Smokey’s Monument

by Jeffery L. Nelson

July 10, 2011

Smokey's Monument

While wandering the far north end of the Big Hole Mountains, not only are their breathtaking views of the Tetons and the valley below, forests abundant with wildlife, and plenty of fresh clean air to take in, but there also lies a mostly forgotten monument that leaves those who find it intrigued by it's presence and the thought of whom it memorializes.  My family discovered the small monument in the early 1980s while snowmobiling and in the years since I have visited the site occasionally to take in the view and ponder over the monument and its namesake.   I always figured someone knew the answer, but twenty-five years later when the answers finally came, I never imagined the answer could be found so close to home.

The monument is nothing fancy. It is simply a steel plate with the name Smokey O’Brion, a birth date and a death date.  The letters are beads formed using an arc welder, which, while crude, will last through the eternities.  My family has farmed in the Clementsville area on the north slope of the Bigholes since about 1906 and very few people have come and gone from this area that our family hasn’t known or known something about.  But upon interviewing the older members of my family and the surrounding community I always got the same response.  No one seemed to know anything of Smokey O’Brion or the monument. 

In 2008 through a sport called geocaching I invited others to the site in order to solve the mystery of whom Smokey O’Brion is and why a monument was placed here in his honor.  While I would love to educate you all on my fascination of geocaching, now is not the time or the place.  I will just say, if you have a love for the outdoors, a sense of adventure and a G.P.S. receiver, go to www.geocaching.com and you will find a wealth of information on the subject.  Just five short days after the challenge was issued to the geocaching community a fellow cacher identifying himself as firebird75 found his way to the monument and soon after informed me that he was taking on the challenge whole heartedly.  Through a little investigation of my own, I learned through the geocaching community that firebird75 is none other than Darren Davis of Parker, ID.  After years of trying to solve this mystery myself, and much to my surprise, a week after his first visit to the site firebird75 contacted me with the story behind the man and the monument.

In my own research I had tried to use genealogical web sites to locate someone by the last name of O’Brion (assuming “Smokey” to be a nickname) with a birth date and/or death date that match that on the monument, but to no avail.  Darren's strategy, which turned out to be key, was to ask everyone he knew if they could tell him anything about it. The key who turned out to be a common acquaintance of the two of us was Max Ard of Rexburg.  Max filled in some of the details and then referred Darren to some of Smokey’s living relatives who filled in the remaining details.  As it all unfolded it became obvious why his life and history were so difficult to research.

Smokey was born Harry Dix in Harrington, Kansas the son of Fred and Saddie Dix.  In order to avoid military service, he changed his name to Anthony Benjamin O’Brion.  According to his obituary he married and with this wife he had four sons but they divorced while the boys were still young.  He then came to Idaho where he married Lula Belle Umphrey in 1954.  This is where Smokey’s story started hitting very close to home for me.  Lula Belle’s father Joseph Umphrey homesteaded the farm that I grew up on and continue to call home to this day.  When Joe Umphrey was still on his homestead, he was a close neighbor to my great-grandfather Joseph Nelson.  Thus many are the stories I have heard of the Umphrey family, but never did I imagine that Smokey O’Brion would tie in with them.

Smokey and Lula Belle spent several years in California before coming back to Idaho and making a home in the Blackfoot area.  Smokey’s nickname apparently is due to the fact that he was a chain smoker.  In his life he spent time as a salesman, and working for farmers, but his primary occupation was in carpentry.  It is said that he loved the mountains and that he enjoyed riding horseback in the Bigholes. 

The Tetons from Smokey's Monument

Even though his Father-in-law’s farming ventures in the Clementsville area had proven fruitless, Smokey still maintained ties to the area as two of his wife’s sisters had married two brothers who continued to farm in the area for many years to come.  One of these matches was Lula Belle’s sister Ida marrying Ken Ard.  Ken and Ida are also the parents of Max Ard who was the key to uncovering all this information for us.

Looking down from the monument on what was once the Umphrey homestead.

Another one of Lula Belle’s sisters, Olive Umphrey married Darrel Ard.  As previously mentioned, Smokey loved the mountains and it is said that his last request was that his ashes be scattered over a high mountain.  It is said that this final task was undertaken by his brother-in-law Darrel Ard as well as the placing of the monument that to this day an occasional wanderer happens across.  The lava outcropping on the north end of the Bighole Mountains, where that simple little monument rests, continues to be my favorite place to go to reflect on God’s creations and clear my head, but no longer when I visit will I puzzle over the identity of the man who is memorialized in one of the most beautiful places in all the world.

Smokey now has a view of a Temple

Smokey's view of Sugar City, Eyesore and all!

