Point of Interest 1/2 Mile

Of the many roadside "point of interest" pull-offs I have stopped at in my travels, this one, in Idaho just before the southern border on the way to Logan, Utah, came with an extra, poignant surprise. I saw that the scraggly tree behind the sign was hung with many small objects, some very weathered, others not so much.

The stone monument is much older than the sign erected by the Idaho State Historical Society. Photos of the bronze plaques didn't come out readable, but I remember they were placed by a Mormon Women's organization, and praised the California militiamen for "ending hostile attacks on peaceful settlers" and the settler women of the area for nursing the wounded soldiers (16 were killed) and taking in and adopting a Shoshone woman and two children who were found hiding. It said over 300 Shoshone were killed or "incapacitated" including 60 "combatant women and children".

The Shoshone were the tribe of Sacagawea, who significantly aided the Lewis and Clark expedition 57 years earlier, and whose brother, a chief, provided the horses needed by the exploratory party to cross the continental divide. Their report was a major step in opening the West to European settlement. Sacagawea probably died of disease around 1812.

Видео Point of Interest 1/2 Mile канала Chris Hoover