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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings
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CAMP LYON
Idaho
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Location: Owyhee County, on an unimproved road
that branches off from U.S. 95 at the northern edge of Sheaville, Oreg.,
about 10 miles northwest of De Lamar, Idaho.
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This crude post near the Oregon-Idaho boundary was
active only from 1865 until 1869. In January 1867 its troops, serving in
General Crook's drive against the Snakes (1866-68), accompanied him on a
scout along the Owyhee River that culminated in a victory at Steens
Mountain. The garrison also protected miners, settlers, travelers, and
stages on the Ruby City-Owyhee Crossing Road.
The site, marked by a sign, is privately owned. No
remains of the eight or so log-walled huts, roofed with dirt-covered
poles, that made up the fort are extant. The cabin atop the hill over
looking the site and other ranch buildings, however, may incorporate
some of the fort's lumber.
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Commanding officer's quarters,
Fort Boise, as it appears today. (National Park
Service) |
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FORT BOISE (Boise Barracks)
Idaho
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Location: Ada County, 5th and Fort Streets,
Boise.
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Known after 1879 as Boise Barracks, this post was
founded by Oregon and Washington Volunteers in 1863 along the Oregon
Trail in the Boise River Valley to guard the trail, protect miners, and
aid law enforcement in the mining camps. Beginning in 1860 thousands of
prospectors, ignoring warnings of Indian massacres, swarmed into Idaho
and eastern Oregon. Infuriated, the Northern Paiutes (Snakes) of the
Snake River region preyed on stage coaches, wagon trains, miners, and
ranchers. Civil War Volunteers could not quell them, and negotiations to
place them on reservations ended in failure. The progress of the
Regulars who inherited the difficult task at the end of the war was not
sufficient to quiet the public uproar. In December 1866 a new district
commander, Gen. George Crook, arrived at Fort Boise. Immediately
tightening discipline and bolstering morale, he organized a group of
Indian scouts, moved promptly into the field, and launched a
hard-hitting campaign (1866-68). It crushed the Snakes, perfected his
combat techniques, and helped propel him to the fore of the
Indian-fighting generals.
Centrally located as it was, Fort Boise also
participated in other northwest campaigns. Its garrison bore the brunt
of the Bannock War (1878), fought in Idaho and eastern Oregon against
the Bannocks who had fled westward from the Fort Hall Reservation,
Idaho, and their newly recruited Paiute, Umatilla, and Cayuse allies. In
July Gen. Oliver O. Howard defeated them at Birch Creek, Oreg., and
returned them to the reservation.
In 1919, some 6 years after its inactivation, the
post passed into the hands of the Public Health Service; and in 1938 to
the Veterans' Administration. Today a city park occupies part of the
site. Several 19th-century buildings, a few considerably altered and
most of them used by the Veterans' Administration, are still standing.
The oldest (1863) is one of a group of officers' quarters; the rest date
from the 1890's. Other structures are a paymaster's office (1864) and an
unidentified building (1870).
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FORT HALL [U.S. Army Post]
Idaho
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Location: Bingham County, along an unimproved
road, about 12 miles southeast of Black foot. Make local
inquiry.
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This fort was established in 1870 between the Snake
and Portneuf Rivers about 25 miles northeast of its namesake, the old
fur trading post, to control and protect the Shoshonis and Bannocks who
resided on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, founded 3 years before. The
Bannocks, angered by the invasion of settlers, chafing at restriction to
the reservation, and resenting the inadequacy of food and other
annuities, began plundering white settlements and ranches and set off
the Bannock War (1878). Fort Boise, Idaho, however, conducted the
principal military operations against them and the allies they acquired
as they fled westward in Idaho and into Oregon. Fort Hall remained
active until 1883, by which time the area was more densely populated and
the completion of a railroad through the region made it possible to
bring any needed troops northward from Fort Douglas, Utah. The Indian
Bureau took over the military reservation.
The site is located along Lincoln Creek on the Fort
Hall Indian Reservation. No remains have survived of the log and frame
post.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/soldier-brave/sitec4.htm
Last Updated: 19-Aug-2005
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