POCATELLO — Fifty years ago a group of community leaders brought an important piece of history back to life and created a Fort Hall Replica at Upper Ross Park. The replica celebrates its 50th anniversary as Idaho marks the 150th anniversary of becoming a U.S. territory when it opens Saturday, June 1.

    The main drivers of the project back in 1963 were Pocatello business owner Jack Alvord, Idaho State Journal publisher Nick Ifft, state senator Perry Nelson, Pocatello Mayor LaVerne Johnson, Judge W.H. Jensen, historian M.D. Beal and Idaho State Police officer Elmer Terry.

    Their legacy lives on as the Fort Hall Replica, Pocatello Junction Replica and Bannock County Museum host a number of events from 2 to 6 p.m. on June 1. There will be bead work demonstrations, flint knapping, blacksmithing, quilting, entertainment and a chili feed.

    In addition to these activities, a formal presentation will be made at 5 p.m. to share publications and CDs on the replica and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes with the public. The two booklets are “The Story of Fort Hall” and “The Shoshone-Bannock and Fort Hall.” Pocatello artist Anne Merkley has completely redrawn many of the illustrations in “The Story of Fort Hall.”

    It’s a fitting task for the woman who helped create the original document back in 1963.

    “It was hand-researched by me under the supervision of Jack Alvord whose dream come true was to get the replica,” Merkley said.

    Merkley had just earned her bachelor of arts degree in art at Idaho State University when she accepted the task. She now holds a master of fine arts degree and has established a reputation as one of the area’s finest artists. She used those skills to improve the looks of the Fort Hall booklet.

    And she stands behind the research that went into compiling the story of Fort Hall.

    The original Fort Hall was established by Nathaniel Wyeth and the original structure completed in 1834. Wyeth gave the post the name Fort Hall in honor of Henry Hall, senior member of the Boston firm that financed his undertaking, according to the booklet. The structure was 80 feet by 80 feet, and was made of nearby cottonwood trees sunk two and a half feet into the ground and standing

15 feet high.

    It was Wyeth’s hope to establish a trading link for furs in the Northwest, however he was facing competition from the Hudson’s Bay Trading Co. and they built Fort Boise along the Snake River in Western Idaho. Unable to compete, Wyeth ended up selling both Fort Hall and another fort he had established on the Columbia River in Oregon to Hudson’s Bay. According to the booklet on the fort’s history, Wyeth took a big loss of about $30,000 in the transaction.

    However, after returning to the Eastern U.S., Wyeth went into the ice-packing business and died a wealthy man.

    Under Hudson’s Bay control, Fort Hall expanded to 80 feet by 100 feet with additional structures added. It was also covered with adobe inside and out.

    A passage in the booklet reads: “Immigrants on the Oregon Trail said the white-

washed walls of the stockade glistened like a beacon in the distance. They were also disappointed by the roughness of the structure once they arrived.

    The booklet also covers the advent of modern agriculture at the fort.

    “By 1841, there were attempts to grow not only vegetables but also grain at Fort Hall, and thus Euro-American agriculture was introduced into the area. In 1845, the post’s 20 men had five acres under cultivation and also herded 95 head of cattle and 171 horses,” it states.

    Between 1842 and 1852, an estimated 200,000 people passed through what is now Southeast Idaho and Fort Hall on the Oregon Trail. At Fort Hall, emigrants could make a decision to take Goodale’s Cutoff northwest of the fort to the Big Butte and continue west or follow the Snake River through the Massacre Rocks area. Most followed the river.

    But as the beaver fur trade began to wane, the usefulness and profitability of Fort Hall declined.

    Fort Hall was abandoned in 1855, and most of the supplies were moved to the Hudson’s Bay Flathead post in what is now Montana. Sale to the U.S. government was finalized the following year.

    The fort in its glory days was rebuilt in Pocatello in 1963 and will open its doors to visitors again for the 13th time in the 21st  Century.