Trail Dust. Contents. Calendar for 2019

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Trail Dust. Contents. Calendar for 2019"

Lauren York
5 years ago
Views:

1 Trail Dust Newsletter of the Oregon-California Trails Association, Idaho Chapter Vol. XXX Issue 4 Nancy Briggs, Editor, Oct 2018 Contents Calendar for 2018/ Message from the President 2 Goodale/Jeffrey s Cutoff Trail outing 3 Idaho s Map Rock 6 Diaries Across Idaho 9 Calendar for 2019 Feb March Boise Community Education Classes March 15 th 16 th, - OCTA Symposium in Independence, MO April Spring Byway Tour May 11 th am - Spring Chapter Meeting in Burley May 11 th pm - Visit to Caldron Linn with Jim Hardee September 3rd 7 th - Annual Convention in Santa Fe NM. October 5 th Fall Meeting 1 P a g e

2 Message from The President By Jerry Eichhorst The IOCTA chapter fall meeting was held on Saturday, October 6, in Mountain Home. My thanks to the members and visitors who attended the meeting. The following people were elected as officers and directors for the chapter: President Jerry Eichhorst Vice-President East Don Wind Vice-President West John Briggs Treasurer Dan Dunne Secretary Paul Dinwiddie Director Lynn & Margie Houdyshell (3-year term) Director Bill Wilson (3-year term) Director Lyle Lambert (filling last year of open position) Appointed positions are: Historian Virgil Clark Preservation East Don Wind Preservation West Wally Meyer Trail Dust Editor Nancy Briggs Webmaster Jerry Eichhorst I would like to thank all of these people for their continued service to the Idaho chapter. Running the chapter is much easier when quality people do a great job in handling their areas. Thank you very much. After the business meeting, Luke Hittner of the Burley BLM office talked about plans to improve the Milner Recreation Area west of Burley. John Hiler, a local historian and author, followed with a presentation on the history of the King Hill area. My thanks to Luke and John for adding informative presentations to the meeting. Fall has set in to Idaho as temperatures are falling along with the leaves. The colors of October are brilliant with blue skies and bright gold and red leaves. The impending winter is the only drawback in my mind. I will be teaching the Boise Community Education classes again in February or March. I encourage you to attend if you have an interest. The annual spring byway tour will follow in mid-april. And looking further ahead, the spring chapter meeting will be held the second Saturday in May in Burley. Noted author and historian Jim Hardee will talk about the early fur trappers through southern Idaho and lead a tour after lunch to Caldron Linn. Mark your calendars. I hope you have a good fall and winter. See you in the spring.. 2 P a g e

Goodale s (Jeffrey s) Cutoff August 25 th 2018 By John Briggs & Dan Dunne This tour was conducted on Saturday, August 25 th, 2018, as a caravan tour for the Idaho Chapter of OCTA.

Sixteen members started out at old Corral School some 8 miles West of Fairfield north of US 20 near Corral Creek.

3 Goodale s (Jeffrey s) Cutoff August 25 th 2018 By John Briggs & Dan Dunne This tour was conducted on Saturday, August 25 th, 2018, as a caravan tour for the Idaho Chapter of OCTA. It was led by John Briggs and Dan Dunne. The tour was compressed, as much as possible, to fit a large number of interesting sites into a single day. Sixteen members started out at old Corral School some 8 miles West of Fairfield north of US 20 near Corral Creek. Corral School photo taken earlier in 2018 The Cutoff is a 230 miles alternate route from near Fort Hall to a point 25 just SE of Boise. It was initiated by John T. Jeffreys in He was probably making use of Indian Trails leading to Camas Prairie from the Fort Hall and Fort Boise areas. have taken 2 ½ to 3 days (40+ miles) by wagon, providing no rest days were taken. That was as recorded in the Ebey, Merrill and other diaries between 1854 and The Eakins, in 1866, were faster, averaging between 20 and 30 miles a day in this area! From Corral we drove north to Baseline Road and from there headed in a generally westerly direction following the Trail closely on gravel and farm roads. We crossed Chimney Creek, a popular stop for the pioneers although the trail is not visible due to intensive agricultural use. We had good roads today and the country same as yesterday (which they described as lovely). Two- and one-half miles to Corral Creek, 10 ft wide, and two-and one-half miles to Chimney Creek, 12 ft wide. Winfield Scott Ebey Aug 15 th, Interesting, because on August 25 th, 2018, Chimney Creek was dry. No water at all! Our first action was at Cow Creek where a damaged Carsonite was repaired. The route was used in 1854, but then the cutoff appears to have not been used again until the huge train of 338 wagons that Tim Goodale assembled in Attacks on the main Oregon Trail provoked many pioneers to seek out a safer route that year. From 1862 it became the most frequently used route of the trail to Oregon from Fort Hall to Boise. To put things in perspective our journey from Corral Creek to the confluence of the East and West forks of Long Tom Creek would Carsonite at Cow Creek N ' W ' 3 P a g e

