USA > Idaho > Bannock County > The history of Bannock County, Idaho > Part 3
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"Fifty cents," answered the bar- ber.
"How many weeks has your tub been gone?" the court asked.
"Three," the barber said.
Then the court summarized: "Sev- enty baths at fifty cents each equals thirty-five dollars per week. Three weeks at thirty-five dollars is $105."
So he fined the cowboy $105 and costs, and reimbursed the barber for his lost business.
The same frontier conditions that produced the cowboy have served also to make the westerner a more rugged and ever-ready man than the eastern- er. The westerner may lack some of the culture and finish of his New England cousin, but he is better equipped to fight the battle of life both in his training and in his in- herent qualities. The west is devel- oping a fine and unique type of man- hood. Its vast distances, its noble hills and far-stretching plains make an atmosphere of bigness that alone must influence, even inspire the race that is native to them. It is said that a little girl, fresh from the west- ern plains, was asked how she liked the east. "I don't like it," she said.
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"I can not see anything because of the trees." And the same cramped conditions that oppressed the child have perhaps done their part in nar- rowing the easterner. However that may be, the easterner is usually a man of more narrow ideas and of stronger prejudices than the west- erner.
We have one other inhabitant in Bannock county who deserves notice before he vanishes in the face of civ- ilization-the coyote. No one who has not heard the yell of a coyote on a still night knows what the phrase, "blood-curdling" means. These ani- mals are often crossed with dogs and make cowardly curs, until they are taught to fight. Having once learned the noble art, it is hard to make them keep the peace. Their pelts have a market value today, and in time to come will probably be highly prized.
Another class of men who made a winter rendezvous of the present site of Pocatello were the freighters-men who drove the old freight stages from Salt Lake to Butte. These men were true pioneers, camping along the old trails until they knew them blind- fold for hundreds of miles, and en- countering great risk from exposure and from the Indians. Sometimes an impoverished traveler worked his way with these freighters. He was called a swamper, and to his lot fell all the
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chores of the camp-chopping wood, carrying water and building fires. He usually paid well for his passage.
There was always bad blood be- tween the Indians and freighters, the former resenting the intrusion of the teamsters as they passed through the reservation along the old trail. The freighters prepared for trouble as they neared the reservation limits, and frequently met it.
In August, 1878, two men, Orson James, and another named James, but not related to the former, were taking a load of merchandise from Salt Lake to Butte, and were attacked by a hos- tile Indian on the road between Poca- tello and Fort Hall. The red man opened fire unexpectedly and shot James in the back. The freighters returned the fire from behind their wagons, but in time the Indian suc- ceeded in hitting Orson James in the neck. Then he rode off into the sage- brush, but was later captured and taken to Malad City, at that time the county seat, for trial. He was sen- tenced to four months' imprisonment in the penitentiary at Boise, where he died before his term expired. Both men recovered but Orson James was lame during the rest of his life.
When the Indian just mentioned was taken to Malad City, he was ac- companied by a brother. This man heard Alec Roden, a cow-puncher, re-
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mark that the Indian on trial should be hung. He attached undue import- ance to these words, thinking, in his ignorance of the white man's methods of justice, that they would affect the verdict unfavorably for his brother. Roden was later sent to the Fort Hall reservation to attend to a hay contract. In talking over the trial, Joe Rainey said to Roden, "You should not have let that Indian's brother hear you advise hanging. He is likely to seek revenge."
Roden laughed the fear away, but that same evening, while he was work- ing at the barn, the imprisoned In- dian's brother shot him dead.
Such attacks served to keep the white men on the alert. They were usually unprovoked, so far as the people who were attacked knew, but an investigation generally showed that the red man, after his fashion, was visiting a real or supposed wrong on the first member of the offending race he encountered.
Few features of the far west are more widely known, or more charac- teristic than the prairie schooner. In parts of South Africa the same pio- neer conditions exist that prevailed in our western states until a few years ago. The climate and nature of the country are much the same. It is interesting to notice that the same conditions, ten thousand miles
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away, and untouched by American western influence, have produced the same prairie schooner that we see winding the dusty trails of Bannock county today. It is probably safe to say that were two bodies of men sent from Paris-one five thousand miles east and the other five thousand miles west-to new countries of like con- ditions, the two parties would be found after several generations to have evolved the same habits of dress, custom and life. Yet not the men, but Nature, the great mother of us all, would have decided these things for them.
