USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 3
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THE NAME "IDAHO"
That the word "Idaho" is an Indian term is universally conceded, but there has been a great deal of discussion as to its origin and meaning, regarding which several theories have been advanced. Joaquin Miller, the "Poet of the Sierras," says :
"The literal meaning is 'Sunrise Mountains.' Indian children among all tribes west of the Rocky Mountains, so far as I can learn, use the word to sig- nify the place where the sun comes from. * * The Shoshone Indians, the true Bedouins of the American desert, hold the mountains where the first burst of dawn is discovered in peculiar reverence. This roving and treacherous tribe of savages, stretching from the Rocky Mountains almost to the Sierras, having no real habitation or any regard for the habitation of others, had some gentle sentiments about sunrise. I-dah-ho, with them, was a sacred place, and they clothed the Rocky Mountains, where it rose to them, with a mystic or rather a mythological sanctity.
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"The Shasta Indians, with whom I spent the best years of my youth, and whose language and traditions I know entirely as well as those of their neigh- bors to the north of them, the Modocs, always, whether in camp or in winter quarters, had an I-dah-ho, or place for the sun to rise."
Miller also gives an account of a trip he made in company with William Craig to a gold-bearing, black mountain in the Nez Perce country, in which he says: "As we approached the edge of Camas Prairie, then a land almost unknown, but now made famous by the battlefields of Chief Joseph, we could see through the open pines a faint, far light on the great black and white mountain beyond the val- ley. 'I-dah-ho" shouted our Indian guide in the lead, as he looked back and pointed to the break of dawn on the mountain before us. * *
* Strangely like 'Look there!' or 'Lo, light !' is this exclamation, and with precisely the same meaning."
The subject seems to have been a sort of hobby with Mr. Miller, as on another occasion he refers to it as follows: "The name of the great northwest gold fields, comprising Montana and Idaho, was originally spelled I-dah-ho, with the accent thrown heavily on the second syllable. The word is perhaps of Shoshone derivation, but it is found in similar form, and with the same significance, among all the Indians west of the Rocky Mountains. The Nez Perce Indians, in whose country lies the great white and black mountain which first induced the white man to use this name, are responsible for its applica- tion to the region of the far northwest."
In 1885 James L. Onderdonk, then controller of the Territory of Idaho, published a little booklet giving certain facts concerning the territory and its resources. Commenting upon the name, Mr. Onderdonk says: "A writer in the New West, apparently well informed, declares that Idaho is not a Nez Perce word, adding: 'The mountains that Joaquin Miller speaks of may be named with a somewhat similar appellation, but most likely the whole story grows out of the fertile imagination of the poet.' Idaho Springs in Colorado were known long before Idaho Territory was organized. The various territories at their organization should have been given some appropriate local name. Colorado was named after the river of that name, though it is not within its boundaries. It should have been called Idaho. It was the name first placed in the bill organ- izing it, but which was afterward changed."
The writer referred to by Mr. Onderdonk was probably Fred Campbell, who went to the Pike's Peak country during the gold rush, and in the pioneer days became a resident of Idaho. Campbell always claimed the word Idaho was of Arapaho derivation, and often in the early days so informed the author. His theory as to the origin of the word is probably correct, as no such expression has been found by ethnologists in the dialect of any of the tribes of the North- west. Whatever may have been the source of the term, it is agreed that the English meaning is "Gem of the Mountains," and the appropriateness of the name never has been disputed.
As the bill organizing the Territory of Idaho passed the House of Repre- sentatives, it provided that the new territory should be called Montana. Senator Wilson of Massachusetts proposed an amendment changing the name to Idaho, and in speaking upon this amendment Senator Hardin of Oregon said: "The name Idaho is much preferable to Montana. Montana, to my mind, signifies
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nothing at all. Idaho in English signifies 'The Gem of the Mountains.' This is a mountainous country and the name Idaho is well understood in signification and orthography in all that country and I prefer it to the present name."
