Day 19 - Brigham City to Helena, Montana
Highways today were I-15 north to Idaho Falls, then weaving north on US 20, State 87, US 287, State 283 to Pony and back to US 287 arriving in Helena from the east where we stopped for the night. Google Map
Malad City, Idaho (I-15)
The history of Malad City is quite interesting - starting with it's name.
Malad received its name from a party of trappers who passed through the valley between 1818 and 1821. Some of the trappers became sick while camped there and, believing that the illness was caused by drinking water from the valley's principal stream, they named it "Malade" meaning sick or bad in the French language.
Actually, the water had nothing to do with the men's illness. They had most likely eaten some beaver that fed on the poisonous roots of water hemlock trees that put a naturally occurring cicutoxin into the animals. The beaver would likely be immune to the poison because of long-term adaptation, but the trappers suffered from their feast.
In 1856, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, mostly of Welsh decent, migrated to the region. A post office was later set up in 1865. By 1886 Malad City was the fastest growing village in eastern Idaho. In 1906, the railroad reached Malad City.
Pocatello, Idaho (I-15)
Shoshone and Bannock Indigenous tribes inhabited southeastern Idaho for hundreds of years before the trek by Lewis and Clark across Idaho in 1805. Their reports of the many riches of the region attracted fur trappers and traders to southeastern Idaho. The city is named after Chief Pocatello, a 19th-century Shoshone leader.
Although thousands of immigrants passed through Idaho, it was not until the discovery of gold in 1860 that Idaho attracted settlers in large numbers. The gold rush brought a need for goods and services to many towns. After its founding in 1889, Pocatello became known as the "Gateway to the Northwest". As pioneers, gold miners and settlers traveled the Oregon Trail, they passed through the Portneuf Gap south of town. Stage and freight lines and the railroad soon followed, turning the community into a trade center and transportation junction.
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| Chief Pocatello 1815 – October 1884 |
Chief Pocatello - Tondzaosha (Buffalo Robe)
Chief Pocatello was a leader of the Northern Shoshone. In the 1850s, he led a series of attacks against emigrant parties in the Utah Territory and along the Oregon Trail. After making peace with the U.S. Government, he moved his people to their present reservation in Idaho and led the Shoshone during their struggle to survive following their deportation.
In 1875, faced with starvation among his people, Pocatello led them to the Mormon missionary farm of George Hill in Corinne, Utah, with the hope that a mass conversion of his people to Mormonism would alleviate his people's suffering. The local population of white settlers did not receive the Shoshone openly and the U.S. Army forced the Shoshone to return to the Fort Hall Reservation.
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| Bear River Massacre |
Bear River Massacre
The Bear River Massacre was an attack by around 200 US soldiers that killed an estimated 250 to 400 children, women, and men at a Shoshone winter encampment on January 29, 1863.
Some sources describe it as the largest mass murder of Native Americans by the US military, and largest single episode of genocide in US history. It took place in present-day Franklin County, Idaho near the present-day city of Preston on January 29, 1863. After years of skirmishes and food raids on farms and ranches, and colonial settlers displacing Shoshone from their ancestral lands, the United States Army attacked a large Shoshone community at the confluence of the Bear River and Battle Creek in what was then southeastern Washington Territory.
Box Elder Treaty
Under increasing military pressure, Pocatello and a number of other Shoshone chiefs signed the Box Elder Treaty on July 30, 1863. The treaty promised Pocatello and his people $5,000 worth of food supplies per year if they would remain on the Fort Hall Reservation. The promised food and supplies were either late or never delivered at all. In response, Pocatello returned to stealing and plundering, trying to get what he saw as owned to his people. Arrested several times, he remained defiant. Scheduled for execution, Pocatello was pardoned by President Lincoln.
The Box Elder Treaty is an agreement between the Northwestern Shoshone and the United States government, signed on July 30, 1863. It was adopted after a period of conflict which included the Bear River Massacre on January 29, 1863. The treaty had little effect until 1968, when the United States compensated the Northwestern band for their land claim at a rate of about 50¢ per acre.
Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho (I-15)
The Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation is located in southeastern Idaho on the Snake River Plain about 20 miles north and west of Pocatello. It comprises 814.874 square miles of land in four counties: Bingham, Power, Bannock, and Caribou.
Founded under the July 3, 1868 Bridger Treaty, the reservation was named for Fort Hall, a trading post in the Portneuf Valley that was an important stop along the Oregon and California trails in the middle 19th century.
Fort Hall Casino, southeastern Idaho's largest casino with over 900 gaming machines, a high limit room, 156 room hotel with suites, four restaurants, live entertainment stage, and bingo is operated by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, who use the revenues for additional economic development and to support education and healthcare for the people. The combined payroll of the various activities is more than $32 million.
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| Fort Henry Historic Byway (HMDB) |
Fort Henry Historic Byway (US 20)
Taking its name from the first white settlement, Fort Henry Historic Byway trails along the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. Island Park describes the northern part of Fremont County from the top of the Ashton Hill to the Montana border.
