EVERYONE HAS A PLACE CALLED HOME

For many of us, a place we seldom visit any longer. My home is a little valley on the Blackfoot River in South–Eastern Idaho. I haven’t lived there in 60 years, it’s still home to me.

If you’ll listen I’ll share a place called near-perfect with you. The Blackfoot River Valley, South Eastern Idaho.

The Valley’s produced Authors, Artists, Congressman, and Cowboys. Outlaws, In-laws, and Grandpas. It publishes its own semi-annual magazine. There’s no Wal-Mart, no post office, and no schools. Less than a half dozen families live in the valley, most can claim a kinship back to the original family who settled there in 1870. Nels Just, brought his bride and stepson from Soda Springs Idaho to the valley, they moved into dugout on the banks of the river, and settled in for the winter, and never left.

Nels was an enterprising young man. He became known as The Waterman; he dug canals that turned the valley into an agricultural paradise. His canals still carry water for irrigation over a hundred years later. Through hard work and good management, Nels was able to prosper and grow his holdings. It’s worth noting Nels was able to maintain a peace with the Shoshone and Bannock Indian Tribes that roamed the area.

There’re literally dozens of descendants of The Nels Just family still living in the valley. There descendants of other pioneer families who live in the valley, The Mattson’s, Pratt’s, Hughes’s, Larson’s, After 60 years it’s hard to remember them all. One thing they all have in common, they can all claim kinship to Nels Just no matter how slight.

The valleys populated with Cowboys and Cowgirls, when old age catches up, and the horse gets to tall, the Cowboys legs get to short they become Cowboy Philosophers. Don’t get me wrong there’s a lot of wisdom carved in the cliffs, and rocks. At night the sagebrush, sing the stories of long ago. Songs that expose the soles of the Cowboys of the valley. It’s not all history they read Shakespeare with the same ease they read the trails.

The valley isn’t a Hillbilly heaven by any means, Television was invented a hundred mile to the north at St. Anthony Idaho, by a fellow named Farnsworth. Less than a hundred miles to the west, the first City in America powered with Atomic energy, [Arco Idaho.] A hundred miles northeast the first Official National Park in the world was dedicated by President Grant, [Yellowstone.] There’re no Nordstrom’s, Neiman Marcus, or Rolls Royce Dealers. You can bet if it’s natural and a good thing and God made it, it’s within a hundred miles of the valley.

I would be remiss if I didn’t honor the men and women who’ve served in the military of our country. Since the Indian wars, the valley has provided men for battlefields around the world. The men from the valley have served in every corner of the world. The residence of the valley erected a small monument and a flag pole in the old school yard honoring the history of the valley. It’s meant to cover all events and history of the valley, not just one single thing or person, each person can attach his or her own personal meaning to it.

When the men return from their service they pull on their boots, adjust their cowboy hats, saddle a horse to go out to tend the cows with little more than a howdy. There are an unassuming lot, not much for telling tall tails.

Each year the valleys residence hold a reunion of sorts, people come from many miles surrounding the valley, they come to renew relationships, gather news of the past years happenings. They come to be part of Nels Justs family, if only for a day. When you hear stories of days gone by, it’s as though it only happened yesterday. This can be attributed to the valleys historian, Rick Just, Editor and Publisher of the, “Presto Press” the publication keeps history alive in the valley

The people of the valley live history every day, while managing to cope with the modern world. Not all the younger generations stay in the valley, there are enough dedicated to the old Ranching traditions the valley’s safe from encroaching civilization for a while yet.

I would be remiss not to mention my friends on the other side of the river. The Shoshone Bannock Indian Tribes who are kind enough to publish some of my work in their newspaper, The Sho Ban News.

If there’s dissention in the valley I don’t want to know about it. It’s my mythical place I go to escape the riggers of everyday life and to dream.