History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I, Part 5

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 910


USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 5


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HISTORY OF IDAHO


within the State of Idaho now comprises the counties of Fremont, Jefferson, Madison, Teton, Bonneville, Bingham, Butte, Bannock, Power, Franklin and Bear Lake, the eastern portion of Blaine, Cassia and Minidoka and the Fort Hall reservation.


One of the reservations, the boundaries of which are defined in the treaty, is known as the Wind River reservation and is located in Wyoming. It is still occupied by a part of the Shoshone tribe. Article 2 of the treaty reads as follows :


"It is agreed that whenever the Bannocks desire a reservation to be set apart for their use or, whenever the president of the United States shall deem it ad- visable for them to be put upon a reservation, he shall cause one to be selected for them in their present country which shall embrace reasonable portions of the Port Neuf and Kansas Prairie countries; that, when this reservation is declared, the United States will secure to the Bannocks the same rights and privileges therein and make the same and like expenditures therein for their benefit, except the agency house and residence of agent, in proportion to their numbers, as herein provided for the Shoshone reservation."


The treaty was ratified on February 16, 1869, and the governor of Idaho Territory was directed by the authorities at Washington to have the proposed reservation surveyed so as to "embrace reasonable portions of the Port Neuf and Kansas Prairie countries," in accordance with the provisions of the treaty. David W. Ballard was then governor of the territory. Rumor says he went out with the surveying party to the Port Neuf River and, after looking over the country a little, waved his hand and said: "Boys, survey out a good sized reservation around here for these Indians." He then returned to Boise, leaving the surveyor to exercise his own judgment in carrying out the indefinite instruc- tions. As the suryevor was paid by the mile for his work, and being confined to no definite area, he proceeded on the theory "The more miles the more money," and made the reservation much larger than was necessary. His work was com- pleted in due time, the report of the survey was forwarded to Washington, and on July 30, 1869, President Grant issued his order declaring the Fort Hall reservation established with the following boundaries :


"Commencing on the south bank of the Snake River, at the junction of the Port Neuf River with the Snake River; thence south twenty-five miles to the summit of the mountains dividing the waters of the Bear River from those of the Snake River; thence easterly along the summit of said range of mountains seventy miles to a point where the Sublette road crosses said divide; thence north about fifty miles to the Blackfoot River; thence down said stream to its junction with the Snake River; thence down the Snake River to the place of beginning, embracing about one million eight hundred thousand acres and in- cluding Fort Hall within its limits."


As originally established by this order, the reservation embraced a large part of the present County of Bannock, including the site of the City of Poca- tello. When the Oregon Short Line Railway was completed a number of set- tlers "squatted" on the Indian lands, but they were ordered off by the Govern- ment. It was not long, however, until the demand of the white people became so insistent that a portion of the reservation was purchased by agreement with the tribal leaders and thrown open to settlement. This was done in 1891, and in


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HISTORY OF IDAHO


1905 the reservation was reduced to its present dimensions-about half a million acres.


The "Kansas" prairie country referred to in the treaty of Fort Bridger was no doubt intended to mean the "Camas" prairie, which is located in the western part of Blaine and practically all of Camas counties. In laying off the Fort Hall reservation no part of this prairie was included, though the Indian agent allowed the Bannock Indians to go to the prairie to dig camas, hunt and fish, whenever they felt so inclined. When this privilege was restricted in 1877 it resulted in the so-called Bannock war, an account of which is given in the chapter on Early Military History.


FORT LEMHI RESERVATION


On September 24, 1868, some five months before the Fort Bridger treaty was ratified by Congress, a treaty was made with the bands of Shoshone, Bannock and Sheepeater Indians living in eastern Idaho, by which they relinquished all claims to the lands in that section except a reservation described as follows: "Commencing at a point on the Lemhi River that is due west of a point one mile due south of Fort Lemhi; thence due east about three miles to the crest of the mountains; thence with said mountains in a southerly direction about twelve miles to a point due east of the Yeanun bridge on the Lemhi River; thence west across said bridge and the Lemhi River to the crest of the mountains on the west side of said river; thence with said mountains in a northerly direction to a point due west of the place of beginning ; thence due east to the place of beginning."


