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THE MAJESTIC PLATEAU CALLED TABLE ROCK AND SURROUNDING CASTLE ROCK AREA, WAS THEN, AND STILL IS A SACRED BURIAL PLACE FOR THE SHOSHONE BANNOCK TRIBAL PEOPLE, ACCORDING TO THEIR LEGENDS. CASTLE ROCK AND TABLE ROCK HOLD GREAT CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE FOR ALL NATIVE AMERICANS AND PEOPLE WITH A LOVE FOR THE LAND. THE BURIAL GRAVES OF THESE NATIVE ANCESTORS CONNECTED THEM TO THE LAND, AND THE LAND WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF LIFE IN THE ANCIENT SPIRITUAL WORLD.
THE SITE IS DECIDATED TO THE NATIVE PEOPLE OF THIS LAND AND THEIR ANCESTORS WHO ONCE OCCUPIED THE BOISE RIVER VALLEY IN IDAHO AND THE SACRED SITES, KNOWN AS CASTLE ROCK AND TABLE ROCK. THESE AND OTHER SACRED SITES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD WITH SPIRITUAL CEREMONIAL PLATEAUS AND MOUNDS ARE IN DANGER OF BEING DESECRATED.
TABLE ROCK SITS AT AN ELEVATION OF 3,658 FEET ABOVE BOISE, IDAHO AND THE HIGH DESERT PLAIN, AND IS DEFYINGLY RICH IN NATIVE AMERICAN PREHISTORY. IT’S NAME IS SAID TO MEAN “A PLACE TO BUILD FIRES FOR CEREMONIES”. LITTLE FACTS ARE ACTUALLY KNOWN ABOUT THIS PLATEAU, BUT HISTORY REVEALS IT WAS USED FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS AND MOST LIKELY THOUSANDS. TABLE ROCK CAN BE SEEN FROM ALMOST ANYWHERE IN THE VALLEY AREA, MAGESTICALLY SITTING ABOVE THE PLAINS. CASTLE ROCK, PART OF THE SAME ROCK OUTCROPPINGS, SITS NEARBY. THAT FACT ALONE MADE THE AREA A PLACE IMPORTANT TO NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES INHABITING OR VISITING THE VALLEY.
THE SACRED SITE PLATEAU WITH THE SURROUNDING ROCK QUARRYS, INCLUDING HOTSPRINGS ON MANY SIDES, IS THOUGHT TO HOLD ANCIENT SPIRITS AND LEGENDS. THE NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLE USED SEVERAL TYPES OF SACRED SITES. SOME FOR VISION QUESTS AND CEREMONIAL USE, OTHERS FOR GATHERING MEDICINAL HERBS, PLANTS, AND USE OF THE MEDICINAL HOT SPRINGS. IN THE RECENT PAST AND ANCIENT TIMES, TABLE ROCK WAS USED FOR CEREMONIAL PURPOSES, BURIALS AND LOOKOUTS. ARTIFACTS ATTEST TO THIS FACT. UNFORTUNATELY, SOME SACRED SITE CONTENTS ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE LITERALLY FALLING OUT ONTO THE GROUND BENEATH.
GEOLOGICALLY, TABLE ROCK AND SURROUNDING CASTLE ROCK ARE ALMOST 100% SILICIFIED SANDSTONE. THE QUARRY ITSELF SITS IN SILICIFIED SANDSTONE, WHICH WAS FORMED BY HOT SILICA-BEARING WATERS ASCENDING FAULT ZONES AND PERMEATING THE POROUS SAND WHICH YOU SEE IN THE REST OF THE BOISE FOOTHILLS. THE AREA SOUTH OF THE QUARRY (WARM SPRINGS MESA) IS PART OF AN ANCIENT LANDSLIDE AND YOU CAN STILL SEE THE DISRUPTED BLOCKS OF SANDSTONE, SOME STANDING UPRIGHT, IN A MIX OF SAND AND CLAY.*
(Idaho Geological Survey)
THE INHABITANTS…
NATIVE PEOPLES TRAVELED GREAT DISTANCES ACROSS THE NORTHWESTERN LANDSCAPE INTO THE BOISE IDAHO RIVER VALLEY IN SEARCH OF WILD GAME AND EDIBLE PLANTS, NATIVE TO THIS PART OF IDAHO. THE BOISE RIVER, FLOWING JUST BELOW THE TABLE ROCK PLATEAU WAS A TREASURE IN ITSELF IN ITS ABILITY TO PROVIDE PLENTIFUL FOOD FOR THE TRIBES.
