Families Reluctant To Sell Historic Land Park Service Considers Changes At Massacre Site

Keith and Kathy Griffin appreciate the historical significance of their farmland, where the Bear River Massacre occurred 135 years ago.

But that does not necessarily mean they are willing to sell their land to the National Park Service if the area is designated a national historical site.

Members of Idaho’s congressional delegation plan to discuss next week whether they would support changing the site’s designation from a national historic landmark to a historical site, said Mike Tracy, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Larry Craig.

If Congress changes the site’s designation, the Park Service could spend up to $14 million, buy more than 160 acres and build a visitors and cultural center and a network of trails.

The Griffins are among 28 landowners living on the 1,691 acres designated as part of the historic landmark.

They have raised sheep, barley and hay on their farm for 27 years, and they question whether they could get a fair price for their land from the Park Service.

“We realize a huge amount of American history is here, and a terrible tragedy took place,” Kathy Griffin said.

But she said there is no need for the new designation or a visitors center.

Putting more explanation on a sign and providing maps would satisfy visitors’ curiosity and explain the massacre sufficiently, Kathy Griffin said.

The Bear River Massacre was the largest massacre of American Indians in U.S. history.

On Jan. 29, 1863, Col. Patrick Connor and the U.S. Army’s 3rd California Volunteers killed 250 to 300 Northwestern Shoshoni. Twenty-one U.S. soldiers died.

Connor had been ordered to arrest three Shoshoni chiefs, holding them responsible for some Shoshonis killing 10 miners a few weeks earlier.

Instead of arresting the chiefs, Connor ordered the killings as a way to permanently end conflicts between the tribes and settlers.

Ivan and Ramona Jorgensen have raised cattle and hay for more than 30 years near the massacre site.

“We feel sympathy for the Indians,” Ramona Jorgensen said.

“It was quite a story, but we’re not interested in selling. Our farm is paid for. We don’t want to have to start over somewhere.”

Tracy and Colleen Koefed, whose home was built on the same location where 75 Shoshoni tepees stood 135 years ago, recently remodeled their house.

They are uncertain about whether they would sell.

“This is the place I was raised as a child, and I’m raising my kids,” Tracy Koefed said. “If they gave me fair market value, I don’t know. I’d have to see what they’d offer.”

Some members of the Northwestern Band of Shoshoni would like to see the area designated a national historical site, said Patty Timbimboo Madsen, office manager for the tribe in Brigham City, Utah.

“That would give the chance for the tribe to be involved,” she said.