BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest

Subject: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 07:32 AM

As might be known, I will soon be emigrating to Idaho. As I will travel quite some distance, over lands little-known and across uncharted rivers, I have been researching the journey. Specifically, I have been reading Lansford W. Hastings "Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California" and Randolph B. Marcy's "The Prairie Traveler." Both have been wonderfully helpful.

For instance, I have the put up my bacon in stout bags of 100 pounds each, I have sufficient saleratus and salt, my butter is boiled and sealed in tins, I have desecrated..er, desiccated..vegetables in plenty, several gallons of vinegar, 450 pounds of flour, pemmican, and so forth.

In addition, I have two rifle guns and two revolvers, and I have allowed five pounds of powder and twenty pounds of lead each (as well as 1,000 caps). I have the recommended clothing of flannel and wool, a pair of boots and a pair of stout shoes, a gutta-percha ground sheet, &c.

Before leaving my car will be thoroughly checked out, and I will have enough CDs and cassettes to sustain me. I will have my trumpet, too.

My question is this: does anyone know if the Comanche, Cayus, Payute, Arapoho, Black-feet, Sioux, or others are on the war-path this Spring? And does it look as if there will be good browsing for the oxen and cattle?

Or have there been traveler's guides published more recently than 1845?
8-)

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Deckman
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 07:34 AM

You don't need to concern yourself with the Indian wars this Summer ... it's America you need to fear! Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Deckman
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 07:41 AM

Rapaire ... I want to appoligize for my last posting. This stupid war has me being upset and rude. Having said that, I want to say thank you for your posting. In case you haven't read this, I do recommend that you enjoy the diaries of Lewis and Clark, 1904 - 1906. CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Deckman
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 07:45 AM

SHEEUH! 1804 - 1806!

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Amos
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 08:31 AM

Is Idaho part of the PAcific NW?

A

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: artbrooks
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 08:44 AM

The AAA travel guides for individual states are still one of the best sources for 'Chamber of Commerce" type information on towns along the way. Things like 'home of the world's largest concrete walleye' (I made that up, but wouldn't be surprised if there is such a thing) are good basic information.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: JenEllen
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 10:27 AM

LMAO, Mike....Drinking downstream from the herd again, greenhorn?

I second the AAA guides. They give general information to help you get settled in, but it does cater to a certain crowd. I'll bet once you get there, you'll be able to find a good bookstore (or adequate library? *g*) to help you guys explore the territory. The last time I was there, the bookstore at Fort Hall was nice, and seeing as you are right on the Oregon Trail, there should be lots of tourist stuff to read as well.

Give your herd a week of grass
An' at least three days of water
Or else you find the traveling
Much harder than you oughter

~J

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 10:48 AM

For good victuals and long drinks, seek out the native species known as mudcatus benificientus...you will know them by their various music-related appendages, some of which are quite unique, including the one-hand, flat-skin beater; the chin-tucked, string-gut screecher; and, the flat-hammer, frailing long-neck. Known for their docile good-nature, they often have extra accomodations, or at least a place to park yer wagon. FAIR WARNING: don't run off with their daughters or even walk out with them!!

Bon voyage and if you're coming through Colorado give a holler. It's a good place to replenish your supplies.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: MAG
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 12:24 PM

Depending on which way you come, you'll be near some of the most gorgeous National Parks in the country -- stop and have a gander, since you don't know when you'll have some free time to get back.

I stopped at Hell's Canyon when moving out, 13 years ago, and haven't made it back since, even though it's only 100 miles away.

welcome! It's beautiful here. -- MAG

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 12:32 PM

I hope you're finished trashing the American Indian populations of the Northwest. I would caution you to pay more attention to the fundamentalist gun-toting white militia folks. A lot of them favor Idaho.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: JenEllen
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 01:00 PM

Aw, jeez, SRS....lean real close to your monitor and take a sniff. That smell is 'sarcasm'. Anything more than a cursory reading of the initial post, with hackles flat, would show no malice intended towards American Indians. (The trashing of travel literature of the 1800's is a different story entirely.)

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 03:00 PM

We like to include Idaho in the Inland Northwest, not the Pacific Northwest.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: M.Ted
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 03:22 PM

Idaho for the Curious: A Guide by Cort Conley is the book I would start with--not that I know anything about it, I just went to Amazon and entered "Idaho" in their search engine--mercifully, the selection of books with Idaho in the title is not overwhelming--

From first hand experience, all I know about is the great jazz standard "Idaho" with is great fun to play and not that hard--sounds great on the trumpet--

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 04:14 PM

Hope you like potatoes.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 04:32 PM

I have always wanted to make it to the PNW because of the following passage from Woody Guthrie. "The Pacific Northwest has got mineral mountains, it's got chemical deserts, it's got rough run canyons. It's got sawblade snowcaps. It's got ridges of nine kinds of brown; hills out of six colours of green; ridges,five shades of shadows;and stickers the eight tones of hell"   I don't know what it means but I love it. It has made the PNW a far-off dream for many years. One of these days............   Burl.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 04:33 PM

also known as the inland empire....

