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Newsletter of the Oregon-California Trails

Association, Idaho Chapter

Vol. XXXI Issue 2 Nancy Briggs, Editor, May 2019

Calendar of Events

June 22nd North Alternate Oregon Trail

Meet at 9:00 am at the Pilot Truck Stop, Exit 95, in Mountain Home

July 13th Lander Trail August 10th Jeffreys/Goodale Cutoff

September 3rd-8th OCTA National Convention, Santa Fe October 5th Fall chapter meeting, Boise

October 5th Oregon Trail recreation Area , Boise

Trail Dust

Contents Calendar for 2019 1 Message from the President 2 Annual By-Way Tour 3 Spring Meeting 5 Northern Shoshone and Map Rock 6 IOCTA Officers and Directors 8

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Message from the President

By Jerry Eichhorst

The weather turned beautiful in southwestern Idaho just in time for Oregon Trail activities to start. We had

a great turnout for the annual spring byway tour on April 27. Many of the

people were very interested and promised to join OCTA and IOCTA. There were excellent turnouts as well,

for the activities of May 9, 10, and 11 in City of Rocks and Burley, and for the

Boise City Club byway tour on May 18.

Paula Davina has continued to lead the effort for getting National Park Service signs installed along the Oregon Trail

through Ada County. Some roadblocks have been encountered as Ada County

and the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) have balked at adding more large signs along busy

thoroughfares. NPS continues to work with ITD in the hope to establish a

statewide signage plan. Ada County Parks & Waterways is

planning to improve the Oregon Trail Recreation Area in southeast Boise off

Highway 21. I met with the Open Spaces & Trails Coordinator to tour the

Oregon Trail Recreation Area in SE Boise south

of SR 21.

site and show him the various roads of the area.

Ideas being considered for the area are to add gravel walkways, markers along

the Oregon Trail and Kelton Road ruts, a restroom, and additional interpretive signs. I assured him that the Idaho

chapter was happy to help with the effort.

Some interesting activities are being planned for the summer. We will be

visiting a suspected burial site on the North Alternate in June.

In July we will be returning to eastern Idaho to continue our exploration of the

Lander Trail.

John Briggs has offered to lead another Jeffreys-Goodale outing in August.

The fall chapter meeting will be held in early October in Boise. Speakers will

include Mike Edwards, Ada County Open Spaces & Trails Coordinator who will talk about the plans to improve the

Oregon Trail Recreation Area I toured with him, and David Valentine of Idaho

Power who will talk about the work required to get approvals and renewals for power lines in the areas of the

emigrant trails. We will hike the Oregon Trail site after the meeting and lunch.

Lastly, I want to welcome so many new

members joining the chapter this year. I hope you will join me on outings this

summer. They should be very interesting.

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Annual Byway Tour

A caravan of 17 vehicles wound across the southwest Idaho desert, stretching

for half a mile and kicking up a cloud of dust, much as the wagon trains did on the Oregon Trail 175 years ago. Over 40 people gathered on Saturday,

April 27, on a tour of the Main Oregon Trail Back Country Byway. IOCTA President Jerry Eichhorst led the tour and was assisted by IOCTA Vice-

President John Briggs and IOCTA Secretary Paul Dinwiddie.

Some of the more than 40 people attending the Oregon Trail Back Country By-Way Tour from Mountain Home to Mayfield, Idaho.

We started on the marked ‘Old

Oregon Trail’ at Exit 99 of Interstate 84 east of Mountain Home and

walked two short sections of pristine ruts off Hot springs Road and at Hot

Springs Creek Reservoir before visiting the location where the North

Alternate Oregon Trail rejoined the

main Oregon Trail at Ross and

Teapot Roads. Our final stop of the morning was the site of the Teapot

Dome Hot Springs. Now dry due to a lowered water table, the red iron

residue from the springs is still visible in the creek channel.

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Oregon Main Trail at Hot Springs Creek

At the Junction of the Main and North Alternate

Trails by Teapot Dome.

