Fort Boise

Fort Boise refers to two different locations in southwestern Idaho. The first was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post near the Oregon border, dating from the era when Idaho was part of the fur company's Columbia District. The second was a military post fifty miles to the east which became the capital city of Boise.

Old Fort Boise

The overland Astor Expedition are believed to be the first whites to explore the future site of the first Fort Boise (located on the Boise River about seven miles from its mouth) searching for a suitable location for a fur trading post in 1811.

John Reid, an Astorian, and a small party of Pacific Fur Company traders established an outpost near the mouth of the Boise in 1813 and were promptly massacred by Indians. Marie Dorion, the wife of one those killed, and her two children escaped and traveled more than two hundred miles in deep snow toward friendly Walla Walla Indians on the Columbia. [*cite book
last = Bird
first = Annie Laurie
authorlink = Annie Laurie Bird
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Old Fort Boise
publisher = Old Fort Boise Historical Society
date = 1990
location = Parma, Idaho
oclc = 962624] The explorer and mapmaker David Thompson of the North West Company (NWC) called the Boise "Reids River" and his outpost "Reids Fort" on a 1818 map. [http://library.boisestate.edu/Special/Maps/BoiseRiver1818.htm]

Donald Mackenzie, a former Astorian representing the North West Fur Company, established a post in 1819 at the same site which was abandoned because of Indian hostilities.

In the fall of 1834, Thomas McKay, a veteran leader of the annual HBC Snake Country brigades, [http://gesswhoto.com/mcloughlin.html Dr. John McLoughlin] , A Place Called Oregon] built Fort Boise, selecting the same location as Reid and Mackenzie. Although McKay, who was the step-son of the HBC Chief Factor John McLoughlin, had retired in 1833, McLoughlin sent him to establish Fort Boise in 1834 in order to challenge the newly built American Fort Hall. Fort Hall was located about convert|300|mi|km to the east, near Pocatello. It was built by Nathaniel Wyeth's American trading company. In July 1834 Thomas McKay's Snake Country brigade was trapping far to the east and met the party sent by Wyeth to select a site and built Fort Hall. At the end of July McKay departed for Fort Vancouver.cite book |last= Thwaites |first= Reuben Gold |title= Early Western Travels, 1748-1846 |origyear= 1904 |year= 2007 |publisher= Reprint Services Corporation |isbn= 9780781264549 |pages= pp. 201-202, 230-231 online at [http://books.google.com/books?id=UfChbasKiOMC Google Books] ]

Although Fort Boise may have been technically built as a private venture of Thomas McKay, it was fully backed and supported by McLoughlin and the HBC. [http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0062.pdf Fur Trade Posts in Idaho] , Idaho State Historical Society] The contest over the Snake Country resulted in Wyeth vacating the region in 1836-37. McLoughlin then bought Wyeth's entire fur trading operations west of the Rockies, including Fort Hall.cite book |last= Mackie |first= Richard Somerset |title= Trading Beyond the Mountains: The British Fur Trade on the Pacific 1793-1843 |year= 1997 |publisher= University of British Columbia (UBC) Press |location= Vancouver |isbn= 0-7748-0613-3 |pages= pp. 106-107 online at [http://books.google.com/books?id=VKXgJw6K088C Google Books] ] The HBC also took full control of Fort Boise in 1836.

The Hudson's Bay Company operated the Fort Boise until its abandonment. From 1835-1844, the fort was headed by French-Canadian Francois Payette. It was mostly staffed by Hawaiian (Owyhee) employees and soon became known for the hospitality and supplies provided to travelers and emigrants. In 1838, Payette constructed a second Fort Boise near the confluence of the Boise River and Snake River about five miles (8 km) northwest of the present town of Parma, Idaho and south of Nyssa, Oregon. [Location of Old Fort Boise, 1834-1855 [http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0029.pdf] ] Infobox nrhp
name = Fort Boise and Riverside Ferry Sites
nrhp_type =


