Fort Boise is either of two different locations in the western United States, both in southwestern Idaho. The first was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post near the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

on what is now the Oregon border (in present-day

Canyon County, Idaho Canyon County is located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population was 231,105, making it the second-most populous county in Idaho. The county seat is Caldwell, Idaho, Caldwell, and its largest ...

), dating from the era when Idaho was included in the British fur company's Columbia District. After several rebuilds, the fort was ultimately abandoned in 1854, after it had become part of United States territory following settlement in 1846 of the northern boundary dispute. The second was established by the

U.S. government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

in 1863 as a military post located fifty miles (80 km) to the east up the

Boise River The Boise River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. , accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the Northwestern United States. It drains a rugged portion of the Sawtooth Range in sou ...

. It developed as Boise, which became the capital city of Idaho.

Old Fort Boise (1834–1854)

The overland Astor Expedition are believed to have been the first whites to explore the future site of the first Fort Boise while searching for a suitable location for a fur trading post in 1811. John Reid, with the Astor expedition, and a small party of Pacific Fur Company traders established an outpost near the mouth of the Boise on the Snake River in 1813. Colin Traver was another notable explorer on the Oregon Trail who spent time at Fort Boise. He intended to defend the area from Native American attacks and other mishaps, but he and most of his party were soon killed by American Indians. Marie Dorion, the wife of one those killed, and her two children, escaped and traveled more than 200 miles in deep snow to reach friendly Walla Walla Indians on the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

. On an 1818 map, the explorer and mapmaker David Thompson of the

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

(NWC) called the Boise, "Reids River," and the outpost, "Reids Fort". Donald Mackenzie, formerly with the Astor Expedition and representing the

, established a post in 1819 at the same site. It was also abandoned because of Indian hostilities. In the fall of 1834, Thomas McKay, a veteran leader of the annual Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) Snake Country brigades,Dr. John McLoughlin
''A Place Called Oregon'' built Fort Boise, selecting the same location as Reid and Mackenzie. Although McKay had retired in 1833, the HBC Chief Factor

John McLoughlin John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, (October 19, 1784 – September 3, 1857) was a French-Canadian, later American, Chief Factor and Superintendent of the Columbia District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver fro ...

sent him to establish Fort Boise in 1834 to challenge the newly built American Fort Hall further east on the Snake River. McKay was the stepson of McLoughlin. Fort Hall was located about to the east, about north of the location of present-day Pocatello. It was built by Nathaniel Wyeth's American Trading Company. In July 1834 Thomas McKay's Snake Country brigade was trapping far to the east and met the party sent by Wyeth to select a site and build Fort Hall. At the end of July, McKay departed for Fort Vancouver. online a
Google Books
/ref> Although Fort Boise may technically have been built as a private venture of Thomas McKay, it was fully backed and supported by McLoughlin and the HBC.Reference Series: "Fur Trade Posts in Idaho"
Idaho State Historical Society The contest over the Snake Country ended with Wyeth's vacating the region in 1836–37. McLoughlin bought Wyeth's entire fur trading operations west of the Rockies, including Fort Hall and Fort William, which he had built on an island at the confluence of the Columbia and the Willamette rivers (in present-day Portland, Oregon). online a
Google Books
/ref> The HBC also took full control of Fort Boise in 1836. The Hudson's Bay Company operated Fort Boise until its abandonment. From 1835 to 1844, the fort was headed by the

French-Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...

Francois Payette. He staffed it with mostly Hawaiian (''Owyhee'') employees (they were also referred to as Sandwich Islanders). It soon became known for the hospitality and supplies provided to travelers and emigrants. In 1838, Payette constructed a second Fort Boise near the confluence of the

and

about five miles (8 km) northwest of the present town of Parma, Idaho and south of Nyssa, Oregon.Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: Location of Old Fort Boise, 1834–1854
Idaho State Historical Society The second Fort Boise was built in the form of a parallelogram one hundred feet per side, surrounded with a stockade of poles fifteen feet high. Later the logs were covered and replaced with sun-dried adobe bricks. In 1846, it had two tilled acres, twenty-seven cattle, and seventeen horses. In 1853, a flood damaged the fort, and the following year the Shoshone attacked an emigrant train and killed nineteen pioneers; the incident known as the

Ward Massacre Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

took place within a few miles of the fort. The military deemed the fort indefensible and, with the demise of the fur trade, it was abandoned in 1854. Traders took stock and goods to Flathead country. In 1866, the Oregon Steam and Navigation Company constructed and launched the ''

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

'', a sternwheeler, at the old Fort Boise location. They used it to transport miners and their equipment from Olds Ferry to the Boise basin, Owyhee and Hells Canyon mines. When the venture failed, the ship was taken down the

to Hells Canyon. Badly damaged when it reached Lewiston, it was repaired and used for several years' operating on the lower

.
Buckendorf, Bauer, and Jacox, "Non-Native Exploration, Settlement, and Land Use of the Greater Hells Canyon Area, 1800s to 1950s"(p23), Technical Report Appendix E.4.11, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Re-licensing application, Idaho Power Company, 2003 The site of Old Fort Boise is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it is within the Fort Boise Wildlife Management Area. A reconstructed replica of the fort in the town of Parma is open to the public by appointment with the city office.