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CHAPTER V.
FORT HALL.
There are many historical spots in the United States unmarked by a monument, but there are probably few cases on record of a monument searching for a vanished site. Such is the case of the stone pillar pur- chased by subscription to mark the original site of Fort Hall.
In 1906 Ezra Meeker traveled along the old Oregon trail and raised money with which to mark the historical points along the route. One monu- ment stands in the High School grounds at Pocatello. Another was .purchased for erection on the Fort Hall site. A teamster was directed to carry it to its destination on the banks of the Snake river, twelve miles to the west of Pocatello, and this man deposited the monument at the dobies, that were once a stage station. Those in charge of placing the monument, being unable to cer- tainly determine the original site of the fort decided to leave the pillar where it lay, until the old fort had been indisputably located. And there it still rests, and probably will remain for some time to come.
It is unfortunate that the most his-
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torical point in Bannock county and one of the most historical in the state of Idaho, should have been lost sight of.
No effort will be made in this chap- ter to decide the question, because such an attempt would be little more than a guess. It seems not unlikely, indeed, that the original site has com- pletely vanished.
Fort Hall was established in 1834 as a fur trading station by Captain Nathaniel Wyeth. The captain found himself unable to compete success- fully with the Hudson Bay company, which at that time operated in these parts, and in 1835 sold his interests to his rivals and returned to the east.
Here comes the first problem in lo- cating the original site. The Hudson Bay company is thought to have moved the fort. Who can tell whether the sites now pointed out were those of the first or second post? Some pioneers maintain that Fort Hall was moved three times before the sixties, while others maintain that some old ruins on the bank of the Snake, about one and a half miles above the Tilden bridge, are the first site. This spot is now overgrown with grass, but it is possible to detect the outlines of an old foundation, something over two hundred feet in length, and what appears to have been at one time rifle pits. Evidently it was the location
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of a large building, but whether or not of the first fort, who can tell ? Joe Rainey, native interpreter at the present Fort Hall Indian reservation, maintains that this was the first site.
Other old-timers say that some do- bies near the Snake river were a fort site, but Mr. J. N. Ireland of Poca- tello, says that he built these himself and that they were a station on the old Overland stage road.
The old Oregon trail, which ex- tended for over two thousand miles, from St. Louis, Mo., to Portland, Ore- gon, divided at Soda Springs, in Ban- nock county, into two almost parallel courses, which met again at old Fort Boise. One of these followed the Portneuf river through the present sites of McCammon and Pocatello. The other followed a northwesterly direction from Soda Springs to old Fort Hall.
Many pioneers, in their description of the fort as they first knew it, speak of a river that can be no longer found. Either its course has changed since the early days, or its name changed; perhaps both. which last condition would make it very diffi- cult to identify the present stream with that of seventy-five years ago.
During pioneer days, Fort Hall was one of the most important posts along the Oregon trail. It was the first point west of Fort Laramie, where
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travelers could rest securely under the protection of the flag, and where there was a garrison of soldiers to re- lieve them of all fear of sudden at- tack from the Indians. Here the weary and travel-stained pioneers, pushing on for the far-famed Oregon territory, found respite from their toils and dangers, and enjoyed once more the companionship of their own kind. Here, too, preparatory for the last, long march of their transconti- nental journey, they repaired their wagons, and discarded such baggage as it had seemed wise to bring when starting, but which later experience proved to be only an encumbrance. An area of several acres around Fort Hall is said to have been covered with this debris, which was ransacked by the Indians and shorn of such parts as the red men wanted. Prof. W. R. Siders, superintendent of the Poca- tello public schools, who has been interested for several years in the effort to locate the site of the original fort, and to whom the writer is in- debted for very generous and valu- able information, maintains that it ought to be possible to identify the Hudson Bay company's fort by the rummage in its vicinity. He has ex- amined the banks of the Snake river for several miles and been unable to unearth any such remains. This fail- ure adds probability to the statement
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of old "Doc" Yandell, a trapper in early days, who still resides in these parts. Mr. Yandell says that some years ago he and Pete Weaver lived on the site of old Fort Hall, which was then on the banks of the Snake river, and three quarters of a mile distant from a spring. In later years Mr. Yandell maintained that he could walk directly to the site of his former camp, but when he attempted to do so, he found that the Snake was flow- ing within three hundred yards of the spring that used to be three-quar- ters of a mile from its bank. It is probable that since his departure some spring flood had washed out a new channel for the river, thereby changing its course, and placing the old fort site under water. This might account for Prof. Siders' failure to find the debris of which he was in search.
