An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 183

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524

USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 183
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 183
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 183
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 183

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

had resulted in the Ashburton treaty and something less than fifty-four forty without a fight.

One of the most important undertakings, and one whose history is closely interwoven with that of all the northwest, was the construction, during the years 1859 and 1861. inclusive, of the famous Mullan road. This highway extended from old Fort Walla Walla, now Wallula, Washington, to the head of navigation on the Missouri river at Fort Benton, Montana. While sections of the road lay across stretches of rolling prairies where extensive construction work was not necessary, the greater part of the distance traversed was one of the most broken and mountainous regions of the country; a region which the railroads after- wards found the most difficult to cross of any be- tween the Mississippi river and the coast. Over this road passed thousands of emigrants in the sixties and seventies, and from 1860 to 1881 it was practically the only highway of travel between Montana, North- ern Idaho, Washington and Oregon. A book, now out of print, written by Captain John Mullan, the builder of this road, and entitled "The Construction of a Military Road," gives a detailed account of the cxpedition and of the great work that was performed. We have had access to a copy of this old volume which we found in the public library at Portland. The road was built directly across Kootenai and Sho- shone counties, Idaho, entering the state at a point on the Spokane river a few miles southwest of the present site of Hauser, known at various periods in the past as Antoine Plante's Ferry, Cowley's Ferry and Spokane Bridge, passing the present location of the town of Couer d'Alene, leaving Kootenai and en- tering Shoshone county at "Old Mission," near the present site of the town of Cataldo, on the Coeur d'Alene river, and leaving Shoshone county and the state over what was known as Sohon's Pass through the Bitter Root mountains, near the present town of Mullan. As the history of both counties is included in this volume, we will incorporate the story of the Mullan road in this chapter. We will allow Captain Mullan to tell the story in his own words. The fol- lowing paragraphs are excerpts from the volume pre- viously mentioned :

"On the morning of the 16th of July, 1859, we re- sumed our march, moving eastwardly for nine miles over an easily swelling prairie region, timbered for the last three miles, to a point which I had selected for a depot camp, while our work was progressing in ad- vance. We had left the plains of the Columbia proper and reached the spurs of the Bitter Root mountains, where our more difficult work commenced. We had chosen for our location a line which, jutting upon the southern edge of the Coeur d'Alene lake, would fol- low up for four miles the valley of the St. Joe river : when crossing it would make the most direct line across the divide of the Coeur d'Alene river; thence up the valley of that stream to the Coeur d'Alene mission. Our first work of difficulty was to make the descent of seven hundred feet from the table land to the valley of the St. Joe. Several points were ex-

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amined, but none afforded a natural descent, and I was forced to make one over a long spur making down to the lake at the juncture of the St. Joe river with the outlet of the Poun lake. Over the outlet a bridge of sixty feet was constructed. This piece of excavation was rocky and difficult, but the bridge was completed in eight days. I then moved the entire camp four miles up the valley of the St. Joe to the point selected for crossing. We immediately set the whip-sawyers in the timber to get out the necessary timber, and some men to burning tar ; and, being pro- vided with the necessary oakum, we built two flat- boats, forty-two feet long, twelve feet broad and Iwo feet deep, one for the St. Joe river and the other for the Coeur d'Alene. The latter, when completed, was rowed down into the lake, and thence up the Coeur d'Alene river to the point selected for crossing. While this was being accomplished the divide between the two streams was examined, the road marked out, and several parties placed at work upon it. This work from the St. Joe crossing involved the building of a corduroy road four hundred feet long over a wet section of the river bottom, and a heavy excavation up a suitable spur in order to gain the divide seven hundred feet above. This entire work occupied our force until the 5th day of August, 1859. During this interval our topographers were engaged in tracing the St. Joe to its sources in the Bitter Root mountains, marking its tributaries and defining its boundaries ; also making a survey of the Coeur d'Alene lake.

