The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1916-03-02
Fort Hall on the Saptin River


river took that name after the estab-
lishment of the forty
When Mr.. Farnham, Of the "Peora
Party came through the country in
1889, he found the fort had been NOV.
ed to the bank of the Snake, and Mr..
Payette engaged in building the adob.
walls which were then about CON-
pleted. The point where it was To-
Gated appears to have been about two
miles below where the Boise at that
time joined the Snake river. In the
60's the channel of the Boise changed
and flower into the larger stream at q
point about 200 feet south Of the fort.
In 1853, according to the journal Of
Mr.. Theodore Winthrop, the buildings
were destroyed by high water, but I'M.
mediately rebuilt. The walls were
standing yet in the COS during the
early mining excitement, but at the
present time the site is in the middle
of the Snake river, the channel having
encroached upon the land to that OK.
tent.
That Mr.. Mckay established a fort
on the Boise to protect their trade, as
far as possible, against the encroach-
ment of the Americans on the east
there can be no doubt, and after Mr..
Wyeth delivered to the Hudson's Bay
company, Fort Hall, the supremacy Of
that organization was well night COM
plete. He had "rolled stone in the
garden Of the Rocky Mountain Fur
company that they had some difficulty
in getting out" Both Fort Hall and
Fort Boise were famous landmarks on
the Oregon Trail and volumes could BE-
written of each. After Hudson 8 Bay
company took over the, former adobe
walls were substituted for the timbers
used by Mr.. Wyeth, and they were
kept whitewashed as were those of
Fort Boise. Their white battlements
could be seen for many miles in either
direction, and the number Of pioneers,
who. preserved in memory the most
kindly feelings for these establish
ments, and the most hospitable treat
ment accorded them by the men in
charge, would number, perhaps, not less
than 10000.
Had Fort Hall not been built, it is
altogether likely that Fort Boise would
not have existed. What effect that
would have had on, American occupa-
ton of old Oregon is difficult to faith
ON. Without the building of Fort
Hall it is hard to conceive how the
emigrants could have reached the
Columbia in time to hold the nation
al boundary as far north as the forty
ninth parallel. Other means might
have been adopted, but of this we can
not even speculate. 1t is enough to
know that their building, and the will
lingness Of their officers to assist Ameri-
can pioneers to the extent Of their
ability, was of inestimable value to
our government in the acquisition of a
disputed territory. 1t win be, in time
to come, matter of great regret that
sectarian controversies, growing out of
the Whitman massacre at Walla Walla,
have been allowed to impair our feel
ing of appreciation for the uniform
kindness accorded our countrymen by
the officers Of the Hudson 8 Bay COM
rany, who were, measured by any
standard desired, the peer of the best of
us.
From 1896, the year that the Oregon
Trail began to attract public attention
and for "a years thereafter, during
which time it was, in many respects the
greatest highway in all the world. Fort
Hall was the second outfit station west
of the Missouri river. Fort Bridger
was established in lS43, but it was
located out Of the line of travel to the
Columbia and in latter years the pion-
GERS depended on Forts Hall and Boise.
The distance from Independence, Mo-,
to Fort Laramie was 667 miles; to Fort
Hall, 1888 miles; to Fort Boise, 1885
miles; to Fort Walla Walla, 1885 miles
and to Fort Vancouver, 202O miles.
Over the last four the British flag, with
the letters, II. B. G. woven in the folds.
(said by American trappers to mean,
"Here Before Christ') was suspended
as the symbol of authority until 1855.
The boundary was fixed in 1916 but the
pOssessory right of the Hudson s Bay
company was not settled for until the
late COS, when they were awarded
$3.50, 900 for their holdings.