MUSEUM GIFT SHOP

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“Her name was Elizabeth, and she was an American princess as surely as her mother, the invincible Emma Russell Sweringen, was the ‘Sheep Queen of Idaho.’ Old-timers in Idaho, Utah, and Montana still remember the Sheep Queen with love and awe. And Elizabeth? ‘I have only twice in my life seen women as beautiful,’ her son recalls, ‘and both of them were strangers.’”
The Sheep Queen of Idaho, originally published under the title, I Heard My Sister Speak My Name, “is a magnificent chronicle of five generations of an American ranching dynasty who shared a unity and a heritage which made the family all but impregnable—and of the shy beauty who, by one act, threatened that unity and became a stranger even to herself. It is the story, unforgettable, incredible, but true, of a child who never knew her, but devoted half a lifetime to seeking her secret out.
“. . . Thomas Savage speaks directly to every adopted child among us. He speaks, eloquently, to those who have been raised in the American West and have experienced the joy and loneliness of ranch life. He speaks, with compassion, honesty and hope, to parents fearful of the future or regretful about the past. Indeed, this timeless novel speaks to us all.”

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“Set in 1920s Montana, this compelling domestic drama tells the story of two brothers—and of the woman and young boy, mother and son, whose arrival on the brothers’ ranch shatters an already tenuous peace. From the novel’s startling first paragraph to its very last word, Thomas Savage’s voice—and the intense passion and cruelty of his characters—holds readers in thrall.”

Museum staff: This is one of the finest books we have ever read, and we recommend it highly.

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Savage’s first novel sets the stage for a half-century of fascinating characters and compelling plots. According to Annie Proulx, his work captures, “family complexity of names, identities, of east coast culture and western mountains, of manual labor and writing, of a lost past and private secrets.”

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“Combining gorgeous photography and engaging text, A Short History of the Honey Bee follows the journey from flower to hive to honey throughout history—including chapters on beekeeping, how hives work, turning nectar into honey, and why the honey bee’s well-being is vital to us all.”

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Take a quick tour of Idaho’s many ghost towns with Bruce A. Raisch. Replete with photos and anecdotes, Raisch acknowledges, “This book is a reflection and project, not just of thousands of road miles and as many hours of research, but of Idaho and its own people. The beauty of this State, the richness of its history, and the friendliness of its people made this book not only possible but also a lot of fun to research and write.”

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Book three of the Potts series is drawn from his seven decades in the wilds of the American West.

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In his second book, Stanley Potts offers rich detail of a lifetime in the remote and often forbidding lands of the American West.

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In this, the beginning of a great series, Stanley Potts describes a lifetime of adventures (and misadventures) in the difficult back country of Idaho, Nevada, and Alaska.

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Salmon High School students, under the direction of teachers, Dr. Terry Magoon and Mike Crosby, interviewed regional residents, conducted archival research, and created a series of historical journals invaluable to the history of this state. This is one of the few editions still available.

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Based on a true story – one of Idaho’s strangest murders (1917): Frieda lives by the laws of the wilderness in primitive isolation with her husband until she finds something more important than raw survival. Suspense intensifies to the shocking conclusion, then resolves in deliverance. Set on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

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John E. Rees, early Lemhi County resident, teacher, politician, and businessman, wrote this account of Sacajawea just over one hundred years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition. To the continuing mystery of Sacajawea’s life, Rees adds his theories about the young woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery.

Julia Randolph, regional historian and author of a number of books on East Central Idaho, including This Quiet Ground and Gibbonsville: The Golden Years, compiled the biographies of Lemhi County Veterans from the Civil War to those who served in World War I.

Historian, John W. W. Mann offers an absorbing and richly detailed look at the life of Sacajawea’s people before their first contact with non-Natives, their encounter with the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early nineteenth century, and their subsequent confinement to a reservation. He follows the liquidation of the Lemhis’ reservation in 1907 to their forced union with the Shoshone-Bannock tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation and recounts their continuing struggle to maintain their political, economic, and cultural integrity.

