On Christmas Eve 1948 the front page of the Pocatello Tribune carried a photograph of Santa Claus with a small child at a party at the Bannock Creek school at Arbon. The caption beneath it, headed "Santa Visits Reservation," is the only account found of the gathering, and it is short. It is worth retelling for what it records: a Christmas party on the Bannock Creek side of the valley, given by a church organization from Pocatello for people of the Fort Hall reservation.
The hosts were the West Pocatello Stake's Mutual, meaning the stake's Latter-day Saint young men's and young women's associations. Arbon's own ward belonged to that stake in those years, as the site's account of the Arbon Ward between stakes describes, though the caption does not say whether anyone from the Arbon ward took part. The paper counted 104 Indian guests. It did not give the date of the party, only that it had happened by the time the paper went to press on December 24.
Maude Minor was in charge of the program, which was built around the Nativity. Wilson Jack's part was a talk for the guests about what Christmas stands for. Two Mutual officers, Clayton Hale and Durilla Dunn, saw to the presents and the food. Among the visitors was Arthur W. Hall; the caption gave his new post as head of "the Indian mission." Santa Claus made an appearance as well. By the caption's account, the child in the photograph was the only one at the party he failed to charm.
The school
The Bannock Creek school had just changed hands. At the end of August 1948 the Fort Hall agency called the Bannock Creek residents to a meeting at the school, which the Tribune placed in Arbon valley, and announced that the American Falls school district would run the Indian day school that year. The district would teach the first three grades there, and older children would ride a bus to the American Falls schools. Seventy-five people from the reservation came, among them LaSalle Pocatello, chairman of the tribal council, and Willie Edmo served as interpreter. The Christmas party four months later was very likely held in the same building.
What is not known
The caption leaves a good deal out. It does not say what the Indian mission was or when it began, how often the Mutual came to Bannock Creek, or who Maude Minor and Wilson Jack were. No other report of the party has been found.
On this site: the lands along lower Bannock Creek and how they were allotted are told in When the Bannock Creek lands were allotted, 1911–1922 and The reservation next door; the creek's tribal names are in Pasakwa Huude and other names on Bannock Creek; and an earlier valley Christmas is in Christmas 1913 at Arbon's Central school.
The story as reported
Pocatello Tribune, December 24, 1948, page 1. The original article is under copyright; this is our own report of what it said.
Members of the West Pocatello Stake Mutual held a Christmas party at the Bannock Creek school at Arbon for people of the Fort Hall reservation, the Pocatello Tribune reported on its front page on December 24, 1948. The paper put the attendance at 104 Indian guests.
The report took the form of a caption under a staff photograph. The picture showed Santa Claus with a small boy who, the caption said, was the one person at the party who took no interest in him.
Several people had parts in the program. The program centered on the Nativity, and Maude Minor was its director. Wilson Jack addressed the guests about the significance of Christmas. Clayton Hale and Durilla Dunn, presidents of the Mutual's young men's and young women's groups, took charge of handing out gifts and serving refreshments.
Another person named in the caption was Arthur W. Hall, whose new job, it said, was running the Indian mission. It did not explain what the mission was.
The paper did not give the date of the party.