The Caribou Mountain in Idaho is a serene destination, but behind the snow caps and rocky faces, a historical story to match the name. I ran across Jesse (Cariboo Jack) Fairchild when researching book 1 of my Outlaw Hearts series. Cariboo Mountain is, in fact, the scene of a crime in that story.

Fairchild mined in the Cariboo Mountains in Canada. When he came to the states, he earned the name Cariboo Jack because of the tall tales he told regarding his adventures there. He claimed that the caribou of that area traveled in herds so thick that, “…a fellow could run all the way to hell and back atop them and never touch bare ground.” Jesse discovered gold in what is now the Caribou Mountains area (Circa 1870) just north of Grays Lake, Idaho.

Of himself, he said, “I was born in a blizzard snowdrift in the worst **** storm to ever hit Canada. I was bathed in a gold pan, suckled by a caribou, wrapped in a buffalo rug, and could whip any grizzly going before I was thirteen. That’s when I left home.” To anyone who might naysay his tall tales, he would respond: “It is so. I will let you know I am from Carriboo!”

It is said that the “Jack” in the nickname originated with his mule which was, “…so danged smart he had to change socks once a week or she wouldn’t let him ride her.” According to folklore, this creature could open any gate and once, “…she stold a full year of grain, a sack at a time from a Quaker farmer– each night he built the latch higher on the door until finally the mule couldn’t reach it. That only stopped her one night — the next night the mule was seen standing on hind legs telling the family dog standing on her forehead how to open the latch.”

Fairfield died in 1881 from injuries sustained during a grizzly attack near Bear River at Soda Springs, Idaho. He was buried in Soda Springs where a commemorative grave marker has been established.