Fort Hall

Fort Hall. . For over two decades (1834-1856), fur trappers and Oregon Trail wagon trains passed by the doors of this adobe fort. Nathaniel Wyeth, an ambitious Bostonian, built the post in 1834 but soon sold his holdings to the Hudson's Bay Company, whose staff took over in 1838. British Fort Hall continued to welcome travelers even though it became United States territory in 1846. The site is currently part of the Fort Hall Reservation and is administered by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Council. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark on October 15, 1966. A Fort Hall replica, located at Pocatello's Ross Park, is open to the public. , "We commenced the Fort which was a stockade 80 ft square built of Cotton wood trees set on end sunk 2 1/2 feet in the ground and standing about 15 feet above with two bastions 8 ft square at the opposite angles. On the 4th of August the Fort was completed. And on the 5th the 'Stars and Stripes" were unfurled to the breeze at Sunrise in the center of a savage and uncivilized country over an American Trading Post." -- Osborne Russell, July 18, 1834 , "Paid a visit to Capt. Grant. Fort Hall is a small and rather ill constructed Fort, built of 'Dobie.'... The Fort is near the entrance of Portneuf into the Snake River. The river bottoms are wide and have some fertile lands, but much is injured by the salt deposits of the waters from neighboring hill. Wheat, turnips have grown here with success. Cattle thrive well." -- Theodore Talbot, September 1843