caption =
location =NW of Parma on Snake River
nearest_city = Parma, Idaho
lat_degrees =
lat_minutes =
lat_seconds =
lat_direction =
long_degrees =
long_minutes =
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area =
built =
architect = Thomas McKay
architecture =
added =December 24, 1974
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
refnum = 74000736
mpsub =
governing_body = It was built in the form of a parallelogram one hundred feet per side, surrounded with a stockade of poles fifteen feet high. Later the logs were covered and replaced with sun-dried adobe bricks. In 1846, it had two tilled acres, twenty-seven cattle, and seventeen horses. [ AN INTERIOR EMPIRE, p13 [http://www.icbemp.gov/science/beckham.pdf] ] In 1853, a flood damaged the fort and in 1854, the Ward massacre took place within a few miles of the Fort. Nineteen members of an Oregon Bound emigrant train were murdered by Shoshone. [*cite book
last = Shannon
first = Donald H.
authorlink = Donald H. Shannon
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = the Boise Massacre
publisher = Snake Country Publishing
date = 2004
location = Caldwell, Idaho
oclc = 54693349 ] The fort was deemed indefensible from hostiles and with the demise of the fir trade it was abandoned in 1855 with the stock and goods taken to Flathead country. [*cite book
last = Fisher
first = Vardis
authorlink = Vardis Fisher
last2 = Federal Writers' Project
first2 =
author2-link = Federal Writers' Project
title = Idaho Encyclopedia
publisher = Caxton Printers, Ltd
date = 1938
location = Caldwell, Idaho
oclc = 962624]

The Shoshone (Snake River sternwheeler) was constructed and launched at the old Fort Boise location in 1866 by the Oregon Steam and Navigation Company. She transported miners and their equipment from Olds Ferry for the Boise basin, Owyhee and Hells Canyon mines. When the venture failed, it was taken down Hells Canyon. Badily damaged when it reached Lewiston, it was repaired and spent several years operating on the lower Columbia River. [ [http://www.idahopower.com/riversrec/relicensing/hellscanyon/hellspdfs/techappendices/Cultural/e04_11.pdf] Buckendorf, Bauer, and Jacox, "Non-Native Exploration, Settlement, and Land Use of the Greater Hells Canyon Area, 1800s to 1950s"(p23), Technical Report Appendix E.4.11, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Re-licensing application, Idaho Power Company, 2003]

The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and currently lies within the boundaries of the Fort Boise Wildlife Management Area. A replica of the fort is open to the public.

New Fort Boise

On July 4, 1863, a new Fort Boise was established by the United States Army, during the middle of the Civil War (the Battle of Gettysburg had concluded a day earlier). (Brevet) Major Pinckney Lugenbeel was dispatched from Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory to head east and select the site in the newly formed Idaho Territory. The new location was fifty miles to the east of the old Hudson's Bay Company fort, up the Boise River at the site which would soon become the city of Boise. This new military post was in response to massacres on the Oregon Trail which occurred in the years after the original fort was abandoned.

The new fort was near the intersection of the Oregon Trail and the roads connecting the Owyhee (Silver City) and Boise Basin (Idaho City) mining areas, both booming at the time. The fort's site had the necessary combination of grass, water, wood, and stone. With three companies of infantry and one of cavalry, Major Lugenbeel set to work building quarters for five companies. They built a mule-driven sawmill on Cottonwood Creek, got a lime kiln underway, and opened a sandstone quarry at the small mesa known as Table Rock. Lugenbeel's greatest problem was the lure of the Boise Basin mines - more than 50 men deserted within the first few months. [Fort Boise - (United States Army) [http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0356.pdf] ] Infobox nrhp
name = Fort Boise
nrhp_type =


caption =
location = About convert|1.5|mi|km|abbr=on. NE of State Capitol
nearest_city = Boise, Idaho
lat_degrees =
lat_minutes =
lat_seconds =
lat_direction =
long_degrees =
long_minutes =
long_seconds =
long_direction =
area =
built =
architect = U.S. Army
architecture =
added = November 9, 1972
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
refnum = 72000433
mpsub =
governing_body =

Other names for the fort were Camp Boise and the Boise Barracks.

