.50 to $15.00 per ounce.)
The above list has been consider- ably shortened in reproducing it.
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CHAPTER II. SOME NATURAL HISTORY.
Nature is the greatest of all his- torians. She is alike the most accu- rate and interesting. Her pen is the impress of time, and in characters more durable than the most lasting creations of man, she has written the story of the ages as they rolled slowly by. Impartial, unprejudiced, and in this respect omniscient, she has pa- tiently and unerringly recorded a his- tory more ancient than that of prime- val man, more valuable than that of the proudest monarchy. And so, hav- ing in the previous chapter traced Bannock county from an unlocated spot in an unexplored desert to a settled and civilized community of fixed limits, let us now examine the scene of our story more closely, and try to read something of what Nature has written there.
The sheltered canyon mouth in which our city is built was once the bed of a huge lake, larger than many present day seas. Fish and prehis- toric water animals, uncanny and awe-inspiring monsters, could we see them today, once sought their prey where now our houses raise their shel- tering roofs. The benches that today are advertised as desirable building sites, were at one time the sloping
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History of Bannock County
shores of an inland sea. Could we but read the romance of rock and soil in all its detail, surely the most lurid fiction of man would pale by comparison.
The westernmost point of Bannock county is bounded by the Snake river, far-famed for the beauty of its valley and the rich gold deposits therein. The character of these deposits has puzzled prospectors and miners for many years, because unlike all other placer fields, it maintains a uniform fineness and coloring from mouth to source.
In the Engineering and Mining Journal for January 25, 1902, Mr. Robert Bell, a well known mining expert of this state, published an article entitled : "The Origin of the Fine Gold of Snake River." This article was reprinted in the Pocatello Tribune, February 15, 1902, from which we quote, in part :
"One of the most plausible theo- ries that have been suggested touch- ing the origin of this extensive dis- tribution of the precious metal was advanced by Captain N. L. Turner, a West Point man, who spent consid- erable time investigating the prob- lem in the early eighties. Captain Turner advanced the theory that the gold was originally held in solution by the waters of a great inland sea or lake that occupied the Snake river
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History of Bannock County
valley subsequent to the Miocene period and that the gradual and re- peated evaporation of this great body of water by subsequent lava flows resulted in the precipitation of its metallic contents, generally and even- ly over its basin area. This theory would seem to account for the uni- form size and quality of the golden colors so generally disseminated throughout the enormous acreage of fine gravel beds through which the Snake river now courses.
"The geological record of the rocks left along the borders of this stream offer conclusive evidence of a land- locked body of water. This great body of water, which might aptly be called Lake Idaho, was created by the closing of the lower valley by a great dam of brown Columbia lava, 6,500 feet high, now plainly exposed by erosion."
The highest level of this lake was about 6,000 feet, and its extent 500 miles in length from Weiser to the foot of the Rocky Mountain range, and 150 miles in width. Its deepest point was over 4,000 feet.
Mr. Bell goes on to say: "This lake suffered numerous and extensive variations of level during the Ter- tiary period. Some of the more re- cent horizons are still exposed at Pocatello, where on either side of the Portneuf estuary, in plain sight from
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History of Bannock County
the depot, well defined benches or ter- races of shore-line gravel are left exposed one hundred feet above the town; and a succession of low step- terraces of lake-shore gravel, cut by the main track of the Oregon Short Line railroad between Pocatello and American Falls, plainly indicate the rapid recession of the lake levels of this period, and its final drainage and complete obliteration by the erosion of the Snake river channel to its present level.
"Prior to the inception of the great floods of black lava that have filled the upper valley (near Pocatello), the shore lines and basin area of Lake Idaho were almost all composed of granite and Palaeozic formation. These formations were rich in placer and quartz gold."
It is thought that the Snake river deposits also contain some alloy of platinum or iridium.
But gold is not the only valuable mineral deposit in Bannock county. Situated at the mouth of Sulphur canyon, five miles east of the town of Soda Springs, is a group of soda springs with associated deposits of native sulphur. These mines were worked in the late nineties and in the years 1901 and 1902 a considerable amount of sulphur was taken from them, but the enterprise was finally abandoned. The United States Geo-
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History of Bannock County
logical Survey, in Bulletin 470, gives the following summary of these de- posits :
"The failure of an apparently well backed attempt to develop these de- posits will render improbable any further attempts in the immediate future. It is extremely doubtful if the deposits can be profitably worked * in competition with the rela- tively high-grade deposits of Wyo- ming and Utah."
The same bureau, in Part I of its publications for 1909, speaks more hopefully of the salt deposits in Ban- nock county. In an article on this subject, Carpel L. Breger says :
"Valuable areas of salt-bearing land lie along the Wyoming-Idaho border in Bannock county, Idaho. In the old days, before the advent of railroads in the west, relatively large amounts of salt were boiled from the brine springs in this region and were hauled by ox team to supply Idaho and Montana mining camps. The emigrants to the northwest along the Lander route also drew upon this re- gion for their salt. Indeed, some forty years ago, in the reports of the Hayden survey, this area was briefly described as containing the finest salt works west of the Mississippi. In those days as much as 200,000 pounds of salt was boiled per month, selling
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History of Bannock County
in the late sixties at $1.25 a hundred pounds at the springs."
Col. Lander, mentioned above, after whom a street in Pocatello has been named, led a government expedition through these parts in 1863, and F. V. Hayden, whose name has been given to Hayden street, Pocatello, conducted a United States geological and geographic survey in this country in 1872.
"Since then, however, the area has decreased in importance. The rail- roads have passed it by; other salt works-those of the Great Salt Lake region-have taken its markets on account of easier railroad connection.
"Interest in these salt deposits has recently been revived, owing to the discovery of rock salt beneath some brine springs. James Splawn and H. Hokanson, in deepening these springs in 1902, encountered a formation of rock salt six feet below the surface and this has been penetrated for a thickness of twenty-six feet without reaching the bottom. The exceptional purity of the salt, its cheapness of production, and the probability of railroad connections in the near future, lend interest to the deposits of the entire district.
"As to quality, salt can be easily obtained here which is above the aver- age in chemical purity. This salt could be produced most cheaply and
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History of Bannock County
with the maximum of cleanliness by a process of solar evaporation.
"At present the market for the salt of the area described is limited to the immediate vicinity. It could, however, command the markets of eastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and much of Montana.
The vicinity adjacent to Pocatello is rich in mineral deposits, but most of them lie on the Indian reserva- tion upon which white men are not allowed to trespass. In his "History of Idaho," Mr. Hiram T. French speaks as follows of the mining re- sources of Bannock county :
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