Rules for stockmen on the Bannock Creek road, 1911

Below the homesteads of Bannock Valley, as Arbon Valley was then often called, Bannock Creek runs north through the Fort Hall Reservation toward the railroad. In the fall of 1911 the valley was still part of Oneida County, and its farmers and stockmen had to cross reservation land to reach American Falls that way. On October 18, 1911, the Pocatello Tribune printed a short notice under the heading "Rules for Stockmen": the road down the creek was now a public highway, open to anyone who kept its rules.

The announcement came from Major Evan W. Estep, the superintendent in charge of the Fort Hall reservation. He said a public highway across the reservation had been established, "known as the Arbon-American Falls road, running down Bannock creek." The public could use it, but under rules about camp fires and the driving of stock.

The first rule applied to everyone: no one could camp on the road or build a camp fire on it. The rest were for stockmen, and they were to hold until the county fenced both sides of the road:

An owner of horses, cattle or sheep had to give the agency superintendent 48 hours' notice, or the farmer in charge of the Bannock Creek district 24 hours' notice.
That officer would send a private of the Indian police, or another responsible person, to stay with the stock until it was off the reservation, at $1.50 a day paid by the owner.
Herds had to enter in the morning and be out by sundown the same day. A crossing that took longer cost a grazing fee each day of ten cents a head for cattle and horses and three cents a head for sheep.
Stock had to stay on the established trail, 50 feet wide.
Anyone who crossed without notice would be treated as a trespasser and could be fined $1 a head.

The notice gave no reasons. Its rules kept travelers from camping or lighting fires on reservation land, and they kept herds on a narrow trail, under escort, in daylight, with a charge for the grass when a crossing ran long. It did not say which county was to build the fence, and no report has been found that the road was ever fenced or that anyone was fined under the rules. The farmer in charge of the Bannock Creek district is not named.

Estep was still the superintendent in June 1913, when F. R. Burrus reported a talk with him to the Pocatello Commercial Club, which was raising money for a road over Trail Creek into the valley. The Tribune gave the substance of his answer: before the government would grant a right of way across the reservation, the Power County commissioners would have to apply for it, with a survey and a map. He is not known to be related to the family of Luther Estep, who appears in the Tribune's Arbon Valley news in 1915; no record read here connects them.

The road down the creek was not the only way out of the valley that fall. A second road, from American Falls over the Moonshine divide, was also under way; in November the American Falls Press called it "new and uncompleted."

What came after

Allotment changed the road across the reservation. In October 1915 the Power County commissioners entered in their minutes, as of April that year, a resolution saying that the government was "now allotting" the Bannock valley lands on the reservation, and that once that was done no permission for a highway would be given. Under a contract of June 14, 1915, Highway District No. 1 was to build a new road across the reservation, and the county undertook to pay for the 5.2 miles of it that lay outside the district. On December 2, 1915, the North Arbon column reported that "the old road over the reservation to Michaud" had been abandoned and traffic had moved to the new county road. That old road was probably the one Estep announced in 1911, though no paper says so. In May 1918 the highway district heard that Superintendent H. H. Miller had said the old road between Bannock Creek and Michaud, which ran on the old railroad grade, did not follow allotment lines and would eventually be closed.

The papers read for this post give the superintendent's notice but not where exactly the road ran. They also do not record what the Bannock Creek families living on the reservation thought of a public highway and passing herds on their land.

On this site: Pauline and West Fork, the reservation's neighbor on Bannock Creek; the first engineered road out of the valley, from 1908; the road over Moonshine; the 1915 road across the reservation; and the Bannock Creek allotments.

The article as printed

Pocatello Tribune, October 18, 1911, page 6. Transcribed from the page scan.

RULES FOR STOCKMEN
GOVERNS ROAD IN BANNOCK VALLEY
Drovers Must be Accompanied by Indian Police of Agency Representative When Herds are Trailed Across the Reservation.
Major Evan W. Estep, superintendent in charge of the Fort Hall Indian reservation, announces that a public highway across the reservation has been established, known as the Arbon-American Falls road, running down Bannock creek, which is open to the public subject to the following restrictions as to camp fires and driving of stock thereon:
No person shall be permitted to camp on this road, or make any camp fires thereon, and the driving of stock over the highway shall be under the following restrictions; until such time as the county authorities fence both sides of the road:
Owners of horses, cattle or sheep, desiring to use the road, shall give at least 48 hours' notice to the agency superintendent, or 24 hours' notice to the farmer in charge of the Bannock creek district, who will then detail a police private or other responsible person to remain with the stock until after it crosses the reservation line. Such person shall be entitled to a fee of $1.50 to be paid by the owner of the stock for each day's services. The crossing of stock shall be so timed as to enter the reservation in the morning and leave it not later than sundown of the same day. In case it is impossible to make the crossing in a day, the owner of the stock shall pay a daily irazing fee of ten cents per head for cattle and horses and three cents per head for sheep. The drivers shall confine their stock to the established trail 50 feet wide. Persons attempting to cross the reservation without giving the proper notice shall be considered a trespasser and shall be liable to pay a penalty of $1 per head.