The Northern Nez Perce Trail or Lolo Trail has been kept so much in the public eye that an old Southern Indian Trail of equal or even greater significance has almost been overlooked. The Trail to which I reference is known as the South Nez Perce Trail, or the Old Nez Perce Trail. This Trail head begins at the tiny settlement of Harpster, Idaho situated on the eastern bank of the South Fork of the Clearwater River about a dozen miles upstream from the town of Kooskia, Idaho and about eighty miles up the Clearwater River from the present day city of Lewiston, Idaho. There are two separate branches (trails) at the beginning of this Old Nez Perce Trail. One entering it from the settlement of Stites, Idaho by way of the mountain town of Clearwater, Idaho and another branch known as the Old Tahoe, which keeps further to the east and north, but comes into the main Nez Perce Trail near the mining town of Elk City, Idaho.

This Old Nez Perce Trail was originally the main route of travel for the Indians when they would go from Idaho or Oregon to Montana to hunt buffalo. It was a more direct route to buffalo country and it was somewhat an easier scale and grade than was the Lolo Trail. This South Nez Perce Trail was the one most used in the 1860s when the placer mining operations of Elk City were first discovered. This was also the favorite route of the white man for his travels to the rich gold “diggins” of Virginia City, Bannack, Alder Gulch, and other early Montana mining camps. The Old Nez Perce Trail was the route traveled by the Indians in coming from Oregon points and places, for the Salmon River dwellers, and for those Indians who resided on Camas Prairie when they traveled to Montana for hunting or went to visit Indians of the upper Salmon River country around the present day city of Salmon City, Idaho. This trail was chocked full of snow from about mid November/early December to July 1 every year. The trail had many Indian signs left or marked on trees and rocks for following bands or slower moving family members.

To reach this trail from Lewiston, Idaho, the route was due east to Lapwai by way of Soldiers Canyon, up Lapwai Creek to the Shoup Cutoff. Once the Salmon River was reached, the trail followed the meanderings of the stream up river where it was joined by another split from the Old Nez Perce Trail which left it near Magruder Mountain. The merged trails continued on up the Salmon River to Shoup, Idaho, one branch of which crossed the river for the rich Leesburg placers, while the other continued on up the river to join again the Old Nez Perce Trail at the mouth of the Fourth of July Creek or the North Fork of the Salmon River as it is also known.

A long standing mystery that has yet to be solved is why the Lewis & Clark Expedition did not take the Old Nez Perce Trail instead of the much further north and much more rugged Lolo Trail? This Old Southern Trail was shorter, more direct, and aside from crossing higher altitudes had everything to recommend it. The Indian guide of Captain Clark took him to a point down the Salmon River, just below present day Shoup, Idaho when the Captain went to ascertain if the river was navigable. Even if the Shoup cut-off was only a branch of the main trail and little used, at least the main trail up the North Fork was regularly employed as a well traveled route, and it is inconceivable that the Shoshone Indians did not know of this trail as well as they did the other one further north. No reference what-so-ever is made to this Old South Nez Perce Trail in the journals of Lewis & Clark. And yet it is certain that it existed at that time, had been used for perhaps centuries before, and was in use at the time the Corps of Discovery Expedition arrived in Idaho.

Later a wagon road was built that practically followed the meanderings of the Old Nez Perce Trail. Mr. James Surridge of Harpster, Idaho, who was the country representative in the Legislature, secured an appropriation of $20,000 and the road, lacking but one mile of reaching the mining camp of Newsome, was built in 1894 by the firm of Burns & Jordan, contractors from Spokane, Washington. The following year the road was completed through to Elk City, entirely from donations by Grangeville, the Clearwater country, and the miners of Elk City. The same year the road was started, Cy Leitch built the switchback Station, and a year later a Mr. Whittaker and Mr. Tippey erected a rest stop called the Mountain House. One year later Mr. Lister built another stopping point known as Corral Hill Station, and soon after Mr. Virgil York built the roadhouse at Mud Springs. There was also a station at Harpster, run by Joe Wimpey, but owing to its location, it was seldom patronized.

There was a small cabin (measuring about eight by ten feet) on the Elk City Trail known as the Ten Mile Cabin, where most travelers stopped overnight when traveling from Grangeville to Elk City. It offered a fireplace, and two pole bunks with pine boughs for mattresses. The utensils consisted of a water pail, frying pan, coffee pot, washing pan, a few tin plates, and a few iron knives, forks, and spoons. The mail carrier used this cabin as a night stop-over in the winter time, when he traveled on snowshoes and carried the mail on his back. The door to this cabin was never locked, and many weary travelers found it a welcome refuge. The cabin was so named as it was located about ten miles up the mountain from the Wahl Ranch which was situated two miles south of the settlement of Clearwater, Idaho. Later on, Mr. Jake Reibold bought the Wahl Ranch, renamed it the Reibold Ranch and erected a sawmill, which supplied lumber for the entire district.

Mr. Roy Culley operated Newsome House in its initial years of service. In the fall of 1890 he abandoned Newsome House and for about two years it was completely vacant. During this time, if any travelers were caught out in the night, they were compelled to spend the night with a Chinese gold miner named Sing Lee, whose cabin was about two miles down the creek from the old Newsome Station. Sing Lee was a fine fellow and always made his guests welcome and comfortable regardless of the time of day or night.

South of Newsome Station was a placer mining grounds known as Meadow Creek Diggings. In 1914 a quartz mining property was developed nearby and called the “Imogene” by parties from Spokane. It was here, at this site, that the celebrated screen star, Miss Irene Rich was raised. At the time her maiden name was Irene Luther. She attributed her later success in life to her being deeply inspired by the location and way that she was raised in the mountains of central Idaho.

North of Newsome Station is a mountain peak known as Iron Mountain. Supposedly it is composed of magnetic iron, and whenever there is a thunderstorm in the surrounding area, woe to the person caught on this prominence. Lightning seems to be attracted to it and strikes this point continuously. From fires set by lightning strikes, the entire peak is now bare rocks.

In the Buffalo Hump gold rush of 1898, the Old Nez Perce Trail (wagon road) was a favorite route and the freighters were on the go around the clock. All of the stopping places along the road were crowded with guests. The wagon road was very narrow. Many times two freight wagons would meet head on as they traveled in opposite directions. Whenever this occurred, one of the wagons had to be unloaded, then lifted bodily off the road to one side of it, the other loaded wagon would then pass on the road, and then the unloaded wagon would be bodily lifted back onto the roadway, reloaded and be on its way too. Life and times were very hard in the early days of the far west. Horse drawn sleighs replaced stage coaches in the winter time. Deep snow made all required work much more difficult. But the men who settled this area had never been afraid of hard work. It was just the way that life happened in that area during that time of our history.

End of Part I of II of the OLD NEZ PERCE TRAIL

Peace and Love to All of You…………………….Poppa Bear