Glenns Ferry, Idaho
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Glenns Ferry Area History

In addition to the Bannock Tribe, the Shoshone, Sheepeater, and Lemhi Tribes were also present in the region. The Bannocks were also referred to as "Diggers" because they derived their winter's sustenance from the camas roots dug from the prairie. A favorite dish highly relished by the Diggers was a mixture of camas roots and crickets. Crickets were driven into a trench two feet deep and any desired length. These big fat fellows were then covered with sagebrush fires and roasted. After drying on blankets or skins, they were pounded up with dried camas roots to make a nutritious dish.

Meanwhile, O. S. landed in Cheyenne, Wyoming sometime during 1865. He became partners in the mercantile business with a Mr. Talpey, as well as selling half of the city lots when the town was founded. The mercantile business proved to be extremely successful until the Union Pacific Railroad reached Cheyenne, leaving them with a large stock of merchandise of every description. Delivery of the merchandise had been delayed when the heavily loaded river steamboat, carrying the dry goods, bottomed out on a sand bar in the Missouri River near St. Joseph. The boat remained stuck for three months. While the goods were still on board, the bills for the merchandise came due in the amount of $250,000. Without breaking stride, O. S. left Cheyenne in 1870, went further westward, and joined Gus in operating the ferry.

In 1870 when Oliver S. originally arrived at the ferry site, his family took up quarters there. While the family lived at the ferry, O. S.'s (second son) Claude H. Glenn (claimant Oliver S. Glenns father), had a strong propensity to crawl on his hands and knees toward the river. Oliver S. finally determined that if he was going to keep the boy from drowning, the family would have to move back from the river. Fifteen miles from the river, at the Cold Springs Ranch, a house was built.

While the accounts vary, the house was built between 1876-1877, with the assistance of Harvey Glenn, Gus Glenn and O. S. Glenn. The stones were native lava and chinked with clay mud. No foundation was laid and the walls were placed directly on gravel. It was originally 14 by 30 feet and planned for use as a fort with 20 inch thick rock walls and deeply recessed windows to hold sandbags for protection against Indian arrows and bullets. The house is still in use today.

It served its purpose well during the 1878 Bannock Indian War. During July and August of 1878 about 50 people, members of perhaps 15 families, gathered there for fear of the Indians who were raiding outlying settlements.

One such raid involved Chief Buffalo Horn and his warriors descending upon the north bank of the Snake River. The Indians remained at the ferry for two days and then crossed to the south side of the Snake River where they burned a freight train of two wagons with teams of 16 horses each. The Indians also confiscated a barrel of whiskey and, by all accounts, had a good spree before going down to the river. Upon burning the derrick holding the steel cable, the ferry boat with a contingent of young Indians aboard drifted down to the Bruneau Valley. It was eventually retrieved and returned. Disputing among themselves, Chief Buffalo Horn was eventually killed by a young Indian warrior and the brief war ended.

Gus and O. S. successfully ran the ferry between 1870 and 1876. Sometime in mid-1876 several other members of the Glenn family heard of the Idaho Territory and its immense cattle range. Consequently, Harvey and Nancy Glenn, Gus' brother Charles Constantine with wife Amanda and their daughter Mattie, Gus' sister Lavenie, Gus' sister Annie and her daughter Nettie McCoy, and Gus' brother (now Doctor) Lockhart Trimble, and son set out for Idaho. 

As Mrs. C. C. Glenn recounts in her October 17, 1920, newspaper interview, the journey began May 30, 1876 when the party left their home comforts and proceeded to Cincinnati, Ohio where they procured their tickets for the far west.  Not wishing to travel overland on a "prairie schooner", they boarded a first-class train and traveled to the end of the line - Kelton, Utah.  The rail travel consumed a full seven days.

Upon arriving in Kelton, the party located the previously arranged four-horse team and Studebaker wagon sporting a new canvas cover.  In order to reach a suitable camping location, the party set out at about 3:30 p.m.

The group experience their first uneasiness when, approximately eight miles into the journey, they spotted two Stalwart Indians with blankets, crouched behind a tall sagebrush.  Mrs. Charles Constantine Glenn recalls fearing that they were armed with bows and arrows, or guns and tomahawks, laying in ambush.  However, no harm befell the pioneers as they traversed westward.

As the journey progressed, members of the party were interested in reaching what the locals referred to as the "Burns".  Upon arrival, as Mrs. C.C. Glenn recalls in the same October 17th interview, the masculine members of the party suggested: "This will be a good place to bake bread over the campfire and save what we have for later lunches."  The feminine members of the party had other ideas, because of the heat and dust, and said "no" very emphatically.  The men folk then tried their luck and, as Mrs. Charles Constantine Glenn remembered, made very good bread.