After lunch the group visited the Canyon Creek stage station where

long-time friend and owner Stan Norstebon chatted with the group.

Canyon Creek Stage Station in 2005

The walls of the station’s main

building have been restored and a roof is hoped for soon.

Canyon Creek Stage Station today

Our next stop was where the

Jeffreys-Goodale Cutoff joined the main Oregon Trail at Ditto Creek.

Jerry talked about the search for a suspected massacre site in the area

before the group hiked half a mile to

an inscription rock where emigrants wrote their names in axle grease on

a pinnacle rock beside the trail.

Ditto Creek Inscription Rock

After crossing Sole’s Rest Creek we stopped at the inscription rock

where the Trail followed Bown’s

Creek.

The group then moved on to the Mayfield community on Indian

Creek. The Trail lies under Mayfield Road here, but, as Indian Creek, it

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Inscription Rock at Bown’s Creek. The exposed nature of the rock, like that at Ditto Creek, is causing the Emigrant names to fade.

was a favored camping spot for the Pioneers. Captain Bonneville came

through in 1833 and the first settlers arrived in 1863. A stage station was

built in 1865 and a school and post office followed. Sadly, the old

community hall continues to deteriorate.

The Old Community Hall in Mayfield. The

wooden floor had been built from the outside walls in. A gap was left in the middle of the

floor. When used for dances, the patrons had to move with care!

Once the scene of regular gatherings and dances on Saturday nights, the

building has lost half of the roof and looks worse each year. It is only a

matter of a few years before it is likely to collapse, and a significant

piece of local history is lost forever.

Mayfield Stage Station also known as Corder’s Stage Station and as Indian Creek Crossing.

It was a beautiful day and a great

opportunity to share the special Oregon Trail sites so close to Boise

with such a large number of new people. We hope that many of the

participants will become members and join us on future outings.

Spring Meeting and Activities

John Briggs The Spring Meeting was held in Burley,

on May 11. We were graced by the presence of OCTA President, Pat

Traffas, and Western Representative, Sharon Brown. After a short business meeting, we heard from Jim Hardee on

‘The Snake River – Scene of so many Trials and Mishaps’, and from Leo

Ariwite on ‘The Northern Shoshone and Map Rock’. In the afternoon, Jim led a

tour to the Snake River at Caldron Linn. Prior to the Spring Meeting, a sizeable

group had spent time in City of Rocks National Preserve on the Kelton Road,

at Camp Rock, and on a rare opportunity to study pioneer signatures in Circle Creek Ranch. Details of the

City of Rocks activity and of Jim Hardee’s talk and tour will be covered

in the next issue of Trail Dust. I have summarized Leo’s talk in the following article.

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The Northern Shoshone and Map Rock

A Talk by Leo Ariwite

The Northern Shoshone or ne-we’ni (the people) had developed a wide-ranging culture fostered by their ability to

breed and ride horses. They had the opportunity to travel far and wide, perhaps traveling as much as 1200 miles a

year. From their Winter Quarters they might travel to the Camas Prairie for Camas roots, to the Boise and Snake

Rivers as well as the Salmon River for fish (AGAIDIKAS) , to the mountains for elk and bighorn sheep

(TUKUDIKAS) and to the plains in Wyoming

and Montana for mounted Buffalo hunting. In

Idaho the Shoshone were not consolidated

under common leadership but, rather, divided

into many local, extended family groups

loosely gathered in geographically based

‘bands. Even these ‘bands’ were fluid and

families might move from one to another.

Some families in the Boise and Bruneau areas

did not need to travel. There was sufficient

fish nearby to enable them to stay close to

home. Others like the Lemhi and Fort Hall

Shoshone developed the ability to conduct

mounted hunting of Buffalo though they also

ate fish, camas bulbs and other game as

appropriate.

