Pierre's Hole

The sign's free-for-all began with a killing under a sign of peace. In July 1832, as the rendezvous broke up, a trapping party a few miles south met a band of Gros Ventre (A'aninin), 150 to 200 people with women and children, moving camp. A chief, Baihoh in some accounts, rode out unarmed to parley. Antoine Godin took his hand and called to a Flathead (Salish) companion, who shot him. The A'aninin forted up in a willow thicket and held off the trappers and their allies all day; at least twenty-six of them died, women and children among them.

What the plaque says

Pierre's Hole Teton Valley was known originally as Pierre's Hole. Rich in beaver, it was a favorite stamping ground for British and American fur traders and trappers between 1819-1840. "Old Pierre" Tevanitagon, an Iroquois Indian fur trapper for the Hudson Bay Company, gave his name to this beaver-rich valley. Pierre's Hole was the scene of the annual rendezvous of mountain men and suppliers- "The Great Rocky Mountain Fair"- in 1832. That wild party ended in a free-for all battle with the Gros Ventre Indians, which the trappers and their Indian friends won. The valley was permanently settled in 1882. 139 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by the Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Teton Dam Site — 27 mi
  Geologists warned that the canyon walls would leak. The warnings were softened, the dam was finished, and it never held a full reservoir.

More markers nearby

• Teton Range — 7.5 mi
• John Colter — 7.5 mi
• Teton Flood — 25 mi