George B. Walker, one of the early settlers in what is now the State of Idaho, later a member of the Washington Legislature, claims the distinction of being the first to suggest the name for a new territory. Shortly after Idaho was admitted to statehood in 1890, he wrote a letter to C. M. Hays, a delegate to the constitutional convention from Owyhee County, in which he says:
"In 1861 three candidates were nominated for Congress-W. H. Wallace by the republicans, Selucius Garfielde by the Douglas democrats, and Judge Edward Lander (brother of the general) by the Breckenridge wing of the party. They traveled over the then known eastern part of the territory in company with your father, Hon. Gilmore Hays, making speeches whenever they could get a crowd together. When they arrived at Pierce City I invited them to stop at my place (everyone carried his own blankets in those days), I being personally acquainted with Wallace and Garfielde. They accepted the invitation. While there I proposed a division of the territory, as I thought we were a long distance from Olympia. They agreed that whoever was elected would favor a division. Then the question of a name came up, and I suggested the name of Idaho. I had seen the name on a steamer built by Col. J. S. Rockwell to run between the Cas- cades and The Dalles, in connection with the steamer Mountain Buck, which ran from Portland to the Cascades before the organization of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. The old Idaho is now on Puget Sound and owned by Captain Brownfield, and still makes a good appearance. All the above named gentlemen said that was the name.
"W. H. Wallace was elected, and on March 3, 1863, the new territory was created and named Idaho. * *
* So I believe if there is any credit due for naming the state I am entitled to it. A controversy came up about it in 1875, I think, and I caused an article to be put in the Owyhee Avalanche, which was corroborated by your father. I hear that Judge Lander is still living, and if I knew where a letter would reach him I would write, as I think he might remember this affair on the frontier thirty-two years ago."
W. A. Goulder, in his "Reminiscences of a Pioneer," mentions the steamer Idaho and says it was built in the spring of 1860, though he gives the name of the owner as J. S. Ruckle, instead of J. S. Rockwell, the name given by Mr. Walker. The pioneers of 1862 were all familiar with the word, from this as well as many other sources, and were not impressed when, before Idaho Territory was organized, Idaho County had been named by the Legislature of Washington.
CHAPTER II ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS
ORIGIN OF THE NAME "INDIAN"-TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY-IDAHO TRIBES THE BANNOCK-THE BLACKFOOT-THE CAYUSE-THE COEUR D'ALENE-THE KOOTENAI-THE NEZ PERCE-TIIE PEND D'OREILLE-THE SHOSHONE-THE FLATHEAD-SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.
It is probably true that more pages have been written relating to the Indian tribes of North America than on any other subject connected with American history. To the student of history or ethnology there is a peculiar fascination in the story of these savage people-their legends, traditions, customs and superstitions-that makes the theme always one of undying interest, and no history of Idaho would be complete without some account of the tribes that inhabited the region before the advent of the white man.
When Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the New World in 1492, he believed that he had at last attained the fruition of his long cherished hope, and that the country where he landed was the eastern shore of Asia. Early European explorers in America, entertaining a similar belief, thought the country was India and gave to the race of copper colored people they found here the name of "Indians." Subsequent explorations disclosed the fact that the land discovered by Columbus was really a continent hitherto unknown to the civilized nations of the world. The error regarding the geographical situation was thus corrected, but the name given to the natives by the first adventurers still remains.
TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION
The North American Indians are divided into several groups or families, each of which is distinguished by certain physical and linguistic characteristics. Each of these great groups is subdivided into a greater or less number of tribes. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the first European explorers visited America, they found the leading Indian families distributed over the continent as follows :
In the far north were the Eskimo, a people that never have played any con- spicuous part in history. These Indians still inhabit the country about the Arctic
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Circle, where some of them have been occasionally employed as guides to polar expeditions, which has been practically their only association with the white man.
The Algonquian family, the most numerous and powerful of all the Indian nations, occupied a great triangle, roughly bounded by the Atlantic coast from Labrador to Cape Hatteras and by lines drawn from those two points to the western end of Lake Superior. Within this triangle dwelt the Delaware, Shaw- nee, Miami, Pottawatomi, Sac and Fox and other powerful tribes, which yielded slowly and with stubborn resistance to the advance of the superior race. A few of the Algonquin tribes, notably the Arapaho, Blackfoot and Cheyenne, wandered away from their ancient habitat at some period in the remote past and found a new home on the plains or among the mountains of the North- west.