"The line to the Coeur d'Alene river being com- pleted by the 5th of August, I moved the entire train to its left bank, where it remained in camp until the 9th, when the road, for nine miles up its left bank to the point of crossing, was completed. This work con- sisted of a side cut of a fourth of a mile along a broken. rocky spur, jutting upon the river's edge, building bridges and cutting through a slight growth of timber near the point of crossing. Our boat being in readiness, we crossed the river on the ioth and re- mained on the left bank until the morning of the 16th, engaged with our entire force in opening the iine thence to the Coeur d'Alene mission, which in- volved building three bridges, making a cut of one mile of excavation along difficult spurs, and cutting through timber for three miles, which, when com- pleted, gave us an excellent road. On the morning of the 16th of August we reached the mission, two hundred miles from Walla Walla. This was one of our fixed points from which began our mountain work proper. That this proved a difficult task to handle our three years labor abundantly proves.

"Reaching the mission we determined to make it a depot point for our train until such time as our work in advance should enable us to move forward. Plac- ing the depot under the charge of Lieutenant White, we divided our force into several sections and dis- tributed them along the line of work for ten miles. This work consisted of timber cutting and clearing. building small bridges, corduroying wherever the ground was wet and marshy and making side cuts wherever it was sidling or where the formation of the

spurs compelled it. Crossing the Coeur d'Alene a a mile above the mission we lost sight of the river till reaching the Four Mile prairie, a point four miles be- yond, and again lost sight of it until reaching a point we called the Ten Mile prairie. This section of the road for the first four miles passes mostly through a timbered region and along the south foot of the spurs ; making back for the river until it reaches the Four Mile prairie ; after which it again enters a tin- bered region till reaching the Seven Mile prairie, and then again through timber until it reaches Ten Mile prairie. The work from the mission to the Ten Mile prairie occupied us until the 17th of August, when we again brought forward our entire train to the new depot. Every one was moved except the astronon- ical party under Mr. Weisner and Mr. Koleski, who were left at the mission during a lunation to fix the position of that point. Our position at Walla Walla had already been determined by a six weeks' series of observation, and our plan was to occupy as many fixed points as time and circumstances would allow.

"While at the Coeur d'Alene mission we had sent out two parties to explore and bring back such data as would guide our judgment in our further move- ments. The one was assigned to Mr. P. M. Engle, whose duties were to cross the bed of mountains along the south fork of the Coeur d'Alene river and strike the Clark's Fork at or near Thompson's prairie, in order to see if the country along this route was adapted to a cheap location. In this undertaking he was provided with the necessary Indian. guides and outfits, and directed to pursue his examinations up the Clark's Fork to the Pend Oreille mission, and return by way of the Bitter Roots, recrossing the mountains via Sohon's Pass and thence to our camp. This was fully and satisfactorily accomplished, and de- veloped the fact that the features of the mountains precluded the possibility of securing a line in that direction. The second party was placed in charge of Mr. Sohon, with directions to pass rapidly forward and mark in a general manner the location ; to ascer- tain the best point of passage over the Coeur d'Alene mountains, and to continue his examination down the valley of St. Regis Borgia to the Bitter Roots, and thence up to the Hell's Gate valley. For this pur- pose he, too, was provided with the best Indian guides we could procure, and fulfilled his mission satis- factorily, returning to camp by the 15th of September. From my own knowledge of the country, and the ad- ditional data brought in by Mr. Sohon, I saw that we had to content ourselves with the cheapest loca- tion that the peculiar features of the valleys of the Coeur d'Alene and St. Regis Borgia warranted. Both of these valleys were densely timbered, with here and there a prairie affording scanty grass. Both of the valleys at points verged toward canyons, and their rivers were serpentine in their course, leaving alter- nate flats and spurs along their banks ; hence the char- acter of the streams necessitated frequent crossings or long and difficult side cuts to avoid them. The latter was a work of great magnitude, and incompat- ible with the means at our disposal ; hence the former

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was our only alternative. Our work, consequently, from the 16th day of August to the 4th of December, 1859, consisted in cutting through this densely tim- bered section of one hundred miles, building small bridges where required, and grading in thousands of places, made necessary by the physical nature of the country. We likewise graded an ascent of one and three-fourths miles, to the summit of the Coeur d'Alene mountains. This work was heavy, and in so brief a report as herewith given justice cannot be done to the industry and fortitude of the men while mastering this wilderness section. The standing timber was dense and the fallen timber that had accumulated for ages formed an intricate jungle well calculated to im- press one with the character of impracticability. Suf- fice it to say that we mastered the many difficulties with which its construction was fraught and reached our winter camp in the St. Regis Borgia valley on the 4th of December."

