Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1919-09-25
UNIQUE MOUNTAIN
FOLK ARE MET IN
|2OO-NILE VOYAGE
ION SALMON RIVER
Will shoup Tells of Char
acters He Met in Journey
in Skow Down the River
Meets Old-time Mining Man
Who Has Chinese Wife. An
other Man Lives in Dugout

Interesting stories of unique folk
who reside in the mountainous parts of
q Idaho county, along Salmon river, quite
apart from civilization, were related by
VIII Shoup, of Salmon City, who was
in Grangeville the other day, after a
20O-mile trip in a skOw, with party
under Capt. Walter Guleke, down Sal
mon river, from Salmon City to Higgins
The party left Salmon City and
after passing. the mining camp
of Shoup, in Lemhi county, forty miles
from Salmon, only eight human beings,
in addition to those in the travelling
party, were seen until the men reached
higgins, distance of 100 miles.
Story of the Voyage
Mr. Shoup described the trip as fol
lows:
1t is the widest, most desolate and
fartherest from civilization of any
place ] have ever been, the stream
itself with rock invested rapids, falls
and whirlpools is as wicked stream
as man could expect to travel on, but
it is the most wonderful game country
that can be imagined.
We chose this time of the year be-
cause the bears come down to get ber-
ries and we.shot five out of seven that
we saw.
We chose this time of the year be-
Sheppard goats, but no elk, although
we saw plenty of tracks. The fish
ing was beyond description. We had
a cook stove on the boat and spent
the nights on sand bars, the only
available level ground The cook
would throw scraps of food into the
water and it is unbelievable the
amount of fish that would show in the
water in the morning.
Speaking of level land, we have
agreed among ourselves that in 125
miles we did not see all told as much
as $40 acres of land standing at an
angle of less than 40 degrees.
We passed through many forest fires
and at night they made vivid pictures
lighting up the mountain heights above
US and casting weird and Fantastic
shadows.
Hibernates in The Winter
One man we met was John NJ. Nc I
Kay, pioneer of the Salmon river,
He is one of the few who successfully |
pan in the fine flour gold of the Sal |
mon river and makes a living at it.
The old man lives in boat, during the I.
summer and holes up almost like a
bear during the winter. We passed |
several of his winter abodes. They |
are all about six by eight feet and are
regular dugouts. They have board
fronts and roofs. His bed is q bench |
of earth and he cooks in a little stone
fireplace on the opposite side of his
hut. He can lie in his bed and build |
his fire.
"This is a HI of a life,'' he said
but 1 It stand no other.' The old |
man is rs years of age, and has out
fitted at the Shoup store at Salmon
city since 1870. We asked him to have
something to eat with us, and he said,
81 ain It thinking of something to eat,
but l am always thinking of something
to drink -
Twice in the years of his residence
there he has gone into the outside
world, once to Portland, and once to
San Francisco. On the latter occasion,
ne tells, 81 says to myself, John, are
you going to die in this hole9' and SIX
days later he was back on the Salmon.
This was the day of the earthquake
and ne believes he had q prOvidential
escape. He is a tall. raw boned Scotch
man, born on the Clyde, standing feet
and weighing about 200 pounds.
Wife Is Chinese Woman
Another interesting character we met
was Charles H. Bomis, vino has lived
with Chinese wife on q httio 4acre
patch of land on Polly creek opposite
the mouth of Crooked river for The past
twenty-five years. He is getting too old
to work and Polly, the wife, 60 years
Old does it all. The story goes that
Bemis went to Warren mining camp in
1866, during the early day excitement.
-Four years later he was shot in a card
game, and when the doctor gave him up
Polly nursed him back to life. He then
legally married her. She has lived in
TINS country for fifty years.
Another character is Sam Myers,
who has been on the river for fifty
years and is 81 years old. One cabin we
passed is called the cabin of mystery
because a man was shot in it and its
story forms the basis of the novel,
The Man of the Bitterroots. "
L divide the rapids in the river into
three types, the falls type where you