City of Rocks Historic Resources Study

Alexander, Thomas G., ed. Essays on the American West, 1972-1973. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press (Charles Redd Monographs in Western History No. 3), 1974.

Of this series of seven essays, only Eugene E. Campbell's "Brigham Young's Outer Cordon — A Reappraisal" is germane to a discussion of Raft River/Cassia County settlement. This essay questions the validity of the standard thesis that Brigham Young protected Zion through expansion of Mormon settlement. Campbell writes: "the so-called 'outer cordon' colonies were established for a variety of reasons other than the encirclement concept."

Alexander, Thomas G., ed. The Mormon People; Their Character and Traditions. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press (Charles Redd Monographs in Western History No. 10), 1980.

Includes Lowell C. Bennion's essay "Mormon Country a Century Ago: A Geographer's View." This essay expands on Meinig's description of a Mormon Cultural Region, and includes census analysis and a discussion of the impact of federal land laws (versus Mormon cultural traditions) on the pattern of Mormon settlement. Several important graphics, including: Nativity of Utah's Population; Brigham Young's Stakes, 1877; Distribution of Mormon Population by Settlement, 1880.

Arrington, Leonard J. and Davis Bitton. The Mormon Experience; A History of the Latter-day Saints. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979.

General church history with maps showing the extent of the "Mormon Kingdom in the West, 1847-1900" (boundaries markedly similar to Meinig's "Mormon Culture Region"). This map includes Almo/Onkley as areas of concentrated Mormon settlement at the northern extreme of the Mormon kingdom. Chapter 6, "The Challenge of Building the Kingdom," contains useful discussion of characteristics of Mormon land, church incentives for immigration, colonization, and settlement. Only brief discussion of displacement of Native American inhabitants. The "Bibliographical Essay" includes detailed description of archival collections.

Barnes, Will C. Western Grazing Grounds and Forest Ranges. Chicago: Breeders Gazette, 1913.

Subtitled (and effectively annotated): A History of the Livestock Industry as Conducted in the Open Ranges of the Arid West with Particular Reference to the Use Now Being Made of the Ranges in the National Forests.

Billington, Ray Allen. The Far Western Frontier, 1830-1860. New York, Hagerstown, San Francisco, London: Harper & Row, 1956.

Classic exploration of Turner's thesis of a closed frontier. Includes chapters on the Era of the Mountain Man — including the search for a beaver-laden river road to the Pacific — the legendary Buenaventura; on the Overland Trails; and on Mormons' Move Westward.

________. Westward Expansion. A History of the American Frontier. New York: The Macmillan Company, second edition, 1960.

General text book study of the Colonial Frontier, the Trans-Appalachian Frontier, and the Trans Mississippi Frontier. Includes discussion of Great Basin settlement, the Indian Barrier, and the Cattlemen s and Farmer's frontier.

Carter, Thomas and Carl Fleischhauer. The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey. Washington D.C.: Library of Congress, 1988.

Although primarily a methodological analysis, the chapter on findings is a good overview of Grouse Creek folklife (an area similar to CIRO in its settlement history and subsistence patterns). [307]

Chittenden, Hiram Martin. History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West. Stanford: Academic Press, 1954. (First published 1902.)

General source on the political/economic importance of the fur trade, including the importance of the Snake River/Bear River/Cache Valley trade and the general boundaries to that trade network.

Chine, Gloria Griffen. Peter Skene Ogden and the Hudson's Bay Company. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974.

Chapters III and IV ("John Bull Meets Uncle Sam" and "Our Man in the Snake Country") concentrate on 1818-1830 explorations of the Snake River country, including the Raft River Valley, and Ogden's 1825 discovery of the Humboldt River (and subsequent impacts of the route of the California Trail). Three detailed maps of Hudson Bay Company's Snake River Expeditions: 1824-1826; 1826-1828; 1828-1830 show excursions to or near the project area. This source includes only brief references to American fur expeditions, including those of Jedediah Smith in 1824 and 1827-1828 and of Sublette in 1825.

Dale, Edward Everett. The Range Cattle Industry. Ranching on the Great Plains from 1865 to 1925. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1930, second edition 1960.

A general history of the growth and decline of the ranch industry on the Great Plains. Includes a discussion of the "Northern Drive"; the winter of 1886-87; and the transition to winter feeding.

Dillon, Richard H., editor. California Trail Herd; The 1850 Missouri-to-California Journal of Cyrus C. Loveland. Los Gatos, California: The Talisman Press, 1961.

Loveland, trailing herds to California mining camps, describes the Raft River Valley as containing "Grass in abundance and plenty of wood." Goose Creek is similarly described. Descriptions of City of Rocks, Echo Gap, "Recorder's Rock," Novelty Pass. Loveland reports that the road just south of the confluence with the Salt Lake Road was "first-rate and tolerable [sic] level but bounded on both sides with a dreadful, rough and ragged country" (see Zimmerman for similar description).