Facts which came to the knowledge of Captain Mullan later caused him to make changes in the road during the summer of 1861, of which he thus speaks :

"From what I had seen of the wet and mucky character of the St. Joe valley in early spring, I found that we should be compelled this season to cross the Snake river and skirt the northern rim of the Coeur d'Alene lake, opening a new section of thirty miles from the lake to the mission. To this end I had the line explored in September, 1861, by Mr. W. W. Johnson. Crossing the Snake by the 20th of May, we worked the road up the bluffs on its right bank and gained the table land, where we had no difficulty in making a camp on the Palouse, fourteen miles from the former river.

"Leaving the Palouse on the morning of the 21st of May, we journeyed over the prairie hills to Cow creek, a distance of eleven miles, having an excellent road. The Colville wagon road from Walla Walla is one and the same with our own up to this point ; thence it tends up the Cow creek, while our own leads to- ward the east in the direction of Antoine Plante's Ferry on the Spokane. This ferry is chartered by the legislature of Washington territory, and, being already established by a fixed settler, I determined to make it a point of my route. Leaving the Cow creek on the morning of the 22nd of May, we moved eighteen miles over an easy, open prairie country, with light work. to Aspen Grove; cold springs of water were passed en route. From thence our next march was to a chain of lagoons distant two and one-half miles, for which distance we still had an excellent prairie road, and from thence to Rock creek, crossing it at the same point made by our old location. From Rock creek, in thirteen and one-half miles we reached Lake Williamson. From Lake Williamson in six miles we reached Hangman's creek, the valley of which is four hundred feet below the Spokane plain; this in- volved a cut of one-third of a mile, at the end of which we reached the point selected for the crossing. This stream was now swollen, and we camped upon it for four days while building a bridge fifty feet long. Having improved the road in advance, we

moved on towards the Spokane at Antoine Plante's, reaching that point on the Ist of June, a distance of one hundred and twelve and one-half miles from Fort Walla Walla. At this point we were joined by another portion of the escort which had marched from Fort Colville under Lieutenant Harker, of the Ninth In- fantry ; these fully completed the complement of men originally intended for the expedition.

"The ferry at Spokane is a good one, consisting of a strong cable stretched across the river and a boat forty feet long. It is kept by a worthy man, Antoine Plante. a half-breed Flathead Indian, who speaks both French and English ; he has a small field under culti- vation on the left bank near the ferry landing, from which he obtains corn, wheat and vegetables; these, with the salmon found in the river, form an abundant supply for his Indian family. The winters here are generally mild, and stock range the hills and plains the whole season, no provision for forage being made. Small tracts of good soil are found bordering the river, as well as two or three miles back: several of these are under cultivation by the Indians, and a few Frenchmen : one of the finest of these is on the south bank, about ten miles from Plante's, in a re- entering angle of the mountains; here the Coeur d'Alene Indians have small farms enclosed. Effect- ing safely the crossing of the Spokane river, which is here three hundred feet broad and eight deep, with rapid current and high banks, on the morning of the 3rd of June we moved up its right bank to a camp at Seltisse's farm, distant nineteen miles. We had an excellent road, fifteen miles of which was over level prairie, and the remainder through a beautiful open pine forest : work in clearing away the timber was all that was required. We passed, during this march, an Indian burial ground of the Coeur d'Alenes, where a cross, erected over each grave, testified the cheering fruits of the labors of the noble Jesuit fathers in their midst. Seltisse is a worthy Coeur d'Alene Indian, who has several acres under cultivation, and while hunting, fishing and tilling the soil, leads the life of an independent chief. I have always found him frank, honest and friendly. From his camp we reached in four miles a considerable creek that drains a small sheet of water to the north, and empties into the Coeur d'Alene lake; here we entered a difficult belt of timber, extending for thirty miles to the Coeur d'Alene mission. I determined, therefore, to make this a depot point for such provisions as we had with as, and sent a wagon train back to the mouth of the Palouse, where the steamers were to deposit the re- mainder. Perfecting these arrangements, I set my men at work, a portion building a bridge over the stream, and the remainder making a side cut in the spurs that jutted upon the lake. Mr. Sohon, with a small party and an Indian guide, was kept in advance to mark out the road, and give us in full detail the features of the country. This thirty miles of new road was a difficult undertaking, and occupied us until the Ist of August. The country was broken and un- favorable to our purposes, but we took advantage of its features as far as possible, following the bottoms