Smokey's Monument with Sawtelle in the background

There's More Than One Way To Bring Home Gold From Idaho's Yankee Fork

We spent this past weekend camping on the Yankee Fork with Camp N' Cache 7.  Camp N' Cache is an annual geocaching event put together by the Idaho Geocachers Organization.  It was our first time attending such an event, but we had wanted to go camping in this area because of the rich history it has with the mining towns of Custer and Bonanza nearby.  So when this event posted and it was right where we were planning to go we decided to give it a try.

Of course the first item of business when we got there was to set up camp.

Then like so many fools of the past, the next thing I did was went searching for the mother load.  But after twenty minutes and one pan my back was aching and I thought to myself, "There has got to be a better way to bring home some gold from the Yankee Fork."

So back at camp we roasted hot dogs and s'mores (notice one's face and the other's shirt.  What better brain food for contemplating a better way to bring home some Yankee Fork gold. 

Now the idea of Camp N' Cache is a bunch of Geocachers all camped out together, they spend Friday and Saturday logging as many caches as possible.  Each cache counts towards IGO Bucks (play money).  The more difficult the cache the more IGO Bucks you get.  The IGO Bucks are then used in an auction Saturday Night.  Each participant donates an item to said auction.

Having arrived Thursday afternoon, we set out Friday Morning to begin our quest for Caches.

The first cache we went after was Honeymoon Cabin Cache, located up a long road with many switchbacks near this old mine shack that someone has maintained and kept furnished for people to visit with a guest book inside to sign.

After posing for a couple of shots at Honeymoon Cabin we were on our way for more caches.

For two days we ran around the Yankee Fork and Salmon River area logging as many caches as possible, stopping only momentarily for other forms of recreation.  I am not exagerating to say that we worked our tails off in the name of fun for this event.

Even this rock shelter was used only temporarily to seek shelter from the rain as we took the mile (round trip) hike to log tow caches at Little Redfish Lake.

On that hike not only did we log two caches (disregard the little spot of yellow in the lower right corner of the photo, I would not want to give away any caches).

(Sawtooth Range & Little Redfish Lake)

But we also partook of breath taking scenic views.

(Joseph over the Rail at Sunbeam Dam)

On several occasions, in search of caches, we went beyond the limits of where man should.

At last all of our hard work finally payed off.  Saturday afternoon we turned in our paperwork for our team consisting of Critter Gitter (myself) and Bunkins (Michelle) and of course Joseph who has yet to have an official geocaching name.  The points were tallied up and we earned a whopping 1,980 IGO Bucks to use in that nights auction.  At the potluck that night we had the opportunity to browse through the donated items.  As I seen one particular item I thought to myself, "Could it be true, Maybe I really can take home some Yankee Fork Gold."  After I seen it I knew what we had worked so hard all weekend for.  As most auctions o they save the best for the very last and I must say as kids were collecting all there's and there parents accumulated IGO Bucks to bid 7,000 bucks for a big bottle of bubbles, my hopes of getting what I wanted was waning.  But still, much to the despair of my son, I held tight to our phony money till the item I wanted.  and in when it came up I opened the bidding.

I might mention that the man who made the item I wanted was sitting next to me and before I bid on it I asked it there was any way of getting another one and he informed me that this was in fact a one of a kind item.  My only hope was that the earlier items had gone for such outrageous prices that everyone else was out of bucks by now.  But as the price climbed closer and closer to my 1,980 limit my hopes began to fade until my final bid of 1,800.  "Do I hear 1,900?"  "Do I hear 1,850"  SOLD FOR 1,800!!!

So there it is!  The Camp N' Cache 7 event Coin Design by River Cacher, just one of our many new friends.  Two coins were minted.  A bronze one which was given to the camp host who put forth so much work to make this event happen and this 24K gold coin which was donated to the event auction.  So that is how we wound up bringing home a small golden treasure from our little adventure on the Yankee Fork.  However the memories we brought home and the many new friends we made are far more valuable and we are looking forward to hopefully working Camp N' Cache 8 into our schedule next year.

Introduction

Some years back, when I was about twelve years old, my Remington 572 was my constant companion.  The property around my family's farm had ground squirrels, an occasional rock chuck, and other other species of vermin.  It became my job to annihilate these unwanted pests.  At some point during that era of my life I picked up the title of Critter Gitter.  I'm not sure who came up with it.  I suspect my father deserves the credit.  Regardless of where it came from, the name has stuck around for twenty years or more and is now more than a simple nick-name of the boy who used two chase four legged critters around the fields.  Today it is the name I use on public forums and websites to identify myself and now on this blog as well.  Once in a while the adventures you'll read about on this blog with follow suit with the historical roots of it's name.   However, more often than not, these adventures will not include the molesting of fury little creatures, just good clean fun with family and friends.