Dillon's introduction describes cattle drives into California (most along the southern San Antonio-Los Angeles-Sacramento route) as frequent by 1854. By the 1870s, Dillon reports, drives from California to Nevada and Idaho [through City of Rocks?] were frequent.

Fradkin, Philip. Sagebrush Country. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1989.

Sociologist's account of past and current, and public and personal, emotional responses to the western landscape. Includes an interesting, if undocumented, account of the search for the Buenaventura River.

Francaviglia, Richard. The Mormon Landscape: Existence, Creation, and Perception of a Unique Image in the American West. New York: ATM Press, 1978.

Oakley, Idaho is one of 44 Mormon communities detailed in this study of ethnographic landscapes. Includes a discussion of those physical features identifying a community as Mormon and a discussion of the historical/cultural catalysts to this unique physical development.

Frazer, Robert W. Forts of the West; Presidios and Military Forts West of the Mississippi up to 1898. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972.

Includes discussion of Fort Hall's use as a military fort during the peak years of overland migration (particularly in reference to conflicts between Shoshoni and Bannack Indians and emigrants along the California Trail south of Fort Hall).

Gates, Paul W. with a chapter by Robert W. Swenson. History of Public Land Law Development. Written for the Public Land Law Review Commission. Washington D.C.: Zenger Publishing Co., Inc., 1968.

General reference book to Public Land Law, including federal intent and requirements for filing and for patent. Descriptions of the "Advent of Dry Farming"; Desert Land Act; Enlarged Homestead Act; and Stockraising Homestead Act are especially relevant to the project area. Includes statistics related to patent rate under various land legislation throughout the semi-arid West (exclusive of California).

Goetzmann, William H. Exploration and Empire; The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the West. New York: Vintage Books, 1966.

Includes a discussion of the importance of early fur-trade and scientific exploration on the development of overland migration routes — particularly Peter Ogden's 1924-1930 exploration of the Snake River country, the Great Basin, and the Bear River, including the 1928 discovery of the "Unknown" [Humboldt] River that provided the critical link in the immigrant road to the Pacific.

Grover, David H. Diamondfield Jack. A Study in Frontier Justice. Reno, Nevada: University of Nevada Press, 1968.

Grover writes "a number of writers have made fleeting references to the more spectacular events . . . but misconceptions and prejudices about the case still exist. This book is an attempt to set the record straight" (p. 4). The book includes a discussion of the extent to which the case divided the Mormon and non-Mormon communities.

Guthrie, A.B. Jr., The Way West. New York and Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, copyright 1949, renewed 1976.

Winner of the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Way West continues the saga of The Big Sky, with retired fur trapper Dick Summers leading a train of settlers west to Oregon, along the Overland Trail. Includes fictitious accounts, based on historical research in emigrant diaries, of the push and pull factors associated with the migration, of men and women's different roles in and responses to the journey, of the dangers of overland travel, and of the sojourn at Fort Hall, when part of the party opted for California.

Hanson, Sam et al. Hard Times in Idaho Between the Great Wars. Idaho State University Press, 1985.

Includes an essay by Martha Opedahl Soniville, daughter of a Burley rancher, on farm life during the agricultural depression of the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s. Description of local barter system, shared labor, alternative fuel sources, entertainment. Also includes Sam Hanson's description of the southern Idaho sheep industry during the 1930s.

Idaho (The) Encyclopedia. Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, compiler. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1938.

Accounts of Idaho history, folklore, scenery, cultural backgrounds, social and economic trends, and racial factors, organized by County. The Encyclopedia includes a chapter on the "Physical State" with description of the City of Rocks and of the Albion and Goose Creek mountains; a general chapter on agriculture that includes a discussion of reclamation of the Goose Creek and Raft River valleys; of Mining (void of any reference to Cassia County mica mining: "deposits of commercial importance occur in Lahah, Adams, and Idaho [counties)"; Lumbering, with physical description of the Minidoka NF; Manufacturing, with reference to Burley industries; Transportation (very general); Communications (very general); and County histories.

Idaho Historical Society. "City of Rocks and Granite Pass." Boise, Idaho: Idaho Historical Society (Reference Series No. 136), 1993 (revised).

Includes discussion of general boundaries of Northern Shoshoni territory, of the 1862 attack at Massacre Rocks and near City of Rocks, and of federal response to these attacks. Also discussion of first use of Raft River/City of Rocks/Granite Pass as overland trail route and 1849 descriptions of City of Rocks by Geiger and Bryarly, August Burbank, J. Goldsborough Bruff, and James Wilkins.

Idaho Historical Society. "Almo Massacre." Boise, Idaho: Idaho Historical Society (Reference Series No. 232), 1971 (revised).

Collection of newspaper and journal accounts of battles between emigrant parties and local Indians near Almo/City of Rocks. Although primarily a compendium of primary documents, this document also includes a discussion of inconsistencies between accounts and of the general exaggeration of the degree of danger and conflict.