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of small creeks, and only cutting through the dense timber when it could not be avoided, by these means eventually securing a fair location. The Wolf's lodge prairie, with an area of a square mile, oceurs midway between the mission and the lake, and with the fine grasses on the hills that surround it constitutes a fixed and favorable camping ground. Traces of gold are said to have been found in it; and I myself came across a small eamp of men here on my return from the mission in 1862. Quartz is found on many of the neighboring hills, and rumor would set forth that this immediate section was favorable for gold develop- ments. Reaching the Coeur d'Alene mission, we united with our old road of 1859."

From Fort Walla Walla to Fort Benton, via the Mullan road, is six hundred and twenty-four miles. The objeet in view in the construction of the road, as stated by Mr. Mullan, was to open a base line from the plains of the Spokane, on the west, to the plains of the Missouri on the east, from which other lines could subsequently be opened, and by means of which the correct geography of the country could be de- lineated. Another objeet was to ascertain whether there was a practicable railroad route through the valleys and a practicable pass through the mountains, through which a railroad could subsequently be built. These objects were fully attained and the road became the most famous of the early routes of travel, broadening eventually into a mighty way for great a civilization from sea to sea. Pioneer newspapers published in the late seventies carried a standing column which was headed, "How to Get Here." These papers were sent east for the benefit of those contemplating emigration to the west. Several routes were deseribed, among them the following: To Ogden by rail; thence to Walla Walla by wagon road ; thence to Spokane Falls by the Mullan road to Spokane river. Another route recommended was by rail to Kelton ; thence by wagon to Walla Walla; thence by wagon over the Mullan road to Spokane. Still another route was up the Missouri river to Fort Benton, Montana ; thence by wagon over the Mullan road to the plains of Spokane river. In 1879 the old road was repaired, east of the Coeur d'Alene mountains, by General Penrose, and west by a detachment under command of Lieutenant Turner, from Fort Sherman. There were found to be thirty-eight bridges on the St. Regis Borgia in Montana, twenty-six of the crossings being made in a distance of eighteen miles. The road is still in use through the mountain regions. The old, old wilder- ness road has had a wonderful history. For twenty years it was in constant use by hunters, adventurers, tourists and emigrants, who "stained it with their blood and tears and lined it with their graves." Were all the comedies and tragedies enacted along this wilderness way retold, they would store volumes with perhaps the most interesting and at the same time pathetic and tragic incidents associated with the reclaiming of the great northwest.

The development of Kootenai county may be said to have begun with the completion of the Mullan road.

Although no material progress was made until two decades later there were settlements in various parts of the county in 1863 and 1864. The advantages offered by adjacent territory were doubtless apparent to the west-bound emigrants over this route and some are known to have returned at a later date and made permanent homes here. A. L. Coffey, now living near Sandpoint, assisted in construction work on this road. Data in our possession do not show a direct connec- tion between the settlement of the country and the ex- istence of the road ; but the first comers entered the county over it and it was no doubt an important factor in the later process of development. Covering the period between 1861 and 1881, Kootenai county re- mained practically an uninhabited wilderness. The first permanent establishments were ferries over the Kootenai and Pend Oreille rivers, a pony mail route station at "Westwood." now Rathdrum, government steamer service on the lakes, and the location of Fort Sherman on Lake Coeur d'Alene. We have already told of the coming of the Jesuit missionaries, and of the work performed by them: we will now write briefly of the affairs of the sixties and seventies.

