BY ARTHUR C. SAUNDERS Native Americans in front of a teepee Pocatello, Idaho, U. S. A. THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Limited 1915...

Although Bannock county is not yet twenty-five years old, it has seemed desirable to collect her history, before the adventures and legends of early days have been lost in the more prosaic and pressing interests of today. 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 p

The territory now comprising Bannock county first entered the pages of history when, in 1662, the French Sieur de la Salle planted his country’s flag in what he called “Louisiana,” after his sovereign, Louis XIV, of France. In order to prevent England from gaining it, and hoping at the same time to win an ally, Louis XV ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762. Napoleon traded it back from Carlos IV of Spain, but later sold it. This was the territory purchased for the United States by Thomas Jefferson i

Nature is the greatest of all historians. She is alike the most accurate and interesting. Her pen is the impress of time, and in characters more durable than the most lasting creations of man, she has written the story of the ages as they rolled slowly by. Impartial, unprejudiced, and in this respect omniscient, she has patiently and unerringly recorded a history more ancient than that of primeval man, more valuable than that of the proudest monarchy. And so, having in the previous chapter trace

Some years ago, when life was young and all the world one luring and beckoning field of adventure, the writer of this modest history spent five dollars to hear Dan Beard, Ernest Seton Thompson and others, lecture on “Woodcraft and Indians.” They spoke of the “noble red man,” and pictured a romantic and heroic being of high ideals and chivalrous life, whose adventures were clean and admirable, whose domestic life was happy and blameless. At least one member of the audience went home from those le

Closely associated with the Indians in the minds of many people, especially in the east, are the cowboys. The prevalent idea in the eastern states about the far west is much the same today as it was fifty years ago—an illusion that the moving pictures help to keep alive. And yet, prosaic as it may be compared with the stirring times of yore, there is still a charm and freedom in western life unequalled in any other part of the United States. That western people are fully alive to the romance and

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 purchased 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 monument stands in the High School grounds at Pocatello. Another was purchased for erection on th

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 county up to 1889 is identical with that of th

For seven years previous to the treaty of 1869, the Bannock Indians had given no trouble. In the late fifties and early sixties they committed a number of depredations, and in 1862, General Conner, with a body of troops from California, administered a defeat to them at Battle Creek, near the present town of Oxford, that effectually ended their misbehavior for several years. The bones of Indians killed in this fight are still found in the vicinity. It was told in a previous chapter how a confusio

Previous to 1863 there was no regular line of transportation through Bannock county, the mails being carried by pony express, which made the postage on letters cost from fifty cents to one dollar each, and the few people whose business called them across southern Idaho traveled singly or in groups, in the saddle, or by wagon, as suited their convenience and opportunity. But, however they traveled, they all followed the line of the old Oregon trail. In 1863, Oliver and Conover stocked a road from

It occurs to few men, as they glide smoothly across the Snake river in a vestibuled train, and watch the seething waters toss and tumble below the substantial iron bridge, to think of the problem the passage of this same stream afforded the traveler of fifty years ago. In his “Ventures and Adventures,” Ezra Meeker tells of how he crossed the Snake in 1852. Mr. Meeker and his party had crossed the plains from Iowa, on their way to Oregon, and by the time they reached Idaho their funds were almost

In his book “Astoria,” written about 1840, in which he gives the history of an attempt made by the first John Jacob Astor to establish a fur trade to the west of the Rocky Mountains, Washington Irving repeatedly regrets the fact that the great stretch of the western plains must forever form a desert stretch between the civilization of the west and that of the east. In one place he says: “Some portions of it (the prairie) along the rivers may partially be subdued by agriculture, others may form v

The city of Pocatello, so named in memory of an Indian chief, stands at the western entrance to the Portneuf canyon, and for that reason is appropriately known as the “Gate City.” Its site marks the junction of the Montana and Idaho divisions of the Oregon Short Line railroad, and the tremendous volume of traffic that passes through its yards, together with the many departments maintained here, is rapidly developing a large and prosperous city. Twenty-five years ago the town was a mere hamlet; i

There are twenty-three counties in the state of Idaho, of which sixteen have a smaller and six a larger population than Bannock, while twelve counties have a smaller area and ten a larger. Therefore, Bannock is one of the larger counties of the state. This position she has creditably maintained in both the number and the quality of her public men, of whom several were mentioned in the last chapter. Others who deserve mention here are former State Senators Ruel Rounds, George C. Parkinson, Louis