Father of Idaho

Some people achieve greatness and fame on their own initiative, others have fame thrust upon them. In this latter class fall most of the early comers to the wild and rugged land called Idaho. Many of the early pioneers and settlers “Came West” to escape paying the penalties for previous misdeeds perpetuated in the East, while others came merely for the sake of the great adventure. Whatever their original cause, many of the early comers were caught up in the wild and exciting life of the West and left an indelible imprint on the several sections and areas in which they lived and died.

Such a character was the man named William Craig who was the originator of the name “Idaho” and who may safely be called the “Father of Idaho.” The sketchy early history of this man tells the story of a teenager who somehow got into big trouble at age 18 in and around the area of Greenbrier, West Virginia, and hurriedly left the country without leaving any sort of forwarding address. He arrived in the Lapwai Valley in 1840, settling near the present day town of Lewiston, Idaho at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. William Craig is credited with being the first permanent Idaho settler. His was a romantic career and the State has done well in honoring him and his memory. Poet and song writer Joaquin Miller, known as the poet of the Sierras, proclaims that Col. Craig was indeed the originator of the name Idaho.

As near as has been estimated, William Craig was born about the year 1800 in Greenbrier County, Virginia. Records there reveal that several members of the Craig family served in the Revolutionary War of our nation.

William Craig later shows up in St. Louis, Missouri in 1818. This was the gathering and outfitting place for those pioneers who were heading to the wild and unknown parts of the Western section of our country. St. Louis was the headquarters of the American fur traders who were seeking to oust the Canadian based Hudson’s Bay Company trappers of the Northwest. Craig joined one of the American fur companies and traveled with them on “bateaus” up the Missouri River to what is now Fort Benton, Montana. Here, Craig and his trader friends joined up with a number of free trappers who were headed for the great Rocky Mountains. In time, William Craig became of full-fledged fur trapper and plainsman. The main fur trappers annual rendezvous was at Fort Bridger in Wyoming territory. It was here that Craig first met the Nez Perce Indians who told him of the large quantities of fur to be had in what is now known as Central Idaho. A short time later on or around 1829 Craig, Joe Meek, and Robert Newell accompanied a party of Nez Perce Indians to their home section where they engaged in trapping in the waters of the Clearwater and Salmon Rivers. During this trip, each of the trappers (as was their custom) took for himself a Nez Perce wife, and with them returned to the annual rendezvous east of the Rocky Mountains every summer. William Craig has an illustrious and adventurous career and for ten years after his marriage roamed the western country from Wyoming to the Pacific Ocean.

Remembering his hearty reception by the Nez Perce Indians, augmented perhaps by the pleadings of his Nez Perce wife, Craig returned to the Lapwai Valley in 1840 and took up a claim of 640 acres adjacent to what is now called Jacques Spur.

At the time of the Whitman massacre at their mission at Walla Walla Washington, Craig was living at his home in Lapwai Valley on Mission Creek near its confluence with the Clearwater River. He had great influence with the Indians, and when it looked like the renegades would also attack the Spaulding Mission, Colonel Craig invited Rev. Spaulding and his wife to his home for shelter. He protected them until the murder craze died down. When it did, Rev. Spaulding and his wife returned to their mission, packed up their belongings and moved to Oregon.

William Craig actually earned his title of Colonel in the Indian wars of 1856 and later, Col. Craig served on the staff of Washington Territory Governor Issac I. Stevens. Craig headed a company of Nez Perce Indians which he had personally recruited. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel by the Governor.

Col. Craig served as an interpreter and witness to several Indian treaties negotiated by Governor Stevens. Among them were the Treaty with the Nez Perces at the Walla Walla Council June 11, 1855. The Treaty with the Flathead Indians at Hell’s Gate near what is now known as Missoula, Montana July 16, 1855. The Treaty with the Blackfoot Indians at the Blackfoot Council October 17, 1855, on the Missouri River below the mouth of the Judith River in what was then the Territory of Nebraska, which is now Montana.