A Salmon, Idaho, native, Smith portrays the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery experience (August 1805) in Lemhi County, Idaho.

Author and historian, Hope Benedict was born and raised in the Lemhi Valley. In this Arcadia publication, Benedict uses the extensive photo collection of the Lemhi County Historical Society and Museum to portray the history of this American Western community. Photos of the Lemhi Shoshoni, mining, ranching, the timber industry, early transportation, pioneers, and Salmon City at the turn of the twentieth century, instill a sense of this place and its past.

Idaho’s Governors: Historical Essays on Their Administrations is an excellent guide to the history of Idaho through its top political officials. The essays, written by regional historians, cover critical issues in the development of state’s government and of the state in general. In addition, the book serves as resource for future research into the rich political history of this state. The essays span the territorial era through the midpoint of Governor Cecil Andrus’ third and fourth terms in office.

This brief history of Lemhi County (originally published in the Salmon Recorder Herald )was compiled by George Elmo Shoup, son of Colonel George Laird Shoup who not only played a significant role in the economic and political development of Lemhi County but went onto become Idaho’s last territorial and first state governor as well as one of Idaho’s first United States Senators. George Elmo was first hand witness to much of his story and he provides an interesting perspective on the early years of a western mining and ranching community.

In this history of Salmon City, Idaho’s, Main Street, Cheryl Jones, Alberta Wiederrick, and Kay Chaffin demonstrate the fluidity of the western economy and the determination over time of western citizens to establish a viable community. Filled with historical photos and painstakingly researched history, this is a must for history buffs everywhere!

Proceeds from the book will be used to create historical signage for local businesses and homes.

“When young Clancy Bender went into the Idaho woods to work for the summer, he expected hand-blistering labor and knew he had much to learn about mining and horse packing. But Clancy could have never guessed what adventures lay ahead. Nor could he have predicted that through his friendship with a Chinaman, he would witness first hand what it meant to be a non-white in the American West of 1932.”

Larry N. Gwartney lives in Salmon, Idaho, and is a retired teacher, coach, and whitewater guide.

Described as the “best collection of river stories in print,” Halfway to Halfway and Other River Stories conveys the addicting appeal and outrageous joys of running rivers in the American West. “This book goes the whole way. Written by seasoned guides, these rollicking, poignant, humorous, tender stories give us a glimpse into a unique American subculture. Put on your life jackets. You are headed for a wonderful ride,” writes Ellen Waterston, author of Where the Crooked River Ends. Including stories from the Salmon River of No Return, the Colorado, and the Rogue, this book will keep you laughing and itching for adventure.

“On June 8, 1996 at exactly 8:50 p.m., three men launched a small, handmade wooden dory onto Idaho’s renowned Salmon River at peak flood of an extreme high water year. John Barker and Clancy Reece were professional raft guides and lifelong friends. Their river adventures had become legendary in their community, especially since their 1988 voyage from the Salmon’s source in the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho to the Pacific Ocean, a journey of 900 miles. This was to be their most ambitious adventure yet. Joined by a man named Craig Plummer, they planned to ride the raging river straight through Idaho’s wilderness heart, setting a 24 hour speed record they would share only with a handful of admirers and friends. But that’s not what happened.”

In this comprehensive history, David Bigler demonstrates that the LDS colony, known as the Salmon River Mission (Fort Limhi), played a pivotal role in the Utah War of 1857-58 and that the catastrophic end of the mission was critical in preventing all out war between Mormon Utah and the United states. In the process, he uses a multitude of primary sources to reconstruct a dramatic and compelling story involving stalwart Mormon frontiersmen, Brigham Young, Native Americans, the U.S. Army, and mountaineers. As historian Will Bagley writes in his foreword to this book, “With its astonishing fish stories, desperate Indian battles, life-threatening chases, and heroic rides to rescue a terrified and helpless outpost, this work has all the elements of a great frontier novel.”