Jesse “Cariboo Jack” Fairchild–Miner and Mountain Man

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.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
You're listening to the historical book show for
lovers of history and readers of inspirational fiction.
Join your host, Kylie And Darcy, for author
interviews, a pinch of the past and special
book worm reviews.
Hi. This is Kylie Wood. And Darcy Fran,
past giveaways,
include

(00:25):
truth be told by Patricia Ray.
So check your emails,
I just sent out a
notification to the winner for that giveaway. If
you ever wanna send us a note
just to say, hello or say, hey. I
read this great book. Maybe you could interview
this author.
You can email me at kylie at historical

(00:45):
graham dot com. And authors will be having
on the show in the future this season
include Janelle S,
Ke,
Michelle G, Rosa in White, Ken L Pearson,
who are long time listeners will remember. Mary
K, Gabriel Meyer and Karen Wi meyer,
Yeah.
So just be on the lookout for those
releases.

(01:06):
If you haven't subscribed, you can just subscribe
on your favorite listening app. We're on all
the major platforms, including Spotify, Google, Amazon Music,
I Radio, Pandora and Apple Music. So darcy.
Yeah. How are you doing? What's up with
you? My cousin came down for his...
Is it semi annual visit? He usually visits

(01:26):
around New Year's and in July around the
fourth. So we always do all the touristy
things in town when we have friends,
and it was just really fun. We went
to the beach and got a lovely sunburn
1 day.
I have to get 1 every year. Apparently.
It's just... It happens. But the beach was
gorgeous that day. And we tried a lot
of new restaurants. Saint Augustine has so many

(01:47):
great place eat. He's not so much into
history, so we didn't do as many of
the historical sites, but we did take a
little scenic cruise. So the boat is like
an old fashioned ferry boat, and it rides
around the intra coastal water way, and they
kind of give you a tour telling you
some history of the difference places, and I
actually ran across some little details here and

(02:07):
there that I wasn't familiar with, and it
was just such a lovely evening out on
the water. It was overcast, and it was
quiet, and there's so much nature to see
with the marsh and to be able to
view our little historic city from the water.
It's almost like paintings of Italy or greece
that are done
from out on the water, so you see

(02:28):
the coastline, and then you see the the
little town. Augustine almost like that. It's hard
to picture without seeing it, but it's it's
so cute and quaint. And so just getting
to to see the town from water was
beautiful.
I love it. We had a lot of
fun while He was down here. I love
it when family comes to visit. It sounds
beautiful.
So how have you been doing?

(02:49):
I know you guys have had a lot
going on lately?
I'm doing good.
My family and I recently traveled from the
fiery state of Texas north to Washington state
where I'm from and
Yeah. We had a really great experience. It
was just... It was nice to have some
cool weather because I'm from, like, the the

(03:09):
coast, the west coast and saw some some
clouds rolled in, and I gotta see the
the gray guy and have a campfire fire,
and honestly, it was nice. It was only
safe. So but,
yeah.
I have a couple updates though.
I recently
signed a literary
agent. No.
Yeah.

(03:29):
Books and such literary
agency will be representing my work from now
on.
I shared a couple photo on social media
me signing the contract? Oh, the agent I'll
be working with is Jen
Baba?
She's an author, a teacher and a mother
of like me. She's just so sweet, and
I've just been really impressed with her skills.

(03:52):
And then, of course, once I kinda got
to chat with her I went back and
looked at some of her published work. So
I'm reading d toward the messy Graceful journey
from
working professional to stay at home mom, which
I kinda did the opposite I was a
stay at home mom and then went professional.
Mh. But as I was reading through it,
I was, like,
my goodness, you know, these are things like

(04:13):
the whole mom guilt and just the different
trying to find fulfillment and the small things
and I not feel guilty and just all
these things. I was like, things that I
I'd had, like, kinda buried
as I started my professional career, and I
was like, wow, Lord, you know, I really
needed to to read this. So Highly recommend
that book though. For doing works. Citing.

