Prehistory and Recent History
Big Southern Butte - A waypoint for Thousands of Years
"Just passing through, ma'am"
The harsh conditions on the plain discouraged most long-term settlement, but Big Souther Butte was a
clear waypoint. In the 1800s, travelers headed toward Fort Boise would often take the Goodale Cutoff,
an Oregon Trail shorcut. They would leave Fort Hall on the Snake River (about 40 mi (64 km) southeast),
and head toward the Butte's sharp sihouette, passng to its north. An 1878 stage line from Blackfoot to
the copper mines near Mackay and Challis folloed a smiliar path. Later, the Oregon Short Line Railroad
followed the same route.
Travelers on the Oregon Trail, and later stage coach lines
and the Oregon Short Line Railroad, relied on fresh water
from springs at the base of Big Southern Butte.
"....travelers on the Challis Stave Road find the Big Butte
Station a pleasant place to stop..."
(Idaho News (B;ackfoot, Idaho), June 25, 1887.
Source of Obsidian
Big Southern Butte was frequently visited
by Native American groups. It was a
source for obsidian, a volcanic glass
used for arrow and spear tips. Archae-
ologists have found the Butte's unique
obsidian of sites throught Idaho.
Montana, Utah and as far away as
California's Hosua Tree Natonal Monu-
ment. Today, the Butte and surrounding
landscape remain spiritually important to
the descendants of these groups, the
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.
Earliest People
People have lived on these lands for more than
10.000 years. Native American hunting and
gathering parties valued the plain's resources as
shown by archaeological evidence-stone tools,
anciet campsites and pictographs.
Native Americans, specifically Shoshone-Banock
Tribes, continue to value the natural and cultural
resources of these lands. The Idaho National
Laboratory Site lies within the aborginal lands
of the Shoshone and Bannock people. Tribal
members work with the U.S. Department of
Energy to protect the sifnificant resources
found here.
Ancient Lake Terreton
Throughout most of the Pleistocene
epoch-about 1.8 million to
10,000 years before present-a
large shallow inland lake and
surrounding streams and wetlands
provided abundant resources for
the plain's nomadic people.
Mammoths, camels and other Ice
Age found were abundant.
The lake and Ice Age mammals
disappeared when the climate
changed about 10,000 years ago.
Mud Lake is the modern remnant
of the ancient lake.
The Oregon Sort Line freight train at the Arco depot
in 1912, 11 years after the line was completed.
