October 22,2OL8.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the 2018 Jerome County Comprehensive Plan It is an impressive compilation of information about the current status of our county with some ambitious ideas for its future. However, I am surprised to find that there is no mention that all of Jerome County is now designated with Twin Falls County as a Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the United States Census Bureau. This designation brings opportunities as well as challenges. lt may help prevent "silo" planning, where planning is done as if it involves or affects no other entities. One of its impacts will be planning for regional transportation mentioned in Chapter 8: Transportation.

I have the following recommendations:

Chapter 3: History and Special Sites lnclude information about the 1811 Wilson Price Hunt expedition sponsored by lohn Jacob Astor searching for a transportation route to Astoria, OR. This party was a very important in leading to the eventual development of the Western United States. They had hoped to float the Snake River, but were wrecked at Cauldron Linn, losing a member ofthe party and supplies. The party had to split up with Hunt leading one group North of the river. Among this group was pregnant Madame Marie Dorian and her two little boys. This site could be very important to historic tourism. I have attached information and references.

I am gratified to see recognition of Lava Rock Structures. I was the initiator and researcher of this National Historic Places placement. lwould also mention the lava rock wall of the North Side Canal north of Eden. This over 100 year old structure prevents water from flowing down the old Bonneville Flood Channel.

Monastery of the Ascension, in addition to the activities listed, hosts several week-long sessions each year for Road Scholar, an adult educational travel organization exposing our area to nationwide visitors. hft ps://www.roadscholar.org

Chapter 4: Population Clarify that the designation races of Jerome County residents follow definitions of the federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau.

Chapter 6: Housing Creative thinking will be needed to clarify rural housing regulation, especially employee provided housing, and family compound type housing. These issues do not apply only to Hispanic residents.

Chapter 11: Tourism, Parks, and Recreation I foresee eventual development of historical tourism and agricultural tourism. This Southern ldaho area is considered the most successful ofthe Carey Act projects and its history, engineering feats and development should be shared with a wider public. Agricultural tourism could include rural Bed and Breakfasts along with farm ranch vacations along the lines of a "dude" ranch experience. These could provide economic benefits, but even more important, could promote understanding of and support for agricultural issues.

Kiosks and reader boards explaining the crops and farming operations seen from the freeway could be established at interstate intersections, as an additional way to build understanding and support for our agricultural area.

Thank you, Marian Posey 919 South Fir Street Jerome, lD 83338 Email: vinclothes@ onewest. net 208-324-3067 ,IEW YORX TIIUE 5 IEgTgELLER PETER STARK

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istor ail Jeffcrton" Lott ?aci/tic Empirc A TALE OF AMDITION AND SURVIVAL ON THB EAN,LT AMBRIC^N FNONTIER

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T rututr tot llrt ttl usl UImltY trrm I !l h I 'l-ale Astoria: Astor and.lefferson's [-ost Pacilrc Empire: A of Ambition and Sun ival on the Earh American lrrontier By Peter'Stark

What happened after Lewis and Clark headed west? It was years before the Pacific Northwest became part ofAmprica. Thq region was sought by the Brits, Canadians, and enterprising Americans, 1fter including Thomas fefferson and lohn Jacpb Astor. fefferson had his sights on colonizing i! thus securing the far borders of the still-fledgling country in 1810. Astor was determined to expand his intemational

trade and create a critical outpost for his enterprise.

Author and journalist Peter Stark delivers this hscinating true adventure to us in Astoria, a journey put

into motion by fefferson and Astor. Ifs the story of ambition, ego, bravery, madness, and humanity; of

humans pushed to tleir Iimits both physicatly and emotionally, and of their survival.

Beginning with fur trading, Astols humble yet ambitious initiation into intemational trade began with

New York Canada and Europe. With fefferson's political backing, Astor funds an endeavor to settle

along the Columbia River leading to the Pacific Ocean to promote trade with Russia and China,

ultimately creating an international route, exporting goods amund the world. Astor embarks on two

campaigns to reach the Northwest from New York - an overland e>gedition to closely follow the path of

Lewis and Clark, and another by sea on the Tonquin, which rounded Cape Horn. These advance parties

were to establish a settlement and pave the way for others to follow.

