The Colter Stone and Other Graffiti
According to the Lewis and Clark Journals the explorers burned, carved, or painted their names or initials or in the modern term “tagged” the landscape more than fourteen times. All over what are now the western United States early explorers left their mark to prove they were there first. But just as often those who followed would mark an object as a joke or to bring recognition to their property or to bring fame to their town or community by claiming some early explorer had been in their area. The authenticity of the mark was easy to discount if the explorer was not known, or even suspected, to have been in the area, but a different matter if the explorer could have been in the area. Then it would be difficult to either prove or disprove the authenticity of the initials or signature. That’s what we have with John Colter.[1]
Stallo Vinton was the first to bring attention to graffiti presumed to have been made by Colter along Coulter Creek, near the boundary of Yellowstone National Park. He wrote about a blaze found on a tree, in September 1889, by Tazewell Woody (Theodore Roosevelt’s hunting guide), John H. Dewing (also a hunting guide), and Philip Ashton Rollins, a western writer of the day. Vinton stated that Rollins told him that the blaze was found on the left side of Coulter Creek, some fifty feet from the water and about three-quarters of a mile above the creek’s mouth. Here he said, “a large pine tree on which was a deeply indented blaze, which after cleared of sap and loose bark was found to consist of a cross ‘X’ (some five inches in height), and, under it, the initials ‘J C’ (each some four inches in height). They thought the blaze appeared to be approximately eighty years old, and they refused to cut the tree down because they felt the blaze had been made by Colter himself.”[2]
These men reported their findings to the Yellowstone Park authorities. Park employees then cut the tree down to salvage the portion bearing the initials. The log was to be placed in the park museum, but, as luck would have it, it disappeared in transit, or so the story goes. Vinton went on to use the blaze to promote his theory that Colter traveled along Coulter Creek in the winter of 1807 on his great trek through Yellowstone. J. Neilson Barry, the great curmudgeon, had problems with Vinton’s theory from the beginning. First, he argued, how would anyone know how old a blaze was by just looking at the tree, and secondly, “J C” could stand for anything from James Carter to Jiminy Cricket.
In 1957, a detailed search of the park’s files was made at the behest of the park superintendent in response to a letter from a Mr. Frederic E. Voelker dated September 18, 1957, concerning the location of the tree with the blaze. On October 11, 1957, Park Superintendent Lemuel A. Garrison wrote:
“Coulter Creek, as you may know, was named after the Botanist John M. Coulter, who accompanied the Hayden Survey of 1872, not John Colter. Botanist Coulter was thrown from his horse into the waters of the creek, and it has since borne his name. Stallo Vinton is incorrect in stating that the creek was named after John Colter.
“From Mr. Rollins’ account it would appear that the tree stood a short distance outside the boundaries of Yellowstone NP. The Park boundary is 3/8 to ½ mile south of the mouth of Coulter Creek.
“We do not have knowledge of a stump, which could definitely be identified as the one remaining from the tree in question. . . .
“None of our present personnel have been acquainted with this tree or its exact location, nor have they any written data concerning it in Park records.
“A thorough search of the Yellowstone Research Library, which includes all of the Superintendent’s Annual Reports, the Hayden Reports, Hague’s Geology of the YNP, and many other sources, reveals not [one] reference whatever to the tree in question except those of Stallo Vinton and Burton Harris. There are no clippings or articles by Rollins, Woody, or Dewing in our library or in any bibliographies which we have. We have also checked the army letter files for the years 1889 and 1890 and could not located any correspondence between the superintendent and Mr. Rollins relating to the disposition of the section of tree trunk. We hope that this information, while largely of a negative character, will be helpful to you in your study of the life and explorations of John Colter.”[3]
So, did John Colter carve his initials on a tree near the mouth of Coulter Creek? Nothing can be proven, but the answer is most likely a resounding NO.
The next artifact attributed to John Colter is the so-called “Colter Stone.” In the summer of 1931, William Beard and his son Richard were clearing scrub timber from a section of their homestead. The latter was located three or four miles east of Tetonia, Idaho, just east of the state line, on the Wyoming side of the line, in the rolling foothill country along the west base of the Teton Range. They had cut away the dense lodge-pole pines and aspens at the intersection of two shallow ravines and were plowing the land when they found a piece of rhyolite (lava rock) stone about the size and shape of a human head.