The name "Fort Hall" has experi- enced numerous vicissitudes, since it was first coined eighty years ago. The Hudson Bay company received it from Captain Wyeth. When the Hudson Bay company sold its American rights to the United States government in 1863, the latter used the name to des- ignate the military post which stood about sixteen miles northeast of the present agency. Here the government maintained a garrison of three com- panies of soldiers until about 1884.
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when the troops were withdrawn and the fort buildings used for Indian school purposes. When the school was moved to its present quarters, which were first occupied in 1904, the name went with it. Some of the old fort buildings were moved to the new site, and the remainder given to the Indians. Traces of the fort may still be seen.
The Oregon Short Line station at the reservation, originally called Ross Fork, has recently been changed to Fort Hall and the name is also used to designate the whole reservation.
The name Ross Fork, according to Interpreter Joe Rainey, was derived from an old man named Ross, who operated a ferry across the Snake river forty years ago. One or two old posts still mark the ferry site.
The Fort Hall Indian reservation for the Bannock Indians was estab- lished in July, 1868. In July of the previous year the government ap- pointed a commission consisting of N. G. Taylor, Lieutenant General Sherman, U. S. A., William S. Har- ney, John B. Sanborn, S. F. Tappen, A. H. Terry, and Brevet Major Gen- eral C. C. Augur, U. S. A., to nego- tiate treaties with all hostile and non- treaty Indians. and if possible to set- tle them on reservations. The treaty made with the Bannock Indians states that they were to have "reasonable (60)
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portions of the Portneuf and Kansas prairies." There is no doubt that not "Kansas" but "Camas" was meant, the latter being a favorite re- sort of the Indians, where they gathered the tuberous Camas root, which they prized highly as a food. The mistake in the name must have been made by an interpreter, clerk or typesetter, and Mr. John Hailey says that the government officials under- stood the mistake, but threw open the Camas prairie for settlement by the whites. The Indians who signed this treaty on behalf of the Bannocks were Taggee, Tay-Toba, We-Rat-Ze- Won-A-Gen, Coo-Sha-Gan, Pan-Sook- A-Motse, and A-Mite-Etse. To them, no doubt, "Kansas" and "Camas" meant the same, but the mistake caused much trouble in later years.
The treaty was made July 3, 1868, ratified by the United States senate, February 16, 1869, and proclaimed by President Andrew Johnson, Feb- ruary 24, 1869.
The governor of Idaho was in- structed by the authorities at Wash- ington to have the proposed reserva- tion surveyed, probably in accordance with the clause which provided "rea- sonable portions of the Portneuf and Kansas prairies." The governor is said to have visited the Portneuf val- ley, and with a wave of the hand to have instructed the surveyor to "sur-
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vey out a good-sized reservation around here for these Indians." He then returned to Boise. As the sur- veyor was paid by the mile for his work, he ran the survey out to as many miles as possible. Consequent- ly the reservation included twice as much land as was needed, but its lim- its were later curtailed. No notice was taken of the provision for a por- tion of the "Kansas" prairie, but the Indian agent allowed his charges to fish, hunt and dig camas on the Camas prairie whenever they wished.
The country now included in the Fort Hall reservation was at one time the scene of many Indian battles. A hundred years ago, when buffalo still roamed these parts, the Blackfoot In- dians ranged along the river that now bears their name. This tribe was the arch-enemy of the Bannocks and Sho- shones, who used to make raids into the enemy's territory for the pur- pose of stealing their horses and cat- tle, and in turn to patrol their own demesnes when the enemy invaded them. An old squaw, said to have been more than a hundred years old, died on the reservation last year, who used to tell of a battle fought in her childhood between the Bannocks and Blackfeet that lasted four days.