The discovery of placer mines in the Wild Horse country, British Columbia, early in the sixties, re- sulted in a great rush to that country. Many went by the Columbia river route, and many others by what was first called the boundary commission trail and later became known as the Wild Horse trail, which en- tered the county near the old Plante ferry on the Spo- kane river; proceeded via the present site of Rath- drum and Seneaquoteen to the Campfield Ferry on the Pend Oreille river ; thence to Bonner's Ferry was on the Kootenai river and down that stream to British Columbia. The establishment of Bonner's Ferry was the first business enterprise within the present county boundaries ; we will therefore give some of the details as we have gathered them from various reliable sources. On July 10, 1902, there died at Missoula, Montana, one of the wealthiest and most prominent pioneer citizens of that state. He had lived in the northwest since 1853 and had been closely identified with all efforts for its development and advancement. He took an active interest in trans-continental railroad construction, and in 1893 was appointed one of the receivers of the Northern Pacific railroad in Montana. At the time of his death he was Montana's member of the national Republican committee. We refer to Edwin L. Bonner, for whom Bonner's Ferry was named. When the rush to the Wild Horse country began, prospeetors were taken over the Kootenai river in canoes by old Chief Abraham and other members of his tribe. In the sur mer of 1863 Edwin L. Bonner and his cousin. R. A. Eddy, together with Hiram Robertson and John Walton, journeying from Walla Walla to the Kootenai country in British Columbia, camped on the bank of the Kootenai river at the point where the gold seekers were rowed across by the Indians. Circumstances made it necessary for Mr. Bonner and his party to remain in camp for several days, and during this stay he conceived the idea of building and operating a ferry, it being evident to

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his mind from the constant travel this way, that it would prove a good investment from a financial stand- point. Negotiations were at once opened with Chief Abraham, from whom Mr. Bonner purchased the right to build and operate the ferry. The ferry was put in operation in 1864 and Mr. Bonner also established a trading post in connection. As an interesting item of information relating to this establishment we print below an act passed at the second session of the Idaho territorial legislature.

"Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Idaho, as follows :

"Section 1. That R. A. Eddy, E. L. Bonner and J. W. Walton, their heirs and assigns, be and they are hereby authorized to establish a ferry across the Kootenai river at a point known as Bonner's Ferry or Chulimtah : and that the said R. A. Eddy, E. L. Bonner and John W. Walton, their heirs and assigns, shall have the exclusive privilege of ferrying upon said river for a distance of two miles up and five miles down said river, from the above described point of said ferry, for the term of five years from and after the passage of this act.

"Section 2. It shall be lawful for the said R. A. Eddy, E. L. Bonner and John W. Walton, their heirs and assigns, to receive and collect in United States gold and silver coin, or its equivalent, the following rates of toll ferriage across said river, viz: For each footman, fifty cents : for each man and horse or mule, one dollar and fifty cents ; for pack animals, loaded, one dollar and fifty cents ; for pack animals, empty. seventy-five cents : for loose animals, other than sheep or hogs, fifty cents : for sheep and hogs, each twenty cents. Approved, December 22, 1864."

A similar act was passed at the same session granting like ferry privileges to J. B. Roberts, A. E. Ridles and J. T. Galbraith, at a point on the Kootenai river fifteen miles below "Linklighter's Station," but there is no record of a permanent ferry at this place. Still another act of this session of the legislature granted to Charles H. Campfield and associates the authority to operate a ferry on the Pend. Oreille river for a distance of three miles up and down the river from a point "twelve miles above the point where the military or boundary commission road crossed said river." At this ferry they were authorized to collect the following tolls: For each wagon and two animals, three dollars; for each additional span of horses or cattle, one dollar : for each man and horse, one dollar and fifty cents; for each pack animal, one dollar: for each footman, fifty cents; for loose ani- mals, other than sheep or hogs, per head, twenty-five cents : for sheep or hogs, per head, ten cents.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 183

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1524

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524