Col. Craig served as sub-agent for the Nez Perce Indians, with his headquarters at Walla Walla for about two years.

Col Craig’s name is perpetuated in the range of mountains about 25 miles south of Lewiston, Idaho which extend along the Salmon River from its confluence with the Snake River in Hell’s Canyon upstream for approximately 25 miles. These Craig Mountains are a continuation of Oregon’s Blue Mountains on the west side of Hell’s Canyon

William Craig suffered a paralytic stroke in 1869 and died in September of that same year. His gravesite is located at Jacques Spur near the mouth of Mission Creek on the banks of the Clearwater River near the old Spaulding Mission.

There is a great deal of dispute about the origin of the name “Idaho.” The story of its most accepted origination comes from the pioneer named Joaquin Miller known as the poet of the Sierras. He credits Col. William Craig with initially suggesting the name Idaho. Joaquin Miller was a living part of the early history of Idaho. He came to the central section of the territory before gold was discovered, and when the rush was on to Pierce City (near present day Orofino, Idaho) he secured a contract with the City and was one of the very first pony express riders to endure the many dangers of the very rough trail between Lewiston, Idaho and the gold mines.

One writer claims that there was a settlement called Idaho Springs in what is now Colorado long before the name was suggested for our state, and that the first suggested name for the State of Colorado was indeed Idaho; but that the federal Congress struck out that name and substituted Colorado. Mr. William H. Wallace was at the time the delegate to the federal Congress from what was then called Washinton Territory (of which Idaho was a part). Mr. Wallace introduced the congressional bill carving out a new territory from the eastern portion of Washington. It seems delegate Wallace had evidently previously heard the story about the “Light Shining on the Mountain,” and was intrigued by it. In connection with this Indian story, it was Mr. Wallace who then suggested “Idaho” as a name for this new State. Idaho, when translated from Indian language to English, means “Gem of the Mountains.” In the Nez Perce Indian tongue the generally accepted definition is “Light on the Mountain.”

This is the story as Joaquin Miller personally tells it:

“The distinction of naming Idaho certainly belongs to my old friend Colonel William Craig (since deceased) of Craig’s Mountain, Nez Perce County. As for some unknown fellow naming it in Congress in Washinton, D.C. I say–bah! The name Idaho was familiar in over 5,000 men’s mouths as they wallowed through the mud and snow in 1861, on their way to the Orofino gold mines,…long before Congress, or any man of Congress, had even heard of the new gold discovery.

Here are the facts of this matter: I was riding pony express at the time rumors reached us (through the Nez Perce Indians) that gold was to be found on the headwaters and tributaries of the Salmon River. I had lived with the Indians; and Colonel Craig, who had spent most of his life with them often talked with me about possible discoveries to the south, as we rode horseback to Orofino and of what the Indians said of the unknown region. Gallop your horse, as I have a hundred times, against the rising sun. As you climb the Sweetwater Mountains, far away to your right, you will see the name of Idaho written on the mountain top–at least, you will see a peculiar and beautiful light at sunrise, a sort of diadem on two grand clusters of mountains that bear away under the clouds fifty miles distant. I called Colonel Craig’s attention to this peculiar and beautifully arched light. ‘That,’ said he, ‘is what the Indians call E-dah-hoe, which means the light, or diadem on the line of the mountains.’ That was the first time I ever heard the name. Later, in September, 1861, when I rode into the newly discovered camp to establish an express office, I took with me an Indian from Lapwai, Idaho. We followed an Indian trail, crossed Craig Mountain, then Camas Prairie, and had all the time E-dah-hoe Mountain for our objective (aiming) point.

“On my return to Lewiston, I wrote a letter containing a brief account of our trip and of the mines, and it was published in one of the Oregon newspapers the name of which I have now forgotten. In that account I often mentioned E-dah-hoe, but spelt it Idaho, leaving the pronunciation unmarked by any diacritical signs. So that perhaps, I may have been the first to give it its present spelling, but I certainly did not originate the word.”

Thank you, Joaquin Miller, for telling us the truth and being wise enough to record it for the generations to come.

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