Conner & Almo--A Tale of Two Massacres

The Declo Route merges with the Malta Route at Conner, Idaho. It's also called Conner Creek. Here Idaho Highway 77 jogs east. Travelers to City of Rocks then take the Elba-Almo route to reach their destination.

What's in a name? Every name tells a tale. In the case of Conner, Idaho, the tale is neither pretty nor easy to tell. Conner is named after Patrick Edward Conner, a native or Ireland whose name will forever be hellbound in infamy with the despicable Bear River Massacre. There's no way to sugar coat it--Conner was the driving force behind America's worst massacre of hundreds of innocent women, children and frail old men. Apologists and frontier bloviators hyped Conner's slaughter as a "battle." It was nothing of the kind. It was a horrific bloodbath that still stains the spiritual soil of Franklin County, Idaho.

The Wiki article on Conner glosses over the event and seems somewhat slanted toward absolving Conner. Legendary Utah historian Brigham Madsen exposed the brutal truth to the light of day in his milestone 1985 book: "Shoshoni Frontier & Bear River Massacre."

Although there may be a few sons of the pioneers hanging onto the tragic myth that that Bear River was a "battle," Madsen leaves no doubt that it was simply a massacre.

Meanwhile, just down the road in Almo is yet another massacre. (Click here for accounts of the event.) Once again we have the name Madsen popping up. For at least a few generations, the local folks in and around Almo have been clinging to the idea that 300 people died in an 1861 massacre near Almo Creek. The Sons & Daughters of Idaho Pioneers even put up a monument in 1938 memorializing the dead. Madsen's work is believed to make a strong case that it's pure fiction. It apparently never happened.  Yes, it's a fascinating tall tale--a frontier legend. It reads like it's right out of a Zane Grey book or a Louie L'Amour novel. It would make an epic (if sad) Hollywood "B" movie.

So it is with Conner & Almo--a Tale of Two Massacres.