PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE BEAR RIVER MASSACRE SITE, FRANKLIN...
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PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE BEAR RIVER MASSACRE SITE, FRANKLIN COUNTY, IDAHO Kenneth P. Cannon 1 Molly Boeka Cannon 2 Kenneth Reid 3 Joel Pederson 2 Sara Shults 1 Jonathan Peart 1 1 USU Archeological Services, Logan, Utah 2 Utah State University, Logan, Utah 3 Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, Boise, Idaho
PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE BEAR RIVER MASSACRE SITE, FRANKLIN COUNTY, IDAHO
PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE BEAR RIVER MASSACRE SITE,
FRANKLIN COUNTY, IDAHO
Kenneth P. Cannon1 Molly Boeka Cannon2
Kenneth Reid3 Joel Pederson2
Sara Shults1 Jonathan Peart1
1USU Archeological Services, Logan, Utah
2Utah State University, Logan, Utah 3Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, Boise, Idaho
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The Idaho Historical Society in collaboration with USU Archeological Services, the Spatial Data Collection Analysis Visualization Lab and the Geology Department of Utah State University began interdisciplinary investigations to identify physical remains of the Bear River Massacre. The result will be a more conclusive interpretation of the events of 29 January 1863. Funding for the project has come from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program and the Idaho Heritage Trust.
… the killing of 250 Northwestern Shoshoni at Bear River was a national catastrophe. I t deserves to be listed w ith other massacres in American history, but, even more important, it has significance as the culmination of over twenty years of increasing Indian-white violence on the various western trails.
-Brigham D. Madsen (1985)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
On the morning of 29 January 1863 Colonel Patrick Connor and his regiment of California Volunteers attacked a Shoshone village along the Bear River in present day southeastern Idaho. Historic estimates place the Shoshone dead between 224 and 400, many of them women and children. Connor’s casualties included 23 dead or mortally wounded and 49 wounded. The Bear River Massacre, as it came to be known, was the culmination of tensions in the area and along the Oregon-California Trail between Native American tribes, emigrants and settlers during the prior two decades.
View to nw across the Bear River floodplain.
View to north looking up ravine of Battle Creek.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The core area of the investigations is located about 3.5 miles northwest of the town of Preston in Franklin County, Idaho. The area is characterized by a broad floodplain of the Bear River cut through benches of Lake Bonneville. Battle (or Beaver as it was originally named) Creek is entrenched in a southwesterly-oriented ravine where it debouches onto the Bear River floodplain. At the mouth of the ravine the Shoshone had set up their traditional winter camp. This area was the focus of the military action.
Agricultural fields
Utah & Northern Rail Road
County Roads
West Cache Canal
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The initial part of the project was to begin to understand how the various historic maps and documents produced over a period of about 60 years could be used as guides for orienting our investigations. To complicate our investigations over the past 140 years there have been various land-altering activities that have occurred in the immediate area, both human and natural in origin. These include: Construction of the West Cache Canal in 1898-1904. Utah and Northern Railroad in 1872. County road system 100+ years of agriculture. Highway 91 Landslides.
Bishop Martineau 1863
Sgt. Beach 1863 • Both historic maps drafted soon
after massacre. • Both illustrate a general north-
south course for Battle Creek.
Historic Maps
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Sgt William Beach, Company K Second Calvary Regiment, drafted his map 16 days after the massacre while recuperating in Fort Douglas Hospital from frostbite. The map was only discovered in 1999. Bishop Martineau of Franklin drafted his map possibly based on Cpt George Price’s (of Price, Utah) diagram which has not been located. His map was also only recently found in LDS archives by Scott Christensen during research for his biography of Sagwitch. Neither of these maps were available to Brigham Madsen as he prepared his seminal study The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre.
Aiken 1926 • Drafted much later for
the Daughters of the Pioneers.
• Illustrates north-south course for Battle Creek.
• Provides a number of landscape features identifiable today.
Historic Maps
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Aiken’s map was based upon interviews with Franklin residents who assisted with the evacuation of soldiers to Franklin. He was a professional surveyor and provides legal locations on his map. He was the first to recognize the changes in the Bear River course during the 60 years since the massacre. Each of these maps is important and provides different perspectives and details from which to orient our investigations.