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Allan C.
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 05:00 PM

If you want specific information for many cities in Idaho or anywhere else in the USA, try "Places Rated Almanac". You probably can find one at your local library. Although it won't tell you anything about traveling; it does describe destinations in very practical terms.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 05:27 PM

Sorry, I'm not going to politely step aside or apologize for my remarks--it's a hot button issue that isn't going away. It's racism, not sarcasm, just as if someone was to post a quip about wetbacks or trailer trash or gypsies or any "Other" (as in "them" vs "us") group then say "ha ha I was just funnin'". It simply isn't funny. Lean closer to your screen, all of you, and read these two accounts:

Saving Private Lynch and Mourning Private Piestewa

Dr. McAlister speaks of Private Lynch's rescue, concerned about the "riteousness" that Americans will feel morally entitled to. But she illustrates her story with lurid accounts of "captivity narratives" in which Indians are heathen savages. She is dull-witted for all of her glibness, if she can't take the time to read the rest of the story and see that Lynch's dead comrade-in-arms roomate was Hopi.

I haven't lost my sense of humor. We just seem to see different things as funny. As long as these stereotypes are okay with the rest of you, we have a problem.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Amos
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 05:42 PM

SRS -- the guide book being cited was written in 1845, if I understand the first post correctly....a time at which "warpath" was a real condition, well justified, and quite unnerving to settlers.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 05:52 PM

SRS, I suggest that you read the two books I cited. Neither of them is at all remarkable for their sensitivity to Indian affairs or the Indians themselves.

Having spent time on several reservations, having made friends with the members of several Nations (including those in the Arctic and in Dineh), I find the attitudes expressed as personally repugnant -- but I also recognize that they *were* the historical attitudes. I will no more apologize for working them into what was intended as a satiric comment than I will apologize for Mark Twain using the word "nigger" in what is probably the greatest novel produced in the the US -- "Huckleberry Finn." I will not apologize for the fact that I am related to the German Colonel-General who was in charge of forces opposing the Normandy landings; I will not apologize for ANYTHING that was done in the past. I *will* learn from it, I hope.

I will also point out to you, as was pointed out to me by a Blackfeet, that simple men in hogans don't grow into plaster saints (and yes, she changed Kipling to make her point).

Familiar with any "Powwow jokes?"

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: JenEllen
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 05:59 PM

SRS, is there any chance it remains a hot-button issue simply becuase people keep pushing the gawddamn button? Your links were enlightening, sure, but if Rapaire's 'attack' against NA's (of which I still don't think there was one) is a case of 'us versus them' ignorance, how are your against him any different?

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: JenEllen
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 06:01 PM

Sorry for the cross post, I defer to Rapaire.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 06:45 PM

SRS, your stridency, esp. on a forum of people who have shown, time and again, that they are well-educated about the issues and are not, in general, racist, as well as several who either are NA or related or knowledgeable, defeats any purpose you may have intended in educating. Maybe it's time to leave the campus for awhile and check out the real world?

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 07:10 PM

Why is it racist to simply refer to the past of such people as the Sioux, Cherokee, Navaho, Yupik, Salish, Blood, Alutiiq, White Mountain Apache, Inupiq, Mohawk, Iroquis, Shawnee, Fox, Sac, Shoshone, Bannock, Nez Perce, Mountian Ute, Paiute, Choctaw, Hopi, Jicarillo, Commanchee and others and yet correct to label others as "fundamentalist gun-toting white militia folks"?

I'm not being facetious or nasty -- I'd really like to know.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Deckman
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 07:32 PM

Hi Rapaire, I've been feeling bad all day. I can't help but wonder if my number two posting didn't "taint" your thread. I would like to think that that was not the case. You ask a good question, but I'll leave it to others to answer. CHEERS and best wishes, Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: rangeroger
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 09:03 PM

Rapaire, where are you moving to in Idaho? I live in the Panhandle of North Idaho and dearly love it. We ran all the nazis and fundametalist gun-toting white militia out. Now they are either in Montana or Pennsylvania.Though there may be some in Texas. Or is that from Texas.