Congress failed to ratify the treaty and the relations with these Indian bands remained in an unsettled condition until the executive order of President Grant, dated February 12, 1875, which established a new reservation of two townships of land, "Commencing at the Point of Rocks on the North Fork of the Salmon River, twelve miles above Fort Lemhi." The site selected was a poor one, most of the land consisting of hills and mountains, and the Indians were finally re- moved to Fort Hall.


PEND D'OREILLE CESSION


In 1871, without the formality of a treaty, the United States simply took possession of the territory claimed by the Pend d'Oreille, Kootenai, Methow, Okanogan, Northern Spokane, San Poeil, Colville and a few other minor Indian bands. By the executive orders of April 9 and July 2, 1872, reservations for these Indians were set apart in the State of Washington. That part of the terri- tory thus acquired by the United States within the limits of Idaho includes the northern part of Shoshone and Kootenai counties, all of Bonner County and the western part of Boundary County. Lake Pend d'Oreille and Priest Lake lie in the tract obtained by this action.


COEUR D'ALENE CESSION


By an executive order of June 14, 1867, President Johnson endeavored to establish a reservation, in what are now Kootenai and Benewah counties in Idaho, for the Coeur d'Alene, Southern Spokane and other fragmentary bands. The Indians refused to accept the reservation designated in the order, and as the


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Fort Hall reservation (established by an executive order of the same date) was intended specifically for the tribes of southern Idaho, nothing further was done toward settling the Coeur d'Alene on a reservation for more than five years. Early in 1873 Gen. James Shanks of Indiana, Thomas W. Bennett, gov- ernor of Idaho, and J. B. Monteith, agent for the Nez Perce Indians, were appointed special commissioners to negotiate an agreement with the tribe. These commissioners, after a consultation with the Coeur d'Alene chiefs, recommended an enlargement of the original reservation, with the boundaries as follows :


"Beginning at a point on the top of the dividing ridge between Pine and Latah (or Hangman's) creeks, directly south of a point on the last mentioned creek six miles above the point where the trail from Lewiston to Spokane crosses said creek; thence in a northeasterly direction in a direct line to the Coeur d'Alene Mission on the Coeur d'Alene River, but not to include the lands of said mission; thence in a westerly direction in a direct line to a point where the Spokane River heads in or leaves the Coeur d'Alene lakes; thence down the center of the channel of the said Spokane River to the dividing line between Washington and Idaho territories; thence south along said dividing line to the top of the dividing ridge between Pine and Latah (or Hangman's) creeks; and thence along the top of said ridge to the place of beginning."


On November 8, 1873, President Grant issued his executive order establish- ing the reservation and proclaiming the other lands formerly claimed by the Coeur d'Alene and associated tribes opened to settlement. The lands thus opened included the greater part of Shoshone, the northern part of Latah, the southeastern part of Benewah and the eastern part of Kootenai counties, about one and a half million acres.


The reservation at first contained about four hundred thousand acres. By an act of Congress, approved on July 13, 1892, a small portion of the reserva- tion on the east side of Coeur d'Alene Lake was restored to the public domain. On February 7, 1894, the Indians ceded by agreement a strip one mile wide across the north side, and the remainder was opened to settlement in 1910-except the lands allotted in severalty to the Indians.


DUCK VALLEY RESERVATION


In the establishment of the Fort Hall reservation some of the western Sho- shone bands objected to being quartered thereon and asked that a reserve be set apart for them nearer their hunting grounds about the sources of the Owyhee River. By the executive order of March 31, 1877, President Hayes directed that a reservation be established for these bands on the border between Idaho and Nevada. That portion in Idaho extends from the 100th to the 120th mileposts of the survey of the northern boundary of Nevada and north to the north line of township 16, south of the Boise base line, containing about one hundred square miles, to be known as the "Duck Valley Reservation."