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| Harriman State Park (HMDB) |
Harriman State Park (US 20)
Started in 1902 as a large cattle ranch, Railroad Ranch soon became a summer retreat for wealthy easterners and eventually Idaho's largest state park.
Railroad magnate and diplomat W. Averell Harriman and his brother Roland donated the ranch to Idaho in 1977, thus preserving the area's remarkable wildlife and prompting development of a professionally managed state parks system.
Harriman Wildlife Refuge (US 20)
Henry's Fork a tributary of the Snake River, meanders through an 16,000 acre wildlife refuge that retains diverse habitats for many kinds of birds and animals. Lodgepole pine forests and open meadows provide many opportunities to enjoy wildlife here, and fly fishing still is allowed in this region of scenic beauty. Moose, deer, and elk find plenty of food and shelter, while eagles, hawks, and owls thrive in open hunting grounds.
Raynolds Pass (State 87 Idaho)
Raynolds Pass, elevation 6,844 feet, is a mountain pass on the Continental Divide on the border between Idaho and Montana. The pass is named for Captain William F. Raynolds, an early explorer and officer-in-charge of the Raynolds Expedition of the Yellowstone region. The pass is very gentle, with only a slight grade and no major hairpin curves to the highways connections with U.S. Route 287 in Montana and U.S. Route 20 in Idaho. Raynolds Pass - Historical Marker Database
US Hwy 287
U.S. Route 287 is a 1,791 mile north–south route through the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. The highway's northern terminus is in Choteau, Montana, 100 miles south of the Canadian border and its southern terminus is in Port Arthur, Texas five miles from the Gulf of Mexico. It passes through two national parks: Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.
The Montana corridor of Hwy 287 was part of two migration routes along which settlers rushed to attempt to make their fortunes during the Alder Gulch gold rush that started in 1863. Virginia City was the target of both routes. Settlers from the east followed the Bozeman Trail through Wyoming and eastern Montana and settlers from the south used the Virginia City branch of the Montana Trail from Utah and Idaho.
The Vigilante Trail (US 287 Montana)
The Vigilante Trail ran from Yellowstone National Park to Butte, Montana, passing through the towns of Jeffers, Ennis, Virginia City, Ruby, Laurin, Sheridan, Twin Bridges, and Silver Star.
The history of vigilante justice and the Montana Vigilantes began in 1863 in what was at the time a remote part of eastern Idaho Territory. Vigilante activities continued, although somewhat sporadically, through the Montana Territorial period until the territory became the state of Montana on November 8, 1889. Vigilantism arose because territorial law enforcement and the courts had very little power in the remote mining camps during the territorial period.
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| The Vigilante Trail Pamphlet |
The Vigilante Trail
Follow The Vigilante Trail
That winds like a snail
Thro the playgrounds of the West
The mountains so white
Loom up in the night
And the soft wind lulls you to rest.
In 1923, businessmen and promoters in Madison, Jefferson, and Silver Bow counties banded together to form the Vigilante Trail Association, one of the last such road organizations formed in Montana. The trail, which conjured images of stalwart pioneers battling dastardly road agents in Montana's mining camps, provided a connection between West Yellowstone and Butte.
The Vigilante Trail was marked with a round red, white and blue shield with the dreaded vigilante symbol 3-7-77 featured prominently in the middle. The route passed through country steeped in Montana's early history, including Virginia City and Alder Gulch.
The Mysterious 3-7-77 - Montana Vigilantes
The mysterious numbers 3-7-77, often posted on doors were used for years as a symbol of banishment in Montana. Although there are several theories, no one really knows what the numbers mean. What is certain though, is that once launched, the numbers took on a life of their own. People who had the mysterious set of numbers 3-7-77 painted on their tent or cabin knew that they had better leave the area or be on the receiving end of vigilante justice.
Over time, the numbers have lost much of their sting, but it is hard to imagine any Montanan not feeling a shiver of apprehension if he found the numbers 3-7-77 chalked on his front door or sidewalk one morning. In 1974 the mayor of Virginia City abruptly resigned after someone sent him a card marked with the numbers during a political protest.
Today the infamous symbol of the Montana Vigilantes, 3-7-77, still a complete and utter mystery to everyone, and still having the same authoritative effect, appears on the shoulder patch and car door insignia of the Montana Highway Patrol.
Bozeman Trail (US 287)
Trailblazers John Bozeman and John Jacobs opened the Bozeman Trail in 1864 as a shortcut between the Overland Road and the newly discovered Montana gold fields. The trail began near present Casper, Wyoming and ended just over the Bozeman Pass in the Gallatin Valley. While some emigrants left the trail at present Livingston and went up the Yellowstone River to Emigrant Gulch, most continued over the pass and traveled over existing local roads to Bannack and Virginia City. The Bozeman Tril - Historical Marker Database
Montana Trail (US 287)
The Montana Trail was a wagon road that served gold rush towns such as Bannack, Virginia City and later Helena during the Montana gold rush era of the 1860s and 1870s.
