{"id":1837,"slug":"bear-river-massacre-site-idaho","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["On January 29, 1863, California Volunteers attacked a Shoshone winter camp on the Bear River — killing ~250 to 400 people, one of the worst massacres of Native people in the American West. The file's documented spine is the count: a winter village destroyed in a morning, the dead mostly women, children, and elders.","The heritage record's contrast — at least 250 documented deaths against oral accounts placing the toll higher — is the file's register: a massacre whose full count the written record may still understate."]},{"heading":"The winter camp","paragraphs":["The file's legend layer is empty — and the absence is the register. Bear River needs no ghosts: the documented massacre — a winter camp attacked, the river running with the dead — is the file's complete content. The site was long mislabeled a 'battle'; the record now calls it what it was.","The winter timing is the file's weight — a camp at its most vulnerable, attacked in the cold, the massacre's January date being the record of the people's least defended season."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Bear River is the archive's most solemn Western file — one of the worst documented massacres of Native people in the West, kept without a single legend. The empty legend layer is the point: the documented dead are the whole register.","A winter camp that was destroyed in a morning keeps its count — the file's suggestion being that Bear River's ground holds a loss the written record still can't fully number."]}],"name":"Bear River Massacre Site","aliases":["Wuda Ogwa"],"type":"MASSACRE_MEMORIAL","type_label":"Massacre Memorial","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","HISTORIC_SITE","MASSACRE"],"groups":["dark-history"],"desc":"Interpretive memorial near Preston for the 1863 Shoshone massacre.","full_desc":"A massacre memorial in Preston, Idaho, Bear River Massacre Site is filed here for what the record attaches to it. Interpretive memorial near Preston for the 1863 Shoshone massacre. It sits in the archive under dark history and massacres. The dossier holds 2 documented facts — a documented spine with no haunting reports attached. The site is open to visitors.","address":"2953 U.S. 91","city":"Preston","county":null,"state":"Idaho","postal":"83263","region":"West","lat":42.158607304708,"lon":-111.90697937891,"coord_kind":"EXACT","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":"Public interpretive overlook only; do not disturb memorial offerings.","ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Coordinates refer to heritage-listed memorial/overlook, not the full battlefield. Death estimates preserved as variants; tribal interpretation remains a priority.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"HIGH","score":80,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0.85,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"California Volunteers attacked a Shoshone winter camp on January 29, 1863. Heritage source contrasts at least 250 deaths with oral tradition estimating roughly 400. Bear River Massacre Site's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer beneath whatever lore attaches. The press recorded it; the detail stands as reported history. The detail is preserved in 'Bear River Massacre Site'. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"MEDIA_REPORTED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Bear River Massacre Site","url":"https://bearriverheritage.com/item/bear-river-massacre-site/","publisher":"Bear River Heritage Area","type":"TOURISM","authority":3}},{"description":"On January 29, 1863, U.S. troops killed ~250–400 Shoshone—one of the worst massacres of Native people in the West. The record dates it to 1863-01-29. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. The record appears in 'Bear River Massacre'. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1863-01-29","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Bear River Massacre","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_River_Massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[{"name":"Bear River Massacre","type":"MASSACRE","date_start":"1863-01-29","date_end":null,"description":"On January 29, 1863, Col. Patrick Connor's California Volunteers attacked a Shoshone winter camp on the Bear River — killing some 250-400 people in what was likely the deadliest massacre of Native Americans by US forces, worse than Sand Creek or Wounded Knee. It was barely reported at the time; the site is now a National Historic Landmark.","evidence":"MASSACRE","source":{"name":"Bear River Massacre","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_River_Massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site access varies; verify before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Bear River Massacre Site","url":"https://bearriverheritage.com/item/bear-river-massacre-site/","publisher":"Bear River Heritage Area","type":"TOURISM","authority":3},{"name":"Restoration at Wuda Ogwa: A time of healing","url":"https://www.blm.gov/blog/2023-11-20/restoration-wuda-ogwa-time-healing","publisher":"Bureau of Land Management","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"Bear River Massacre","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_River_Massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[{"field_name":"short_description","existing_value":"Interpretive memorial near Preston for the 1863 Shoshone massacre.","incoming_value":"The 1863 massacre of the Shoshone—one of the worst in the West.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"full_description","existing_value":"Bear River Massacre Site is a massacre memorial in Idaho. Interpretive memorial near Preston for the 1863 Shoshone massacre. California Volunteers attacked a Shoshone winter camp on January 29, 1863. Heritage source contrasts at least 250 deaths with oral tradition estimating roughly 400.","incoming_value":"Bear River is the Franklin County site where Colonel Connor’s troops killed ~250–400 Shoshone men, women and children on January 29, 1863—one of the deadliest massacres of Native people in U.S. history.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"current_status","existing_value":"HISTORIC_SITE","incoming_value":"ACTIVE","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"Coordinates refer to heritage-listed memorial/overlook, not the full battlefield. Death estimates preserved as variants; tribal interpretation remains a priority.","incoming_value":"Lore enrichment wave 2; VERIFY task auto-queued.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."}],"wiki":{"title":"Bear River Massacre Site","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_River_Massacre_Site","desc":"United States historic place","extract":"Bear River Massacre Site, near Preston, Idaho, is the site of the Bear River Massacre, in which a village of Shoshone Native Americans were attacked by the California Volunteers on January 29, 1863. Estimates of Shoshone casualties are as high as 384. It is also known as Bear River Battleground or Massacre at Boa Ogoi. The incident has one of the highest recorded casualty counts of the American Indian Wars of the 19th century, but was overshadowed at the time by events of the ongoing American Civil War. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990.","img":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Bear_River_Massacre_1932_Monument_-_26_April_2020.jpg/330px-Bear_River_Massacre_1932_Monument_-_26_April_2020.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail","score":93,"lat":42.14611111,"lon":-111.91416667},"counts":{"claims":0,"history":2,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":3}}