An addition was made to this reservation for Paddy Cap's band of Pointe Indians by the executive order of President Cleveland on May 4, 1886. The addition includes township 15, south, ranges 1, 2 and 3 east of the Boise merid- ian, except such tracts of land within said townships, the title to which has passed out of the United States, or to which valid homestead or preemption rights have attached prior to the date of this order."


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It was by reason of the treaties, agreements and executive orders mentioned that at last it became possible for the white man to acquire title to practically all of the arable lands of Idaho. The Indian titles have been extinguished, so far as tribal possession is concerned, the comparatively small portion of the soil possessed by the descendants of the former owners being held in severalty, and will, as soon as the prohibited time of selling it has passed, unless complete habits of civilization are adopted by the present Indian owners, pass into the ownership of the dominant whites.


Without this acquisition of the lands by the general Government and the relinquishment of the Indian titles, the progress of the state toward its full devel- opment would have been indefinitely stayed, because no authority was or could have been vested in the states under which the Indian titles might be acquired. .


More than sixty years have passed since the first of these treaties was con- cluded and from that June day in 1855, when Governor Stevens and his asso- ciates procured the first cession of Nez Perce lands, the march of civilization has slowly but surely advanced and the great Northwest, then the wildest as well as the remotest part of our country, has developed into one of its most promising sections.


In no part of this great Northwest have the changes been more marked than in that portion included in the boundaries of Idaho. The Indian trail has given way to the railroad, halls of legislation have supplanted the tribal council lodges. Rugged mountain areas, once thought worthless except for their mineral treas- ures, have not only yielded untold wealth in gold, silver, lead and copper, but will continue for the years to come a veritable treasure house. Mining was once thought to be this mountain section's only source of wealth, but, great as are such possibilities, the real future prosperity of this part of Idaho depends on the suc- culent grasses upon which innumerable bands of sheep and herds of cattle feed during the summer months, and in the vast forests which are to a large extent supplying the ever increasing demands for lumber.


In the great valley of the Snake, of itself sufficient in area and resources to constitute a prosperous state, have sprung up scores of villages, towns and cities and a patriotic, intelligent community is now occupying what then seemed to be one of the waste places of the earth. The schoolhouse and the printing press have uprooted the traditions and taken the place of the superstitions of the medicine men of the Indian tribes and civilization in its highest form occupies a locality which then had seemingly been set apart for all time as an unfit place to accomplish its wonders. To tell the story of these changes, which have come about within the memory of living men, is the object of this history.


Vol. I-4


1


CHAPTER IV EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS


EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS-THE FRENCH- VERENDRYE-THE ENGLISH-THE AMERICANS-LEWIS AND CLARK-THEIR ROUTE THROUGH IDAHO-CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE-FATHER DE SMET-JOHN C. FREMONT.


THE SPANISH


For almost a century after the first voyage of Columbus to America in 1492, Spain led all the nations of Europe in maritime discoveries. Under Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V and his son Philip, "the banner of Spain was pushed into every sea and her cavaliers led all armies of distant conquest." As early as 1530 Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, discovered the Pacific Ocean and claimed the country bordering upon its waters in the name of Spain. Ten years later Hernando de Soto led an expedition from Florida into the interior and in the spring of 1541 reached the Mississippi River, not far from the present City of Memphis, Tenn. Almost contemporary with the De Soto expedition was that of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado from Mexico, in quest of the "Seven cities of Cibola" and the mythical Province of Quivira. Coronado penetrated the interior almost to the southern boundary of Nebraska, but without finding the fabled wealth of which he was in search. The story of a voyage to the North- west in 1592 by one Juan de Fuca, a Spanish adventurer, is discredited by a majority of historians, but it is a significant fact that the straits which form the entrance to Puget Sound still bear his name.


By virtue of these discoveries and expeditions, Spain claimed all the North- west, including the present State of Idaho. The extent of the region thus claimed was never fully known to the Spanish authorities of that day, and be- cause of the waning power of that country she was unable to hold possession of the territory, finally relinquishing it to England.