2014 Investigations •Reconstruction of the geomorphic history of Battle Creek • Magnetometer survey • Metal Detecting
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Our investigations during this past summer and into the fall have focused on terraces of Battle Creek where we believe lies archaeological evidence of the lodges and the military action.
California Volunteers
Shoshone Village
Shoshone Escape Route to Bear River
California Volunteers Flanking
Preliminary Findings
Metal Detection Results
• Metal detection blocks were designed to sample areas where the initial conflict between Shoshone and California volunteers occurred. • Metal detection provided 100% coverage of the 20-m blocks. • 1547 metal detection hits. • 892 to date have been excavated. • Blocks adjacent to fencelines and gates were sampled. • Blocks removed from modern features were 100% excavated.
Preliminary Findings Metal Detection Results
• Metal detection results produced largely modern items associated with agriculture. • A melted piece of lead and a potential bridle ring were recovered.
Preliminary Findings
Metal Detection Results
• Evidence of the narrow-gauge Utah & Northern Railroad was also identified. • These include several spikes and a button with an embossed locomotive.
Preliminary Findings Geophysical Results
• Geophysical surveys, using a
magnetic gradiometer and ground penetrating radar have been used in selected terrace areas of Battle Creek to identify evidence of Shoshone winter lodges.
• The preliminary results are promising, but will need ground-truthing to identify the nature of the anomalies.
Preliminary Findings
.43-.45 cal
.37-.39 cal
.35 cal
Presenter
Presentation Notes
FS.BLKA.T02.10 is a solid lead bullet about 43-45 caliber. The bullet is mushroom deformed and retains clear rifling scars. FS.BLKA.T11.09 is a solid lead bullet about 37-39 caliber. The bullet is impact deformed and retains clear rifling scars. FS.BLKA.T20.02 is a solid lead bullet about 35 caliber. The bullet retains rifling scars and is partially deformed from an impact. Connor’s companies were armed with muzzle-loading cap-and-ball Whitney rifles that fired a 41 caliber spherical lead ball and converted rifle-muskets and “Springfield ‘58” rifles that fired the conical 58 caliber Minié ball. Connor’s officers and all of the cavalrymen were outfitted with Colt 44 caliber revolvers. We know little about Shoshone weaponry. None of the captured arms were described in any detail in the primary sources. They were probably outfitted with a wide range of firearms of varying caliber and range, derived from many sources. The most common shoulderarms included flintlock trade guns, the Northwest gun, cut-down military muskets, and both half-stock and full-stock flint and percussion rifles, with ranging from about .45 to .70 calibers.
Future Goals The Massacre of the Bear River was fought in this vicinity January 29, 1863. Colonel P.E. Connor and his California volunteers from Camp Douglas, Utah, all but annihilated the Northwestern Shoshone Tribe. Chief Sagw itch Timbimboo escaped the massacre. Chief Bear Hunter was tortured to death. No Bannocks were present, only Northwestern Shoshones of the Great Shoshone Nation.
-Mae T. Parry (1976), Granddaughter of Sagwitch
Chief Sagwitch and Bear Hunters’ wife.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Remote sensing and limited ground-truthing is planned for the coming weeks. We hope to be able to provide some information on the nature of the geophysics anomalies. Metal detection will continue on the Battle Creek T1. We are also seeking additional funding for 2015 from the American Battlefield Protection Program to formally test the geophysics anomalies. Additional investigations will include location of the Bear River ford and the California Volunteers' bivouac area.
Future Goals Filmmaker Phillip Schoen
is creating a documentary.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Filmmaker Phillip Schoen has begun conducting interviews with historians, landowners, and members of Northwest Band of Shoshone for the creation of a documentary. The documentary will focus on the archaeological efforts, but also the cultural and historical context of the massacre.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to acknowledge the following individuals and institutions for their support:
Jason Walker, Patty Timbimboo-Madsen, and Darren Parry of the Northwest Band of Shoshone
Su Richards and Beau Burgess of the Fort Douglas Military Museum
Janet Gallimore of the Idaho State Historical Society Katherine Kirk of the Idaho Heritage Trust
And, importantly, the landowners: Amy and Jack Lyman
