Fort Hall, Idaho

“ In July, 1882, congress officially ratified an agreement made at Fort Hall between the Shoshone and Bannock Indians and Joseph K. McCammon, whose name has been given to the town of McCammon in this county, and several railroad officers, by which the promoters secured a right of way through the reservation.
The opening of the Utah & Northern railway gave the first great impetus to settlement and development in southeastern Idaho, making it possible to market produce profitably and at the same time bringing the settler into touch with the outside world. ”

“ Except that there is a greater quantity of wood used in its construction, Fort Hall very much resembles the other trading posts which have already been described to you, and would be another excellent post of relief for the emigration. It is in the low rich bottom of a valley, apparently 20 miles long, formed by the confluence of Portneuf river with Lewis's fork of the Columbia, which it enters about nine miles below the fort, and narrowing gradually to the mouth of the Pannack river, where it has a breadth of only two or three miles. ”

“ In the spring of 1810, after Colter had departed, the Missouri Fur Company fort at Three Forks was so besieged by the Blackfeet that Andrew Henry was forced to flee with his trappers southwestward. They crossed the Continental Divide to the north fork of Snake River, since known as Henry’s Fork. A few log shelters built here near present St. Anthony, Idaho, called “Henry’s Fort,” became the first American establishment on the Pacific slope. During the rigorous winter of 1810-1811 it may be reasoned that these men explored the country within a wide radius of the Teton Mountains. ”

“ The Snake River was crossed just below the mouth of the Boise, about where, almost fifty-four years before, we had made our second crossing of the river.
We were landed on the historic site of old Fort Boise, established by the Hudson's Bay Company in September, 1834. This fort was established for the purpose of preventing the success of the American venture at Fort Hall, a post established earlier in 1834 by Nathaniel J. Wyeth. ”

“ From this time scouts were kept constantly moving through Cache valley, in the canons in the vicinity, and on the different emigrant roads, and the country thor oughly examined as far as Bear River lake east, Fort Hall north, and Raft creek west, yet no traces of Indians could be discovered.
Another train was attacked on Lander's road, about eighteen miles west of Fort Hall, and four men, one woman, and three children killed, and this when two companies of troops were within twenty-five miles of them. ”

“ The great state which we occupy is entirely under the control of the Co-opolitan Association. It contains four million people and two and a half million active members of the Industrial Army. Its inhabitants are all in cities, but no city is greater than one hundred and fifty thousand persons, except Idaho Falls and Shoshone, where the great water power, generating electricity, gives exceptional advantages for manufactures. Idaho Falls contains three hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants and Shoshone two hundred and twenty-one thousand. ”

“ Walla Walla organized a library association and free reading-room, which was supported by citizens for the benefit of strangers, and had a literary and lecture society, to which the officers from the garrison gave much time. The literary society was established as early as 1865.
The first printing done in this section was at the missionary station of Lapwai, in what was then Oregon, and was afterward Washington, and finally Idaho. The printer was Edwin O. Hall of the Honolulu mission, subsequently editor of the Polynesian. ”

“ Work journeys many miles and introduces us to the regular lines of travel of the fur traders between their forts in Washington, Northern Idaho and Montana and to some of the routine life of the forts. He visits the Nez Perces at their trading ground where the City of Lewiston, Idaho, now stands, the Flatheads at the spot where the large power plant is now being erected below Thompson Falls, Montana, and the then active Fort Okanogan, Washington, at the mouth of that river where now there is only barren waste ”

“ Fort Boise, established in 1836 near the junction of the Snake and Boise rivers, was a rendezvous for thousands of Indians, who gathered from all the country between the Pacific coast and the head waters of the Missouri River to trade and barter in horses, furs, and articles of adornment.
The discovery of gold in 1860 at a point on the Clear Water River in northern Idaho was followed by a vast immigration to that section; this led to the discovery of gold in other parts of the territory, and soon the placer mines in the vicinity of Boise and other places were developed. ”

“ Navi- hoes raise great quantities of grain, cattle, sheep, etc., and make their own clothing, and have their own religion, reject the Cath- olics of California, could be reached without doubt by any other religion. Who will go ? Thence west to Fort Hall, on Snake or Lewis river, Lat. 42 degrees, 13 minutes, Long. 113 degrees. This fort was built in 1834 by Capt. Whyeth of Boston, who came that year into the country to engage in the fur trade and with whom the missionaries Lees came. No female accompanied them. Here turnips have been raised but too frosty for farm- ing. ”

“ We were told by one of the members of the Company, that wheat had been sown at the Fort, and grew well. Fort Hall is built of the same material, and nearly in the same manner, as the Forts on the Platte are. ”

“ Of brick construction with red tile roof, the home has two stories, full basement and attic. The first floor includes entrance hall, large living room, sun room, dining room, kitchen, children’s room and half bath; the second floor has five bedrooms and complete bathroom.
Johnson was born in Raritan, Ill., in 1877 and died in Fort Dodge in 1940 at age 63. He moved with his parents to a farm in the Coalville area in 1891 and lived there until the family moved to Fort Dodge in 1901. ”

“ Accordingly they set out, with one other man belonging to Farnham's former adherents. They traveled to Henry's Fork, to Black Fork, where Fort Bridger now is, to Bear River, to Soda Springs, and finally to Fort Hall, suffering much from cold, and finding very little to eat by the way. At Fort Hall, which was still in charge of Courtenay Walker, Meek and Newell remained a week, when, having purchased their goods and horses to pack them, they once more set out on the long, cold journey to Fort Crockett. They had fifteen horses to take care of and only one assistant, a Snake Indian called Al. ”