THE FRENCH


While Spain led in discoveries by sea, the French were the first nation to push explorations by land into the interior of the American continent and hold fast the territory. With Quebec as a base, the early French traders gradually worked their way westward to the country about the Great Lakes, where they established posts and opened up a profitable trade with the native Indian tribes. Closely associated with these traders were the Jesuit missionaries. The names


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of Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, the former a missionary and the latter a trader, figure prominently in the early history of the United States. They were the first white men after De Soto to behold the Mississippi River, having crossed the present State of Wisconsin by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers in 1673.


After the discovery of the Mississippi by Marquette and Joliet, Robert Cave- lier, Sieur de la Salle, was commissioned by the French authorities to trace the river to its mouth. His first attempt ended in failure, but on April 9, 1682, he reached the mouth of the great river and took possession in the name of France of all the region drained by it and its tributaries, giving to the territory the name of Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV, then King of France. This vast province was all lost to France at the conclusion of the French and Indian war in 1762, that portion east of the Mississippi going to Great Britain, and that west of the river to Spain. The latter was purchased by the United States by the Treaty of Paris, April 30, 1803.


VERENDRYE


In the early part of the eighteenth century a belief existed among Europeans that somewhere there was a river that flowed into the South Sea, as the Pacific Ocean was then called. This belief was founded upon reports given to the traders by Indians familiar with the Northwest, who said that near the mouth of the river the water was so rough that it was dangerous to try to pass over it in canoes. The description applies well to the Columbia River, which was then unknown to the white men.


Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verendrye, received authority from the French officials of Canada in the spring of 1731 to find this river. On June 8, 1731, he left Montreal on his mission, accompanied by his three sons, a nephew and a number of Canadian voyageurs. Little can be learned of this first expedition, except that Verendrye encountered a war party of Indians and in the fight which ensued his youngest son and several of the voyageurs were killed and the rest returned to Montreal. Other failures followed, but in January, 1739, Verendrye reached the Mandan villages on the Missouri River, not far from the present City of Bismarck, N. D., where he was deserted by his interpreter and forced to turn back.


With his two sons, two Canadians and an interpreter, Verendrye again visited the Mandan villages some time in the spring of 1742. From the villages he pressed on toward the west until he arrived at the Black Hills, where his interpreter again deserted him. Trusting to luck, he went on and passed the winter in the mountains somewhere near the Yellowstone National Park. One account of his explorations says that after the desertion of his interpreter in the Black Hills country, he found a friendly Indian who acted as guide and interpreter while he explored the Assiniboine, Yellowstone, Big Horn and Upper Missouri rivers. After wandering about for some months in the Rocky Moun- tain country he retraced his steps and in May, 1744, arrived at Montreal, having spent the greater part of thirteen years in seeking for a passage by water to the South Sea. More than a hundred years afterward a cairn was found in Mon- tana with a leaden plate bearing the name of Verendrye and the date, 1743. He


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and his associates were no doubt the first white men to see the Rocky Mountains, and they may have viewed the range that forms the eastern boundary of Idaho.


THE ENGLISH


In 1579 Sir Francis Drake visited the Pacific coast and made some explora- tions between the forty-second and forthy-eighth parallels of north latitude, or from Northern California almost to Puget Sound. He was the first English ex- plorer to enter the Pacific Ocean. There is no record of his having laid claim to any of the country in the name of Great Britain, and it is not believed that his explorations extended inland any great distance from the coast.


Captain Cook, another noted English explorer, made a voyage along the coast from about the forty-fourth to the forty-ninth parallels in 1778. Four years later Capt. George Vancouver made more extensive explorations in that quarter, his investigations going as far north as 52º 10', and perhaps a little above that latitude.


The year before Vancouver's voyage, Alexander Mackenzie, in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's post on Lake Athabasca, fitted out a small exploring party for the purpose of finding a way to the Pacific coast. Leaving the post on October 10, 1791, the party, with much difficulty, ascended the Peace River to the foot of the Rocky Mountains and there went into winter quarters. In June, 1792, Mackenzie went up the Peace River to its source near the fifty-fourth parallel. Not far from that point he found a stream flowing westward (called by the natives Tacoutchee-Tessee), which he descended in canoes for a distance of about two hundred and fifty miles. He than abandoned his canoes and inarched overland, striking the coast in latitude 52° 10', at the mouth of an inlet which had been surveyed by Captain Vancouver only a few weeks before. Mackenzie then returned to the fort on Lake Athabasca, arriving there in the latter part of August. His expedition connected the land and water explora- tions of the British in the Northwest.