We stopped for lunch at Cow Creek Reservoir which sits atop the Trail. There is a good section of swale on the private land west of the Reservoir as the land gently climbs towards High Prairie.

On August 19 th, 1854 that train was crossing Camas Prairie as part, though in the rear, of a loosely amalgamated train including the McKinney, Harvey Jones, Winfield Ebey, Yantis, Coats and Ward

The Perry- Lake train was attacked at a location called Wild Horse Creek There is a small Canyon fitting the description in the Perry account, but it is difficult to believe that the Perrys could

4 We stopped for lunch at Cow Creek Reservoir which sits atop the Trail. There is a good section of swale on the private land west of the Reservoir as the land gently climbs towards High Prairie. Cow Creek Road follows the Cutoff across Negro Creek and into the Wild Horse Creek drainage. We paused to consider whether this place could have been where the Perry Lake train was attacked in 1854? On August 19 th, 1854 that train was crossing Camas Prairie as part, though in the rear, of a loosely amalgamated train including the McKinney, Harvey Jones, Winfield Ebey, Yantis, Coats and Ward parties. The Perry- Lake train was attacked at a location called Wild Horse Creek There is a small Canyon fitting the description in the Perry account, but it is difficult to believe that the Perrys could from this location have joined the Ebey train downstream from present day Boise by the 22 nd as indicated in the diaries, given that Ebey was already at Soles Rest Creek on the 19th. We crossed Wild Horse Creek a couple of times before losing the Trail again under agricultural land. At the junction of Castle Rock Road and High Prairie Road the Cutoff is well marked. Here the Newberys helped repair yet another damaged Carsonite Repair work at Castle Rock Road N ' W ' There are a number of areas of good ruts and swales in Little Castle Rocks. We paused near Cat Creek Summit to walk the Trail, to hear Russ Smerz tell of his first encounter with a trail so pristine he could not see it, and to briefly talk about the plans Cat Creek Energy has for a wind farm here. Draw at Wild Horse Creek N ' W ' Ebey identifies the attack as having occurred at Valley Spring, Harvey Jones identifies only Camas Prairie. Mary Perry believed it to be White Horse Creek. McGill in his book suggests this may have taken place where the Cutoff joins the Old Road at Ditto or Soles Rest Creek. A good section of trail at N ' W ' Shortly after we arrived at Skull Rock where Castle Rocks Creek begins its journey to Cat Creek. 4

In the vicinity of the campground are large granite boulders unlike anything I have seen before Julius Merrill 1864. 19.076' W115 27.119').

682' Here we made our noon halt and amused ourselves painting our names on the rocky columns Ebey Aug 16 th, 1854 Unfortunately, these pioneer names have been lost to more recent activity Goodale s

We finished our tour at the confluence of the East and West forks of Long Tom Creek. The Cutoff continues up the West Fork to the Danskin Mts.