On some of the higher buttes to- ward the north of the reservation there still stand stone pillars, built
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by the Indians. These were look-out posts, and most of them stand where a view of the country may be had for miles around. Here the spies watched the movements of their enemies and made signals to their friends. Usually the look-out lay behind the pillar and peered around its base, but sometimes he stood flat against its front. As the enemy gradually circled in one direction or another, the spy moved slowly around the pillar, always keep- ing his face toward those he was watching lest in the distance they should detect his form standing out from the pillar and take alarm.
The following statistics were very kindly furnished by Mr. Cato Sells, U. S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs :
The Fort Hall Indian reservation contains 454.239 acres, of which 38,000 acres were irrigated by 140.37 miles of ditch in June, 1913.
The value of the property and funds on the reservation of the In- dians is $4.551,711, or $1,103.97 per capita.
The crop raised by the Indians in 1913 were valued at $73,591, and dur- ing the same year they sold $51,520 worth of stock. These items. added to the receipts from other industries, made their total income for the year amount to $169,262.42.
The Indian population of the reser- vation, June 30, 1913, was 1,819. Of
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these, 273 were operating farms for themselves, 222 children were en- rolled at the reservation school, and thirty were enrolled at the Episcopal Mission School of the Good Shep- herd.
The largest ranch operated by an Indian contains 160 acres.
Only three crimes were committed by Indians during the year. Two ar- rests were made for drunkenness.
The most prevalent diseases among the Bannock Indians are tuberculosis and trachoma.
There are no longer any soldiers on the reservation, but a patrol of Indian police guards the public safety. These men are splendid types of their race. The delight of their lives is to arrest a white man.
There is an atmosphere of content- ment on the reservation and a good- will between the Indians and govern- ment agents employed there that is a credit alike to red men and white. While most of the full-blooded bucks on the reservation wear thick braids of hair, most of them appear to be clean shaven. Yet they seldom, if ever, use a razor. When their beards begin to come in, they pluck out the hairs, thereby solving the barber problem for all time.
In the government school, too, the air is one of wholesome contentment. No more cheering sight could be (64)
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wished for than that of the Indian boys and girls chatting cheerily as they eat their bountiful dinner in the large, well-lighted, dining room of the government school. It is a pleasure to acknowledge here the unfailing and uniform courtesy the writer has al- ways experienced on his visits to Fort Hall.
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CHAPTER VI.
The Nez Perce Indian War.
In the days when Bannock was a part of Oneida county, the Nez Perce Indians went on the war path. The trouble started in Oregon and ended a thousand miles away at Bear Paw, Montana. Several accounts of this outbreak have been published, some of them going into much detail, but no one, to our knowledge, has told the story of the rapid flight of a band of Chief Joseph's followers across Oneida county. To fill the gap and because the history of Bannock coun- ty up to 1889 is identical with that of the county of which she formed a part, this chapter is written.
The Nez Perce war, like so many of the early troubles between red men and white, was due to a dispute caused by a treaty.
The first Indian treaty in Idaho was executed between Governor Ste- vens, of Washington Territory, who was also ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, and the Nez Perce In- dians, June 1, 1855. Up to this time there had been no serious trouble with the Indians in this part of the north- west, with the exception of the Whit- man massacre in 1847, when the Cay- use Indians killed Dr. Whitman and
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several other settlers. The Nez Perce, however, showing signs of uneasiness at the increasing number of whites and the large tracts of land they were appropriating, Governor Stevens thought it wise to have an under- standing with them. In brief, the treaty set apart the Nez Perce reser- vation, allowing to the Indians cer- tain annual payments and providing for the establishment of an agency and Indian schools, in return for which the Indians ceded to the United States their claim to other lands. One independent, sagacious and brave Nez Perce chief, named Joseph, refused to sign this treaty, and with his ad- herents, continued to roam the coun- try as before, untramelled by reserva- tion limits or the provisions of treat- ies.