THE AMERICANS


In the year 1787 a company of Boston merchants fitted out two ships-the Columbia and the Washington-"for trade and exploration on the northwest coast of North America." The Columbia was commanded by Capt. John Kendrick and the Washington by . Cap. Robert Gray. On the last day of November, 1787, the two ships sailed from Boston and in September, 1788, arrived at Nootka Sound, where the Winter was spent in trading with the In- dians for furs. In the Spring of 1789 Captain Gray sailed for China and did not return to Boston until the Fall of 1790.


. The following Spring the same merchants sent another expedition to the Northwest. On this occasion Captain Gray commanded the Columbia and was accompanied by the brig Hope, commanded by Capt. Joseph Ingraham. Late in April, 1792, Captain Gray discovered the mouth of the Columbia River and spent several days in trying to enter it, but was prevented from doing so by the swift flowing current. On the 11th of May he made another effort and this time was successful. He remained at the place now called Tongue Point until the 20th, trading with the Indians. Upon leaving the river he gave it the name of his vessel and the two points of land at the mouth he named after two prom-


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inent citizens of Boston, calling the one on the north Cape Hancock and the one on the south, Point Adams. Upon his return to Boston, a few silver medals, about the size of a dollar, were struck to commemorate the discovery of the Columbia. One of these was presented to Captain Gray, and after his death his widow gave it to Hall J. Kelley, with the request that he make some appro- priate disposition of it. Mr. Kelley gave the medal to J. Q. Thornton, who pre- sented it to the State of Oregon in 1860, and it is preserved in the archives of that state.


The report of Captain Gray's discovery was made public about the same time as that of Alexander Mackenzie's expedition. Mackenzie asserted that the river discovered by the American was the same one he had descended for more than two hundred miles, but abandoned before it reached the ocean. This view was lield by geographers generally until 1812, when Simon Fraser, another represen- tative of the Hudson's Bay Company, traced the river followed by Mackenzie to its mouth in the Gulf of Georgia, a little north of the forty-ninth parallel. Since that time it has been known as "Fraser's River." (See also the chapter on The Oregon Dispute.)


LEWIS AND CLARK


After Verendrye, no further attempt was made to find a water route to the "South Sea" for more than half a century. On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jeffer- son was inaugurated President of the United States. For over a decade it had been Mr. Jefferson's dream to explore the great Northwest, with a view to the acquisition of the territory by the United States. As early as 1792, while min- ister to France, he suggested to the American Philosophical Society that a fund be raised by subscription to defray the expenses of an exploring expedition "to ascend the Missouri River, cross over the Stony Mountains and descend the nearest river to the Pacific." An expedition was projected by the society, but it was given up and for a time the subject was dropped.


When Mr. Jefferson became President he was in a position to carry out his long cherished idea of exploring the Northwest. To his private secretary, Cap- tain Meriwether Lewis, he confided his intention and asked the secretary to prepare a list of the supplies that would be needed by such an expedition, with their probable cost. Captain Lewis soon afterward submitted the following:


Mathematical instruments $ 217.00


Arms and accoutrements (extraordinary) 81.00


Camp equipage 255.00


Medicines and packing


55.00


Means of transportation


430.00


Indian presents


696.00


Provisions extraordinary 224.00


Materials for portable packs


55.00


Pay of hunters, guides and interpreters.


300.00


Silver coin to defray expenses of the party from Nashville to the last white settlement on the Missouri River


100.00


Contingencies


87.00


Total


$2,500.00


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This list was presented to Congress with a confidential message on January 18, 1803. In the message Mr. Jefferson asked that an appropriation of $2,500 be made "for the purpose of extending the external commerce of the United States, as this will cover the undertaking from notice and prevent the obstructions which interested individuals might otherwise previously prepare in its way."




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