Geologist Fritiof Fryxell, Grand Teton National Park’s naturalist, was the first to view and write a report on the Colter Stone, on May 8, 1934, to Director Arno B. Cammerer of the National Park Service, Washington, D.C.: He wrote the following:
“Early last summer Mr. Aubrey Lyon, who operates the saddle horse concession in the Grand Teton National Park, chanced to mention that one of his neighbors over in Teton Basin had a few years prior found a stone on which was carved the name John Colter. Realizing that this relic would, if authentic, be of great historical significance, I asked Mr. Lyon to make an effort to borrow or purchase it for the park. A week later Mr. Lyon . . . having secured the Colter Stone from the owner . . . presented it to the museum.”
Within weeks, excellent photographs were made of the stone by Park authorities and Fryxell wrote the first description of what is now referred to as “The Colter Stone”: “The Colter Stone is a slab of weathered rhyolite lava, about three inches thick, one edge of which has been rudely carved (probably with a hunting knife or some such instrument) into the form of a human face, approximately life-sized. On one surface is the inscription (scarcely legible now) ‘1808,’ and on the reverse, in letters which are still very easy to decipher, appears the inscription John Colte ‘r’ lower than the other letters.” It should be noted at this time that Fryxell did not write “COULTER,” the importance of which will become apparent later in this discussion.
Mr. Fryxell continued: “The question of authenticity of the relic seemed to hinge also on the circumstances attending its finding, so on August 19th [1933?] in company with Mr. George Grant I made a trip over into Teton Basin to get further information on this subject. . . . It is perhaps unnecessary now to go into detail as to the investigation we made, and it may suffice to say that so far as Mr. Grant and I were concerned, our doubts as to the genuineness of the Colter Stone were dismissed. . . .
“It appears that the stone was found in the summer of 1931 when Mr. Beard and his son were clearing scrub timber from a section of their homestead. . . . So far as we could tell the finders did not know who John Colter was and had no interest whatever in the inscription. Their curiosity grew solely out of the fact that they had found a ‘stone head’ as they put it.” Fryxell concluded: “It was hard to believe in the authenticity of the relic to begin with, but after careful study I became convinced that it couldnot be a fake.”[4]
Regional Historian Merrill J. Mattes in a letter to Dwight Stone wrote on October 16, 1957: “William Richard Beard, the man who actually found the Colter Stone, is now employed at West Yellowstone by Kiewit Construction Company, and he was interviewed by Dr. Merrill D. Beal of Idaho State College and a member of our seasonal ranger staff at Yellowstone National Park. Mr. Beard reiterated the circumstances surrounding the find, including the great interest shown in the stone by his father (now dead). The odd thing is that his father’s interest was stimulated by the fact that the stone was in the shape of a human head, and it was not until later that the lettering was discovered.
“The principal reason to suspect the stone is the simple fact that it is almost too good a thing to be true and, therefore, one naturally suspects a hoax. Yet we have been unable to figure out who would be capable of perpetrating a hoax of this type. The inscription itself is quite old, and it is difficult to imagine a practical joker of 50 to 100 years ago having enough historical knowledge to perpetrate a hoax. In any event, we are now inclined to give the stone the benefit of the doubt, and it will be exhibited in our new museum which will probably not be constructed and open until the summer of 1959.”[5]
It did not take long for Stallo Vinton and later Burton Harris in his book and scores of other historians and writers to seize upon the Colter Stone as the missing link in an almost total enigma of what happened to John Colter in the winter of 1807–1808. The Colter Stone was offered as proof that Colter crossed the Tetons and entered present Idaho’s Pierre’s Hole (Teton Valley). But there are a few problems with this line of reasoning (laid out in detail in chapter 8), mainly that the enhanced version of Clark’s map indicated that Colter did not go as far west as present Jackson Hole, let alone Teton Valley. There is also the little problem of the five other stones found within a fifty-mile radius of where the Colter Stone was found. These five other stones also have questionable graffiti on their surface; which leads to considerable doubt of the authenticity of any of them. These other five are as follows:
A stone with the inscription “Clark 1805,” found by Mr. M. D. Yeaman of Irwin, Idaho. This stone was found near a pile of other stones built up as a monument and close to Longitude 111' 30", Latitude 43' 30", and close to the baseline. The stone was found soon after 1890 when that part of the country was starting to be settled
A second “Clark 1805” stone found about five miles from the first by Dr. Samuel Clongee (about fifty-five miles up the South Fork of the Snake River). (These Clark stones are far removed from the route followed by Captain Clark. We can be quite certain of this for the maps drawn by William Clark are quite accurate. If Clark carved these stones, somebody then moved them a considerable distance from where he traveled.)