Ingersoll, Chester. Overland to California in 1847. Letters Written En Route to California, West from Independence, Missouri, to the Editor of the Joliet Signal. Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1970.

Descriptions of need to jettison private effects — a process begun as early as Fort Laramie and completed on the final approach to the 40-mile Desert of the Humboldt (Raft River/Goose Creek region). Detailed description (p.35) of the road from Fort Hall to Raft River — "hilly, rocky and sandy — the water is good, but grass is scarce" — and of the Raft River Valley where grass was "plenty" and of Goose Creek "with a rich coat of grass along its banks." These descriptions contrast sharply with overall impressions of land west of South Pass as "one entire volcanic region, all burnt to a cinder. The rock and stone look like cinders from a furnace." Ingersoll reports (1847) that, at Fort Hall, "only about 60 or 70 wagons, out of 750, except the Mormons, are taking the road to California. The Mormons stop at the great Salt Lake."

Jackson, W. Turrentine. Wagons Roads West. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964.

Evaluation of the role of the federal government in the location, survey, and improvement of wagon routes in the trans-Mississippi territory before the railroad era.

Johansen Dorothy O. and Charles M. Gates. Empire of the Columbia. A History of the Pacific Northwest. New York, Evanston, and London: Harper & Row, 1957, p. 381.

General reference, primarily re: development of southern Idaho markets. Also northwest transportation routes.

Madsen, Brigham D. The Bannock of Idaho. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1958.

An important work on Bannock ethnography, with a primary emphasis on the period of contact, the Bannock's evolving response to the emigrant trains, the treaty process, and the Bannock War.

Madsen, Brigham D. The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre (Utah Centennial Series, Volume 1). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1985.

Includes good description (Chapter 3) of Indian Agent/emigrant reports of clashes with Shoshoni and Bannack Indians in the region surrounding Fort Hall. Also details federal response.

Meinig, D.W. "The Mormon Culture Region: Strategies and Patterns in the Geography of the American West, 1847-1964," Annals of the Association ofAmerican Geographers 55 (June 1965): 191-220.

Seminal geographic study of an identifiable Mormon Culture Region, distinguished by architecture and land use. Identifies Mormonism as a subculture that has "long established its mark upon the life and landscape of a particular area" and attempts to define the limits to this area or cultural landscape. Includes discussion of farm-village pattern of development — relevant to agricultural development of City of Rocks region, particularly relationship of historic homesteads with the communities of Albion, Elba, and Almo — and a discussion of the three tiers (temporal and geographic) of Mormon "colonization." See also Francaviglia (The Mormon Landscape).

Merrill, Irving R., editor. Bound For Idaho. The 1864 Trail Journal of Julius Merrill. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1988.

Merrill traveled west to the Idaho gold fields in 1864. Relevant to the City of Rocks primarily for Merrill's response to and description of the Snake River plain and Fort Hall.

Mintz, Lannon W. The Trail; A Bibliography of the Travelers on the Overland Trail to California, Oregon, Salt Lake City, and Montana during the Years 1841-1864. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987.

General Bibliography, listing over 700 diaries of travel on the California Trail.

Morgan, Dale L. Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1953.

General source re: exploration associated with the fur trade. Includes specific discussion of Smith's reconnaissance of the Bear River/Chalk Creek route from Fort Hall to California.

Myres, Sandra L., ed. Ho for California! Women's Overland Diaries from the Huntington Library. San Marino, California: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 1980.

Of the five women's diaries included in this volume, only those of Helen Carpenter (1957) and of Mary Stuart Bailey (1952) reference the City of Rocks. Of the two diaries, Carpenter's is the most complete and the most descriptive. Carpenter describes Mormon blacksmith shops along the Raft River, describes emigrant fears of Indian depredation, reports passing the grave of a man "killed by Indians," and describes an Indian visit to their encampment along Goose Creek: "they did not appear unfriendly." Her description of City of Rocks includes a discussion of churches, dog houses, courthouses, large and small houses, and concludes with general satisfaction at the interruption of the normally monotonous journey. Like other emigrants, Carpenter describes the area as heavily willowed.

Parkman, Francis, The Oregon Trail, edited by F.N. Feltzkog. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969.

Of only limited use. Unruh (The Plains Across) reports that "the title is not very germane to its contents." No descriptions of the project area (Raft River Valley/City of Rocks) and only limited description of life on the trail. Feltzkog's introduction (pp. 18a-23a) contains a narrative description of the various routes and alternative "cut-offs."

Potter, David Morris, editor. Trail to California; the Overland Journal of Vincent Geiger and Wakeman Bryarly. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1945.

Extensively quoted in the National Register of Historic Places Nomination for the City of Rocks, this journal includes poetic descriptions of the "City Rocks." It also includes more prosaic descriptions of the Raft River Valley, of emigrant response to Indian threat between Fort Hall and the Humboldt, and of the exhausted state of teams and of immigrants as they approached the last leg of their journey to California.

