The Courier
News
July 1
,2015
Volume 39 ~ Number 26 News from the Heart of Idaho Camas • Lincoln • Gooding
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Shoshone Preserving Our History Arts in the Park
For many of us, preserving our history is often relegated to museums. Unfortunately, museums are limited in how much history they can preserve by the size of a building. They are also limited in that you must purposely visit a museum. To truly preserve our history, it must be integrated into the common areas of our communities - the courthouse lawn, in front of our schools, on main street, and sometimes, out in the middle of nowhere. Most of us have heard of the Oregon Trail, some of us may have even visited one of the interpretative centers. But, few of us know the actual places where wagon trains once rolled across Southern Idaho. The main trail was on the south side of the Snake River, but there were two northern routes as well. The Goodale Cutoff went up through Arco, over by Carey and Picabo, and along the north side of the Camas Prai-
rie before ending up at Mountain Home. The other northern route went from American Falls over through Minidoka, Dietrich, Shoshone, Gooding, and just north of Bliss before ending up near Glenns Ferry and the Three Island Crossing. While much of the Oregon Trail is lost to the sagebrush, there are still places where you can see parts of it. In fact, about eight miles north of Bliss, there is a place where the wagon trains left behind some of their most precious cargo. The Upper Clover Creek Cemetery is the final resting place for a number of individuals who died on the Oregon Trail. How many is unknown because many of the graves are marked with just a flat stone which make the maintenance of the cemetery a major undertaking. Earlier this year, two young men decided to take on this challenge in two separate Eagle Scout projects, Joshua Cheney took on the task of organizing a clean-up crew to cut down the weeds (reducing the fire hazard), to spray noxious weeds, smooth out the road, and refurbish the cemetery sign. Moroni Cheney’s project was to clean, photograph, and create a map of the headstones with the goal of uploading this information to BillionGraves.com. The Eagle Scout projects were separate, but the cemetery was a joint collaboration of Joshua, Moroni, their friends and family, and the Hagerman Cemetery Council. Thanks to their hard work, our Idaho History is being preserved for generations to come.
Mud Bog Races
Saturday, July 4th in Fairfield ...page 3
July 11th & 12th
The 28th Annual Shoshone Arts in the Park is set to take place on July 11th and 12th at the Courthouse Lawn in Shoshone Idaho. This year’s event will bring activates for the entire family to enjoy. The event kicks off on Saturday with the opening the Arts and Craft vendors, Antique Show, Quilt Show, Wagon and Trolley Rides, and a Petting Farm. Vendors will cover the entire courthouse lawn and will features fine arts and crafts and antique vendors from Southern Idaho and beyond. Again this year the music festival returns with some great local talent for the Magic Valley. Musicians will play a variety of Fiddle and Bluegrass music throughout the two days. Music begins at 9:30 am on Saturday and will run through the end of the day and continue on Sunday from 10 to 4 (music schedule is listed below). New to this year’s event is a beer garden by Sawtooth Brewery. This addition will be great for those that wish to have a cold craft beer continued on page 5.....