New Fort Boise (1863–1912)

On July 4, 1863, the Union Army founded a new Fort Boise during the Civil War. (Brevet) Major

Pinkney Lugenbeel Pinkney Lugenbeel (November 16, 1819 – March 18, 1886) was a career United States Army officer who served during the Seminole Wars, Mexican–American War, the American Civil War, and the later American Indian Wars, retiring as a colonel in ...

was dispatched from Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory to head east and select the site in the

Idaho Territory The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho. History 1860s The territory w ...

, announced the same day by Territorial Governor William Wallace at the first Idaho capital in Lewiston. The new location was to the east of the old Hudson's Bay Company fort, up the

at the site that would develop as the city of Boise. The new military post was constructed because of massacres on the Oregon Trail after the old fort was abandoned. The new fort was near the intersection of the Oregon Trail and the roads connecting the Owyhee ( Silver City) and

Boise Basin Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's ...

(

Idaho City Idaho City is a city in and the county seat of Boise County, Idaho, Boise County, Idaho, United States, located about northeast of Boise, Idaho, Boise. The population was 485 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, up from 458 in 2000. ...

) mining areas, both booming at the time. The fort's site had the necessary combination of grass, water, wood, and stone. With three companies of infantry and one of cavalry, Major Lugenbeel set to work building quarters for five companies. They built a mule-driven sawmill on Cottonwood Creek, got a lime kiln underway, and opened a sandstone quarry at the small mesa known as Table Rock. Lugenbeel's greatest problem was the lure of the Boise Basin mines – more than 50 men deserted within the first few months.Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: Fort Boise – (United States Army)
, Idaho State Historical Society Other names for the fort were the Boise Barracks and Camp Boise. After 49 years at the fort, the U.S. Army left the site in 1912. The National Guard occupied it until 1919, when the Public Health Service obtained it for a center for veterans of World War I and tuberculosis patients. The foothills above Ft. Boise were used for gunnery practice. During rehab efforts following the Foothills Fire in 1997, firefighters found several unexploded artillery shells and other ordnance.

Post 1938

In 1938, the Veterans Administration acquired the site. Its successor, the DVA, operates the Boise VA Medical Center. In 1957, the Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital was built on a portion of the old fort's land. The Federal Building (& U.S. Court House), built in 1968, also occupies a section of the site. It was renamed for former

U.S. senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Jim McClure in December 2001.

Fort Boise Park

The City of Boise acquired a portion of the site in 1950 from the federal government after the Defense Department declared it

surplus Surplus may refer to: * Economic surplus, one of various supplementary values * Excess supply, a situation in which the quantity of a good or service supplied is more than the quantity demanded, and the price is above the equilibrium level determ ...

. Fort Boise Park was originally in the old fort's southern corner, but in 1956, several acres were traded to the Idaho Elks organization (for their new hospital) in exchange for a site of approximately the same size of State Street. The site is currently about in size. Fort Boise Park has a community center, six lighted tennis courts, three lighted softball fields, and a regulation lighted

baseball diamond A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

(for Boise High School &

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

league play only). A

skateboard park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, Freestyle scootering, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert r ...

is located in the northwest corner of the park. It is below ground with transition walls varying in height from . The final " wild west show" scene of the

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

movie '' Bronco Billy'' was filmed in Fort Boise Park in October 1979.

References

External links

Idaho Historical Society

National Park Service
Fort Boise Park
City of Boise
Fort Boise Community CenterHistoric Fort Boise Military CemeteryUniversity of Washington Libraries
– image of old Fort Boise (c. 1849) National Register of Historic Places in Boise, Idaho National Register of Historic Places in Canyon County, Idaho Hudson's Bay Company forts History of Boise, Idaho Pre-statehood history of Idaho Idaho in the American Civil War Fur trade Oregon Country Boise Boise Closed installations of the United States Army Boise Parks in Idaho Geography of Boise, Idaho Protected areas of Ada County, Idaho Tourist attractions in Boise, Idaho Boise 1834 establishments in the British Empire Snake War Military installations established in 1863 Military installations closed in 1912 1863 establishments in Idaho Territory 1912 disestablishments in Idaho