The Clearwater Story: A History of the Clearwater National Forest

Gold was discovered in Pierce late in the year 1860 and a rush to the gold fields of the Clearwater took place in 1861. At first Walla Walla was the base of operations, but a town was soon established at Lewiston and it served as the taking off point and center of supplies. Gold was soon found at Elk City and Florence and then in 1863 the big find was made at Alder Gulch in what is now Montana.

The base of supplies for the towns on Alder Gulch, the largest of which was Virginia City, was Salt Lake City, Utah. Lewiston tried to get in on the trade and some men, such as Magruder, took supplies to Virginia City by pack train, going over the Nez Perce Trail. But Salt Lake had a distinct advantage over Lewiston because freight could be hauled from there by wagon. So the merchants of Lewiston promoted a wagon road east by way of Lolo Pass. There was a road to Pierce and they reasoned that it would be practical to make a shorter route to Montana by building a road through the mountains to Missoula. Some citizens of Lewiston even formed a corporation to build a toll road but they never got started.

Pressure was brought on Congress to build such a road and in 1865 Congress, always in favor of promoting development of the West, appropriated $50,000 to construct a road through Lolo Pass. Little did anyone realize the difficulties involved. It was 74 years before this dream was fulfilled.

Although the appropriation was made in 1865, the Secretary of the Interior could not find an engineer who would undertake the job. The pay was $2,000 a year, a fair sum at that time in the East but not much in Idaho Territory in 1865, where prices and wages were much higher.

Mr. Wellington Bird was hired as the Chief of Party in 1866 and George B. Nicholson his assistant. Professor Oliver Marcy, a botanist and zoologist from Northwestern University, was to accompany the party, but he made a quick trip over the Lolo Trail while the snow was melting in the spring and missed an opportunity to make a worthwhile contribution to science.

Bird's original plan was to assemble an outfit in the East and move it to Lewiston but after consultation with the Secretary of Interior he discarded this idea and took passage on March 10, 1866 by boat to Portland. Here Bird and his aids bought some road building equipment. They then moved to Lewiston arriving May 1, 1866. At Lewiston, Bird spent considerable time talking to people about the geography of the country and making final preparations for an assault on the Lolo Trail.

The party left Lewiston on May 24. It was a sizable outfit consisting of Wellington Bird, George Nicholson, Oliver Marcy, Major Sewell Truax, one time commander of Fort Lapwai, William Craig, cooks, teamsters, blacksmiths, etc. They were well equipped with a plow, shovels, axes, wagons, tents, stoves, medicine chest, mess outfits, blankets and food for 60 men for six months. All this cost about $20,000 leaving about $30,000 to be spent on the job.

They took the road to Weippe, going through Lapwai and over the Nez Perce Prairie, crossing the Clearwater River at Schultz's Ferry, now Greer. In the meantime Bird had gone ahead and scouted the area. The prospects for a road were anything but bright. There was six feet of snow in the mountains and the country was covered with a dense forest with heavy underbrush and plenty of windfalls. It was a dismal prospect but Bird could not find any route that was better.

Bird then notified the Department of Interior that it was not possible to build a road through the mountains for $50,000. He said he would survey a route for a road and then attempt to build a trail on that location that could later be developed into a road. In the meantime, the Lewiston sponsors of the road would probably be less demanding.

Even a survey was difficult. The forest and brush were so dense that axemen were required to open a line of sight. The country was steep and camping sites few and far between. The survey took a month. Bird arrived at the mouth of Lolo Creek in Montana on July 7 and his party was utterly exhausted.

Bird then returned to his construction crew over the Lolo Trail. He had sent his assistant, George Nicholson, Major Truax, and Tahtutash over the Southern Nez Perce Trail. They made the trip from Fort Owen to Elk City in eight days, which was something of a record for that time. Nicholson reported that the Lolo Trail was the better route. Sometimes we see statements that the Southern Nez Perce Trail was an easier route than the Northern route, the Lolo Trail. Actually both routes were very difficult and either way a traveler went he would likely wish he had taken the other. One thing that may have confused people is that the Forest Service completely relocated and rebuilt the Southern Nez Perce Trail. Still later they replaced this trail with a motorway. Many people mistake segments of the Forest Service Trail as parts of the Old Southern Nez Perce Trail.

While Bird and his surveyors were locating a trail across the mountains the crew widened the trail from Weippe to Musselshell into a road and moved to Musselshell. A large part of this road was on the same location as the road today.

The party spent the months of August and September in building the Lolo Trail. Several important changes were made in the trail as followed by Lewis and Clark. Bird changed the trail from Indian Post Office to Indian Grave Lookout, following along the main divide. He also changed the trail from Sherman Saddle to Weippe. Instead of dropping into and climbing out of Hungery Creek he rerouted the trail along the main divide to Snowy Summit, thence to Musselshell, Browns Creek and Weippe. He graded from saddle to saddle, thus eliminating many steep sections and generally easing the grade.

Bird built a very good trail. Trees did fall across it and since no one was responsible for keeping it open it became clogged with windfalls. But its route remained practically unchanged from 1866 until it was replaced by a motorway in 1934, a period of 68 years. So the money was well spent.

In September, Bird realized that winter was near in the mountains. There remained $8,000 of the appropriation. So Bird turned everything over to Major Truax and went to Washington. The Secretary of the Interior, knowing little about local conditions, was displeased that the project had been suspended and that Bird had taken it upon himself to appoint his successor.

