Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Diana Aher Collection on Earl K. Parrott, 1870-2002
Overview of the Collection
- Title
- Diana Aher Collection on Earl K. Parrott
- Dates
- 1870-2002 (inclusive)18702002
- Quantity
- 0.25 linear feet, (1 box)
- Collection Number
- MSS 210
- Summary
- Research material relating to Earl K. Parrott (1869-1945), hermit of the Salmon River country of Idaho. Includes census records, clippings, and letters (1936) written by his brother, Allen B. Parrott, describing a visit with him.
- Repository
-
Boise State University Library, Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections and Archives
1910 University Drive
Boise ID
83725
Telephone: 2084263990
archives@boisestate.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is available for research.
- Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Earl K. Parrott (1869-1945) was known as "The Hermit of Impassable Canyon." He lived in the Salmon River country of Idaho for more than forty years, many of which were spent alone in a remote cabin high above the Middle Fork. A native of Iowa, he appears to have come to Idaho by 1900 and made his living by prospecting, hunting, and farming. His name appears in local records occasionally until the 1920s, after which he appears to have lived a life of seclusion and obscurity as a hermit.
He achieved some unwanted publicity in 1936 when Dr. R.G. Frazier of Utah came upon him while part of a boating expedition down the Salmon River. Frazier wrote of his encounter with Parrott in articles published in Field & Stream and the Salt Lake City Desert News. After that, Parrott was called upon by river rafting expeditions. His brother Allen, of Portland, Oregon, read an excerpt of Frazier's article printed in the Portland Oregonian. Out of touch with his brother for decades, and unsure if indeed the character Frazier described was his brother, he hired a packer and made the long arduous trip into the Middle Fork country and saw Earl Parrott for the first time since he had come to Idaho forty years before.
In 1942 Parrott became ill and left his mountain retreat to live with others. He died in Salmon, Idaho, in 1945. His grave marker records a birth date of 1865, and he gave conflicting figures whenever asked his age, but family records indicate Parrott was born in 1869.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The Diana Aher Collection on Earl K. Parrott includes photocopies of census records, newspaper clippings about Parrott, and letters Allen B. Parrott wrote to his sisters-in-law in 1936 describing his visit to Earl Parrott. These are photocopies of the original letters which Cort Conley quoted at length in a chapter on Parrott in his book, Idaho Loners: Hermits, Solitaries, and Individualists (1994).
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Preferred Citation
[item description], Diana Aher Collection on Earl K. Parrott, Box [number] Folder [number], Boise State University Special Collections and Archives.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Acquisition Information
Gift of Diana Aher, Wolcott, Vermont, 2002
Related Materials
A clipping about Parrott, dated 1939, is included in MSS 142, the papers of Cort Conley (Box 1, Folder 11). Cort Conley Papers
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Box | Folder | ||
1 | 1 | Miscellaneous | |
1 | 2 | Family record (copied in 1919) | |
1 | 3 | Census records | 1870, 1920, 1930 |
1 | 4 | Clippings: Portland Oregonian | 1936 |
1 | 5 | Clippings: Salt Lake City Desert News | 1936 |
1 | 6 | Clippings: Salt Lake City Desert News | 1964 |
1 | 7 | Letter, Allen B. Parrott to Julia Parrott | 1936 |
1 | 8 | Letter, Allen B. Parrott to Ruth Parrott | 1936 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Hermits
- Salmon River (Idaho)
Personal Names
- Parrott, Allen B.
- Parrott, Earl K., 1869-1945
Form or Genre Terms
- Newspapers