Island Park Idaho - Hotel, Lodging, Recreation, and Fishing

Andrew Henry and his handful of trappers were the first white men to winter in the country. They left rock markers on Conant Creek near Drummond during their stay in 1810-11 and chiseled their names and the date: A. Henry, J. Hoback, B. Jackson, P. McBride, L. Cather, Sept. 1810, and the initials L.C. on a nearby rock as well as A. Henry on another.
    Wilson Price Hunt named the North Fork of the Snake and its lake headwaters for Henry when he arrived in the fall of 1811. The inscriptions, “For Henry, 1811, by Hunt,'’ and ‘’Al the cook with nothing to cook” were found on rocks unearthed over a century later near Egin Bench.
    The same Egin Bench was the first settlement when Stephen Winegar and his four sons, George, Willis, Leonard and John, put up the first log shelter during the summer of 1879 when they cut and stacked the wild hay in the river bottoms. Winegar Hole and “Gideon Winegar June, 1882,'’ carved on the cliff beside the Snake River, are reminders of these early settlers.
    The towns that later dotted the Delaware-sized county were not even a gleam in the pioneer father’s eyes when the first settlers in southern and northern parts of the counties arrived. Richard “Beaver Dick” Leigh - trapper and guide - for whom a lake, a creek and a canyon were named, was the first white man to settle in the southern part of the county.
    The frontiersman and Army scout, George Rea, who passed through the Island Park area in 1877, guiding Howard and his troops in pursuit of Chief Joseph and his people, and returned to settle on Shotgun Creek, has a pass, a peak and a post office named for him.

Hotel, stage stop

    Rea’s post office was one of the stage line stations of the Bassett lines from Spencer to West Yellowstone, Mont., with the Arangee Co. Hotel as a stage stop. The Monida-Yellowstone-Western made the run through Red Rock Pass. The Gilmore-Salisbury stages from Spencer to Yellowstone used Salisbury ranch near Henry’s Lake as a stage station. The Arangee Co. Hotel later became the summer home of one of the earliest visitors to appreciate and extol the beauties and potentials of the region, A.S. Trude, the eminent Chicago lawyer.
    The Raynolds expedition, Jim Bridger guiding, passed this way in 1860. An appropriation of $60,000 had been authorized by Congress for the Raynolds expedition to find the best way for a road and/or railroad to the plains of Montana and the Idaho mines. They explored Jackson Hole. Wyo., but were turned back, passed through the Island Park country and discovered Raynolds pass which he recommended as the route into Montana because it had a grade of less than 50 feet to the mile. It was 1,500 feet lower than South pass and so level it was difficult to locate the point where the waters divided.
    The Shoshone-Bannock treaty with the United States was executed in 1868. Sawtell, for whom the mountain with the chieftain profile was named, was reported to have erected a windowless house near the base of the mountain by 1870 as his trapping base.
    In 1872 the Moran brothers, Thomas, the artist, and John, the writer, along with the photographers, Jackson, and other specialists, surveyors and mapmakers sent by the government, were being guided by Richard Leigh to examine the scenic wonders that would be set aside as the country’s first national park in 1875. Other trappers in the area were said to be William Beers, Robert Pugmire, Bill Robinson and Hains and Haig.

Source: Fremont County Chronicle-News Historical Edition Aug. 8,1963 by Margaret Hawkes Lindsley

This entry was posted on Friday, June 9th, 2006 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Island Park History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Andrew Henry and his handful of trappers were the first white men to winter in the country. They left rock markers on Conant Creek near Drummond during their stay in 1810-11 and chiseled their names and the date: A. Henry, J. Hoback, B. Jackson, P. McBride, L. Cather, Sept. 1810, and the initials L.C. on a nearby rock as well as A. Henry on another.
    Wilson Price Hunt named the North Fork of the Snake and its lake headwaters for Henry when he arrived in the fall of 1811. The inscriptions, “For Henry, 1811, by Hunt,'’ and ‘’Al the cook with nothing to cook” were found on rocks unearthed over a century later near Egin Bench.
    The same Egin Bench was the first settlement when Stephen Winegar and his four sons, George, Willis, Leonard and John, put up the first log shelter during the summer of 1879 when they cut and stacked the wild hay in the river bottoms. Winegar Hole and “Gideon Winegar June, 1882,'’ carved on the cliff beside the Snake River, are reminders of these early settlers.
    The towns that later dotted the Delaware-sized county were not even a gleam in the pioneer father’s eyes when the first settlers in southern and northern parts of the counties arrived. Richard “Beaver Dick” Leigh - trapper and guide - for whom a lake, a creek and a canyon were named, was the first white man to settle in the southern part of the county.
    The frontiersman and Army scout, George Rea, who passed through the Island Park area in 1877, guiding Howard and his troops in pursuit of Chief Joseph and his people, and returned to settle on Shotgun Creek, has a pass, a peak and a post office named for him.

Hotel, stage stop

    Rea’s post office was one of the stage line stations of the Bassett lines from Spencer to West Yellowstone, Mont., with the Arangee Co. Hotel as a stage stop. The Monida-Yellowstone-Western made the run through Red Rock Pass. The Gilmore-Salisbury stages from Spencer to Yellowstone used Salisbury ranch near Henry’s Lake as a stage station. The Arangee Co. Hotel later became the summer home of one of the earliest visitors to appreciate and extol the beauties and potentials of the region, A.S. Trude, the eminent Chicago lawyer.
    The Raynolds expedition, Jim Bridger guiding, passed this way in 1860. An appropriation of $60,000 had been authorized by Congress for the Raynolds expedition to find the best way for a road and/or railroad to the plains of Montana and the Idaho mines. They explored Jackson Hole. Wyo., but were turned back, passed through the Island Park country and discovered Raynolds pass which he recommended as the route into Montana because it had a grade of less than 50 feet to the mile. It was 1,500 feet lower than South pass and so level it was difficult to locate the point where the waters divided.
    The Shoshone-Bannock treaty with the United States was executed in 1868. Sawtell, for whom the mountain with the chieftain profile was named, was reported to have erected a windowless house near the base of the mountain by 1870 as his trapping base.
    In 1872 the Moran brothers, Thomas, the artist, and John, the writer, along with the photographers, Jackson, and other specialists, surveyors and mapmakers sent by the government, were being guided by Richard Leigh to examine the scenic wonders that would be set aside as the country’s first national park in 1875. Other trappers in the area were said to be William Beers, Robert Pugmire, Bill Robinson and Hains and Haig.

Source: Fremont County Chronicle-News Historical Edition Aug. 8,1963 by Margaret Hawkes Lindsley

This entry was posted on Friday, June 9th, 2006 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Island Park History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.