Powell, J.W. and G.W. Ingalls. "Report, December 18, 1873" in the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Annual Report, 1873. House Executive Document No. 1, Pt. 5, 43d Cong., 1st sess., 1873, Serial 160l.

Powell and Ingalls' 1873 report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (pp. 410-412) includes a description of Western Shoshone, Pai-Utes, and white settlement in the area south of Fort Hall. Powell reports that "there is no district of country with sufficient water and other natural facilities for a reservation, not already occupied by white men . . . . The lands along the streams and almost every important spring has either been entered or claimed." This report suggests that project-area settlement predates formal survey and legal claim (ca. 1878) to cultivable lands along Goose and Circle creeks and Raft River.

Read, Georgia Willis and Ruth Gaines, eds. Gold Rush: The Journals, Drawings and Other Papers of J. Goldsborough Bruff New York: Columbia University Press, 1944.

Only Volume 1 of this two volume series contains reference to the City of Rocks region. Within volume 1, the project area forms the geographic and psychological demarcation between phases of Bruff's journey: Part 1 describes "Washington City to Raft River," Part 2 describes "Raft River to Bruff's Camp" in northern California. Bruff's diary includes important descriptions of Indian encounters within the project area; of loss of livestock as trains approached the Humboldt; and of the frequent jettison of personal effects. Also includes a pencil sketch of the "source of Goose Creek and Val. Rock" and an oft-quoted description of the City of Rocks. Description of Mormon traders in the region predates Helen Carpenter's similar description by almost five years (see Myers, Ho For California!).

Reid, John Phillip. Law for the Elephant. San Marino, California: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 1980.

Account of role of private property in overland migration (an inherently cooperative venture). Includes powerful descriptions of starvation along the trail; abandonment of private property (and process by which migrants traded their own belongings for superior goods of similar function found along the trail); and description of the alternative routes available to travelers: including Lassen's Cut-off or the longer, safer route through City of Rocks. (Suggests that after ca. 1850 many emigrants detoured through Salt Lake City to acquire needed supplies, joining the main stream of travel just south of City of Rocks.)

Robbins, Roy M. Our Landed Heritage. The Public Domain 1776-1936. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1962.

General source for information re: federal land legislation as it pertained to the West.

Steen, Harold K. The U.S. Forest Service; A History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1976.

General source for information on western response to creation of the U.S. Forest Reserves (1897) and the U.S. Forest Service (1906). Includes discussion of evolution of America's conservation ethic and the administrative responsibilities of those charged with conservation of grazing (versus timber) land.

Stegner, Wallace. Beyond the Hundredth Meridian. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954.

Description of federal attempts to encourage settlement and development of the semi-arid American West — includes critical discussion of the Desert Land Act, the 160-acre Homestead Act, the Enlarged Homestead Act, and impacts of this legislation on western settlement patterns and the western cultural landscape.

________. Mormon Country. New York: ??, Sloan, and Pearce, 1942.

The first comprehensive discussion of the impact of Mormonism on the cultural landscape, including a discussion of physical characteristics of Mormon communities (irrigation networks, the City of Zion plat, the prevalent lombardy poplar), the role of the social network of wards and stakes, and trade networks defined by Salt Lake City rather than state lines.

________. Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs; Living and Writing in the West. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.

Series of essays describing the American West — "aridity and aridity alone makes the various Wests one" — Americans' cultural and physical response to that aridity — including attempts to irrigate and to cultivate western lands.

Sudweeks, Leslie L. "The Raft River in Idaho History," Pacific Northwest Quarterly (June 1941), pp. 289-306.

Mr. Sudweeks examines use of the Raft River and its tributaries "for three surging streams of travel": fur traders; emigrant wagons; and the pony express, stagecoach and freight wagon. Includes a description of the Almo Massacre and of the Pony Express route through the area.

Unruh, John. The Plains Across. The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1860. Urbana Chicago London: University of Illinois Press, 1979.

This seminal work on overland migration contains few references to the project area specifically yet provides essential background information on changing public perception and attitudes toward the semi-arid West, the Mormon migration, and the day-to-day experience of migrants, including a critical analysis of the degree of contact and of conflict with Native Americans. Includes an important discussion of the different phases of migration, from those who intended to settle the best land, to Mormons in search of marginal unsettled land, to the '49ers who planned primarily to make their fortune and return east (thus creating a surge of eastward travel).

Utley, Robert M. The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846-1890. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.

Includes description of the "Foundation of a New Indian Policy" that guided the federal response to conflict in southern Idaho between the Shoshoni and Bannack and white settlers (focus on Fort Hall). Special emphasis on the impact of the '49ers on federal Indian policy.

Zimmermann, Margaret Hoff and Erich W. Zimmermann, translators. Scharmann's Overland Journey to California; From the Pages of a Pioneer's Diary. (Translated from the German of H.B. Scharmann). Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1918, reprinted 1969.

