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Post by sixshot on Aug 18, 2016 18:50:40 GMT -5
For those of you who have never experienced the Salmon River beyond the end of the road its like wandering off the end of the earth. The road ends at Corn Creek, across the river is the Salmon River Lodge, accessible only jet boat. From there on down the river its 70-80 miles of nothing but raging rapids, steep mountains, rugged cliffs, Indian drawings, old, long forgotten cabins & a few hardy souls who still call the "River of No Return" their home. The river comes out of the canyon at the sleepy little town of Riggins, Idaho. In the old days there were hundreds of people that lived all along the river, many were gold miners, some were just hermits wanting to be alone & no place was better than the Salmon River. You could grow 2 gardens a year & everything you can imagine could be grown down there. Good land, warm weather, plenty of water & lots of deer, elk, bear, grouse, salmon, steelhead, trout, bighorn sheep & goats made it the ideal place to live off of the land. There is no trail along the river, except in a few places, the only way down is on the water at your own risk! In those early days men like Capt. Gulieke would build large wooden Scows in the town of Salmon out of rough cut lumber & freight supplies down the Salmon River to families living along the river, dropping off mining equipment, tools, horse shoes, nails, windows, medicine, clothes, etc. Basically it was a floating hardware store & could haul 3-4 tons of supplies each trip. The trip would take 8-10 days to complete, then he would sell the boat for lumber & catch a ride back to Salmon which was about a 300 miles round trip. After a number of years Elmer Keith made many of these runs with the Capt., one would run the front sweep (oar) & the other would run the rear sweep. I think these Scows were about 40' long. There are many, many graves scattered along the Salmon River & still quite a few people living down there, now you can run it in a Jet Boat if you have the nerve. Some of the rapids are pretty spooky & there's a couple of places the riders can get out & walk if they don't want to run the rapids or climb the falls. I've ran the river in a jet boat & its quite a ride blasting across those white water rapids, trust me, you won't fall asleep! This is one of the old Scows built by the Smith brothers, they floated the Salmon River much later than the Capt. This boat sits in Riggins, Idaho. Dick
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usajon
.30 Stingray
Posts: 326
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Post by usajon on Aug 19, 2016 5:28:53 GMT -5
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Post by sixshot on Aug 19, 2016 17:05:48 GMT -5
I think most bears prefer to have some pepper on hand to help season the meat...
Dick
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Aug 19, 2016 17:46:06 GMT -5
😂😂😂😂😃😃😅😅😅😆😆😆😆
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Post by rjm52 on Aug 19, 2016 19:35:21 GMT -5
"One of the guides deployed pepper spray, and the bears eventually retreated, troopers said."...the word "eventually" is a little disconcerting...it makes it sound like they chose the time to leave.
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f3
.30 Stingray
Posts: 412
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Post by f3 on Aug 19, 2016 20:30:49 GMT -5
Sixshot, jetboat is definitely the funnest way to travel on the Salmon. It is amazing what they can do with a couple of bigblock V8s even when loaded with a couple of trail crews and gear. The visitor center got tore down at Lantz bar. The main house is still there but in disrepair. The smaller cabin is still there also. The irrigation system still waters all the apple and cherry trees. Most people will never get to experience places like this and its sad.
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Aug 19, 2016 20:50:56 GMT -5
For those of you who have never experienced the Salmon River beyond the end of the road its like wandering off the end of the earth. The road ends at Corn Creek, across the river is the Salmon River Lodge, accessible only jet boat. From there on down the river its 70-80 miles of nothing of raging rapids, steep mountains, rugger cliffs, Indian drawings, old, long forgotten cabins & a few hardy souls who still call the "River of No Return" their home. The river comes out of the canyon at the sleepy little town of Riggins, Idaho. In the old days there were hundreds of people that lived all along the river, many were gold miners, some were just hermits wanting to be alone & no place was better than the Salmon River. You could grow 2 gardens a year & everything you can imagine could be grown down there. Good land, warm weather, plenty of water & lots of deer, elk, bear, grouse, salmon, steelhead, trout, bighorn sheep & goats made it the ideal place to live off of the land. There is no trail along the river, except in a few places, the only way down is on the water at your own risk! In those early days men like Capt. Gulieke would build large wooden Scows in the town of Salmon out of rough cut lumber & freight supplies down the Salmon River to families living along the river, dropping off mining equipment, tools, horse shoes, nails, windows, medicine, clothes, etc. Basically it was a floating hardware store & could haul 3-4 tons of supplies each trip. The trip would take 8-10 days to complete, then he would sell the boat for lumber & catch a ride back to Salmon which was about a 300 miles round trip. After a number of years Elmer Keith made many of these runs with the Capt., one would run the front sweep (oar) & the other would run the rear sweep. I think these Scows were about 40' long. There are many, many graves scattered along the Salmon River & still quite a few people living down there, now you can run it in a Jet Boat if you have the nerve. Some of the rapids are pretty spooky & there's a couple of places the riders can get out & walk if they don't want to run the rapids or climb the falls. I've ran the river in a jet boat & its quite a ride blasting across those white water rapids, trust me, you won't fall asleep! This is one of the old Scows built by the Smith brothers, they floated the Salmon River much later than the Capt. This boat sits in Riggins, Idaho. Dick Mr Thompson..... I have ideas about alot of things but your description of that... wel that sounds just like heaven to me
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Post by sixshot on Aug 20, 2016 2:10:19 GMT -5
f3, you are correct about running the river in a jet boat! Everyone should have the chance to watch the jet boat races they have once a year at Riggins, those guys come up that river, right through town & half the time the boat is hardly touching water & the roar of those engines bouncing off the canyon walls sends chills down your spine just like the Indy 500! It is one amazing race, if any of you ever get the chance to see it you will never forget it, trust me. I think its around the end of April, probably find it by checking out Riggins, Idaho. Its wild!
I have 3-4 books on the early day miners & hermits that lived along the Salmon River, the books were written by Cort Conley, who lived (maybe still does) in Cambridge, Idaho & has relatives along the Salmon River. They are amazing books & tell about "Buckskin Billy", Earl Parrott, Frank Lantz, Polly Bemis, Beaver Dick Leigh, even Claude Dallas, etc. All of the little streams that dump into the Salmon River are mentioned & they tell about who settled there, who is buried there, how the soldiers from Ft. Boise spent months in there chasing the Sheep Eater Indians & getting their butts kicked everytime they caught up to them. One soldier talks about having nothing to eat but "wind" pudding for supper. Anyone that would like to borrow these books is welcome to take them for a while & then send them back or send them on to the next forum member, they are an amazing read, lots of old pictures. Some of them might be available on Amazon, etc. One is called the Middle Fork of the Salmon & the Sheep Eater War. Another is, Idaho Loners, Hermits, Solitaries and Individualists. I think another is River of No Return. His books are published by BACKEDDY BOOKS, Cambridge, Idaho.
Dick
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Post by contender on Aug 21, 2016 20:43:03 GMT -5
Looks like I need to go on a hunt for a few books! That sounds like good reading to me Dick!
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