of October General Steele ordered a cavalry company to guard the roads and do picket duty in the Burnt River district.
But depredations were not confined to the Oregon side of Snake River. They were quite as frequent in Boisé and Owyhee districts, where there was no lack of military camps. So frequent were the raids upon the stock-ranges[1] that the farmers declared they must give up their improvements and quit the country unless they were stopped. At length they organized a force in the lower Boisé Valley. Armed with guns furnished by Fort Boisé, and aided by a squad of soldiers from that post, they scouted the surrounding country thoroughly, retaking some stock and killing two Indians.[2] But while they recovered some of their property, the stage station at the mouth of the Payette River was robbed of all its horses.[3] And this was the oft-repeated experience of civil and military parties. Blood as well as spoils marked the course of the invaders.[4] Stages, and even the Snake River
- ↑ On the night of Oct. 3d, within half a mile of Owyhee City, Joseph F. Colwell, a highly respected citizen, was killed, scalped, and burned. On the following night a raid was made on the cattle in Jordan Valley, within 3 miles of Silver City. Four separate incursions were made into Boisé Valley during the autumn. Owyhee Avalanche, Oct. 5, 1867; Boisé Statesman, Oct. 22, Dec. 17, 1867; Boisé Democrat, Dec. 21, 1876.
- ↑ A farmer who belonged to the volunteer company of Boisé Valley stated that one of the Indians killed was branded with a circle and the figures 1845, showing that 22 years before he had been thus punished for offences of a similar kind.
- ↑ There was a chief known to his own people as Oulux, and to the settlers as Bigfoot, who led many of these raids. He was nearly 7 feet in height, and powerfully built, with a foot 14¾ inches in length. The track of this Indian could not be mistaken. He was in Crook's first battle in the spring, on the Owyhee, with another chief known as Littlefoot. Yreka Union, Feb. 9, and Nov. 11, 1867. Bigfoot was killed by an assassin, who lay in wait for him, and his murderer promised him to guard from the public the secret of his death, of which he was ashamed.
- ↑ On the 21st of October, in the morning, occurred one of the most painful of the many harrowing incidents of the Shoshone war. Two sergeants, named
but he was not experienced in Indian-fighting. He was eagerly pushing forward after the guides, who had discovered the camp of the thieves, when he imprudently gave a shout, which sent the savages flying, leaving a rifle, which in their haste was forgotten. Pike very foolishly seized it by the muzzle and struck it on a rock to destroy it, when it exploded, wounding him fatally, which accident arrested the expedition; and a second, under Lieut Kauffman, failed to overtake the marauders. Oregonian, Nov. 4, 1867; Gen. Order Headquarters Dept Columbia, no. 32.