Anyway, it is a beautiful state with a lot of very nice people.

rr

form beautiful downtown Smelterville,Idaho.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 09:29 PM

Pocatello, that's where I'm bound. I'm gonna be the Director of the public library there. This Fall the Idaho Library Association is meeting in Couer D'Alene; this Summer the Pacific Northwest LA is meeting in Boise. And everyone I've met thus far has been quite nice.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 09:41 PM

Gee, didn't this thing go right to hell?

Listen Rap, on this Idaho move.........The one book I'd recommend is "The Citizen's Guide to Identifying FBI, ATF, and Treasury Agents," by John B. Schottended.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 09:52 PM

Heck, they're easy to spot, Spaw. You look for someone with a crew cut who says things like, "So, man, what's it like being a member of the militia around here?" or "Hey, where can I buy a fifty caliber machine gun?"

Actually, where I'm going has been described as a town of "PhDs in pickup trucks."

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: mousethief
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 11:46 PM

I'm willing to accept Idaho as part of the Pacific NW on the grounds that it (or most of it, anyway) drains into the Pacific. Through our river (the Columbia) of course.

Certainly is lovely country, or what of it I've seen.

Alex
(from Seattle)

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: leprechaun
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 11:57 PM

I recommend you consult with some experienced guides to help you through the passes before winter sets in. Do you think the Donner family is stil available?

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: GUEST,Norton1
Date: 07 Apr 03 - 11:57 PM

Pocatello is a main processing plant for J.R. Simplot and his "Soilbuilders." JR is a local legand since he never finished high school and is well past being a billionaire. One of the local crooks I think they are called. But he has done well for himself. And Pocatello has a refreshingly "different" smell due to the plant being there. If I were you I'd think about living in Chubbuck, or Blackfoot, which is only a little farther away from where the library resides.

Gun toting is fine in Idaho. Idaho is an "open carry" state. This means you can strap one on and pack it around in plain sight. Should you want to conceal the weapon you must apply for a concealed weapons permit.

We are a very conservative state. Almost always vote Republican, are agricultural in nature, and can be narrow minded to a degree found only in Arkansas I believe. But we'll do anything for a stranger, are patriotic to a fault, and when I was younger you could leave the keys in your car. I don't suggest it now though. There is a fine University in Pocatello that I attended many years ago and still pushes young moderates out today.

There is a wealth of information available on the Indians, Native Americans if it suits you, in Pocatello. The Shoshone/Bannock Tribes live there on the Ft. Hall Indian Reservation. One of the best retail sales shops I've ever seen is right on the freeway. Lots of history and places to go see.

I don't know you but a sense of humor is an absolute essential to live in Idaho. We are the second largest potato grower in the nation as Maine grows more. And the potatos we do get here are culls as the good ones go out for resale in other states. Nothing like a good old Idaho Russet for baking though. And many farms have gleaning programs that allow you to go out and pick from the field at a greatly reduced price. And some of those potatos won't fit into an oven they are so big!

If you'd like to know more about the state I'd encourage you have the library send you some materials. It's where I go to find out about other places. Or you may PM myself and I'll try to oblige. Although I am at best a moderate responder to PMs. I don't live far from Boise so perhaps when you get out here we could link up for a cup of coffee - least I could do is to welcome you with a cup of brown water that will leave you running for cover - pretty stout out here.

Best on your move -
Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 12:13 AM

We got us anudder lye brer' ee un!! Whoo-Hoo!!! How minnie iz that on the Mudcat, now?**BG**

Good luck on your move, Rapaire!

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: open mike
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 12:54 AM

i would recommend soaking your bones inteh hot water
at Thermopolis if you can swing thru that part of Wyo.
on the way..by the way be prepared for wind in Wyo-
last time i drove thru there i almost lost the hood
of the vehicle when i lifted it to check the oil!
Where will your trip begin? You will be on the west
side of the great continental divide. If the weather
permits, also the dinosaur nat'l monumnet near Vernal
Utah is an incredible site. This is on hiway 40, which
is between interstate 70 and 80. I-70 is much more scenic
as it goes thru the beautiful rocky mts in COLO. Up near
Driggs and Tetonia IDaho once i saw an awe inspiring display
of Cranes (whooping? sand hills?) doing their mating dance.
such jumping and whooping and carrying on!! This is not
too far from pocatello to the north and east..good luck and
let us know your route, we might gbe able to offer hospitality,
advice, warnings, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 01:22 AM

Well, shoot, open mike, I LOVE Thermop, grew up going there and I love the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal; grew up going there, too, plus my dad lives near there, BUT you're right about I-70 going through the beauty of the Rockies AND there is a wonderful hot springs along it on the Western Slope of Colorado, at Glenwood Springs, near where all of my ancestors homesteaded and ranched. Also, IF you come by way of I-70, why we are right on it...I can nearly reach out and touch it from my yard, we've got a pretty good dinosaur museum here, plus some spectacular scenery to boot, plus you can swing up from near here and still see the museum in Vernal! Not as much wind down here, too!

