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