The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-01-03
MONUMENT AT
OLD Fl. HALL
Gate to Idaho, Key to the North
west. Abandoned But Not For
gotten. Will be Feature
of the Sage Brush
Fiesta.


of the Sage Brush Fiesta to be held
within the boundaries of the great
Indian Reservation to the south of
us during the summer Of 1908 to
commemorate to passing of the sage,
he' did not mention old FIT. Hall
among the Lotable things to be visi-
ted and st1died in connection with
events of historical interest and inn
portance in '"The Winning Of the
West" and the passing of the sage,
but even as he wrote, L. D. RAIDER,
Editor of the Pacific Advocate OF
Portland, Oregon, was thumbing the
pages of the diary of Jason Lee, and
learned that on July 27th, 1884, ia
son Lee delivered at Ft. Hall, the
first sermon ever preached by
protestant west of the Rocky Noun
tains.
1t had long been trading post OF
The Hudson Bay Company. Captain
Bonneville had visited it one year
prior to that time, and Marcus Whit
man passed that way eight years
later, in December, 1912, on his
way to Washington, D. C,5 on horse
back, to tell the President and con-
gress of the greatness of the Oregon
Country.a nd to ask them to help
him colonize it for the American
Flag.
In 1S43, Whitman's colony of S75
people with 1000 head of cattle and
many horses came that way on their
road to the Willamett Valley, and at
TT. Hall there was a long debate as
to whether they should abandon
their wagons and go on with pack
animals, follow the big bend of the
river, or cross the big sage desert,
and traverse it's northern border.
This question was settled by break
ing a road to Danilson Springs,
(named later) then to The Big
Butte and from there westward. FIT.
Hall soon ceased to be a British
Post, was occupied by the American
Soldiers, and became relief station
for Forty Miners who turned
southwark to Raft River, and for
Oregon colonists approaching the
nj
When gold mining at Helena be-
came too rich to permit of mems
sending down the Missouri River for
supplies if they could be obtained
in less time from any other direc-
ton, bull teams went southwark via
Ft. Hall to Corrinne, and Ft Hall
became the junction of roads lead
ing to Oregon, California, Montana,
Utah and the East. But bridge
was built at Eagle Rock, and ferries
at American Falls and Blackfoot,
and thus the scene was changed, and
Ft. Hall gave up it's prestige to
SpI6du iOunudIlolo LII SlIiCo ct Iu@-
no Falls, Blackfoot, American Falls,
and Pocatello The Gate CITY,
Golfers and other great publlca-
tions in speaking of The Sage Brush
Fiesta to be held near Pocatello, do
not speak of Ft. Hail. neither do
they know that Rev. c. A. Edwards,
the Methodist Minister at Blackfoot
has started a movement in all Metho-
dism by which they expect to erect
a monument where Jason Lee stood
that day to preach his first sermon
west of the Rockies, and on the great
block of lava forming the pedestal
will be the words of his text on that
occasion, whether therefore ye
eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do,
do all to the glory of Cod"
John G.. Brown, one of the leading
merchants of this city is aiding in a
move to present an application
through the Department of Indian
Affairs, to secure small tract OF
land for a reserve at the site OF the
old fort, where the monument is to
be erected when permission is OBJ
tanned, and an enclosure made with
a suitable fence.
To the local men who have bought
hay and traded horses with the In
dams on this spot, there may be lit
tie of historic interest, but to the
historian and to the world at large
there is much of interest in a spot
that has been closely associated with
important moves that governed the
destinies of so much of the great
Northwest. AS an illustration OF the
keen interest shown by eastern peo-
pie and illustrative of the interest
which would be shown by thousands
who will attend the Fiesta, we men
tion an incident that happened on
one of the passenger trains last sum-
mer during tile Park 81 ason."