Ovef the course oI three yeals, llris rncredible lourney is filled \r/ith violence and hardships, The overland

I)arty rncour)tel's lrostrle rrtiiaIl tril)es, hirsh terrain and weather, and frequent sidetracks. The

expc.clitiorr bv sea b.r|ely su|vives stor[)s, attacks, and a tyrannical captairl. Stark delves into the

pcrsonalrtrt's ol kcy plrrycrs rrrthrr each expedrtron, ns well as the race to th€ Colunlllia River not only by

lhe Arnunci,rrr experlilrorrs, bIt by con]peting traders in Canada, and a hostile B]'itish fleet.

,Astorla is an amazing view into our history and man's determination to conquer and succeed. Stark is adept in conveying this tale, making it both fully engrossing and in building the reader's anticipation, even though we already know the ultimate outcome. Not only is it a thrilling tale, ifs a great read.

Published: 2015

Publisher: Ecco/Harper Collins

Tender Ties Historical Series about Madame Dorian's life by Jane Kirkpatrick, 2OO2-2OO4 1. A Name of Her Own 2. Every Fixed Star 3. Hold Tight the Thread I Astoria byWashington Irving

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I In 18u a group of American traders built a fort at the mouth of the Columbia River, named Fort Astoria in honor of its financier John Jacob Astor. Envisioned as the spur of a fur-trading empire, by r8r3 the project was a business failure and the fort was surrendered to the British. But in its short Iife Astoria rendered incalculable benefits to public understanding of ttre Great Northwest. The exploration of trade routes, the description of various Indian tribes and their customs, and an American claim on the Northwest coast were among many of its legacies.

Astor never relinquished his pride in the enterprise and insisted that the West would one day be a dominating factor in national politics. To drive his point home he asked Washington lrving, the country's most renowned and respected author, to transform the papers of Fort Astoria into a unified and readable history. Irving accepted the offer and published Astoria in 1836.

From its first appearance- -when it was hailed by no less a reviewer than Edgar Allan Poe- -to the present day, Astoria has been read as a vivid and fascinating history, comparable indeed to the finest of romances, but rooted in the rough and hardy life of trapping, hunting, and exploratio". lf 1C. 10/19/18,3:20 PM ,n,nn*,rori ,rnt's Astorians west - True west Magazine ";

Trailing Wilson Price Hunt's Astorians

WeSt From Dubois, Wyoming, toAstoria, oregon.

ocToBER 1, 2OO5 byCilfIDV MOUTTOX GrrrPS://TRT EWXSTMAGAZTNE.COM/AUTEOR/CANDY-MOUIION^

Soon after forming the Pacific Fur Company, New Yorker Wilson Price Hunt developed a plan to begin fur trade exploitation in the pacific Northwest. He organized two ventures: one involved an ocean expedition of the Tonquin, which would sail around the tip of South America to Astoria, Oregon. The other, which he would leafl, involved an overland expedition. With Donald Mackenzie, Hunt first traveled to Canada to hire French-Canadian voyageurs and trappers, including Ramsey Crooks, who signed on as a ::ll partner. From there, Hunt made his way down a series of rivers to St. Louis before following the Missouri River to a wintering point on the Nodaway River, some 15 miles upstream from St. Joseph, Missouri.

Additional men joined the Hunt party there, including Robert McClellan, John Day, Joseph Miller, interpreter Pierre Dorian, Jr. with his wife Marie and two little boys, Jean Baptiste, age flve, and Jean, age two, and two naturalists, John Bradbury and Thomas Nuttall, who would eventually become a curator of the botanical gardens at Harvard University.

