Mountains Of Memory: A Fire Lookout'S Life

6. Some Former Inhabitants

6 . some former inhabitants Whenever I become drawn to a particular landscape, one of the first questions that comes to mind is, Who were the first humans to inhabit this place? Answering it is part of the process of going native, satisfying one’s curiosity about previous inhabitants. Despite a “cultural resource reconnaissance ” of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River basin conducted by the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office in 1978, the answer to this question is uncertain. The earliest evidence of indigenous human inhabitation of the Salmon River Mountains appears to date back to about ten thousand years b.p. Compare this to the indisputably oldest confirmed place of human occupation in the Americas, the twelve thousand-year-old Clovis, New Mexico, site famous for spear points with fluted channels. Evidence of early humans’ occupation of central Idaho has been found in the form of lithic scatters (stone arrowheads, scrapers, etc.), pithouse depressions, and rock art. A rock shelter excavated near Redfish Lake in the Sawtooth Range near Stanley contained scattered stone tools that date back to the end of the last Ice Age. Designated by archaeologists as part of the Big Game culture, the makers of these artifacts were probably seasonal inhabitants of the area who hunted large mammals such as Bison antiquus, a larger ancestor of the buffalo , as well as other megafauna like elephants and camels that eventually went extinct. Another rock shelter, eighty-two hundred years old, has been found near the town of Shoup, along the far eastern course of the Main Salmon close to the Idaho-Montana border, containing similar artifacts. These Paleolithic peoples undoubtedly ate plants to supplement their main diet of meat, but at present no evidence has been discovered to confirm this supposition. 54 : s u m m e r I dislike the term prehistoric in attempting to categorize early humans. It is usually meant to indicate a people who existed prior to recorded, i.e., written or literate culture. But on the surface it suggests that somehow a group of people lived before history, or at least human history, which of course is absurd and contradictory. The term is also misleading in that it suggests that a group did not record its history, when in fact there is incontrovertible evidence that some early human cultures did just that — through rock art. There are at least twenty-six different pictograph sites along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River (not to mention both pictographs and petroglyphs throughout much of southern Idaho), all of which register various activities, real and imagined, of humans. I’ll have more to say about these pictographs along the Middle Fork at a later point in the narrative. The Big Game culture was followed by the people of the Archaic or Middle Salmon River Period, 7,800 to 1,200 years b.p. Material culture evidence from this period has been found at a seasonally occupied hunting and fishing camp at Dagger Falls, near the headwaters of the Middle Fork and only about ten air miles from Ruffneck Peak. Improvements in hunting technology distinguish the peoples of this period from the Big Game culture . The atlatl, a long, stone-tipped spear hurled at prey with the aid of a slinglike device, was developed, increasing both force and accuracy. The projectile point of the spear was made of obsidian taken from the Yellowstone area, which confirms that trading networks existed in the region. No doubt these people speared fish in the river and perhaps devised other means to capture fish such as with weirs. Based on the pithouse depressions dating back to this era, archaeologists speculate that the shelters of Archaic peoples consisted of shallow holes dug in the ground over which branches and perhaps animal hides were placed to keep out the elements. In addition to the atatl, other improvements in the suite of technology found at the camp at Dagger Falls include woven baskets and milling stones for grinding seeds from wild plants. I try to imagine eking out an existence as a huntergatherer in these rugged mountains and valleys, concluding that I’d spend most of my time near the water where the greatest chance lies for capitalizing on food resources: fish in the river, berries and wild game along the banks. Hunting in the thick forest cover strikes me as a very long — and mostly obstructed — shot indeed. During the late Salmon River Period, about twelve hundred...