THE SHOSHONE-BANNOCK WERE LIKELY THE FIRST TO SETTLE HERE WITH PERMANENT CAMPSITES. THEY TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE ABUNDANT NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE BOISE RIVER AND THE CEREMONIAL HOT SPRINGS WHILE LIVING NOMADIC LIVES. THEY FOLLOWED THE BOISE RIVER AND SMALL TRIBUTARY STREAMS FOR PLENTIFUL HUNTING AND GATHERING. THE BOISE SHOSHONE TRIBE CALLED THE "SNAKES" UTILIZED THIS SITE AS A TRADING POST AND WINTER HOME DUE TO ITS MILD CLIMATE. THE "SNAKES" MIGRATED THROUGH CENTRAL IDAHO BUT SPENT THEIR WINTERS IN THE VALLEY ON MANY SITES ALONG THE LOWER BOISE RIVER. THEIR CULTURAL EVIDENCE IS FOUND IN ARTIFACTS STILL LOCATED ON AND IN THE GROUND, SOME NOW REGISTERED WITH THE STATE. STONE TOOLS, SHELL BEADS, PROJECTILE POINTS, BURIAL GOODS, AND BONES ATTEST TO THE PAST. HOWEVER, MOST ARE NOW BURIED BENEATH HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS.
THE BURIALS OF THEIR ANCESTORS
HISTORIC RECORDS VERIFY THE AREA’S HABITATION. “IN 1868 A LARGE BAND OF INDIANS HAD THEIR CAMP NEAR TABLE ROCK MOUNTAIN FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. MANY DIED AND WERE BURIED CLOSEBY. SOME KNOW THAT A THIN COATING EXIST BETWEEN THE BURIALS AND THE LAND TODAY”. (ISHS document). ANOTHER ARTICLE DATED 1895 READS, “INDIANS: SKELETONS – A REGULAR BONEYARD UNEARTHED”…. (ISHS document). THIS ARTICLE REFERS TO INCARCERATED CONVICTS AT THE OLD IDAHO STATE PENITENTIARY IN THE LATE 1800’S. WHILE QUARRYING, UNEARTHED BONES, BEADS AND GRAVE GOODS OF MANY NATIVE AMERICANS THAT HAD BEEN BURIED IN THE ROCK CLIFFS NEARBY. THE TRIBAL PEOPLE TODAY STILL TELL STORIES OF THESE BURIALS.
FACTS EXIST IN HISTORIC DOCUMENTS THAT IDAHO’S INDIANS ARE STILL UNPAID FOR THEIR LAND AND NATIVE AMERICANS HAVE RECENTLY TESTIFIED TO THIS. UNDER THE BOISE AND BRUNEAU TREATY OF 1864, THE SOUTHWESTERN SHOSHONE AGREED TO SELL THEIR LANDS. PREJUDICES AND POLITICAL ISSUES AROSE AND TREATIES NEVER RATIFIED, LEADING TO THE INDIANS REMOVAL TO THE FORT HALL RESERVATION, ALONG WITH OTHER TRIBES. THIS IS THEIR HOME TODAY. THEY STILL MAKE FREQUENT VISITS TO BOISE TO HONOR THEIR ANCESTOR’S BURIAL GROUNDS.
SOUTHEAST OF THIS SACRED SITE, NEAR DIVERSION DAM’S HIGH BLACK BASALT CLIFFS, THERE ONCE EXISTED A SIGNIFICANT CULTURALLY RICH AND DIVERSE NATIVE AMERICAN SETTLEMENT. RARELY ACKNOWLEDGED OR WRITTEN ABOUT, IT SITS OVERLOOKING THE BOISE RIVER, AND WAS AT ONE TIME A LARGE NATIVE AMERICAN CAMPSITE. AFTER VISITS AND STUDY OF MATERIAL AT THESE SITES, IT IS BELIEVED THAT IT MAY HAVE ONCE BEEN A LARGE CAMPSITE OF VISITING TRIBES, KEEPING A RESPECTFUL DISTANCE BUT IN DIRECT VIEW OF THE SPIRITUAL CEREMONIAL CASTLE ROCK. NATIVE PEOPLES OCCUPIED THE RIVER VALLEY FROM TABLE ROCK SOUTHEAST TO IDAHO CITY AND BEYOND.
TODAYS HIKING TRAILS ATTEST TO THE BEAUTIFUL VIEW AND NATURAL WILDLIFE LANDSCAPES THAT CAN BE SEEN FROM TABLE ROCK PLATEAU. WHAT IT MUST HAVE LOOKED LIKE THROUGH THE EYES OF A HUNTER OR GATHERER STANDING ON HIGH MUST HAVE INDEED BEEN WORTHY OF WORSHIP. WHAT STILL LIES UNDER THE EARTH CAN ONLY BE IMAGINED.
THE BALANCING OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND PRESERVATION OF SITES APPEARS ALWAYS TO BE AT A CROSSROAD, ESPECIALLY IN UNDEVELOPED LANDS. A LONG, SAD STORY IN HISTORY, THE NATIVE AMERICAN’S EXISTENCE AND RESISTANCE MAY HAVE HAPPENED SIMULTANEOUSLY.
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