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The 208

Get to know Idaho: Old Fort Boise

A viewer had a lengthy inquiry about why Fort Boise is not near Boise. We talked with a local historian to get the answer.

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BOISE, Idaho — We get lots of questions from lots of people to The 208.

People like Ross Arbaugh who sent us this text this week. He asks:

  • Why is the original Fort Boise located just outside of Parma?
  • What does the statue mean?
  • What did the old paintings on the statue mean?
  • Why does it have a lion's head on it?
  • Who, why, and when was the statue built?

That's a lot of questions.

But Ross also sent along some pictures.

One is the statue Ross is asking about.

It was built in 1971 by sculptors Paul Yadon and Art Yensen.

It is in Parma. It does have a lion's head on it.

As for why, we asked local historian Rick Just as we get to know Idaho.

The original Fort Boise wasn't the kind of fort you think of today.

Not exactly a mansion for military men.

“It was originally a trading post over near Parma at the confluence of the Boise River and the Snake River. And that started in 1834 as a reaction to another trading post that you've heard of, Fort Hall over in eastern Idaho,” Just said.

That's right. The British-based Hudson's Bay Company wanted to stake a claim to trading in across terrain that wasn't even known as Idaho territory yet.

Thus, the Hudson's Bay flag on the statue.

Francois Payette was the fur trader in charge for 10 years.

“Why'd they call it Fort Boise if it was nowhere near Boise?” asked KTVB.

“Well it was near the Boise River, and the Boise River by that time had that name, there's some confusion about when it got it, but it was known as the Boise River,” Just said. “And it wasn't much in the first place, in fact, to begin with it was kind of a pile of sticks, it really wasn't much of a construction. It was maybe 700 square feet, really pretty tiny.”

It got bigger but didn't last much longer.

“So what happened to the original?” asked KTVB.

“Well, it eventually got flooded away, a number of things, it just disappeared,” Just said.

Those number of things include an emigrant massacre in 1854 at the hands of the local native population, which might explain the bow and broken arrow on the back of the statue.

It wasn't until 1863 that the Fort Boise we know now was built, and Boise built up around that.

As for the reason the lion head is on top of that -- still unsure.

It's not as if there were lions running around the Snake River basin at the time -- more beavers and otters.

We would need to ask the artists who built it, and we tried.

But there's a whole park in Parma dedicated to Old Fort Boise.

You can check it out for yourself after this stay-at-home order is lifted.

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