South of the Algonquian country, extending from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River, lay the country of the Muskhogean family, the principal tribes of which were the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw. The Indians belonging to this group were among the most intelligent, as well as the most aggressive and warlike of all the North American tribes.
In the Northwest, between the headwaters of the Mississippi and the Mis- souri River, in what are now the states of Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Nebraska, was the domain of the Siouan family, composed of a number of families closely resembling each other in physical appearance, customs and dialect, and noted for their warlike disposition and military prowess.
South and west of the Siouan country roamed the "Plains Indians," which consisted of tribes of mixed stock. Their hunting grounds extended westward to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. In the north the Cheyenne and Arapaho held sway, while farther southward were the Comanche, Apache and Kiowa. All these tribes were skilful hunters and great warriors.
West of the Siouan tribes and the Plains Indians dwelt the Shoshonean group, the principal tribes of which were the Shoshone (sometimes called the Snake), Bannock and Comanche, the last named being usually classed with the Indians of the plains. Many minor tribes, offshoots of those mentioned, were settled in various localities.
Occupying the region now comprising the southern half of British Columbia, the northwestern portion of Montana, northern Idaho and the greater part of Washington was the Salishan family. In its palmy days this group numbered eighty or more tribes, the best known of which were the Coeur d'Alene, Colville, Flathead, Pend d'Oreille, Puyallup, Snohomish, Spokane and Tillamook.
Immediately south of the Salishan tribes lay the country of the Shahaptian group, extending from the Bitter Root Mountains on the east to the Cascade Range on the west, and embracing nearly all of Oregon, the southern half of Idaho, and a strip across the southern part of Washington. The principal tribes of this family were the Nez Perce, Klikata, Umatilla, Walla-walla and Yakima. Prof. A. F. Chamberlain, of Clark University, says: "On account of their central position and their natural enterprise, the Shahaptian [Sahaptian] tribes became the recognized trading intermediaries between the Plains tribes east of the Rocky Mountains and the fishing tribes of the lower Columbia and the coast."
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Farther to the southward, in what are now the states of Arkansas and Lou- isiana, was the Caddoan group, which has no connection with the history of the Northwest, and scattered over other parts of the country were numerous minor tribes, which in all probability had separated from some of the great families, but who, at the time they first came in contact with the white man, claimed kinship with none. These tribes were nearly always inferior in numbers, frequently nomadic in their habits, and consequently are of little historic impor- tance.
In a history such as this, it is not the design to give an extended account of the Indian race as a whole, but to notice only those tribes whose history is inti- mately connected with the country now embraced within the boundaries of the State of Idaho. Foremost among those tribes were the Bannock, Blackfoot, Cayuse, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai, Nez Perce, Pend d'Oreille and Shoshone.
THE BANNOCK
Johnston, in Schoolcraft's Archives, says the name Bannock was given to these Indians "because they dug and lived on roots." They have been described as "essentially a brave and warlike people, restless and roving, and far inferior to some of the other tribes of Shoshonean stock in intelligence." According to their traditions they once inhabited Eastern Oregon and Southern Idaho, extending south and east into Utah, Nevada and Wyoming.
In common with the other Shoshonean tribes, they were superstitions, with a firm belief in fairies, evil spirits, etc. They also believed in a demon of bad luck, which belief is told of later on in this chapter.
In 1867 David W. Ballard, then Governor of Idaho, and by virtue of his office in charge of Indian affairs in the territory, made an informal treaty with the Bannock bands living in the eastern part of the territory, by which they agreed to go upon the Fort Hall Reservation by June 1, 1868, provided land should be set apart for them. That winter the Boise and Bruneau bands were cared for and fed by an agent. After the Fort Bridger treaty of 1868, a portion of the tribe lived for about three years on the Wind River Reservation in Wyo- ming. At the end of that time they quarreied with their Shoshone brethren and were removed to the reservation at Fort Hall. Owing to their roving dis- position, the Government has experienced considerable trouble in keeping these Indians upon their reservations. An account of the most serious of these diffi- culties is given in the chapter on Early Military History.