Excellent account of travel beyond South Pass, especially response to the general aridity of land west of Fort Bridger: Peak Basement (near Green River) "is the only region during this part of the voyage that seems worthy of a farmer's notice. The land for the rest of the way from Fort Laramie to California is not worth a cent, I think. It consists of nothing but desert-land and bare mountains covered with boulders and red soil which makes them resemble volcanoes. The best thing the traveller can do is to hurry on as fast as possible from one river to the other." See Stegner and Unruh re: cultural/emotional responses to arid West.

Boothe, Wayne R. "A History of the Latter-Day Saint Settlement of Oakley, Idaho." M.S. thesis, Brigham Young University, July 1963.

This thesis appears to be based upon a thorough search of newspapers and LDS church records and upon interviews with local residents. It covers the period 1860 through the 1920s, discussing initial settlement, school and church development, commercial development, transportation systems, and cultural life. The final chapter offers four examples of local folk legend, including the City of Rocks lost mine story. [308]

Chance, David H. and Jennifer V. Chance. "The Archaeological Reconnaissance of the City of Rocks Reserve." Submitted to the Pacific Northwest Region of the National Park Service, 1990.

Includes a good description of the project area environment, including discussion of changes in the natural landscape associated with decimation of the beaver population, use of the numerous streams for irrigation, and cattle grazing. Detailed accounts of rock inscriptions, trail vestiges, and prehistoric sites discovered in the course of the survey.

The survey concentrated on: the Applegate/California Trail and the Salt Lake Alternate corridors; six randomly selected forty-acre tracts; areas targeted as likely to contain archaeological sites; areas encountered as opportunity presented itself, e.g. while traveling to the randomly selected tracts. Ultimately, of the 65 sites encountered, 25 were included in an amendment to the existing City of Rocks National Register Nomination.

Although historic sites were recorded, little historical information is presented. Relevant pages of F. W. Lander's "Report of the Fort Kearney, South Pass, and Honey Lake Wagon Road," (1859-1860), are included as Appendix D. (See also the site forms associated with this report, available through the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, Boise, Idaho.)

Haines, Aubrey L. "An Historical Report on the City of Rocks in Southern Idaho." Prepared for the National Park Service, Denver Service Center, October, 1972. Copies on file at the Idaho State Historical Society, Boise, and Cassia County Historical Society, Burley, Idaho. [309]

This report deals mainly with the trails period, giving an extended discussion of the supposed Almo massacre and other conflicts between Native Americans and whites. There is a brief discussion of the first homesteads and ranches in the City of Rocks area and a brief reference to Charles Brown's campaign to obtain monument status for the area.

Hutchison, Daniel J. and Larry R. Jones, editors. "Emigrant Trails of Southern Idaho." Boise: Bureau of Land Management and Idaho State Historical Society, January 1993.

This report provides a detailed discussion of the original route of the California Trail and the Salt Lake Alternate in and near the project area, as well as a discussion of extant trail segments.

Little, William J., Range Consultant. "A Historical Overview of Livestock Use in the Area of City of Rocks National Reserve From Introduction to 1907," 1994. (Copy of report provided by the NPS, Pacific Northwest Region, Seattle, Washington.)

This is a "brief overview of early livestock-related events in and around the City of Rocks National Reserve with emphasis on the three country area of present Cassia County, Idaho, Elko County, Nevada, and Box Elder County, Utah. The period begins with the introduction of livestock and concludes in 1907."

Wells, Merle W. "History of the City of Rocks," with four Appendices. Report prepared for David and Jennifer Chance and Associates, Moscow, Idaho, 1990. On file at the Pacific Northwest Region of the National Park Service, Seattle, Washington.

Appendices are 1) City of Rocks and Granite Pass, 2) Diary References to City of Rocks, 3) Almo Massacre Documentation, and 4) Annotated Bibliography

Thompson, Wm. H. "Cassia County, Idaho, 1849-1949," 7/27/1949. File: "Contacts and other Historical Data. Records of Minidoka National Forest (1924 through 1938)." Supervisor's Office, Sawtooth National Forest, Twin Falls, Idaho.

Bulletin #713. Geography, Geology and Mineral Resources of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1920.

Applicable to City of Rocks National Reserve only for identification of periods of drought and above-average rainfall.

Bulletin #1055H: Tertiary Geology of the Goose Creek district [sic lower case], Cassia County, Idaho, Box Elder County, Utah, and Elko County, Nevada. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1959.

Information relevant to the City of Rocks National Reserve is limited to figures re: mean annual precipitation rates (10.5 inches) and mean temperatures.

Bulletin #B530i: Mica in Idaho, New Mexico, and Colorado. Washington D.C. Government Printing Office, 1913.

Cassia County is not identified as significant producer of sheet or scrap mica. The bulletin includes a discussion of mica mining processes and of mica use.

Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology. Bulletin #14: Geology and Mineral Resources of Eastern Cassia County, Idaho. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho, September 1931.

________. Bulletin #6: Geology and Water Resources of the Goose Creek Basin, Cassia County, Idaho. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho, 1923.

Technical analysis of potential for artesian wall development in the Goose Creek drainages. Includes valuable climatological data for the larger region, much of it provided by the USFS (Bostetter and Hereford ranger districts).

Publication #229: Mica and Beryl Pegmatites in Idaho and Montana. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1950.

Idaho's Avon Mining District, Latah County, identified as the state's most significant mica producer. No active or abandoned mines identified in Cassia County. Discussion of government incentives to mica mining during the World War II years. Includes discussion of mica mining processes and of mica use.

United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Eligibility/Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment for National Historic Trail Authorization, 1985.

Includes brief discussion of historic use and significance of the trail systems, as well as a series of useful maps.

United States Geological Society. Water Supply Paper #1460C: Ground Water Possibilities South of the Snake River Between Twin Falls and Pocatello, Idaho. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1962.

Identifies arable land south of the Snake River. Provides annual precipitation records.

United States Geological Survey (USGS) survey plats and survey notes, 1878-1954 (available from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Boise Idaho.

The first USGS surveys show only limited development within the immediate project area. In his 1878 survey of the east half of township 15S 24E, Allen Thompson noted only an unnamed road along the general route of the California Trail. The land is described generally as "gently rolling" with "second-rate [soil], good grass and scattered sage." The north half of the township is described more specifically as "agricultural land." Subsequent project-area surveys dated 1884, 1886, and 1892 note the "old California Road" — in apparent continued use — roads "to Oakley," "from Canyon road to Junction Valley," and "to timber," as well as scattered corrals and scattered buildings, their placement dictated by the presence of water. Survey notes associated with these maps, also available through the BLM, provide greater detail re: physical improvements and the character of the land.

General Land Office, Tract Book Indexes, Township 15S 23E; 15S 24E; 16S 23E; 16S 24E (available from the Bureau of Land Management, Boise, Idaho (microfilm) and the National Archives, Suitland, Maryland (original).

Tract book entries for the immediate project area reveal concentrated settlement by the 1880s (most often under the terms of the Homestead Act) and expansion of these claims under the terms of the Enlarged Homestead Act (1909; 1911) and the Stockraising Homestead Act (1916). Tract book indexes also show extended-family settlement within the project area.

General Land Office, Patent Files (various), Township 15S 23E; 15S 24E; 16S 23E; 16S 24E (available from the National Archives, Suitland, Maryland).

These files indicates that barley and wheat were frequent area crops (vulnerable both to drought and rodents), stock herds were of limited size and often grazed on public lands, agricultural and domestic infrastructure was often limited to a house, a corral system, carrels(?), spring development, and minor secondary structures (such as chicken houses). Land was generally fenced with jack-leg fences. Most homesteaders vacated their claims between November and May, retreating to Almo, Oakley, or Burley where their children could attend school and they could secure wage labor.

United States Census Office. Manuscript Census, Cassia County, Idaho (Territory)." Available on microfilm from the National Archives Records Division, Atlanta, Georgia, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920. [310]

The census includes information on area settlers' age, occupation, literacy and home ownership. Information on place of birth provides a means of identifying the presence of ethnic communities and also (by tracing the birth place of area children) of tracing resident's emigration patterns.

These records include but are not limited to mineral and homestead surveys, administrative site withdrawals, special-use permits (mining and grazing), correspondence files, a Minidoka National Forest history, and site-specific documentation (available at the Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor's Office (Twin Falls), the Burley Ranger District archives (Burley), and/or the Regional Office in Ogden, Utah.

Oral Histories

Stokes, J. W. Interviewed by A. R. Standing, Ogden, Utah, 4/19/1965, re: Mr. Stokes Forest Service Career. File: "Contacts and other Historical Data. Records of Minidoka National Forest (1938)." Supervisor's Office, Sawtooth National Forest, Twin Falls, Idaho.

Limited discussion of the Minidoka National Forest, primarily re: special permits for small-scale timber harvests.

Adams, John. Diaries, 1912-1934. MS8101.

Detailed diary written by an LDS farmer in the Oakley vicinity. Adams chronicles farm chores, types of crops grown, church activities and official actions, weather, local deaths, construction of farm buildings, and his interaction with neighbors. This is a good source for information about daily life and farm management (equipment used, harvest figures, irrigation systems, banking, managing stock, maintaining a kitchen garden).

Jenson, Andrew. "Almo Ward, Idaho." LR10590. Typed and handwritten manuscripts, partly on church survey forms, all on microfilm.

Jenson describes the geographic extent of the ward and compiles the history of Almo Ward in annual reports beginning with its organization as a branch in 1882. The events chronicled include erection of buildings, changes in leadership, missions, and deaths.