After 49 years at the fort, the U.S. Army left the site in 1912, and the Idaho National Guard occupied it until 1919, when the Public Health Service obtained it for veterans of World War I and tuberculosis patients. The foothills above Ft. Boise were used for gunnery practice, and in 1997 during rehab efforts following the Foothills Fire, several unexploded 75 mm artillery shells and other ordnance were found by firefighters. In 1938 the Veterans Administration acquired the site, and its successor, the DVA, presently operates the Boise VA Medical Center. In 1957, the Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital was built on a portion of the old fort's land. The Federal Building (& U.S. Court House), built in 1968, also occupies a section of the site. It was renamed for former U.S. Senator Jim McClure in December 2001.

Fort Boise Park

The City of Boise acquired a portion of the site in 1950 from the federal government after the Defense Department declared it surplus. Fort Boise Park was originally convert|40.37|acre|m2 in the old fort's southern corner, but in 1956, several acres were traded to the Idaho Elks organization (for their new hospital) in exchange for a site of approximate the same size off of State Street. The site is currently about 33 acres in size. Fort Boise Park has a community center and 6 lighted tennis courts, 3 lighted softball fields, and a regulation lighted baseball diamond (for Boise High School & American Legion league play only). A skateboard park is located in the north west corner of the park. It is below ground with transition walls varying in height from 3 to convert|6|ft|m.

The final wild west show scene of the Clint Eastwood movie "Bronco Billy" was filmed in Fort Boise Park, filmed in October 1979.

External links

* [http://www.idahohistory.net/OTftboise.html Old Fort Boise] IdahoHistory.net
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/whmi/educate/ortrtg/1or5.htm Old Fort Boise] National Park Service - Whitman Mission National Historic Site
* [http://www.cityofboise.org/parks/parks_facilities/parks/index.aspx?id=fb_park_facts Fort Boise Park] City of Boise - Parks
* [http://www.cityofboise.org/parks/activities/index.aspx?id=fbcc_hours Fort Boise Community Center] City of Boise - Parks
* [http://www.cityofboise.org/parks/caring/index.aspx?id=military_reserve_cemetery Historic Fort Boise Military Cemetery] City of Boise - Parks
* [http://www.id.uscourts.gov/boise.htm James A. McClure Federal Building & U.S. Court House]
* [http://www1.va.gov/directory/guide/facility.asp?ID=17&dnum=ALL&
] Department of Veterans Affairs
* [http://www.idahoelksrehab.org/facilityhis.html Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital] @ Fort Boise
* [http://www.northend.org/vamc.htm Boise's Northend neighborhood] Fort Boise history
* [http://www.boise.org/Visitors/index.cfm?action=History Boise.org] A Brief History of Boise
* [http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?T=2&S=12&Z=11&X=707&Y=6037&W=2&qs=%7cBoise%7cID%7c TerraServerUSA.com] Fort Boise Park: USGS topo map & aerial photo

Notes and References

Further reading

FORT BOISE (RIVERSIDE) FERRY. Crossing the Snake River on the Oregon Trail. http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0756.pdf

OWYHEE HORSE AND CATTLE RANCHES (NINETEENTH CENTURY). http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/1050.pdf

Lower Owyhee Watershed AssessmentIV. Historical Conditions.(Descriptions & assesments of Fort Boise and the surrounding area) by early explorers and others. http://www.shockfamily.net/Owyhees/History.pdf

Source: Dictionary of American History by James Truslow Adams, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940

"Idaho for the Curious", by Cort Conley, 1982, ISBN 0960356630, pp. 394, 412, 545.