Eddy Out: Cameron Creek on the Middle Fork of the Salmon

Cameron Creek, mile 39.5, comes in on river-left immediately across the river from Little Loon Creek. During the summer months it is mainly a dry creek bed and to the uneducated traveler would be an easy site to pass up.

The name of Cameron Creek is attributed to Kenneth Cameron of Scotland who grazed cattle along this stretch of the river starting in 1916. Pictographs on a rock wall near the area as well as pit depressions in the ground and shards of obsidian suggest that the Sheepeater Indians spent extended periods of time at Cameron Creek.

In 1919 Kenneth Cameron married Bessie Watson. She lived upstream at Indian Creek when they first met. The two of them homesteaded thirty-five acres and grew grain, alfalfa, and potatoes. Soon after their marriage they bought the ranch at the mouth of Loon Creek. Eventually they sold their ranch and moved out of the river corridor. Kenneth continued to work the ranch life at Butte Ranch, just north of Emmett, Idaho.