The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1934-08-02
) Exterior OF Fort Hall l649
BY ELMO SCOTT WATSON

BY ELMO SCOTT WATSON
AUGUST s. 1884. In a lush, upland
"A meadow, in what is now the
~ state of Idaho, stands little
-~A stockaded fort, its walls Of
-@ freshly-peeled cottonwood logs
Il N cleaning white in the early
NJ morning sunshine Inside the
AZ an fort a motley crowd Of men is
w. All gathered around tall Flagstaff.
.e& AZ Hunters and trappers, whose
ErY D greasy smoke-begrimed buck
Yo@. skins tell of hundred camp
- fires In the great West, rub
elbows with men whose garb bespeak the East.
In the murmur of talk the nasal tWang OF the
Down East Yankee rises sharply above the
gruffer tones of the frontiersmen.
Apart from the others stand two young fellows
destined for future fame as men of science. One
is Thomas NuttaT (or Mutually, a botanst fresh
from Harvard college, and the other Is j. K.
Townsend of Philadelphia, physician and orn1-
biologist. AS they talk to q third man, scarcely
older than themselves, their deferental manner
toward him stamps him as the leader of this
varied company And he u.s. for this Is "Capt."
Nathaniel j. Wyeth, founder Of the columbia
River Fishing and Trading company" young
Boston business man, but already veteran OF
westward travel. 5a -. ...sE
Now Wyeth steps forward to the foot Of the
flagstaff. In his hand he holds folded flag. He
attaches 1t to the halyard and as 1t rises to the
peak the roaring of muskets and the popping of
pistols mingle with the whining crack Of long
rifles AS the banner ripples out in the sun
shine In the red, white and blue glory Of the
Stars and Stripes mighty shout goes up from
the assembled company. 49,
Thus was another wilderness outpost estab-
lished and although this shouting throng may
not realize 1t now, the curtain has been rung
up on another act In the epic drama which Is
to be called 1.-THE Winning Of the West"
Two months later Wyeth is to write to an
uncle back East, saying: II have built fort on
the Snake River, which have named Fort Hall
from the oldest gentleman in the concern, Mr..
Henry Hail. We manufactured magnificent flag
from some unbleached sheeting, q little red fam
mel and few blue patches, saluted 1t with dam
aged powder and wet It In villainous alcohol;
and after all, assure you, it makes very
respectable appearance amid the dry and DESC
late regions of central America. Its bastions
stand a terror to the skulking Indian and a
beacon Of safety to the fugitive hunter. 1t Is
manned by II men and has constantly loaded
In the bastions 100 guns and rifles. These bas-
lions command both the inside and outside Of
the fort. After building this fort sent messen-
gers to the neighboring nations to induce them
to come to trade" -
August g. 1884. The modern city of Pocatello,
Idaho, Is in gala array. Crowds surge through
its streets. Flags are flying. Bands are blaring.
There are parades floats, pageants speeches.
. For today is the beginning Of the four-day cele-
bration of the event which took place just
hundred years ago-the founding of the post
that was "decreed by fate to be centrifugal
point Of trade commerce and recuperation." Such
is the characterization Of this post by Jennie
Broughton Brown whose splendid "Fort Hall on
the Oregon Trail" was published two years ago
by the Caxton Printers, Ltd, of Caldwell, Idaho.
In the years that followed Fort Hall was a bea-
80 1ofof Of 70 hunfprn
but to many weary emigrant over the Oregon
Trail which ran beneath it's walls; it was q
port Of call for nearly every wayfarer-trapper,
trader, missionary, explorer guide and army Of
fcer-whose name looms large in the early his
tory of the West; it was to have stirring part
in the later stagecoach and freighting days; and
It was center of activity in more than one
Indian war when the red man making his
last desperate stand against the white man.
The founder of Fort Hall was Nathaniel J.
Wyeth. Born In Cambridge, Mass, January 20,
1902, Of distinguished ancestry (his mother was
relative of John Hancock), Wyeth was intended
for Harvard college Of which both his father
and oldest brother were graduates. But he was
impatient to begin business career and de-
clined to 60 to college.
By the time he thirty years old he had
made modest success in his home community.
managing a farm and engaging in the ice trade
which brought in an annual income of some
$1,000. Then, Influenced by the writings Of Hall
J. Kelley, founder of the Oregon Colonization
Society" Wyeth determined to organize trad
ing company to exploit the rich natural resources
of the Columbia river region in the Pacific
Northwest. His plan to lead an overland
expedition to the Oregon country and establish
trading posts which were to be supplied by ships
that were to sail around Cape Horn to the head
of navigation on the Columbia and from there
to bring back the furs and salmon collected at
the posts
On March II, 1882, the expedition set out.
But, although they were lucky at Independence.
Mo- to fall in with Milton Sublette of the Rocky
Mountain Fur company, who was leading party
of trappers and traders into the mountains,
misfortune logged the footsteps of the eastern
atenderfeet"- First some Of Wyeth's men grew
faint-hearted and turned back. Then they were
attocked by the fierce Blackfeet Indians and lost
-. killed and eight badly wounded.