The trail was also utilized for freighting and shipping supplies and food goods to Montana from Utah. American Indians, as well as the weather, were major risks to traveling on the Montana Trail. Montana Trail - Wikipedia
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| Pony Montana (Western Mining History) |
Pony, Montana
Pony is a living ghost town located in Madison County, Montana on the eastern edge of the Tobacco Root Mountains. Pony Historical District was added to the National Registry of Historic Places on August 4, 1987 as #87001264.
Pony, named for Tecumseh "Pony" Smith who arrived in 1869, was part of the Montana gold rush era and like many other gold rush towns grew up and died almost overnight. Population peaked at 5,000 but when new gold strikes were reported in other locations, Pony emptied out. By 1878 the population had dwindled to a few hundred.
Pony had two blacksmith shops, three hotels, saloons, livery stables, churches, a rooming house, post office, creamery, two Chinese laundries, restaurants, school, newspaper, stores, hat and tailor shops, movies house and an electric power plant. Pony's claim to fame is that it had electricity before New York City.
In 1920, a tragic fire swept through the main part of town destroying the livery stable and many other buildings. The Morris State Bank and the Masonic Building survived. A number of historic buildings from Pony's boom era remain in the old town today.
Bleu Horses (Three Forks US 287)
The Bleu Horses is a set of 39 horse sculptures made primarily of steel and permanently installed on a hillside off Highway 287 just north of Three Forks, Montana. The name of the installation is taken from a color of horse known as a blue roan, though the live animal color is actually closer to gray.
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| Bleu Horses |
The sculptures are realistic enough to appear live from a distance, but are intended to be somewhat "impressionistic." They are posed in a variety of realistic positions from foals suckling mother's milk, to alert steeds, to supine equines.
Twelve of the horses have their heads placed on ball bearings so they are able to move and one can move its head and neck. They have manes and tails made of polyester rope that has been unraveled and attached so it moves realistically in the wind.
The horse sculptures were created and set up by artist Jim Dolan of Belgrade, Montana, who previously had created other complex outdoor sculptures over the past 30 years, including a herd of elk placed upon the lawn of a bank in Bozeman, and a fly fisherman sculpture in Ennis. He also donated four of his sculptures at Montana State University, and installed a flock of geese in the terminal of Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.
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| Yorks Islands (HMDB) |
Yorks Islands (US 287)
Lewis and Clark's journals frequently refer to York, a black slave to Captain William Clark. York played an important role in the success of the Corps of Discovery.
The journals document how York tended to the sick, hunted and fished for food and contributed to wildlife observation. This muscular, black man's appearance was curious to the native people the Corps encountered and he gained their respect which helped the expedition. Yorks Islands - Historical Marker Database
Canyon Ferry (US 287)
Shortly after the discovery of gold in Confederate Gulch, freighters established a road between Helena and Diamond City. The Missouri River was a barrier to travelers until John Oakes established a ferry in Black Rock Canyon in 1865. A small settlement, called Canyon Ferry, flourished at the ferry crossing. Its hotel, saloon, stage station, stable, and dry goods store served travelers and local residents.
In July 1949, the Bureau of Reclamation began construction of a massive concrete dam just downstream. Canyon Ferry Reservoir took two years to fill, flooding thousands of acres of farmland and inundating the communities of Canyon Ferry and Canton. Canyon Ferry - Historical Marker Database
Helena, Montana
Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Within a year of the placer gold discovery, a boomtown flourished, with homes and businesses in tents and log cabins. Helena claimed the territorial capital from declining Virginia City in 1874. The arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883, and Helena's election as state capital in 1894, confirmed the town's survival. Due to the gold rush, Helena would become a wealthy city, with approximately 50 millionaires inhabiting the area by 1888. The concentration of wealth contributed to the city's prominent, elaborate Victorian architecture.
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| Montana State Capital (Wikipedia) |
Helena Historic District
Helena Historic District. The crooked path of Last Chance Gulch, weaving between original mining claims, memorializes Helena's chaotic beginning as a gold camp.
 Post Note - Day Nineteen:
I originally had to get us home today and end our fantasy trip because we are leaving on our 2022 Destination Unknown on Saturday, June 11, 2022. Well, I could get us home just fine but Covid attacked Karen and our trip has been cancelled. I caught Covid in April so now we are both statistics. It might just be that the only trip we do in 2022 is our fantasy trip. Time will tell.
So, change of plans. Rather than having us push home from Brigham City, I decided to send us off on some more touring and will have us stopping at Helena for the night. Several years ago on my way home from Deadwood and on another Ghost Town Trip in Montana, I travelled through the area east of I-15 and really enjoyed it.
For years, in our rush to get home, we've been whizzing by the towns and cities in Utah, Idaho and Montana. Now, with no urgency to get home, I decided to dig into the history of the areas we normally pass right by in a blink. Today, it felt like we are just strolling along the highway and taking in the sights. The unremarkable areas were actually quite remarkable. I rather enjoyed today.
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