John Hoback, Edward Robinson and Jacob Rezner, who had wintered with Andrew Henry of rttps://truewestmagazine,com/trailing-n,ilson-paice-hunts-astorians-west/ Page 2 ol 14 Traitinq wilson Price Hunt's Astorians west - True west Magazine tdlz,iie, z,..pu.

the Missouri Fur Company on Henry's Fork of Snake River in Idaho, also joined Hunt's party. Their presence changed the course of the trip because they were familiar with a route over Wyoming's Wind River Mountains, Togwotee Pass. This region would become known as Jackson's Hole. Although Hunt had intended to follow the route Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had taken in 1804-06, he opted for a more southerly route across Wyoming and south-central ldaho.

The overland parfy,of 56 men, Marie Dorian and her two children, and 82 horses embarked

from the Missouri headed toward Astoria in July 1811. Once across the mountains, they

trailed through the 'vVind River Valley and took a route over the Wind Rivers that becarpe known as Union Pass. From this pass, northwest ofpresent-day Dubois, they spied the jagged mountain range Hunt called the Pilot Knobs. The French-Canadian trappers dubbed them Les Trois Tetons; we know them better as the Grand Tetons.

Overland Expedition Begins

I begin following Hunt's route in Dubois, Wyoming which is home to the Rustic Pines Saloon, Wind River Historical Museum and the National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Center. My route heads north out ofDubois on U.S. 26/287 across Togwotee (pronounced toe-ga- tee) Pass and into Jackson Hole. I then travel southwest on U.S. 26/89/191, past the grandeur of the Grand Tetons to the town ofJackson-a great place to spend a couple of days hiking, fishing, floating or generally kicking up your heels in a cowboy saloon.

The Hunt party followed a portion of this route, and some members remained in the mountain valley that is now Jackson Hole (named in the 1820s for fur trapper David Jackson), but their primary route took them across the Wind Rivers south of Jackson on a trail traversed today over Union Pass (a good alternate route for adventuresome people with four-wheel-drive vehicles). From Jackson, I pick up the Hunt party trail by traveling southwest on U.5.26/89/189/191,to 'rback Junction. I then detour south through the Bondurant valley to the upper end of the Green River, north of Pinedale, Wyoming, where Hunt's party spent time in camp, hunting on Horse Creek Meadows and preserving several thousand pounds ofbuffalo meat. Once back on their trail, I backfrack to follow the Hunt route crossing into Hoback Basin (named for John Hoback) and travel though the rugged Hoback Canyon toward the Snake River.

Fordingttre SnakeRiver

At Astoria Springs (located off U.S. 189/191south of Hoback Junction), the party began harvesting cottonwoods for canoes, and Hunt sent John Reed, John Day and Pierre Dorian

down the Snake River in dugouts to determine if it was navigable. After a two-day reconnaissance, Reed returned and informed Hunt the route was impassable for canoes or horses, for which they gave the river a new name: Mad River.

rnt followed the Snake River downstream. With Indian guides, he forded the Snake River, followed a well-traveled Indian trail along Fall Creek, crossed Teton Pass and dropped into Pierre's Hole before traveling on to Fort Henry on the North Fork of Snake River. Hunt noted: "We reached the fort of Mr. Andrew Henry. It has several small buildings that lie constructed in order to spend the past winter there. All stand along a tributary of the Columbia about 300 to 450 feet wide. We hoped to navigate it and we found some trees suitable for canoes." To remain on their general route, I backtrack to Jackson and then take WyomingHighway 22 through Wilson and Victor, entering Idaho through Driggs and Pierre's Hole.

From Fort Henry the Hunt party resumed its journey, although the group was now smaller because some partners resigned, and others-including Edward Robinson, John Hoback and Jacob Rezner-remained in Jackson Hole.

Hunt noted in his journal: "We had cached our saddles in a spot that we showed the two young Snakes. They promised to take care not only of the saddles but also of our seventy- seven horses until one of us returned. The people of this area must suffer terribly from a lack of game ... we left this place on October 19th."

