Entry No. 25 — the Boise file — filed under: outdoor
Bigfoot & Marie Dorian Statues at Old Fort Boise Replica
On the lawn beside a wooden replica of Old Fort Boise stand two cement figures, dedicated in 1974 by Idaho's governor. One depicts 'Bigfoot' (Starr Wilkinson), the roughly seven-foot renegade who terrorized this stretch of the Oregon Trail corridor in the 1850s-60s and reportedly took 16 bullets to bring down; he was named for his enormous feet, not for any hairy-monster resemblance. The companion statue honors Marie Dorion, the Ioway (Iowa Nation) woman who trekked hundreds of snowbound miles with her children after surviving a fur-trade massacre. The statues sit outdoors in the open air, free to visit during the park's season (roughly mid-March through mid-October).
The story
If you pull off Highway 95 into Parma's Old Fort Boise Park, you'll find two sculpted concrete figures standing side by side on the lawn, looking utterly mismatched. Sculpted in the 1970s by local artists Paul Yadon and Nathan Leigh, the pair was dedicated with full state ceremony—complete with an appearance by Idaho's governor—as an homage to Snake River frontier history. But the stories baked into these two figures couldn't be more wildly different: one honors a genuinely staggering historical act of survival, while the other immortalizes a 19th-century boogeyman myth that frontier newspapermen practically invented out of thin air.
The woman is Marie Dorion, an Ioway mother who accompanied the overland Astor Expedition across the continent. In January 1814, after Bannock warriors killed her fur-trapper husband Pierre and his party along the Boise River, she escaped into the wilderness with her two young sons, surviving a brutal 200-mile winter trek through deep mountain snow to reach friendly Columbia River tribes. Standing next to her is 'Bigfoot'—not Sasquatch, but Starr Wilkinson, a half-Cherokee renegade said to stand nearly seven feet tall with size-18 feet. According to Oregon Trail lore, Wilkinson raided Snake River wagon trains on foot, ran faster than horses, and took 16 lead bullets before finally dying in Owyhee County with a flask of whiskey in his hand.
Whether Starr Wilkinson was a real 1860s horse thief or just a tall tale cooked up by Oregon stagecoach robbers and bored journalists, Idaho officials felt he earned permanent placement in concrete right alongside a legitimate pioneer hero. The result is a delightfully strange pair of folk monuments—free, unpretentious, and sitting outdoors where farm trucks rumble past on the highway and nobody asks for a ticket.
What it's like
Visiting is as low-key as a roadside stop gets: pull off US-95 at Old Fort Boise Road, park on the gravel, and walk straight out onto the grass next to the timber replica fort. The concrete figures sit in the open lawn year-round, so you can inspect Bigfoot's oversized feet and read the historical plaques regardless of whether the seasonal replica museum building is unlocked. It's a quick, quiet pause surrounded by Canyon County farmland—ideal for stretching your legs, snapping a weird photo, or eating a picnic on the grass before hitting the road again.
The move: Drive out through the farm country to read the strange frontier legends carved into these two roadside concrete figures, then picnic on the fort lawn.
📍 Before you go Outdoor, always-visible roadside figures at the fort replica park; the museum building keeps limited seasonal hours but the statues are accessible anytime.
- 📍 Parma
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Old Fort Boise Park, US-95 & Old Fort Boise Rd, Parma, ID 83660
Hours: Added 2026-06-24 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Parma Motor-Vu Drive-In — Pair your daytime look at Parma's concrete frontier icons with an evening double feature under the stars at this historic single-screen drive-in just two miles up Highway 95.
- Rusty Retro Antiques & Oddities — Follow up Parma's outdoor concrete folklore with a wander through three rooms packed with skulls, oddities, and vintage clutter in nearby Nampa.
- State Street Antiques — Match the macabre frontier outlaw legend of Starr Wilkinson with real rattlesnake vertebrae, skunk pelts, and taxidermy inside this Boise antique store.
- Warhawk Air Museum — Trade 19th-century Oregon Trail legends for air-certified WWII and Cold War military aircraft on display in Nampa.
Good to know
Is the Bigfoot statue supposed to be the mythical ape-man Sasquatch?
No. The statue depicts Starr Wilkinson, a 19th-century frontier outlaw nicknamed 'Bigfoot' for his reported seven-foot frame and size-18 feet, not the cryptozoological creature.
Who was Marie Dorion?
Marie Dorion was an Ioway woman who traveled west with the overland Astor Expedition in 1811–1812 and survived an 1814 fur-trade massacre near the Boise River, guiding her two young children over 200 snowbound miles to safety.
Do you need tickets or reservations to see the statues?
No. The statues sit outdoors on the park grounds and are free to visit anytime, even when the replica fort museum building is closed for the season.
Who built the statues and when were they put there?
The statues were created by sculptors Paul Yadon and Nathan Leigh. The Bigfoot statue was dedicated by Idaho's governor in 1974, and the Marie Dorion statue was added to the lawn in 1976.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Roadside America · ktvb.com · visitidaho.org · nps.gov · roadarch.com · hmdb.org
last checked: 2026-06-24