How long do you have to make this trip, Rap?**BG**

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 02:22 AM

Rapaire, if you like to make music, run naked and find your soul, I think the Rainbow Gathering is going to be in the Southwest corner of the state this year.
artbrooks, I live around a bunch of Big Fish! Yes, even a concrete walleye! And there is a big one out there in Coeur D' Alene, Idaho click here to see them all!
Idaho-the Gem State lots of good rock hunting.
Peace. Rustic

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 02:25 AM

ah rap, you'd be much better off moving to the panhandle....

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: DougR
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 03:00 AM

I don't think you should concern yourself with Comanches. They were confined, I believe, to Texas and perhaps a few other areas of the southwest.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: GUEST,clint keller
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 03:56 AM

The Kootenai Indians last declared war on the United States about 1974, but that was 30 years ago and it worked out all right. They've got a casino in Bonners Ferry, and they're working on bringing back the sturgeon to the Kootenai River.

North Idaho is kind of a state to itself; that may be why we call it North Idaho instead of Northern Idaho.

The Democrats gained a little last election, but I think Idaho is still the most Republican state in the Union. On the other hand, we elected Frank Church as long as he ran.

A lot of militia and neo-nazi types moved up here in the 60's-70's, and so did a lot of hippies.

By the way, that's spelled "Coeur d'Alene." There used to be a smartass in the area who liked to tell people "It's spelled just like it sounds," and snicker. Then he ran into a French Canadian who spelled it like it sounds, and snickered.

clint

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 05:35 AM

If you sing The Idaho Spud, you can turn this into a music thread! I emigrated to the Pacific Northwest from Philadelphia in 1982 (12 years before emigrating again to the Mid-Pacific), and it was a wonderful trip. My friend in Buffalo, Wyoming suggested that I leave the Interstate and head up to Missoula and then cross the Idaho panhandle on Route 12, the Lewis and Clark Highway. I still remember that stretch from Missoula to Lewiston as one of the most beautiful roads I've ever driven. Have fun! And if you ever get the itch to move again, well, some people still find that Hawaii Calls!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: rangeroger
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 09:29 PM

RR,as the link you gave says, the Fish Inn is gone.Burned down in 1995,or thereabouts. Great place to stop in when out riding motorcycles. Used to have a motorcycle swap meet every year there. I drive by the site every day and think about it.

Rapaire, I was going to warn you about the Republicans here, but Clint keller covered it. This state used to be heavily Democratic ( Cecil Andrus past Governor) but all those pesky Republicans from Orange County, California moved up here and things have gone to Hell in a hand basket.I happen to live in the most heavily Democrat voting county in the state, Shoshone,but as the population is only 13,000 for the entire county we fight a losing battle every election.

This state also has some of the best hot springs in the nation so you won't have to rely on Wyoming for them.

You are going to love it here. And FYI, just north of Pocatello, is the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station.

rr

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Amos
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 10:57 PM

RR:

Please make sure that information reaches Spaw, won't you? If anyone needed one of those S.E. station things, I am sure he does!

A

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Apr 03 - 07:58 AM

Looks like I'll be saddling up, hitching up the team, and moving the old Honda Civic prairie schooner westward on April 28. First night out I'll be camping in a motel in the Des Moines area, the second night around Sidney, Nebraska, and the third night in Evanston, Wyoming. On May 1 I'll arrive in Pocatello, pick up the key, unload the car, and go to a cheap fleabag motel until I can get a bed bought and a modicum of furniture (a very small modicum, as we already have furniture).

If anyone wants proof that I'm really a librarian, I've alread shipped over 1,600 pounds (726 kilograms) of books.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Apr 03 - 08:45 AM

Pocatello is, of course, an artistic wilderness.

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Apr 03 - 06:58 PM

When Carol and I lived on the Oregon coast in 1967, Idaho was BACK EAST!!!

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Emigrating to the Pacific Northwest
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Apr 03 - 07:26 PM

Rapaire, when you have time you might enjoy how organised is your home library?. I cannot remember how many pounds we shipped when going back to WY from CT, but in that thread a lot of Mudcatters measured their libraries by board feet, so you can get an idea that you are in like-minded company.:-)

Be sure to feed and water that Civic!**bg**