“ Iowa arrived here, survivors of the company of emigrants lately massacred by the Indians about the 2nd inst., 25 miles west of Fort Hall between Portneuf Bridge and the Snake River.
Mr. Harrington makes the following statement in relation to the murderous affair: “Our company numbered 19 persons 6 men 3 women and 10 children between 1 and 10 years old. Some of the company was from Michigan and the others from Buchanan County, Iowa. ”

“ We were in Oregon. Fort Hall lay in the plain before us. Its hospitalities would be enjoyed ere sunset. Our wardrobes were overhauled, our razors put on duty, our sunburnt frames bathed in the Portneuf; and equipped in our best, our hearts beat joyfully back the rapid clattering of our horses' hoofs on the pavements of the mountains, as we rushed to the plains. ”

“ This shifting of population caused the removal of the State capital to its present location at Boise in 1864.
By an act of Congress creating the territories of Montana and Wyoming, Idaho was reduced to its present boundaries in 1868.
On July 3, 1890, Idaho passed from a territorial form of government to that of a state, being the forty-third State to join the great Federal Union. Since that time her growth and development have been continuous and rapid.
Mining, lumbering, manufacturing, and agricultural pursuits are the principal resources of the State. ”

“ I endeavored to have each Daily Co-opolitan in the hands of the national Brotherhood and each was issued on the plan of the great daily which was sent from Co-opolis to all parts of Idaho. The national Brotherhood was daily increasing in numbers and power.
My idea in extending branches of my department was to aid the national organization in destroying competition. How well I have succeeded the years have proved. The publications of the Co-opolitan Association have displaced all others and have brought millions to the safe in the basement of the Council Hall. ”

“ General Howard held three councils with the malcontent Indians at Fort Lapwai, the station of the Indian agency for the Nez Perces reservation, said to be the loveliest valley of Idaho. The last of these councils, that of May 7, 1877, was indeed a stormy session. ”

“ The two-story brick home has an interior arrangement that includes entry hall, living room, dining room and kitchen on the first floor; four bedrooms and bath on the second floor. There is also a family room on the landing halfway up the stairway to the second floor. The third floor attic has two large rooms used for recreation by the family. Years ago an amateur (ham) radio unit was installed there and operated extensively.
The home is now owned and occupied by Fred Breen, Fort Dodge attorney, and his wife. ”

“ Idaho, after small Mormon settlements of farmers, owed most of its early population to its mines. During the Civil War it grew remarkably, but the fact that it could be reached more easily from the West than from the East, due to access by the Columbia River, made its settlement somewhat anomalous in American history, for it was settled largely by Westerners moving east from Oregon, Washington, and northern California. ”

“ The evil, lumpish spirit of man's aspirations, man's hopes and faith!
Once that part of Idaho had been famed for its rich placer claims that had washed every day into the thousands; then a misleading and glittering outcropping of gold-studded quartz, and a mad wave of adventurers, Americans, Canadians, Englishmen, Scots, and Scandinavians, surging in and making the gaunt hillsides ring with the staccato thud of pickaxe and the dull, minatory rumble of powder and dynamite. ”

“ Two years before our road was completed to Chicago, after the last spike was driven at Seattle, we began the construction in that city of three large buildings costing one million dollars each.
These were of the most magnificent character and were equal to anything which in the competitive system would have compelled us to spend four or five million each. The reason was that we furnished the stone, slate, marble, lime and all building material from Idaho and performed all the work with our own Co-opolitan labor. We also transported men and material on our railroad. ”

“ Senator Wilson's amendment was agreed to and when the bill went back to the House it was concurred in and the new territory was henceforth designated Idaho.
Thus Senator Wilson selected the name Idaho, whilst Sen- ator Harding was instrumental in continuing its meaning. How the Shoshoni Indian word "Ee-dah-how" was eventually transformed into the English word "Idaho" is a task for the etymologist; but, whatever may be its etymology, the word "Idaho" and its meaning, "Gem of the Mountains," are forever fixed as correlated terms in the vocabulary of the people of Idaho. ”

“ Probably no state in the union is less known than Idaho. Wyoming has her “Buffalo Bill,” Colorado her Pike’s Peak, Nevada her far, but ill-famed Reno; Utah her famous salt lake; all known throughout the English speaking world. But Idaho, rich in natural resources, fertile and prosperous, has furnished no wild-west tragedy like that of Custer in Wyoming, to attract the attention of writers. She possesses no natural wonder to rival the Niagara Falls or Grand Canyon; she has produced no Kit Carson or Daniel Boone to fire the adventurous blood of ten-year-olds. ”

“ Honesty, justice and fraternity, in combination with industry, were unconquerable, and left no room for the gambler, the speculator, the panderer or the drone. This discovery having been made, the Legislative Council announced its purpose to place a department store and hotel in every city in the state, but to proceed cautiously, so as not to diminish the annual dividends of members.
By the employment of this great industrial force it was believed the citizens of Idaho would speedily be brought to enlist in and share the benefits of the Co-operative Commonwealth. ”

“ Fearing government delay in furnish- ing the money for its construction, and wishing to have a road opened for the next immigration to come direct to Puget Sound, the people undertook the work themselves, and endeavored to bring the road to Fort Steiiacoom, thus inviting congressional aid, and securing a terminus near Olympia. A sur- vey was therefore made of the Nachess pass, and the road brought down the valley of White River to the junction of Green River, where it turned south across the Puyallup to Fort Steiiacoom. ”

“ In May, 1877, Chief Joseph and his followers were ordered from the Wallowa 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 instead 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. ”