As they journeyed on toward the river, the party met some buckaroos (still the common name for Idaho cowboys) who showed them a spot called "Dead Man's Flat."  At this spot, a year or so prior, Indians had attacked an emigrant train after filling themselves with firewater procured from a freight outfit.  The Indian band had killed and scalped all the adults, as well as demolishing the wagons.  Feeling the seriousness of the situation, the party then camped at Pilgrim station.

As the party neared the old Snake River, each of the party offered an opinion as to how it would look.  Of course, it would have cool, shady banks where they could sit and read in the inviting shadows.  The party even decided to have fish for their first dinner.  However, things looked very different when they actually reached the river.  There were not even willows growing and the river was over 900 feet in width.

The party crossed the ferry over to the Alturas county side encompassing the Northern Plain of the Snake River.  This was their destination - Glenns Ferry, Idaho.  The party found their relatives, but as they had too small a house to make so many comfortable, they put the guests in a good sized barn of native lava rock, it being new and never used.  This was now home for the newly arrived family members.

As the newcomers strolled around in the heat and dusty wilderness, Mrs. C.C. Glenn recalled that they wondered how it was possible for people to make a home there.  Eventually, Harvey and Nancy Glenn together with Dr. L.T. Glenn returned to Ohio.  Dr. Glenn practiced medicine at Washington Court House, Fayette County, Ohio, and married Nanne E. Lucas on April 19, 1883.  They had at least one child, a son (name unknown) who was a mail carrier in Ohio.  The descendants of Dr. L.T. Glenn, if found, have a right to share in the proceeds of the Leona Glenn Estate.

Soon after the newcomers' arrival, Gus' sister Annie McCoy Glenn passed away and was buried at the Cold Springs Ranch.  Her daughter, Nettie Glenn McCoy, also returned to Ohio.  As of 1890 she was still living with Harvey and Nancy Glenn in Hillsboro, Ohio.  Although nothing more is known of Nettie Glenn McCoy, 

Soon after Charles Constantine, his wife Amanda and daughter Mattie arrived in the Idaho Territory, they moved to the mining camps in Atlanta, Idaho.  During the summer, Atlanta had a beautiful climate, with an even temperature.  The winters, however, were long with heavy snowfall.  Atlanta was not shut in all year, as there was a daily mail carried over the mountain by conveyance or on horseback.  When the snow as especially deep, the mail carrier used long skis and poles and made good time when the snow was dry.  Nearly every winter, some poor carrier would fall victim to one of many snow slides.  The body would be found in the spring when the snows melted.  Often times, the carrier would pack out a silver brick on the back of this snowshoe, receiving 25 cents a pound, when the mails were not to heavy.  And it was here, in such a remote region of Idaho, that Emmett Eugene Williams' mother, Marie Lillian Glenn was born on October 30, 1880.

Charles Constantine and his immediate family, were ready to leave Atlanta in October of 1883.  At that time it seemed unusually early for such heavy snows, as there was five feet of snow on the summit.  The traveling party consisted of five families with teams and wagons, each helping the other shovel snow and blast out ice for a quarter mile on the summit.  They were the last teams that passed over that winter.  Charles Constantine and his family then reached the Glenn family ranch at Cold Springs.

In the spring of 1883, the locality was invaded by a force of tracklayers whose camp required 23 saloons and a dance hall.  It was at this time, when the construction crews laid the tracks of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, that the actual town of Glenns Ferry came into existence.  With the establishment of a post office, and O.S. Glenn having been appointed postmaster, the site required a formal name.  And what more suitable a name than "Glenns Ferry: - in recognition of the enormous contributions made by the Glenn family.  The coming of the railroad, of course caused the eventual discontinuation of the ferry service in approximately 1889.

Between 1870 and 1889, both Gus and O.S. produced and raised numerous children in the Glenns Ferry area.  Gus and Jenny Toms had seven children: Leona Glenn (born June 27, 1889),  Irene Glenn Orr (born March 12, 1882),  Myrtle Glenn Carney (born January 19, 1884), Charles Summer Glenn (born January 18, 1870),  Thomas Glenn (born October 18, 1876),  Royal Edwin Glenn (born March 21, 1887),  and Horace Greely Glenn (born June 22, 1874).  Not only did they all live to advanced years, but none had any children.  Being half Bannock Indian and having been treated pretty shabbily in their youth, this may explain their reluctance to reproduce.

Source of Story: Esther Rosevear Pusey

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Last modified: July 07, 2010