Day 5 - Boise to Caldwell, Idaho

We stopped at the Ward massacre site where 18 of the 20 members of a wagon train party, most of whom were members of the Ward family were killed by Indians.  Two young members of the family, two boys, were rescued by men from a nearby wagon train that heard the commotion. Needless to say the response of the US Army in the area, from Fort Boise, was quick and violent.

Relations between the travelers going through this area and the local Native American population, beginning in the 1830s, were peaceful. As the westward migration gathered steam after 1842 the relations soured: The migrants' cattle were overgrazing the land destroying the native bunch grass and enhancing the growth of the irritating sagebrush which makes it difficult for man and animals both to move about..  The bunch grass was the food that the animals important to the Native American diet relied for food. Fires that accidentally got out of control burned the land, not only destroying food for the animals but the bare land then resulting in dust storms that further eroded the native habitat.  One day, in the area near Parma, the ward train pulled up for lunch. A group compoded of two white men and thee native Americans approached the travelers wanting to gtradefor hosrses. Having no spare horses the trade wasnogt made.  In the meatime, members of the Winnasc Indians in the area, well armed with rifles and horses, were gathering nearby. When the horse trade could not be workout, they attacked the Ward party in 1854. 18 or 19 members of theWard part were killed and one young son, Newton Ward, was rescued.

Later in the year, Major Granville Hallerset out to find the people responsible for the massacre. After contacting one group of Indians and establishing that that group had not been involved, they arrested 4 men who they believed had been involved.  While attempting to escape, three of the Natives were killed and the fourth was wounded bugt escaped. One of these was shot while attempting to escape.  The following year Major Haller set out again and ultimately arrested, tried, and convicted three Natives  for the muders of the Ward party.  The convicted men wee hung over the graves of the Ward party. (For further information click here)

This, and other animosity between he Natives in the area and the emigrants, as well as the discovery of gold in California, resulted in a reduction in the migration to through Idaho,  That all changed in 1860 when gold was discovered in Eastern Idaho and a reverse migration east began.


On Thursday,  as we were driving toward Caldwell through the town of Notus (pop. 510), I noticed a sign on the edge of the road that had the words "confederate refugees."  I speculated that the sign referred to refugees from the Confederate states who emigrated from the confederate states to the area at the time of the Civil War.  We went back to the area the today and my speculation was confirmed.  Refugees from Missouri had come to the area in 1863 and 64 and had started farming and other jobs in the area.  I further speculated that the name of the town stands for "Not US."  Like Bringham Young's Mormons who tried to escape from  the US by traveling overland to Utah or traveling aboard the Brooklyn to come to California, the Confederate citizens were unable to run fast enough or far enough to escape the U.S.

Fort Boisie was established on the banks in 1834 by the Snake River by the Hudson's Bay Fur Trapping Company.  The original Fort and two different replacements about 5 miles to the west were destroyed by fire and, finally by flooding, in 1853,   The present Fort is a reconsTruction on the main street of Parma. The cement sculpture in front of the fort honors Marie Dorian, an Indian woman.  Her tribe living in the area was attacked by another tribe and everyone in the tribe was killed except for Marie and her two young children - one a baby in a papoose.  Marie took off with a couple of horses and they ended up in Walla Walla where they were rescued by another Indian tribe = an amazing story of endurance and persistence.
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Fort Boise is described in a variety of ways in the journals of the migrants who arrived there.  Early in the migration, the fort is described as a very nice place, with hundreds of sheep, goats  and cattle that could be purchased by the poor and hungry travelers who had already sent 4 months n the road with a steady diet of bacon, beans and hard tack.  Theater tickets, and other amenities were a sight for the sore eyes of the overlanders. Later descriptions were of a run down, ramshackle place full of thieves of all types and people from all over the world.  Not a place to be enjoyed and a great disappointment to the travelers who had been looking forward to a pleasant respite after several months on the trail.

In addition to the replica fort downtown, there was supposed to be a marker for the original site of the fort on some public land than was accessible off a gravel road near the river.  We found the road, we thought, and followed it to the end where we found the two parking places described in the Idaho volume of the trail guide we have been following - more or less.  We walked along the road which was closed to vehicle traffic. We saw a family camping along the river, a couple of small boats with people fishing in the river, but did not find the marker.  I am not sure we were in the right place, but it did not seem useful to pursue the search.

From Parma we headed back to Caldwell and the Three Island Crossing of the Snake River.  This was the most popular place to cross the river until some alternatives were established.  There is a very nice visitors center at the point where the crossings occurred between 1832 and about 1853.  The visitors center is like the ones that we have seen before - dioramas depicting various scenes which would have typically been encountered by the travelers on their way west.

There was also an interesting film which showed reenactments of the crossing which had been done periodically for a number of years. The reenactments looked very realistic, with covered wagons careening down the banks into the river behind horses (unusual in the 19th century and oxen (the typical animal used along the Oregon trail).  During these crossings the teamsters had to be ready to cut loose their animals in the event the wagons tipped over, and one sequence in the film showed that occurring - undoubtedly not a planned event as the teamsters were clinging to the wagon as it floated down the river, the animals with the ears laid back along the side of their heads trying to swim across the river encouraged by men either on their backs or swimming along side of them.

The visitors center also included some videos of local Native Americans discussing the plight of the Indians at the present time.  I thought the discussion were interesting and reasoned - they emphasized that the younger generation was losing knowledge of their native heritage and that the older generation had an obligation to see that that tradition was not lost.  They also mentioned that the Indian view of the world was so different from that of the Euro-Americans (a term often seen and heard in these parts) that it was simply necessary that the two views co-exist.

The next stop on the trip was a visit with a friend of mine in Gooding which is about 25 miles east of Caldwell - more or less along the Oregon Trail route.  After a short visit, and another fruitless attempt to solve all of the problems of the world, Chuck and I came back to the Three Island Crossing campground and sent the night there.  In an effort to partially recreate the actual experience of the the original Oregon Trail travelers, we ate dinner at the Carmela Winery which just happened to be right next door to the campground.  Chuck's meal of crusted wild-caught Idaho trout (seared to perfection), and myidinner of prime rib was not unlike what the folks on a trip in 1850 might have enjoyed - fish from the nearby river, and prime rib from one of the oxen that drowned trying to cross the river.  The clam appetizer and fresh salad that we had with dinner might have been a bit more than the folks would have had in the old days.

See photos from this day here