Using the Snake as a conduit, the Astorians floated downstream to the area west of present- day Milner, Idaho, where they were suddenly in a deep-walled gorge that became known as Caldron Linn (see the Road Trip article by R. G. Robertson, p. 66 June 2005). Here, one canoe capsized and French voyageur Antoine Clappine drowned.

Again, Hunt cached supplies before abandoning the increasingly turbulent river and preparing "to go in different directions in search of Indians."

Main Party Splits

It was late fall by this time, and although Ramsey Crooks headed toward Fort Henry where the parfy had left its horses, he could not get there due to heavy snow. Subsequently, the main parry split into two groups. Hunt followed the north bank of Snake River with 19 men and Marie Dorian and her two children. Crooks set out with other men along the south bank.

Driving across the Snake River Plain from TWin Falls to weiser, Idaho, the journey today seems simple enough. I avoid Interstate 84 as long as possible, taking u.S. Highway 30 from httpsr/truewestmagazine.com/trailing-witson-price-hunts-astorians-west/ Page 5 of '14 kailing wilson Pri; Hunt's Astorians west - True \ivest Magazine rcl:z2na, 2ig2 pM

Rupert to 6lrss, where I nave easy opportunrty to oetour to sltes sucn as tne uregon t rall P'rts at Milner, the Stricker Store and Rock Creek Stage Station south of Hansen, the Salmon !'Ells near TWin Falls (which is now a developed picnic area; bring money to actually see the area ofthe falls up close) and the area ofThousand Springs, between Buhl and Hagerman.

Best Bows and I Mandarin Duck

mandarinduck. net I

On December 31, 1811, Marie Dorian gave birth to a third child; the following day, she was

back in the saddle with the new babe in her arms and her two year old tied into a blanket carrier that was snug against her side. The infant lived only a week as Hunt and his party struggled through winter conditions and Hells Canyon of the Snake River, eventually shing up on the shore near a Nez Perce village where they obtained aid.

For my part, I follow Hunt's route on land, taking Highway 95 through Weiser to Lewiston, Idaho. There are access points to Hells Canyon (for information contact Hells Canyon National Recreation Area). At Lewiston, I get on the river itself (something I dislike intensely),

riding a jet boat upstream to Hells Canyon and being eternally grateful that the captain of the boat gets me safely back to Hell's Gate State Park and dry land without a soaking as some of Hunt's parry had endured.

Destination: Astoria

Back in the car, I continue west on Highway 12 to Walla Walla, Washington, site of Fort Walla Walla and the Whitman Mission. From this point west, most of the Astorians had a rather uneventful journey down the Columbia to its mouth and Astoria. Highways in Oregon ;erstate 84 and U.S. 30 west of Portland) and Washington (Route 14, Interstate 5 north and west on Washington Route 4 to Route 401, then across the high bridge over the Columbia to

14 https://truowestmagazine.com/t.ailing_wilson-price_hunts_aslorians-west/ Page 6 of Trailing wilson Price Hunt's Astorians West True West Magazine 10/19/18,3:23 PM

Astona) provtde a land route, but the Columbia is a river ot commerce and it is possible to cruise the watercourse as Hunt and his Astorians did.

Some members of Hunt's Party beat him to Astoria, arriving there on January 18, 1812. Hunt didn t make it to Fort Astoria until February 15 of that year, when he wrote in his journal: "We had covered 2,073 miles since leaving the village of the Arikara. July 18th to February 15th-7 months."

Meanwhile, Ramsey Crooks and John Day, separated from the others, wandered west, becoming almost hopelessly lost while following the Umatilla River and then the Columbia for weeks. A fur trading party of Astorians on their way back to Fort Astoria found them on the Columbia in early May 1812, nearly naked,, starving and teetering on the edge of insanity.

They finally made it to Fort Astoria on May 11.

Frequent Tlue West contributor, Candy Moulton is the author of Chief Joseph: Guardian of the People, part of the American Heroes series from Forge Books.