A stone with the inscription “Fort Henry 1811 by Cap Hunt,” found in 1933 below the ground where Elgin, Idaho, now stands. Previously an old settler had stated this was the site of Fort Henry. In 1927 some excavating was conducted at the site. Nothing was concluded with this first excavation, so in 1933 a second excavation was started. During this excavation the outline of the walls of a cabin were found and what was presumed to be the floor. Here they found charcoal, a broken piece of pottery, and a few other objects, along with a third stone, this one was marked “Cap Hunt.” This stone was ascribed to Wilson Price Hunt’s group of westbound Astorians.
A stone inscribed with “Al the Cook but Nothing to Cook”—also found at the Fort Henry site.
A stone inscribed with “Gov’t Camp 1811 H. Wells,” found at the same site.
It did not take long for J. Neilson Barry to jump feet first into the debate over the authenticity of these stones, and for years he badgered the National Park Service to the point that they voluntarily removed the Colter Stone from public display.[6] But the controversy did not start or end with Barry. A writer by the name of Nolie Mumey, for whatever reason, could not leave the Colter Stone alone. Apparently, someone involved with the writing or publishing of Mumey’s book The Teton Mountains: Their History and Tradition altered the National Park Service 1934 photo of the stone. Whereas the 1934 photo clearly shows the inscription as “COLTER,” the photo published in the book shows the spelling to “COULTER.” One has to wonder who made this change and why because Mumey had made a detailed search of all the available Colter signatures and would have known that John Colter always signed his name “COLTER.” The National Park Service in their review of Mumey’s book pointed these and many other errors out in an internal Memorandum for the Director dated March 18, 1947.[7]
William Barrett II in a letter to Merrill Mattes also pointed out Mumey’s carelessness, when he wrote: “In mentioning Dr. Mumey, I noticed many of his works while at the [Missouri Historical Society]. . . . I was astonished to find a picture of the Colter Stone which had been touched up. . . . Perhaps I should have heeded your warning regarding his scholarship long ago. I cannot imagine someone trying to alter historical pieces such as the stone.”[8]
In the mid-1960s Don Holm (outdoors editor for The Oregonian), now deep into his research into John Colter, wrote to Grand Teton National Park, now the trustee of the Colter Stone, requesting photographs. The Park Service at that time made a startling discovery, which they shared with Holm. “While my assistant Mr. Victor L. Jackson was printing these pictures, he noticed that there are two dates carved on the left side of the stone. The ‘1808’ date has long been recognized. There also appears to be the reverse of ‘1852’ located below the eye and to the right of the nose. It can be read by holding the photograph up to a bright light source and looking through the back side. This discovery may again throw suspicion on the authenticity of the Colter Stone,” wrote Chief Naturalist Willard E. Dilley.[9]
On November 4, 1974, a Mr. Forrest H. Coulter wrote the superintendant of Yellowstone National Park a curious letter in which he described (and drew a sketch of) a Colter Stone he claimed to have seen in the museum at Moose, Wyoming, in 1950. The sketch he drew did not look anything like the original Colter Stone. The Park Service in their reply to Mr. Coulter, on November 21, 1974, responded: “To the best of our knowledge there is no other ‘Colter Stone’ and we are perplexed as to the one you referred to in you letter.”[10] One has to wonder what Mr. Coulter thought he saw? The only reason for even discussing Mr. Forrest’s letter is that Ruth Colter-Frick made it an issue in her book Courageous Colter and Companions and in a subsequent paper she wrote on the subject, and in the future someone might believe the Park Service is hiding something, which they are not.[11]
In 2010, Jim Hardee in his very well-researched book Pierre’s Hole! The Fur Trade History of Teton Valley wrote: “More worrisome is evidence that the original inscription [he is referring to the Colter Stone] has been tampered with since its discovery. A comparison between the circa 1947 Mumey photo of the Colter stone and a modern snapshot exhibits alteration of the rock’s inscription.”[12] As noted, however, it was the photo that was altered; there is no evidence that the original Colter Stone has been tampered with. It now can be viewed each summer at the Teton Valley Museum in Driggs, Idaho, on loan from the Colter Bay Museum in Grand Teton National Park.