Journal of History of the LDS Church. Newspaper clippings, handwritten and typed manuscripts, index.

The Journal of History is a multi-volume scrapbook compiling church president's actions, events affecting the church and church members, and members' activities. Occasional entries include information of more general interest, such as reports on weather and crops, local celebrations, and new construction. The Oakley correspondent to the Deseret News, for example, contributed several general-interest reports beginning in 1883 and continuing through 1899. There are a number of similarly valuable reports from Almo in July and August 1900. The index to the journal includes town and personal names. For Oakley, Almo, and personal names associated with those places, forty-six items are indexed covering the years 1883 through 1945.

Oral Histories

King, Henry Edgar (Ted). Personal interview by Delbert Adams, 1961 (MS 6230 16. Microfilm of 18-page typed transcript.

This interview was produced as part of the Oral History Program of the LDS Church. Materials about Almo include conditions of ranching and a story about a humorous misunderstanding between whites and Native Americans. Much of the interview deals with establishment of Cardston, Alberta.

Coltrin, Ocea. Circle Ranch, oil painting.

This impressionist-style painting depicts structures at Circle Ranch and the surrounding landscape.

Mooso, Walter. Family History File.

This file includes an undated manuscript by Alta Mooso Weldon entitled "Homesteader's [sic] at the City of Rocks," a manuscript entitled "Life Sketch of Walter M. Mooso," By Burdell Curtis, 1981; and an undated autobiography by Alta Mooso Weldon. See also, Oral Histories, Mooso.

Newspaper clippings pertaining to Almo history. "Almo" vertical file (13 clippings).

Clippings dating from 1971-1991 reflect the heightened interest in local history that resulted from American Bicentennial and Idaho Centennial activities. Many of these articles and columns were written by A. W. Dawson, editor of the Burley South Idaho Press, on the basis of interviews that he and his wife Lillian conducted with people knowledgeable about local events. The subjects covered give one a good sense of what local people consider to be of significance in their own history.

Oral Histories

King, Henry Edgar (Ted). Personal interview by A. W. and Lillian Dawson, 16 May 1971 (T 73-74). Not transcribed.

King discusses his father's role in settling the Almo area.

Lind, Philbert. Personal interview by A. W. and Lillian Dawson, October 1972 (T 73-75). Not transcribed.

The Lind family were early settlers at Lynn (Moulton), Utah and maintained ties with communities in and around City of Rocks.

Mooso, Walter. Personal interview by A. W. and Lillian Dawson, 29 March 1973 (T 73-62). Not transcribed.

This interview is extremely useful for documenting the homesteading period in City of Rocks. Mooso was among the first homesteaders within the City of Rocks area and he was among the last to leave when the springs there began drying up. Contents of the tape include Mooso's family history, names of other settlers at City of Rocks, locating his homestead, crops raised, trapping, building his house and other detailed accounts of everyday life. See also "Moose Family History File."

Lewis, Lenore. "History of Oakley, Idaho," no date.

This local history relies upon personal interviews and diaries in private collections. Topics include social clubs, schools, the Mormon Church, transportation and communication systems, local families and their backgrounds, economic development, and means of subsistence.

Ward, Bernus. "History of Almo, Idaho." ca. 1945.

This paper relies on personal interview with eleven members of the region's first white families. Includes a hand-drawn map that identifies buildings and farms by owner and locates the legendary Almo Massacre. Topics include social clubs, schools, the Mormon Church, transportation and communication systems, local families and their backgrounds, economic development, and means of subsistence.

Ward, Dwayne. "History of Almo, Idaho," [1936].

This paper relies on personal interviews with members of the region's first white families. Topics include social clubs, schools, the Mormon Church, transportation and communication systems, local families and their backgrounds, economic development, and means of subsistence. Bernus Ward (see above) draws heavily from this paper.

Whiteley, Robyn. "Pioneer Architecture of Oakley, Idaho," 1973.

This is a folklore collection compiled for an upper-division Brigham Young University class — based upon interview with local residents. Contextual information focusses mainly on builders and early owners. [May provide information relevant to a local/regional context for evaluating area architectural significance. Also for use in defining area vernacular architecture.]

Grouse Creek Collection. Fife Folklore Archives. 21 transcripts of taped interviews. Archivist's permission required for use.

Interviews recorded with participants in the Grouse Creek study (see Carter, Grouse Creek Cultural Survey) make occasional reference to the City of Rocks and surrounding communities as a place to visit for recreation or subsistence activities. Grouse Creek, in northern Utah, is near City of Rocks and very similar to the area in settlement history and subsistence patterns.

"100 Years of Progress." (Burley) South Idaho Press. Special Centennial Supplement, August 1970.

A compilation of articles pertaining to county history, most from past issues of the SIP. Among the articles are items related to the first irrigation pump tried in the Raft River area (1912), a summary of Almo history, the Almo store, a description of the Matt Durfee log cabin in City of Rocks, and an account from Anna Bruesch Durfee of a wagon trip to Almo in 1901.

