Idaho History: 1800-1849

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1800 to 1840
Early historic Indian culture, with adaptation brought on by white contact, trade goods, and other fur-trade activities.

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* Native Americans in Idaho

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* Exploration & Expansion

1803
The Louisiana Territory, which extended west of the Mississippi to Idaho, purchased by the United States from France for $15 million.
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  1805
Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark discover Idaho at Lemhi Pass, and cross into north Idaho over the Lolo Trail August 12; Lewis and Clark sail past Spalding October 8, meet with Nez Perce Indians at Weippe Prairie.

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* Exploration & Expansion

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* Peace Medal

* Exploration & Expansion

1806
Lewis and Clark spend more than six weeks with the Nez Perce Indians in the Kamiah area before returning eastward across the Lolo Trail.
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. 1809
Kullyspell House, first non-native establishment in Northwest, erected near Lake Pend Orielle. The post was built by David Thompson as a fur trading post for the North West Company.

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* Forts & Military Installations

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* Forts & Military Installations

1810
Missouri Fur Company establishes Fort Henry near St. Anthony, first American trading post.
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1811
Pacific Fur Company expedition, the Astorians, explore the Snake River Valley on their way to the Columbia River. Led by Wilson P. Hunt, the westward journey discovers the Boise Valley.

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* Rocks, Rails & Trails: Chapter 4

. 1812
Donald Mackenzie establishes a winter fur trading post at Lewiston for the Astorians.
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. 1813
John Reid starts fur trading post on the lower Boise River, but Bannock Indians wipe it out in 1814.


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* Forts & Military Installations

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* Exploration & Expansion

1818
Donald Mackenzie makes first exploration of southern Idaho with his Snake River expedition of trappers; Treaty of joint occupancy between Great Britain and the United States leaves Oregon country (including Idaho) open to citizens of both nations.
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. 1819
Donald Mackenzie holds rendezvous with Native Americans on the Boise River; Adams-Onis treaty between Spain and the United States establishes Idaho's future southern border on the 42nd Parallel; Mackenzie attempts to set up a post on the Boise River.
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* Rocks, Rails & Trails: Chapter 4

1820
Mackenzie negotiates a peace treaty with the Shoshone on Little Lost River and explored most of Goodale's Cutoff; Treaty between Spain and U.S. establishes the southern boundary of Idaho (Oregon Territory) at 42nd parallel.
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1821
Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company merge.
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* Forts & Military Installations

1822
William Ashley organizes the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which institutes the practice of annual rendezvous.
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. 1823
Battle fought in Lemhi Valley between men of the Snake River country expedition and the Piegan Indians.
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. 1824
Alexander Ross and Jedediah Smith lead separate expeditions in exploring much of the Salmon River country; Peter Skene Ogden begins trapping in Idaho; Russia cedes Northwest Territory to United States in a treaty.
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. 1827
Rendezvous at Bear Lake for fur trading.

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* Forts & Military Installations

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* Forts & Military Installations

1829
Rendezvous held at Pierre's Hole, now known as the Teton basin, where hundreds of mountain men and fur trappers congregated.
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1830
Captain B.L.E. Bonneville takes a wagon train across South Pass to Green River; Rendezvous with the Indians held on the Blackfoot River, where competition in fur trading becomes intensely keen.
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. 1831
Fur trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, led by Kit Carson, winter on the Salmon River.
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. 1832
Captain B.L.E. Bonneville leads the first crossing of the Rocky Mountains in covered wagons. The company reaches the Lemhi River on September 19; Rendezvous at Pierre's Hole; Battle of Pierre's Hole occurs July 18 between American fur trappers and the Grosventre Indians.

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* Forts & Military Installations

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* Fort Boise

* Exploration & Expansion

* Forts & Military Installations

1834
Fort Hall, established by Americans under Captain Nathaniel Wyeth, becomes a hub for trails and roads to the western parts of the United States; Fort Boise erected by the Hudson Bay Company near the mouth of the Boise River.
 
. 1836
Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding are the first white women to cross continental divide (South Pass; Henry H. Spalding establishes a mission near Lapwai, where he prints the Northwest's first book, establishes Idaho's first school, develops Idaho's first irrigation system and grows the state's first potatoes.

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* Henry Spalding

* Native Americans in Idaho

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* Native Americans in Idaho

1837
First school in Idaho opens for Indian children at Lapwai; First white child born in Idaho is born at Lapwai to Henry and Eliza Spalding.

 

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1839
Henry Spalding starts publishing the Bible in Lapwai on the earliest printing press in the Pacific Northwest; Chief Timothy, the first native Christian leader, baptized November 17.

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* Native Americans in Idaho

. 1840
Father Pierre Jean de Smet begins missionary work in Idaho.
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  1842
Mission of the Sacred Heart is established near Saint Maries. The Mission moves to a site near Cataldo in 1846.

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* Native Americans in Idaho

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* Rocks, Rails & Trails: Chapter 5

* Exploration & Expansion

1843
Oregon Trail established in Idaho, which crossed the border near Montpelier, passed by Fort Hall, then westward south of the Snake River to the ford below Salmon Falls, then to Fort Boise, crossing the Snake River into Oregon.
 
. 1846
The
United States acquires all land south of 49 degrees longitude by a treaty with Great Britain.

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* Exploration & Expansion

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* Exploration & Expansion

* Mining

1848
Oregon Territory established.
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. 1849
Over 20,000 emigrants join the gold rush and come through southeastern Idaho on the California Trail; Heavy traffic continues on the trail for many years; U.S. Military post, Cantonment Loring, established near Fort Hall.
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