How Little Valley came to be settled recalls a story that indirectly involves one of Utah and Idaho's largest Indian massacres.
What is now called the Massacre of Bear River took place on Jan. 29, 1863, about 12 miles north of Franklin Idaho, near the border of Cache County.Some 200 troops under the command of Gen. Patrick Connor from Fort Douglas and strengthened by more than 100 volunteers surprised an encampment of 300 Shoshone and Bannock Indians, some of whom might have been involved in confrontations with settlers and travelers in the area.
During the four-hour assault, the Indians were routed and nearly annihilated. Indian casualties vary because no official body count was taken. One report said 224 bodies were found, nearly all women, children and old men, while another states 368 Indians were killed, including 90 women and children. Still another account reported only 50 Indian women and children were killed.
Fourteen soldiers died in the expedition and 49 were wounded. Seventy-five soldiers suffered from frostbite.
Modern accounts regard the attack as a massacre rather than a battle because previous accounts were likely exaggerated in favor of the soldiers.
Immediately after the Bear River massacre, some profit-seeking men apparently sifted through the war scene and discovered a survivor - a Bannock Indian baby clinging to her dead mother. How she survived both the battle and the winter cold is not known, but she must have been found very soon after the fighting.
The baby was later traded to the Leonard and Elizabeth Rice family for several horses.
The Indian baby was named Ida Ann Rice and grew up with the Rice family in Farmington. She helped her family by traveling around the city doing different jobs and thus she got to know all the residents well. Reportedly she was well-liked by all who met her. She soon gained the nickname of "Indian Annie."
Rice married Jonathon Wilcox, and the couple homesteaded the area now known as Little Valley with a cabin that is still located there and has been incorporated into a modern home. They raised a large family and had a farm on the valley plateau that included a stream with trout.
Some history books describe "Indian Annie" as one of Farmington's greatest women. She died on Jan. 22, 1922. One of her sons, Rubin ("Rube") Wilcox, was born in 1877 and lived in Little Valley for many years after the death of his parents.
Some stories characterize Rube as somewhat of a loner who had become shell-shocked following his participation in World War I. He was also known as a fast runner who used to win foot races held annually in the area.
Rube could apparently hear the Bamberger train whistle blow at Lagoon from Little Valley, and he would run down the hill and race southwest toward Centerville, catching the train to Salt Lake City.
He lived in Little Valley until his death in 1955.