F.A. Loomis

3 weeks ago | idahomagazine.com | F.A. Loomis |F. A. Loomis |Steve Bunk

A Refuge RescuedBy F. A. LoomisGordon Cruickshank, the Superintendent of Valley County Roads, got a call on an afternoon in June 2010 from Andrew Lemberes, the chief of McCall’s Fire Department. A distress call had come in from the crew at Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary east of Little Payette Lake along Lick Creek Road. The sanctuary campus was inundated with floodwater from Lake Fork Creek, which was sweeping away buildings and materials.

Mar 1, 2025 | idahomagazine.com | F.A. Loomis |Steve Bunk

Call Him Markham SchimmelhoefferStory and Photos by F.A. LoomisAn Idaho hermit artist I know reminds me in his manner of the famous Buckskin Bill, whom I met when I was in high school. I was a box boy in a McCall grocery store and Billy—on one of his summertime grocery procurement flights out of the wilderness—was in the condiments aisle buying pickles. He was friendly, jovial, and talkative—but he smelled atrocious!This artist is friendly but doesn’t smell awful.

Dec 1, 2024 | idahomagazine.com | F.A. Loomis |Steve Bunk

A Novel Supplements the Bare FactsBy F.A. LoomisWhen I was growing up on our ranch in Valley County during the 1950s, trapping ground squirrels was encouraged, because the rodents ruined irrigation water ditch banks. While I knew of trappers who ventured into Idaho forests for bobcats, foxes, beaver, cougar, bear, and pine marten, I never had the desire to learn more about this trade and always held it as suspect. I loved the occasional brush with a fox, bobcat, or bear in the woods.