Sawtooth National Forest - Human History

Human History

Spear points dating to 12,000 years ago document the earliest presence of Paleo-Indians in the area, and there are nearly 1,500 known heritage sites in the forest. After 1700 AD, the Shoshone, also known as the Sheepeater people, as well as the Bannock and Northern Paiute tribes, harvested fish, game, roots, timber, tubers, and rocks for tools while living in small groups at the northern end of the forest. Trappers and explorers arrived in southern Idaho in the early 19th century. They established immigrant trails in the region by 1849, including the Oregon and California trails.

The forest was used by early settlers primarily for extractive industries. Fur trappers of the Hudson's Bay Company discovered the Stanley Basin in the northern part of the forest in the 1820s, but mostly avoided it due to the scarcity of beaver. For early settlers, the welfare of their community was dependent upon timber supply, regulation of stream flow for irrigation, and use of the land for cattle range. Mining began in the 1860s, peaked in the 1880s, and fluctuated over the following century with the extraction of gold, silver, lead, and zinc. The Black Pine Division of the forest was explored in the late 1800s, and the Tallman Mine began producing gold in the 1920s with production peaking from 1949 to 1954. The Black Pine Mine again produced gold from 1992 through November 1997, when the mine's parent company, Pegasus Gold, declared bankruptcy. The location of the mine has since been reclaimed.

Towns around the forest, including Stanley, Ketchum, and Sawtooth City, were founded as mining towns in the latter part of the 19th century by prospectors and trappers, including Civil War veteran Captain John Stanley, after whom the town of Stanley is named. Ketchum is named after the trapper and guide David Ketchum, while the Sublett Mountains are named after trapper William Sublette, who lived in the area in the 1830s. Most of the logging in the region was for firewood and timber for miners and homesteaders. For much of the 20th century, sheep and cattle grazing were the primary large-scale land uses of the forest. Sheep drives were common in the Wood River Valley after the mining boom and shepherds from southern Idaho drove their flocks north to graze the upper elevation areas in Sawtooth National Forest. The original sheepherders were Basque Americans, while today many of the sheepherders are Peruvians contracted through the Department of Labor.

In 1936 the Union Pacific Railroad and its chairman W. Averell Harriman developed Sun Valley and the Bald Mountain ski area—the first winter-destination resort in the United States developed for the purpose of increasing railroad passenger numbers. The area became popular with celebrities, including Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper. On July 2, 1961 Hemingway committed suicide at his home overlooking the Big Wood River; he is buried at the Ketchum Cemetery.

On February 9, 1945 a B-24 Liberator bomber crashed on Mount Harrison in the Albion Division of the forest during a training mission in dense fog. All nine crew died in the crash, and their bodies were found inside the plane and recovered over the following days. The plane's remains have never been removed and were not found again until 1996. A memorial service was held on July 29, 2004 and a plaque was permanently installed honoring those who died.