26 - Fort Steele Heritage Town Park in Canada
to Toms Place, California

with visits to Fort Steele Heritage Town Park in Canada
and Sawtooth National Recreation Area in Idaho

Thursday, September 4, 1997

I stopped at Fort Steele Heritage Town Park and took the walking tour of this historic town. The origin of Fort Steele is closely linked to the discovery of gold on nearby Wild Horse Creek in the 1860s. The gold rush peaked in 1865 when an estimated 5,000 prospectors flooded into Fisherville combing the hills in search of their fortune. The gold strike was rich, as many men reportedly earned from $40,000 to $60,000 that summer.

Fort Steele was a gold rush boom town founded in 1864 by John Galbraith. The town was originally called "Galbraith's Ferry", named after the ferry set up by the city's founder over the Kootenay River. It was the only ferry within several hundred miles so Mr.Galbraith charged very high prices to get across.

The town was renamed Fort Steele in 1888, after legendary Canadian lawman Superintendent Sam Steele of the North-West Mounted Police solved a dispute between a settler who had unjustly accused one of the local First Nations men with murder. This dispute had caused a great deal of tension between the town and the native people.

Sam Steele, finding no real evidence against the accused natives, had the charges against them lifted. Both the town and the First Nations people were so grateful that they renamed the town Fort Steele. Much to Steele's dismay, the "Fort" part of the name comes from the NWMP setting up a station in the town, whereas the town itself was never a real fort.

Read Fort Steele's history here.

Very interesting tour. Many of the buildings are original - some reproductions.

Worth the time.

It was 6:30 p.m. by the time I left Fort Steele headed for the USA. Crossed the border about 8 p.m., stopped for supper in Whitefish about 9 p.m. and finally got to the motel in Kalispell, MT about 10 p.m.

Friday, September 5, 1997

Headed out on US 2 to Libby, MT and then along the Kootenai River into Idaho.

Downstream from Libby, the Kootenai River enters a canyon and flows over Kootenai Falls, one of the largest free-flowing waterfalls in the northwest. The falls and surrounding area are considered sacred to the Kootenai Indians whose ancestors inhabited the region.

Continued south on US 95 through Bonners Ferry, Sandpoint, Coeur d'Alene and Moscow to a motel at Lewiston, ID.

Saturday, September 6, 1997

Headed out on US 95 south to Grangeville, ID where I found that the highway was closed to the south by a massive landslide. Rather than backtrack, I headed east on SR 13 along the pretty Clearwater River to Kooskia, ID, then east on US 12 along the Middle Fork Selway River and the Wild and Scenic Lochsa River over Lolo Pass to US 93 south of Missoula, MT. I enjoyed seeing this country again - first visited in late July.

Headed south on US 93 through Hamilton, MT over Lost Trail Pass into Idaho, through Salmon, ID to Challis, ID where I turned west on SR 75 toward the Sawtooth National Recreation area. As the sun was setting, a dog fell out of a pickup ahead of me, landing in the grass next to the road apparently unhurt. I was able to catch up to the truck, stop it and alert the driver - who hadn't noticed the dog falling out. Spent the night near Stanley Lake in dispersed camping since the campgrounds were full.

Sunday, September 7, 1997

Continued south on SR 75 through Ketchum, ID to US 20, then west on US 20 to I 84 near Mountain Home, then west on I 84 past Boise, ID to US 95 and my original planned route south. A long but scenic detour revisiting some pretty country. US 95 south took me into Oregon, through Jordan Valley, OR, then west to Burns Junction, OR, then south into Nevada at McDermitt and on to Winnemucca, NV for the night at a motel.

Monday, September 8, 1997

Headed out on the final leg home south on US 95, through Fallon, NV. I wanted to see the rebuilt US 395 through the Walker Canyon (where 12 miles of highway washed away in January 1997), so turned west on Alternate US 95 to Yerington, NV then SR 208 to US 395 north of Topaz Lake.

It was interesting to see the effect of the January 1997 flood on Walker Canyon and how the highway had been rebuilt. The familiar road soon brought me home to Toms Place, 81 days and 10,538 miles since June 20.