THE BLACKFOOT
The Blackfoot (or Blackfeet) Indians belonged originally to the Algonquian family, but left that group and wandered to the Northwest, where they became affiliated with the Teton, Unkpapa and Brule bands of Sioux, and in time they came to be recognized as belonging to the Siouan family. Chittenden calls this tribe the "Scourge of the Upper Missouri" and says: "The origin of the name is said by tradition to arise from the fact that in some of the tribal disputes of this nation the Siksikan separated from the rest of the tribe, then on the Sas- katchewan River, or even farther north, and resolved to take up a new abode. It was in the fall of the year when they reached the valley of the Missouri and prairie fires had swept the country in every direction. After traversing this
Vcl. 1-3
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burnt district until their moccasins were black with ashes, they were met by a party of Crow Indians, who, from their appearance, called them 'Blackfeet.'"
The tribe was divided into four distinct bands, viz .: The Blackfeet proper (Siksikan), the Piegan (Pikuna), the Blood (Kainah), and the Gros Ventre (Ahsina). All these bands belonged to the predatory class of Indians, wander- ing over a wide territory and nearly always at war with the neighboring tribes. In common usage the term "Blackfeet" was applied to all by early trappers and traders, which led early writers to refer to them as one people, though the dialects of the four bands differed in many important particulars.
Of the four subdivisions the Gros Ventre were the most troublesome to the early traders of the Northwest. They were sometimes called the Falls Indians from the fact that they lived at one time near the Falls of the Saskatchewan. They finally formed an alliance with the Arapaho, after which they became known as the "Gros Ventre of the Prairie." The Blood Indians were not much behind the Gros Ventre in their demonstrations of hatred for the white man, but fortunately their wanderings were such that they did not often come in con- tact with the whites. They lived about the sources of the Milk and Marias rivers in Montana, though they roamed where they pleased over the country as far west as the Snake River Valley.
All the Blackfoot tribes were hostile to the whites and a tribal tradition thus explains the cause of the enmity. Their first acquaintance with firearms was also their introduction to a white man's idea of a joke. When they learned that the gunpowder was what rendered the rifle effective they were anxious to obtain as large a supply of it as possible and were told that if they sowed the powder in rich ground they would be able to harvest a large crop the next year. After trading for all the powder they could, they sowed it according to instructions, but the promised crop failed to materialize. From that inci- dent they came to the conclusion that the pale-face race was composed of liars and never lost an opportunity to harass trappers by stealing their traps, horses, etc. As their country was rich in beaver, such opportunities were frequently offered. Says Chittenden: "Abundant riches and deadly peril were the con- flicting influences which actuated the bold invader of this coveted region."
The Blackfoot men have been described as "good horsemen, fond of dis- play, gaudy ornaments, etc. They were also fond of liquor and got drunk whenever it could be obtained in sufficient quantities. They were petty thieves and inveterate gamblers." Notwithstanding this unenviable reputation, they were physically well formed and on the battlefield it was a rare instance when a Blackfoot brave displayed cowardice.
THE CAYUSE
This tribe belonged to the Shahaptian family and once inhabited the country about the headwaters of the Walla Walla, Umatilla and Grande Ronde rivers west of the Blue Mountains and extending to the Deschutes River in Wash- ington and Oregon. Their country adjoined that of the Nez Perce tribe, with which they were closely associated, the two freely intermarrying with each other. They joined the Nez Perces in the treaty of 1855 and assisted them in their wars against the Shoshone and Blackfeet Indians. The United States Bureau of Ethnology says that owing to the confusion in the early accounts
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of these Indians it is hard to differentiate the Cayuse from the Nez Perce and Walla Walla.
In 1847 a smallpox epidemic broke out among them and many were carried to the "happy hunting grounds." As the disease had never been known among them before, they charged the white men with being the cause of so many deaths and late in November of that year they attacked the Waiilatpu Mission, where they killed fifteen people. Some writers say the epidemic was ineasles, but the Government reports state that it was smallpox.
The Cayuse were instrumental in teaching the Northwestern tribes the use of the horse, having probably learned the advantages of that animal from the Indians of California. A breed of ponies still bears the tribal name. The remnant of the tribe was living on the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon in 1915, at which time they numbered less than three hundred.
