| Living History: Earl Parrott During the 2023 Raspberry Social on August 6 at the Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of St. Gertrude, Jeff Wilkins impersonated and told the story of Earl Parrott. Here’s that story, along with a few more facts: My name is Earl Parrott and I'm known as the Hermit of the Impassable Canyon. I was born in Iowa in 1869 as one of twelve children. My family moved to Florida when I was nine. My brother and I wanted to be telegraph operators, so we bought a learner kit like the one at St. Gertrude’s Museum, strung wire between the house and the shop, and taught ourselves Morse code. Both my brother and I worked for the railroad in Florida as telegraph operators, but my color blindness prevented me from discerning the color of railroad signals so that career only lasted two years. I left Florida and followed the Yukon gold rush for a little while, then in 1900, moved to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River to pan for gold. I had a cabin on the beach and built another 1,000 feet up on the cliff. I built ladders to help climb up the cliff and could run down them face out. I was self-sufficient with my huge garden and hunting, but I made the 70-mile hike to Shoup once a year to buy 30 pounds of supplies -- tea, bullets, salt and matches, and to pick up my mail. I used the gold I panned to pay for those items. I liked my solitude. I used to go two years without seeing anyone in my camp, but then hunters began disturbing me every few months. I lived very simply. I used one box of matches a year and never used candles or lanterns. I cooked in my cabin fireplace, had a 3’x4’ square bed, and never took off my clothes or shoes to sleep. I didn’t move around much when it was icy, for fear I’d hurt myself. At such times I went dormant, sleeping almost 20 hours a day My brother found me after 23 years of silence, having read an article someone wrote about me. He came to see me and tried to get me to visit his family, but I refuse to be bossed by a woman and have no use for children. I left the canyon because I was sick and died a year later in 1945 at the age of 76. I am buried in the Salmon cemetery. The information for this story came from Cort Conley’s book, Idaho Loners, which tells the stories of 12 people. Copies of the book are available in the Historical Museum gift shop.  Earl Parrott  Jeff Wilkins, who portrayed Earl Parrott at the recent Raspberry Social. |
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