The mystery of the vanishing base
HENRY’S LAKE, Idaho – When the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics invaded Finland Nov. 30, 1939 – 65 years ago – the outnumbered Finnish army temporarily pushed back the Russians using soldiers mounted on skis.
Those skills were almost duplicated by the United States when a mountain training base at Henry’s Lake was partially constructed in 1941 but suddenly abandoned the following year.
No one in the area at the time knew why.
Ashton farmer and amateur military historian Tom Howell, with the help of about 10 different sources, found out what happened.
Howell says he’s always heard the old story of the U.S. Army building a training base across from what is now the Henry’s Lake Station at Valley View before pulling out without an explanation.
“It’s an enduring mystery to Fremont County,” he says.
As the story goes, following the Russian invasion of Finland a group of Vermont men headed by the founder of the National Ski Patrol System tried to convince the U.S. Army and U.S. War Department that winter-skilled troops were needed just in case of a mountain invasion. By April 1941, two colonels were ordered to investigate sites suitable for the year-round training of mountain troops.
The site needed mountains, a truck highway and railroad and 1 to 1 1/2 million gallons of water a day. The Henry’s Lake area was ideal.
According to a report in an August 1941 issue of the St. Anthony newspaper Teton Peaks Chronicle, the then-Targhee Forest Supervisor M.S. Benedict said, “The Henry’s Lake section is a perfect location. The weather is severe with sub-zero temperatures for most of the winter. The area has about four feet of snow and the many slopes in that area are ideal for training ski troops. There is mountainous country, too, which could be used for toughening the soldiers. High velocity winds sweep across the area on occasions during the winter, and of course, there has been considerable difficulty in keeping the highway open for traffic.”
A plan was made up calling for a 100,000-acre training base capable of accommodating 30,000-plus men. Construction started in the fall but was later stalled for the winter.
Then, in the spring of 1942, the project made an about-face. Without warning, the Army called off the project and ordered the buildings to be torn down. The public was given no notice or legitimate reasons for the abandonment.
“Two articles (in the Teton Peaks Chronicle) that fall were hyping up the coming of the base,” Howell says. “Later that spring there was no mention of the pullout.”
It turns out, trumpeter swans were the cause.
Howell uncovered the information with the help of a number of sources, including McKay Jenkins of the University of Delaware and Island Park fly fishing guru Charles Brooks.
The officers who had selected the site failed to note Henry’s Lake was a refuge and breeding ground for one of the last remaining populations of the then nearly extinct trumpeter swan. Word spread that caused angry protests among conservationists and bird lovers.
But what may have had the heaviest pull was that one of the advocates was President Franklin Roosevelt’s uncle, Frederic Delano. The land is now owned by Wendell Winegar of Utah, and the training base is nothing more than concrete footings.
Divisions intended for the Henry’s Lake base eventually ended up at Fort Drum, N.Y., where they were later organized as the 10th Mountain Division. Howell says it was about a year ago when he compiled the history, which has since been submitted to the curator of the 10th Mountain Division Archives at the Denver Public Library.
Coincidentally, a set of sewage system blueprints for the base recently showed up on eBay and have since been purchased by Bruce Madson of West Yellowstone.
“It’s an oddity it showed up on eBay after all these years,” Howell says.