The Utter Disaster

The attackers were probably a mixed party of Shoshone and Bannock men, perhaps a hundred, and the train, the last of the season out of Fort Hall, had parted from its Army escort about ten days before. Four Van Ornum children were carried off after their family was killed near Farewell Bend. The three girls died in captivity in 1861. In November 1862 California volunteers took a boy from a Shoshone band in Cache Valley and gave him to his uncle as Reuben, though the band said he was the son of Washakie's sister and a French trapper.

What the plaque says

The Utter Disaster On September 9 & 10, 1860, the Utter wagon train engaged in a life-and-death struggle with attacking Indians. The assault on the wagon train of forty-four emigrants led by Elijah P. Utter just north of here resulted in the deaths of six men, two women, and three children. Indian casualties were estimated at between 25 and 30. Survivors followed the Snake River to near the mouth of the Owyhee River. When rescued by the Army 45 days later, only fifteen had survived the ordeal of hunger and deprivation. No other Oregon Trail wagon train suffered greater losses. 493

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Silver City — 22 mi
  An Owyhee silver camp that faded but never quite emptied, still lit by twelve-volt bulbs.

More markers nearby

• War Eagle Mines — 13 mi
• Diamond Gulch — 13 mi
• Steamer "Shoshone" — 25 mi