(04:33):
I love it because you have the 3
books that are gonna be published with Wild
press, but Jen is going to be shopping
some of your other works around And for,
I have read a couple of Kylie stories,
and I think you kinda like them. I
think you gotta like them. Yes. Yeah. So
remember, you can always connect with Darcy and
I outside of the podcast, both on social

(04:55):
media, kylie w,
dot rights. On Instagram, and then on dark
ryder or on
Instagram. Yes. That's I was we collaborate with
some other writers as well and just post
some fun things. So you can follow us
there as well.
Now for a pinch of the past.

(05:17):
So today, our pinch of the past is
actually chatting about Car Mountain in Idaho, as
well as a very interesting character. This is
a serene
destination now very popular with Hike.
But behind the snow caps and Rocky faces
a historical
story
to match the name. I've ran across Jessie

(05:38):
Kara,
Jack, Fair child when researching book 1 of
my Outlaw la heart series.
Carbon Mountain is in fact the scene of
a crime in that story,
a fair child mined in the Kara mountains
in Canada,
when he came to the states. He earned
the name Caribou jack because of the tall

(05:58):
tales. He told regarding his adventures there, he
played.
Yes. He... I... And I love a tall.
Of course. Of course. Everybody does. So I
got some quotes of his that I wanna
share.
Held claims. He claimed that the kara of
that area traveled in herd.
So thick that

(06:19):
a fellow could run all the way to
hell and back across them and never touched
the ground. What a the way to describe?
Yeah.
So Jesse discovered gold and what is now
Kara mountain
area.
Circa,
18 seventies
just north of Gray lake in Idaho.

(06:39):
Of himself, he said, I was born in
a blizzard snow drift in the worst blank
storm to ever hit Canada. I was bathed
in a gold pan suck by Car, wrapped
in a Buffalo rug and could whip any
G going before I was 13. That's when
I left home. Kinda have like davy Crockett
vibes.

(07:00):
Totally.
So if anyone ever tried to, like, na
his tall tails, he would respond, it is
so And I'll let you know. I'm from
Caribou.
So he he he did not say any
of this. Well, I'm taking Liberties or anything
he claimed these were the stories.

(07:22):
Yeah. I get a good storyteller showed. Right?
Yeah. It said that the Jack in his
nick name originated with his mule, which was
so dang smart. He had to change socks
once a week or she wouldn't let him
rider. According to Folk, this creature could open
any gate and once,
she stole a full year of grain, a

(07:45):
sack at a time from a quaker farm.
Each night, the quaker built the latch higher
on the door until finally, the mule couldn't
reach it. That only stopped her 1 night.
The next night, the Mule was seen standing
on he leg, telling the family dog,
standing on her forehead.
How to open that latch?
That's fantastic. So he had to be caribou

(08:07):
jack after the mule. Oh, that's fantastic. The
bear child died in 18 81 from injuries
sustained during a g bear attack
near bear river in Soda Springs Idaho.
He was wearing... Kidding about wrestling the gi
lease. Oh, my goodness. Oh, no. Oh, no.
He definitely was not. He was buried in
so to brings where you can see a

(08:29):
comme grave marker if you're just passing through.
Oh, Jesse fair child. He sounds a little
bit like, I don't know. Necessarily a brag
or a blow hard, but sounds like he
told some some big fish stories and some
tall tales. So... Absolutely. It's kinda neat to
see these people from history
because
you know, you could almost see that person

(08:50):
still being around today. Everybody's got that friend
or that friend of their uncles or whatever
who
has been larger than life personality. Right?
So,
that's that's a cool story. I love learning
about these different people. And what name... So
this fellow named Caribou Jack has dragged the
name Caribou all the way down.

(09:10):
Into Idaho. Even though as far as I
know, Idaho doesn't have care of it. Nope.
If they have a Caribou mountain now. Thank.
Have a care that.
You've been listening to the historical book worm
show where history meets Fiction. For more information
on us at historical book dot com.