Histories - Clark IDGenWeb

Idaho volunteer infantry
Spanish American War
taken about 1898

City sign coming into Dubois
date unknown

Camas Meadows Battle Sites

Gen. Oliver O. Howard's Camp Calloway and, about 3 miles away, Capt. Randolph B. Norwood's encounter site are the two skirmish sites associated with the 1877 Nez Perce War. They represent unsuccessful attempts by General Howard to capture the fleeing Nez Perce.

At a rest stop on I-15 at Dubois, Idaho, an interpretive sign, "Nez Perce War," briefly summarizes the events of the 1877 war in this area. Access is over 25 miles of seasonal paved and unpaved road east of Interstate Highway 15. Both sites are difficult to find.

A half-mile dirt track through the sagebrush from remote, paved County Road A-2 leads to Captain Norwood's encounter site. There is one large interpretive sign. The concrete monument at the site summarizes the 1877 war and gives a detailed account of the Camas Meadows battle. A small parking area accommodates three to four cars. On the slightly elevated ridges on either side of the parking area are stacked stone barricades a foot or so high. Some of these have obviously been constructed recently, but several seem to be original. There are no modern structures in view, thus giving visitors a sense of what the siege might have been like.

To get to General Howard's camp, visitors must hike across cattle pastures on private property from a privately owned gated ranch road. The campsite is marked by a white gravestone inscribed "Bernard A. Brooks, Michigan, Trumpeter 1 U.S. Cav., August 20, 1877" Stone rifle pits also are found at General Howard's Camp on the elevated ridges. Very little development is visible to interrupt the feeling of the historic scene. Both sites are remote and the horizon lines are far away; visitors can get the feeling of the monumental effort it will took to cross the country on horseback or on foot.

The general area is uncultivated grazing land interspersed with volcanic rock outcroppings and sage. This site is in the traditional area of the Shoshone Bannock Tribes. The Idaho State Lands Department owns Norwood's encounter site. Howard's camp is on private land. There is much local interest in their preservation but concern about whether attention should be attracted to them.

This information was taken from the General Management Plan dated September 1997 for the Nez Perce National Historical Park included in Clark County, as prepared by the U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service.

Civilian Conservation Corps

I have some info on the CCC Camp. It was right here in Dubois, located where the Lindy Ross Elementary School is now located at the south end of town. I can remember it. The Loy Johnson that was mentioned on this site was one who remained here in Dubois, married and raised his family here. There were about five or six of those boys that did just that. The camp was here about three years. There was another camp located just north of here about six miles at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station. (Pocatello was mentioned, it is just over 100 miles south of Dubois.) They did a lot of projects around this area to help the communities. They apparently had their own doctors also. I remember having a typhoid scare at our Medicine Lodge School because of the water we drank that was put into the old cistern. That doctor came out and gave us all shots, at least a couple of times. (I passed out every time, he scared me to death.) The men that remained here were H. E. Kator, Loy Johnson, Bennie D. Harmon, Ted Twordac, & George Hurst, as I remember. I'm not sure, but some of this camp may have gone over to Mackay from here, that is quite a ways from here, beyond Arco.

Contributed by Bonnie Stoddard, Clark County Historian. Our appreciation for her time and effort to provide this information.

Clark County History

Some of the first people to inhabit the areas of Clark County were the Northern Shoshoni approximately 7,000-8,000 years ago. However, the Idaho State University Museum in conjunction with the Peabody Museum of Harvard University found human evidence in the Birch Creek Valley in the southwest corner of Clark County that is 10,000 years old or possibly more. They believe these people were the fore runners to the Northern Shoshoni. They were mostly big game hunters but also gatherers of wild food. In some areas they used natural rock outcroppings and caves as dwelling areas and places to butcher and store meat. The Nez Perce Indians also used the general area as a route taken each year from the Wallowa Valley to their buffalo hunting grounds in Montana.

This area was well traveled in the 1800's by early trappers and explorers. In 1853 Lieutenant Mullen traveled through Medicine Lodge Canyon from Montana on his way to Fort Hall. This route, also used historically by Indians, became a well-traveled route to the Montana Gold Fields from Salt Lake City, Utah. Birch Creek Valley and Monida Pass were also well traveled routes. Monida Pass eventually become the main route running north and south and was traveled by freight and stagecoaches as well as the famous Pony Express. The stage stop was located near present day Spencer and called the Beaver Stage Station and was Clark County's earliest settlement. By the 1870's Beaver was a boom town with large lumber enterprises. The early 1880's brought the steam locomotive to Clark County as it made its way to Montana. With it came the birth of a new town. The railroad needed an area with flatter ground than Beaver offered, so began the settlement of Dubois, named after the late Idaho Senator Fred T. Dubois. By 1910, Dubois was a booming town which boasted a population of over 600 people (Historical Society, 1985). Other early towns still found on some maps but contain little more than monuments to their former inhabitants are Lidy, Winsper, Small and others.

February 1, 1919, a portion of land was taken from Fremont County and renamed Clark County. The County was named for Sam K. Clark who was an early settler on Medicine Lodge Creek. He represented Fremont County at the time Clark County was created. The city of Dubois, was designated the County seat.

Contributed by Bonnie Stoddard, Clark County Historian, © 2007 Reserved

Plank & Wright - Sheep and Cattle

This document was an historical pamphlet produced in 1940 and was originally compiled by Kate B. Carter. It concerns Amos Wright and his family. The story as related was written by the daughter of Amos Wright, E. M. Wright. Discussion focuses on the initial attempts to colonize near Fort Lemhi, Idaho, and Amos's interaction with Chief Arimo. Plank and Wright had sheep and cattle in Winsper, Idaho. Time frame for the story is the period around the 1850's and later. This document shows the two pages of the original copy, and then a transcribed page of the contents.

Our appreciation to Ms. Pamela G. Carson for providing the copy and transcription [2013].