The Idaho Territorial Legislature asked Congress for $60,000 to continue the project, but Congress would not appropriate the money so the project came to an abrupt end.

Apparently the Bird construction crew named several features along the Lolo Trail. Snowy Summit, Rocky Ridge, Sherman Peak, Sherman Creek, and Indian Post Office are all names that were probably first used by Bird's Crew.

CHIEF JOSEPH and GENERAL HOWARD

The next well-known trip over the Lolo Trail came several years later during the so-called Nez Perce War. After the engagement between General Howard and Chief Joseph near Stites, the Indians retreated to Weippe. They arrived July 15, 1877. At that time there were only a few ranches in the Weippe vicinity, belonging to Martin Mauli, Wellington (Duke) Landon, "Grasshopper" Jim Clark and John Reed. These people fled to Pierce where a makeshift fortification was put together.

The Indians burned the ranchers' buildings and, having lost a greater part of their food supplies at Stites, they proceeded to kill the ranchers' cattle and dry the meat.

At Weippe, the Indians held a war council. They had to make a tough decision. Some of the Indians, including Joseph, wanted to negotiate a peace treaty. Others, particularly those who thought they and their friends might be hanged for murder, wanted to continue the war. All the chiefs were convinced that they could not whip General Howard without assistance. They were faced with deciding whether they should negotiate a peace, flee to Canada, or seek aid from the Flathead or Crows who had always been their friends. Finally they decided to go to the Crow country and, if need be, later go to Canada. The Nez Perce, particularly Looking Glass, had always been on the friendliest terms with the white people in Montana and the Crows and had every reason to believe they would experience no difficulty there; a hope that led to bitter disappointment.

General Howard, after the battle at Stites, did not press the war. He did send out a scouting party which was ambushed. One friendly Nez Perce was killed where the old trail from Kamiah to Weippe crossed Incendary Creek.

It is not known just when Joseph and his band started over the Lolo Trail. They first moved to Musselshell Meadows and were there when General Howard's scouting party was turned back. They then started over the Lolo Trail. Counting the days back from the passage around Fort Fizzle, it appears that they started on July 20 or 21 and were six days crossing to Grave Creek, a branch of Lolo Creek in Montana, arriving there on July 26.

Joseph's Band consisted of about 250 men, about 450 women and children and two thousand head of horses. They followed the Lolo Trail as improved by Bird and Truax. Apparently, the windfalls had not been removed since Bird did his work in 1866; the trail was choked with fallen timber. The Indians jammed their horses through, breaking legs and leaving the crippled and dying animals on the trail.

General Howard left Weippe, he called it Oy-ipe, on July 31. He camped that evening at Musselshell Meadows. Joseph was then leisurely moving up the Bitterroot Valley.

On August 1. General Howard camped, I believe, at Soldiers Meadows.

Apparently he reached Weitas Meadows on August 2. This is a good camp site. Here his trail clearing crew, which had been recruited in Lewiston but which he had not waited for, overtook him. An officer's sword, now in the Clearwater Historical Society Museum, was found there.

On August 3. He apparently reached Bald Mountain, which has excellent horse feed and water. A small number of cannon balls were left here. The Clearwater Historical Society Museum has one of these balls and a bayonet found there.

On August 4. Howard reached what is now called Camp Howard. Here he received a request, by messenger, from Captain Rawn to hurry assistance as he was following Chief Joseph up the Bitterroot. Some cannon balls were also left at this site.

August 5. Howard took his cavalry and went ahead. He camped where the Lolo Trail crossed Crooked Creek. This spot is heavily timbered and the horses had no feed.

August 6. Howard moved to Packer Meadows where an hour was spent eating breakfast and grazing the horses. He then went on to Hot Springs to camp.

Thus Chief Joseph and General Howard crossed the Clearwater National Forest. They had a long way to go before they met at the Bearpaw Battlefield where Joseph, finally surrounded by Colonel Miles' forces, declared he would "fight no more forever".

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There is a legend that General Howard abandoned a cannon somewhere along the Lolo Trail. Various stories are told. Some say it rolled down the mountain from the trail and was abandoned. Others say it was buried in a rockslide. The location varies. The first report I heard was in 1924, when I was camped at Bald Mountain. The cannon was supposed to have been abandoned there, perhaps buried. I spent considerable time evenings and Sundays looking for it and prospecting likely looking mounds by driving a telephone ground rod into them, but I had no luck.

Later rumors placed the cannon somewhere in the vicinity of Rocky Ridge. The ground around there was thoroughly searched without success. Another rumor is that the cannon is near Camp Howard and if a cannon was abandoned, this is the most likely place. Here Howard took his cavalry and hurried to the assistance of Captain Rawn. It could be, but it is only a guess on my part, he left the cannon so he could make better time. The War Department insists that no cannon was abandoned. Nevertheless, the story had wide circulation among the pioneers of the Clearwater country and many people today believe it is true.

There were some cannon balls abandoned along the trail. They were seen by early Forest Service employees: Allen Space, A.N. Cochrell, Wolfard Renshaw and others. My brother, Allen, saw these cannon balls in 1918 but said that by 1920, they had all disappeared.

In 1928, Mr. DeCray, a forest telephone lineman, found a cannon ball in the vicinity of Bald Mountain and the Clearwater Historical Society has one, but so far as I know these are the only ones known today.