Middle Fork of the Salmon River

Toss a stone into the water. You hear a splash. Then you see ripples. Biggest, big, smaller, smaller. Smallest. Our historical awareness tends to be of the big splashes and ripples. But it's the human scale of history that can be understood in the small disturbances—in the last, very faint, waves.

The Nez Perce tribe's desperate flight for Canada in 1877 was the big splash. Their journey is taught in schools and has been commemorated in the Nez Perce Historical Trail. There are no brochures or nationally registered trails to commemorate the Sheepeater campaign, which happened two years later in Middle Fork Country. The Sheepeater campaign was the smaller, subtler ripple. But it deserves our memory as Idaho's Last Indian War, in which the region's last free people were captured and removed from their ancestral homelands. In fact it could hardly be called a war, but should be seen as the last of a pathetic series of eradication campaigns motivated by the white man's insatiable greed.

The Sheepeaters were a blend of the Shoshone and Bannock peoples. They had lived in the region for at least 10,000 years, and probably longer. Their name, in the Shoshone language, was Tukudeka, which literally does mean sheepeater, and refers to their legendary skill in hunting the elusive big horn sheep. Ruins of their stone hunting blinds are still visible along the Middle Fork, if you know what to look for.

In 1869, two prospectors discovered gold where Loon Creek meets the Middle Fork. But the rush played out quickly and the fields were left to Chinese who were willing to do the drudging work of placer mining, mostly at the community of Oro Grande at Loon Creek.

In February 1879, five Chinese placer miners were slain. At the time, whites blamed the killing on the Sheepeaters. It is not recorded what the surviving Chinese said. Years later, local residents of the area admitted that whites looking to steal gold had killed the Chinese.

About May 1st, 1879, Brigadier General O.O. Howard received a telegram reporting the killing, saying:

[I]t is supposed [the killing] was done by Indians; probably some of the hostiles of last summer, who have been wintering with the Sheepeaters on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. The Division Commander directs that a detachment be sent out from Boise as soon as the trail can be traveled, and ascertain who the murderers were; and, if Indians, to apprehend them, and bring them to Boise.

Fifty-six men left Boise on May 31 to carry out these instructions under the command of Captain Bernard. Another 48 mounted infantrymen left Camp Howard, near Grangeville, on June 4 to join up with them.

They had started a little too early. The snow was deep and the pack train carrying supplies was delayed. When the detachment reached Cape Horn Valley, they were forced to camp in the rain and snow with no bedding, tents, or food. They called this Camp Starvation.

When the pack train finally arrived, they pressed onwards to Oro Grande on the Middle Fork. But the higher they traveled, the deeper the snow. Sometimes, they had to shovel their way out of snow drifts 15 feet high. When they reached Oro Grande, there was nothing left but burnt logs and ash. By this time, the heavy snow had started to melt, mixing with heavy rain, creating torrential flows. The trail along Loon Creek was impossible to follow, so they headed out over the mountains. But with mules falling to their death, this became impractical.

Bernard retreated to Cape Horn, where he sent a report to General Howard:

The country is, no doubt, as rough as any in the United States and to locate the Indians will be a work of great difficulty. We have traveled over country that no white man has seen before—old guides and miners declaring that we could not get through at all.

When General Howard got the report, he sent out a Lieutenant Farrow with twenty Umatilla scouts and a pack train in tow. The sergeant of the scouts was a man named Ya-Tin-on-ity, the war chief of the Umatillas.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Catley had never met up with Bernard. He got caught in the snow too. He wound up at Big Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork, where he found evidence of the Indians. He followed the trail through a deep canyon, so narrow the soldiers were forced to march single file. On July 29, the troop was ambushed. The Indians fired down on Catley's troops, seriously wounding—but, interestingly, not killing—two men. Catley realized that he was in a losing position, and retreated. They spent the night on a hill with no water, forcing them to drink from a jug of vinegar. To this day, the hill is known as Vinegar Hill.

According to the Indians, the white men had trespassed on sacred ground. It was their sacred duty to repel the invaders. Rather than waiting for the soldiers to come again, they followed them to nearby Rains' ranch. Rains left with the soldiers, but he had a valuable hay crop in the fields, ready for harvesting. He returned three days later with some helpers to harvest. Big mistake. The Sheepeaters attacked, ultimately killing Rains, though his workers got away.

The army decided to return. This time, all three teams—Catley, Bernard, and Farrow—were together. The army marched again up Big Creek Canyon. On August 20, Catley returned to Warrens for rations. The rest of the troops left in pursuit of the Sheepeaters, with small squads leaving every hour. The Sheepeaters mounted a surprise attack on the rear guard. One soldier, Private Eagan, died as a consequence of wounds sustained in this attack. He was buried at a site now named Soldier's Bar, about four miles up Big Creek. The site is now marked with a monument.

The Indians had scattered, making a definitive attack—and routing—impossible. Winter was coming on, and the army was running out of rations. They were able to recapture some hidden caches of food, and found some horses wandering in the wilderness. On September 16, Farrow set out again after the Sheepeaters. On the 21st, the Umatilla scouts captured two women, a baby, and a young boy. The scouts were hot on the trail. Trying to track the Sheepeaters at night near a ridge near Impassable Canyon on the Middle Fork, they heard a dog bark. The barking dog betrayed the Sheepeaters' camp. Before daybreak, the white men had surrounded the camp. They could see horses. They could smell fire. They closed in. But no Sheepeaters.

They had escaped. The Sheepeaters had realized that the dog would reveal their location and left, quietly, during the night, before the scouts had a chance to find them.

On September 24, the scouts sent out one of the captured women to locate her people. She was forced to leave her baby with the scouts to ensure her return. She came back that evening, with nothing to say.

It all ended the next day, rather anticlimactically. The scouts heard a whoop, which turned out to be made by a man named War Jack. War Jack told the scouts that he was tired of running and fighting. Farrow demanded an unconditional surrender. The Indians agreed, and the band of 51 tribal people, mostly women and children, left the Middle Fork country as captives of the U.S. Army.