In May, 1877, Chief Joseph and his followers were ordered from the Wal- lowa Valley, Oregon, to the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho, and given until June 14th to make the move. The Indians felt the injustice of being called upon to observe a treaty to which they had never agreed, and in- stead of obeying the order, made a rapid journey to the east of the Salmon river country in Idaho, and suddenly attacked the thinly settled whites there, killing seventeen, and wounding many others. They then fired the settlers' homes and farms
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and drove away their horses and cat- tle. Volunteer companies were quick- ly formed to protect the whites in the outlying districts, but during the mobilizing of the men, several more were killed. Three other small bands of non-treaty Indians linked their for- tunes with those of Chief Joseph; one band, under Chief Looking Glass, an- other under Chief White Bird, and the third under Chief Tchulhulsote, known as the Dreamer Chief.
General Howard, at Fort Lapwai, who had been relying on a promise given by Chief Joseph to obey the order to move on to the Nez Perce reservation, immediately sent two companies of cavalry, under Colonel Perry, to deal with the Indians, while other soldiers were summoned from Walla Walla, Portland and San Fran- cisco.
The Indians continued on the ram- page for the next two days until June 16, 1877. On that day, Colonel Perry arrived on the scene and gave battle to the red men in Whitebird canyon. In an hour thirty-four of his ninety men were killed and two wounded. He beat a hasty retreat to Grange- ville.
On June 22nd, General Howard himself took the field with a force of two hundred and twenty-five men and an equipment of artillery. From that time until his final surrender to Col. (68)
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Nelson A. Miles, October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph led his followers from one point to another, extricating them from apparently hopeless predica- ments, and showing a military shrewd- ness that ranks him among the first warriors of his race.
In their flight eastward one body of Nez Perces pursued a southerly course, crossing Oneida county a lit- tle above Eagle Rock, now called Idaho Falls. It is thought that they expected the Bannock Indians on the Fort Hall reservation to rise and join them, but if this was the case they were disappointed. Perhaps the Ban- nocks saw the folly of casting in their lot with an ally who was already in flight, but as will appear presently, the Nez Perces received no help from the Bannocks.
The Nez Perces followed a trail down Birch creek. At the same time, August, 1877, two freighters, named Hayden and Green, were traveling northward to Salmon City, with eight or ten wagons, loaded with merchan- dise. In their party were two hired men, two Chinamen and a swamper, who was working his passage. A party of the Indians met the Hayden and Green outfit and approaching them in a friendly manner, said they wanted to buy flour. Hayden asked them the price then current in Salmon City-$1.75 per hundredweight. The
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Indians beat him down fifty cents per hundredweight in his price, bought and paid for their flour, and moved on. Soon Hayden met a second de- tachment of the Nez Perces, who also wanted to buy flour. He quoted these men the same price he had sold to the first party for, but the second also beat him down. After paying for their purchase, the Indians passed on and joined their comrades. When the two bands compared notes, they found a discrepancy in price, and turned in their tracks to overtake Hayden. When they came up with the freight- ers, they forced them to go into camp near the sink of Birch creek, and be- gan riding threateningly around the wagons, which the freighters had cor- raled in regular form. The swamper became uneasy and, when opportunity offered, took to the hills. After a time the Indians took a barrel of whiskey from one of the wagons and having opened it, used it as a free bar. Now Hayden and his compan- ions felt alarmed. One by one they made cautiously for a willow grove on the creek bank, but one of them was killed within thirty yards of the camp. another ten yards further, while a third was shot down when nearly a quarter of a mile distant. All three bodies were mutilated. The Indians, now maddened with drink, turned their attention to the two Chinamen, (70)
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whom they abused cruelly. Forcing them down on all fours, they rode the yellow men with spurs, using their whips and rowels freely. Tiring of this sport, the Nez Perces after tak- ing what they wanted, made a bonfire of the freight wagons, which were afterward found burned to the hubs. The Chinamen availed themselves of this opportunity to escape. Both they and the swamper were rescued after wandering for several days in the mountains, but all three men were insane from exposure, hunger, fear and abuse.
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