THE COEUR D'ALENE 1714353
The Bureau of Ethnology gives the Indian name of this tribe as the Skit- swish. - It is frequently written "Ski-zoo-mish" and Lewis and Clark called them the Skeet-so-misli. It is said that the name Coeur d'Alene (awl-heart) was conferred on them by the French on account of the stinginess of one of their chiefs, but F. W. Hodge, in the "Handbook of North American Indians," says it was "first used by some chief of the tribe to express the size of a trader's heart." Whichever account is correct, the old tribal name has been almost forgotten and. they are known as the Coeur d'Alene.
When first met by the white race they were living in Northern Idaho, about the lake and river which still bear their name. They have been described as industrious and noted for their self respect and good behavior. This reputa- tion they have sustained in all their contact with the whites. Many of them were converted to the Catholic faith by missionaries in early days. Most of those now living in Idaho own farms in severalty, live in houses, raise crops and live stock and are self supporting. They have a school conducted by Catholic sisters, in which a large number of the young Coeur d'Alene have acquired a fair educa- tion.
THE KOOTENAI
Prof. A. F. Chamberlain classifies this tribe as one of "a small group or con- federacy of tribes constituting a distinct stock (Kitunahan) formerly occupying the narrow valleys along the Kootenai River and the Arrow lakes on both sides of the British Columbia-Montana boundary ; now chiefly gathered upon the reser- vations in that section."
Powell gives the name as "Kutenai" and says: "According to their tradi- tions, they originally dwelt east of the Rocky Mountains, whence they were driven out by the Siksika or Blackfeet and they found a new habitat in the southeastern part of British Columbia, northwestern Montana and northern Idaho. About the beginning of the Nineteenth Century they made friends with their old enemies, the Siksika, with which tribe they have since traded, hunted and intermarried."
The Kootenai were expert in the use of the canoe, both the bark canoe and the dugout. They originally lived in skin and rush lodges, which they kept in
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good order, and they were skilful hunters. Their traditions are rich in folk lore, in which animals play a conspicuous part. The coyote is always pictured as a deceiver, as are the fox, grizzly bear and hawk, while the beaver, buffalo, moose, deer and caribou are good animals. From their earliest acquaintance with the white men they have borne a reputation for honesty and other good qualities, and in war the men were noted for their bravery.
THE NEZ PERCE
This was the principal tribe of the Shahaptian family. When first met by the white men they were living on the lower watershed of the Snake River in the western part of what is now the State of Idaho, northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. They were divided into the Upper and Lower Nez Perce, the former occupying the valleys of the Salmon and Clearwater rivers and the Grand Ronde Valley, while the latter lived north and west of the Blue Mountains. The men of both groups made annual excursions to the Judith Basin to lay in a supply of buffalo meat. The Indian name of the tribe was Num-i-pi. Lewis and Clark called them the Chopunnish. Some authorities say the name Nez Perce (Pierced Nose) was given to them by the early French traders on account of the custom of boring their noses to receive an ornament of white shell. Others have attributed this name to a corruption of the words "nez pres," meaning flat nose.
The Nez Perce Indians were noted for their intelligence and social morality, in which traits they excelled all the tribes of the Northwest. The men were tall, well formed and upright in bearing, and the women usually of lighter color than those of the other tribes, with symmetrical forms and regular features. The women of this tribe and the Kootenai were more kindly treated than were those of the adjacent tribes. In their personal habits, as well as the care of their lodges, they were neat and clean. They lived in lodges of rushes. Lewis and Clark mention one of these houses as being "150 feet long and about 15 feet wide, closed at the ends and having a number of doors on each side." The explorers also found lodges of oblong form with flat roofs.
Medicine men of the tribe were supposed to acquire powers that were super- natural by retiring to the mountains and there holding conferences with the "medicine wolf." After one of these excursions-if the good will of the wolf had been secured-the medicine man became invulnerable and bullets fired at him would flatten against his body. For purposes of purification in their religious . rites, steam baths or sweat houses were used. The sweat house was a hole in the ground, about fifteen feet in diameter and from three to eight feet deep, with a small door for the entrance of the bathers. A fire was built in this hole, at which stones were heated. Then the bathers entered the heated chamber, where they remained singing, praying and yelling until they were dripping with perspiration, when they would rush out and seek relief by plunging into the cool water of the nearest stream.
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