5 In the vicinity of the campground are large granite boulders unlike anything I have seen before Julius Merrill ' W '). The Trail is very clearly visible on the north side of the East Fork of Long Tom Creek (N ' W '). At Skull Rock N ' W ' Here we made our noon halt and amused ourselves painting our names on the rocky columns Ebey Aug 16 th, 1854 Unfortunately, these pioneer names have been lost to more recent activity Goodale s Cutoff marked as shown on the north side of the East Fork of Long Tom Creek with the primitive road, on the south side. We finished our tour at the confluence of the East and West forks of Long Tom Creek. The Cutoff continues up the West Fork to the Danskin Mts. Bibliography The 1854 Oregon Trail Diary of Winfield Scott Ebey. Edited by Susan Doyle and Fred Dykes. OCTA 2007 Bound for Idaho, The 1864 Trail Journal of Julius Merrill. Edited by Irving Merrill. U of Idaho Press After Skull Rock the Cutoff stays east of Castle Rocks road and Castle Rocks Creek, running down Buck Creek to Cat Creek where it crosses US 20. Buried by US 20 the Cutoff climbs through Windy Gap and then crosses Little Camas Prairie. We picked it up again at Dixie on Long Tom Road, also known as Dixie Cutoff (N43 A Long and Wearisome Journey. The Eakin Family Diaries, Maverick Publications, The Boise Massacre on the Oregon Trail. Donald H Shannon. Snake Country Publishing, Rediscovered Frontiersman Timothy Goodale. James W McGill. OCTA

Harvey Jones 1854 Oregon Trail Journal. PDF available from Idaho genealogy.org. The Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Apr. 1916), Experience of a Pioneer. Mary Perry Frost.

Her expertise is in Classical and especially Islamic Cartography, but she admitted to curiosity about Map Rock, how old it might be and why it is not better known. Not that it is unknown.

6 Harvey Jones 1854 Oregon Trail Journal. PDF available from Idaho genealogy.org. The Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Apr. 1916), Experience of a Pioneer. Mary Perry Frost. Map showing the area covered during the tour We first learned of Map Rock at a Boise State University lecture on historical maps given by Prof Karen Pinto. Her expertise is in Classical and especially Islamic Cartography, but she admitted to curiosity about Map Rock, how old it might be and why it is not better known. Not that it is unknown. It gets a mention on the website of Visitidaho.org as part of the Snake River Canyon Scenic Byway. And it is on the National Register of Historic Places. Idaho s Map Rock By John Briggs develop that park. Even the information board remains unhelpful! In November of 2012, Canyon County acquired Map Rock, and 34 acres of surrounding property for the creation of a park. As of Fall 2018 little had been done to Information Board at Map Rock! 6

It faces the river with a slightly upstream orientation, which would make it noticeable to anyone traveling the road downstream.

7 Nearby Celebration Park also has many Petroglyphs, some believed to be as old as 12,000 years. Map Rock may be that old but could be much younger. The petroglyph is carved on a large basalt block sitting at the base of a 150ft high basalt cliff on the north bank of the Snake River. It faces the river with a slightly upstream orientation, which would make it noticeable to anyone traveling the road downstream. The map clearly identifies the Snake River as a continuous line running all the way across the face of the rock but identifies many other features as well. General view of the Map Rock Petroglyph Whether this is a map for hunters or people traveling the trail is not known. The site is a place of spiritual importance to the Shoshoni... An interpretation was proposed as early as 1897 in a letter written by E.T. Perkins (visiting on behalf of John Wesley Powell) and a typescript by J.T. Harrington (date unknown) and referenced in Maps, Mapmaking and Map Use by Native North Americans by G Malcolm Lewis. 7

in the Jarbridge Range. Bonneville Peak is the tallest in the Portneuf Range and Big Southern Butte is the largest of the three rhyolitic domes in the Arco desert in Eastern Idaho.

First published report of its existence was in 1889 by the Idaho Statesman. In the interpretation at top, the left hand sketch reproduces and simplifies the petroglyph.