Cranney, Ariel. "History of the Early Settlement of Oakley, Idaho." January 1935. MC 13/1/6.

This is a college paper based upon an interview with Mrs. A. J. Tolman, a woman of 85. Contents include a general description of establishment of ranches, stage road, and post office; house-building; subsistence; violence between cattle and sheep ranchers; water shortages in the Oakley [Carey Lands] project; and the effect of the Vipont, Utah, silver mine on the Oakley economy.

Dawson, Also William. Western Saga Guide Book. n.p. Dawson: 1974.

This is a compilation of anecdotes about Cassia County history produced during the national Bicentennial with some guidance from the Idaho State Historical Society. Most of the materials pertain to the trails era. Those that do not include sketches about Diamondfield Jack, cattle ranching in the 1890s, the Raft River lost mine, story, the Vipont Mine (Utah) of the 1920s, prohibition, and a stage robbery of 1922. The anecdotes seem to be based upon personal interviews, but interviewees are not identified.

Estes, Virginia, ed. A Pause for Reflection. Provo, Utah: J. Grant Stevenson, 1977.

Biographic, autobiographic, and anecdotal sketches compiled by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Cassia County Company. Some of the sketches include valuable details about everyday life. Includes a brief passage from Emma Lucy Mikesell in which she refers to locating a homestead in City of Rocks in 1910. There are community sections devoted to Moulton, Albion, Oakley, Almo, Elba, and Goose Creek.

Idaho State Department of Agriculture. Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletins and Circulars, from ca. 1900.

This collection contains bulletins addressing the irrigated areas of southeastern Idaho and written at the Kimberly Experiment Station. Relevant data includes county-specific information on the dry-land wheat movement, the impact of drought and depression, changing tenancy and mobility rates, the evolution of area agriculture, the role of women on area farms, etc.

Brown, Charles. "Eternal City of Rocks," The Mountain States Monitor March 1926: 26-27.

Brown's essay describing the geology of the area mentions recent completion of the Oakley-Elba road by the U.S. Forest Service. The article includes a four-stanza poem by Milo M. Thompson and black and white photographs altered with pen to emphasize the animal-like appearance of the formations. This effort may mark the beginnings of Brown's campaign to promote the City of Rocks as a national monument.

"City of Rocks" vertical file:

Contains an eclectic mix of materials, including poetry inspired by the region's geological formations (1920s); newspaper clippings from the Idaho Daily Statesman and Oakley Herald (including 1933 article documenting completion of road from Almo to CIRO); articles and editorials re: 1930s attempts to achieve National Monument status for the City of Rocks; general reference sheets, written in the 1930s and arranged by theme, including the fur trade and trails period (WPA records?).

Idaho Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1891-1892. n.p.: R.L. Polk, [1892].

Brief entries for Almo, Basin, Elba, Oakley, and Thatcher (Goose Creek) provide a description of businesses, churches, services, and population. Entries give a good impression of the commercial, transportation, and communication networks that these communities belong to.

Lind, John. History of John, Emma, and Alex Lind's settlement south of Almo. No title. Manuscript 2/463. Idaho Historical Society, Boise, Idaho, no date, (post 1954).

Additional Vertical Files

Cattle Association: primarily post-1970 pamphlets of Idaho; Cattle; Cowboys: miscellaneous clipping file, ca. 1920s and 1930s accounts of the vanishing cowboy; also modern "human interest" stories on cowboys throughout southern Idaho; Cattle History: contains "History of Idaho's Range Industry," ca. 1948.

Oral Histories

Bruesch, Jake and Ida. Personal interview by A. W. Dawson, 16 May 1974 (OH 180). Typed Transcript.

Includes information about settlement of the Almo area and establishment of a dairy farm.

Dayley, Newell. Personal interview by A. W. and Lillian Dawson, 18 January 1968 (OH 182). Typed Transcript.

Contents include information about cattle ranches and grazing lands in the Raft River and Dry Creek areas, range wars, and the Almo Massacre and the City of Rocks stage robbery legends.

Eames, J. Roy. Personal interview by A. W. and Lillian Dawson, n.d. Two tapes, untranscribed.

Eames discusses his father Henry's role in settling Almo.

Johnson, W.E. Jr. Personal interview by Mr. Robert Alexander and Mrs. Erwin Dobberpfuhl, 5 February 1970 (OH52). Typed transcript with restrictions on reproduction.

Johnson spent his childhood in Almo; the interview contains brief information about farming and early houses in Almo area.

Horne, John Theo. "Autobiography." n.d. 34-page typed manuscript.

This autobiographical account of Horne's life includes information about homesteading near Almo in 1915. Horne's account is valuable for details of everyday life, including descriptions of housing, water supply, outbuildings, farm chores, harvesting, spiritual life, buildings and facilities in Almo, and transportation. Information is imparted through anecdotes that are nearly all first hand.