Photo - Leo Ariwite and Jim Hardee with Mountain Men at Fort Hall replica in Pocatello

Map Rock was described in Trail Dust Vol. 30 no. 4, 2018. Leo explained how it was originally developed, pre contact

with Euro-Americans, in order to provide any Native Americans with knowledge of where the Northern Shoshone

bands might be at any time As a reminder an interpretive diagram of the petroglyph is shown below.

The interpretation comes from ‘Maps, Mapmaking and Map Use by Native North Americans’ Vol 2, Book 3 Chapter

4 by G Malcolm Lewis pp 64 – 65.

That Chapter is available as a PDF here

https://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/HOC/HOC_V2_B3/HOC_VOLUME2_Book3_chapter4.pdf

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As Leo described it, the Bannock from Northern Nevada, wished to have the same horse culture that the Shoshone

enjoyed. They journeyed to SW Idaho and met up with the Boise Shoshone and sought to trade for horses. The Boise

branch had none to spare and recommended they contact the Lemhi and Fort Hall bands. Where? The Boise Shoshone

told them to go to Map Rock, that this would tell them where, in season, the Shoshone would be.

Leo next told us about the Virginia City Treaty of

1868. In this treaty Chief Tendoy ceded 32,000 square

miles of land in SW Montana to the US Government

‘In Good Faith’ for a permanent reservation in the

Lemhi Valley. The treaty was never formally ratified,

but the move took place in 1875 nonetheless. Then,

some 30 years later in 1905, these Shoshone and

Bannock tribespeople were moved by the US

Government from the Lemhi Reservation to Fort Hall

having neither the Lemhi land nor the Montana lands

ceded in the Treaty. The story is captured in a film ‘In

Good Faith’ part of which Leo shared with us.

Watch the trailer for In Good Faith online

at https://vimeo.com/276931204.

The entire film can be seen at

https://vimeo.com/286414136.

You can read more here

https://cas.wsu.edu/2018/08/22/historic-find-is-

subject-of-new-documentary/

Leo also told us about the annual AGAIDIKA

Gathering when the Shoshone and Bannock people

travel to the Salmon and Lemhi valleys to remember

their ancestors and help connect their youth to that

heritage. A walk/run from Tendoy, Idaho to Lemhi

Pass is an important element of this commemoration.

You can see a video of it at the link below.

https://www.imdb.com/videoplayer/vi4273450777

Leo then shared with us the work he does to make

buckskin gloves; the work he is currently doing to

make beaded buckskin gauntlets and the beautiful

work his wife does with beads.

Leo’s story on the etymology of the State name differs

a little from that reported in Wikipedia. It derives

naturally enough from the conjunction of a Mountain

Man and his Indian Guide. The Guide had steered the

Mountain Man across the mountains into Idaho where

the great scenic beauty, plentiful game and verdant

pastures had impressed him. He asked, ‘What is this

place called?’. The Guide spoke no English and may

have misunderstood but responded “Ee-Da How’.

After successful trapping and hunting they returned to

the Rendezvous. Other trappers wanted to know where

was this place that he had been so successful. As they

drank and the night wore on Ee-Da-How became

Idaho. The true meaning though of Ee-Da-How in

Shoshone (at least for this story) is ‘Do you mean

this?’, the answer given as the Guide embraced the

magnificent Idaho scenery!

Ee-Da-How

Idaho Chapter OCTA 2908 Whitehaven Place Eagle, ID 83616

IOCTA Officers and Directors

Jerry Eichhorst President

Don Wind VP - East

John Briggs VP - West

Dan Dunne Treasurer

Paul Dinwiddie Secretary

Virgel Clark Historian

Don Wind Preservation - East

Virgel Clark Preservation - West

Nancy Briggs TD Editor

Jerry Eichhorst Webmaster

Dave & Donna Newberry Director

Lyle Lambert Director

Bill Wilson Director

Jim & Dawn Fazio Director

Lynn and Margie Houdyshell Director

Visit IOCTA online at www.IdahoOCTA.org