8 in the Jarbridge Range. Bonneville Peak is the tallest in the Portneuf Range and Big Southern Butte is the largest of the three rhyolitic domes in the Arco desert in Eastern Idaho. Items are the watersheds. Items are all animal figures. Early photo of Map Rock, chalk having been used to pick out the etched lines and circles. First published report of its existence was in 1889 by the Idaho Statesman. In the interpretation at top, the left hand sketch reproduces and simplifies the petroglyph. On the right is a reproduction of a map of the Snake River Plain and surroundings. G Malcolm Lewis notes, items 1 10 are hydraulic features like the Snake, Salmon and Blackfoot Rivers as well as Jackson Lake. Items are prominent mountains. War Eagle is the tallest mountain in the Owyhees. Matterhorn is the tallest peak Detail from extreme left-hand side of the rock showing animal figures (antelope?) 8

Diaries Across Idaho Ivins Springs By Jerry Eichhorst Less than 2 miles northwest from Soda Pool on the east side of the Portneuf River valley are a pair of small springs.

The water was often described as clear and cold with good grass in the area of the springs. From here, the trail headed northwest towards the Portneuf River.

9 Diaries Across Idaho Ivins Springs By Jerry Eichhorst Less than 2 miles northwest from Soda Pool on the east side of the Portneuf River valley are a pair of small springs. Insignificant compared to other springs in the Soda Springs area, these springs were noted in a number of emigrant diaries as camping areas along the Oregon Trail. The water was often described as clear and cold with good grass in the area of the springs. From here, the trail headed northwest towards the Portneuf River. For lack of a better name, I call them Ivins Springs because they are off of Ivins Road. The photos are from Google Earth. Two miles farther brought us to several springs of clear cool water in a very pretty valley. This is a regular encampment and many encamped Wakeman Bryarly, July 12, 1849 five miles hence we came to a soda spring [Soda Pool], and two small branches of good water. Here we encamped for the night: good grass; some water and wood. Nine miles. William J. Watson, July 15, 1849 we passed another soda spring [Soda Pool] this after noon it was not quite as strong as those that we passed in the fore noon one mile from this spring we found a spring of good cold water and camped for the night grass is first rate Joseph Hackney, July 17, 1849 Joel Palmer, 1845 Made 18 miles. Passed the celebrated Soda Springs, also the craters of former volcanoes. Left Bear River & entered the Valley of the Port Neuf River. Encamped at a spring 7 miles from Bear River. Grass Good. Henry Tappan, July 17, 1849 Passed a soda spring [Soda Pool] 3 miles up 2 miles further a noble spring of good water Colonel James Tate, July 22, 1849 we came to a beautiful spring of good cold water on the right-hand side of the road where we nooned. Quarter of a mile farther ahead is another spring of good water... Cyrus V. Loveland, July 28,

10 Idaho Chapter OCTA 2908 Whitehaven Place Eagle, ID IOCTA Officers and Directors Jerry Eichhorst President Don Wind VP - East donjoanie1@gmail.com John Briggs VP - West johnxbriggs@msn.com Dan Dunne Treasurer ltcdunne@gmail.com Paul Dinwiddie Secretary pdiny@msn.com Virgel Clark Historian bobc012001@yahoo.com Don Wind Preservation - East donjoanie1@gmail.com Wally Meyer Preservation - West wallywanch@q.com Nancy Briggs TD Editor nancylbriggs@msn.com Jerry Eichhorst Webmaster Dave & Donna Newberry Director donteach@juno.com Lyle Lambert Director Lyle.lambert@yahoo.com Bill Wilson Director runofthemillbill@gmail.com Jim & Dawn Fazio Director jfazio@turbonet.com Lynn and Margie Houdyshell Director houdyshell@cableone.net Visit IOCTA online at

Trail Dust Newsletter of the Oregon-California Trails Association, Idaho Chapter

Trail Dust Newsletter of the Oregon-California Trails Association, Idaho Chapter Vol. XXVIII Issue 4 Nancy Briggs, Editor, Dec 2016 Contents Calendar for 2017 1 Message from the President 2 California