While there is no question that the stone was found (not made and planted) by the Beard family, there is no way to prove John Colter actually inscribed it. Rather, the Colter Stone and the other five stones are in all likelihood the work of a joker traveling with the Hayden Geological Survey expedition of 1871 to explore the region of northwestern Wyoming that became Yellowstone National Park the next year. Merrill Mattes probably addressed the issue best when he wrote: “Our position [speaking for the Park Service] is that the Colter Stone, even though its authenticity cannot be proven in an absolute sense, is an historic object in its own right which plays a legitimate role in interpretation. . . . Finally, the National Park Service is the rightful owner . . . by virture of donation by the finder and subsequent . . . possession.[13]
The last piece of questionable graffiti attributed to John Colter was found at the mouth of the Bighorn River, in present Montana, where, on the second terrace up from the river, sits a sandstone boulder with at least two inscriptions. The first reads “M Lisa 1808” and the second “Colter 1810.” There is no question that Manuel Lisa established a fur-trading post called Fort Raymond at this spot and also no question that John Colter lived, worked, and operated from this post for much of the period from late fall 1807 to April 1810 when he left the area for good. The first known photo was taken by Bob Edgar and is found in a book he coauthored in 1996.[14] In the fall of 2008, Ron Anglin made a trip to the site, where he met the current owner of the property, Mr. John Sjostrom. Mr. Sjostrom said his family had owned the property since the late 1930s and he had known of the inscriptions from since about that same time. He also said the inscriptions were found in the 1920s by someone from Billings and that he would get the name. Although Anglin has made subsequent requests for information, to date no additional information has been provided.[15]
In 2009, the National Park Service conducted an archeological investigation of the area at the mouth of the river and of the sandstone boulder and reported:
“A relative clustering of nine historic artifacts from a 20-acre area within the plowed terrace,” although it is not presumed “that this apparent artifact cluster is the result of a single event occupation.”
The various “data sets suggest [Fort Raymond] was situated west of the Big Horn River and south of the main channel of the Yellowstone River.”
“Data was not obtained in 2009 that would allow a conclusive determination of the precise location of the fort.”[16]
Therefore, the archeological study did not clarify the question of whether the inscriptions could be genuine. Moreover, the year 1996 is thus far the earliest that the inscriptions can be solidly verified. Thus, making a convincing case for or against the authenticity is not likely at present.
William Clark’s signature at Pompeys Pillar in Wyoming is a good example of a piece of frontier graffiti that can be verified because Clark recorded making the signature in his journal and also because the signature is still in the same location, which he also identified. See the website, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeys_Pillar_National_Monument, accessed on January 13, 2014.
Stallo Vinton, John Colter, 61–62.
Box 19, File H18 Biographical Data and Accounts 1954–1962, Yellowstone National Park Archives.
F. M. Fryxell to Arne B. Cammerer, May 8, 1934, Yellowstone National Park Archives.
Mattes, October 16, 1957 (H2215), Yellowstone National Park Archives.
See the J. Neilson Barry files in the Yellowstone National Park Archives for a long series of letters back and forth between the National Park Service and Mr. Barry concerning the authenticity of the Colter Stone
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, Chicago Illinois Memorandum for the Director, March 18, 1947: “Possibly this new book, Teton Mountains, by Dr. Nolie Mumey, has already come to your attention. . . . Over the past weekend I read it. . . . Dr. Mumey has provided a very useful account of the more recent history of the Teton region. Unfortunately, his chapters on early history are marred by numerous small but rather noticeable errors. (The review is three pages in length and marked “Chief Naturalist,” Carl Parcher Russell Papers, 1920–1967, Washington State University.)
J. William Barrett II to Merrill J. Mattes, April 14, 1979, copy in Ron Anglin’s possession.
Willard E. Dilley to Don Holm, October 15, 1968, Colter Stone files, Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming.
Colter Stone files, Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming.
Colter-Frick, Courageous Colter, 51–52; see also “Forty-Four Years with John Colter: The Colter Stone,” Yellowstone Newspaper, May 11, 1998, Volume 2, Number 51.
Hardee, Pierre’s Hole, 65–66.
Memorandum to Director, Midwest Region, from Manager, Historic Preservation, Denver Service Center, Subject: Colter Stone, Grand Teton NP 7/11/72, Colter Stone files, Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming.
Jeannie Cook, Buffalo Bill’s Town, 22.
Ron Anglin to John Sjostrom October 13, 2008, copy in Ron Anglin’s possession.
Haecker and Wegman-French, “Manuel Lisa’s Fort,” 49.