The mystery of Tilden bridge

For a historian (amateur, third class) maps are both boon and bane, especially in Idaho. There are not too many maps prior to 1900 that are worthy of cartographic aplomb. Maps from the late 1800s are either highly specific to one place or a general idea of what you might expect if you keep going on a wagon road in that direction yonder, unless you miss the trail by the third sagebrush. Even after the dawn of the 20th century there are still maddening details that can be a real pain to figure out.

In this case, it all started with “the Tilden bridge.” Now if you check a map today the “Tilden bridge” is easy to find next to Ferry Butte on the Fort Hall Reservation. That’s all fine and good, but some records from the early days talk about heading west from the Ross Fork Indian agency, past Old Fort Hall, across the “Tilden bridge” and then on to Tilden. Well the “Tilden bridge” of today is not west of the Fort Hall townsite; it’s northwest behind Ferry Butte. What gives? And where was Tilden and why in the world was a bridge named after Tilden when nobody seems to record why it is called the “Tilden Bridge”?

As usual, I went digging through the old digital archives hunting for maps of the area and records of this Tilden. Just north of the Snake River were a number of settlements started to support ranching interests in the nearby river bottoms. Tilden is called Springfield today, except it wasn’t originally. There were also the villages of Otis, Yuma (originally with the ridiculous hyphenated name Yuma-On-the-Plain), Strang, Sterling, and a town that never became a town called Rochelle. All clear?

One old storyteller in a faded newspaper explained how Tilden, Otis, and Yuma were all flooded by the American Falls Reservoir and the towns were moved. But where were they, where were they moved to, and how in the world do you sort all this out?

Of course “back in the day” everyone just knew because they were there or grandpa was and talked about it all the time. That’s not much help today. Here is a brief outline of what we do know.

Yuma changed its name to Sterling and was moved up from the river area when the reservoir went in.

Otis was also moved up and was incorporated into Sterling.

Tilden was moved up from the bottoms and incorporated into Springfield.

What about that Tilden bridge? Well, that depends on which Tilden bridge you are talking about. Originally all the roads ran past Old Fort Hall in the bottoms. Fording the creeks was one thing, but the river on the northwest side required a decent bridge to get over the Snake River. The first Tilden bridge (that led to the town of Tilden before it was moved and incorporated into Springfield) was destroyed when the Snake River changed its course. A new Tilden bridge was put upstream. It lasted for a while. However, another new Tilden bridge was eventually built north of Ferry Butte. Why it was still called Tilden bridge is anyone’s guess. After all, it was put at the site of Meek’s Ferry and there was no place called Tilden anymore.

All that being said, there were hopes for another “Tilden bridge” at a point early in the region’s history. Early on, the herders and ranchers north of the river wanted an easier way to get their goods to the south side of the river and tipping wagons fording the Snake River and the bottoms tends to put a damper on commerce. The leaders in Bannock County knew that if the bridge was across the Fort Hall bottoms near Tilden then all those goods and the accompanying business would naturally benefit Bannock County and Pocatello.

The American Falls City leaders hated the idea of the “Tilden bridge”. They were hoping to get the bridge put by their town. If the proposed bridge went in by Tilden, then the only way to get goods to and from American Falls would be to carry it over the railroad bridge using hired porters. So putting the bridge in elsewhere would make American Falls into a ghost town. The two local governments went to battle and, with the folks in American Falls having more to lose, they put up the better fight. They got the wooden bridge over the river at American Falls and saved their town. Pocatello shrugged it off.

This leaves a couple problems. First, where precisely was the first Tilden bridge west of Old Fort Hall and where was the second bridge? There are old pylons sticking out of the bottoms in one place, but which bridge were they for? If they were for the first bridge, then where exactly was the second?

Second, where precisely were the little villages of Tilden, Otis and Yuma-On-the-Plain before the reservoir flooded their locations? The maps seem to be pretty certain in labeling where they were, but back then maps could be a bit sketchy and little villages were pretty easy to find when you were already in the general vicinity. There are old foundations that still appear when the reservoir is low, but which foundations belong to which village?

Oh, and what about Rochelle? Well, it was an attempt by one local to start a new town. He put up a warehouse, plotted out some lots and waited for the money to roll in. Neither settlers nor money appeared, and his dreams of a new town were gone before they really began with the warehouse soon moved to where it would do more good.

Such were the early days of Idaho where everything happened so fast and with so little documentation that it is ridiculously difficult to nail down specific facts beyond, “Well, my grandaddy told me...” Grandaddy’s word is pretty good, but GPS coordinates would be a lot better.