An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 14

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524

USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 14
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 14
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 14
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 14

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During all these early years no attempt was made at agriculture in the mining sections and no domestic animals disputed with the elk and the deer for the pasturage upon a thousand hills, except the herds of Indian ponies on the reservation, the pack mules of the trader and the few head of horses and mules need- ful to the miner, the prospector and the primitive saw- mill man. Occasionally, too, a herd of mutton sheep or a band of beef cattle might be driven into the mines on foot, designed for immediate slaughter upon arrival, and these of course found sustenance while enroute on the gratutious bounties of generous nature. In 1865 however, the Rice Brothers brought in a band of stock sheep, and ahout the same time C. P. Coburn imported one hundred and fifty head of cattle into northern Nez Perces county. These he took out southeast of Lewis- ton to what is known as the Junction House ranch. A little later Captain Ankeny and his sons brought in 500 neat cattle from Oregon.

About this time, also, Thomas Moore took up what is now known as the Dowd ranch in Tammany liol- low, but for years he used it to pasture horses, with- out any attempt at cultivation. Another horse ranch was taken possession of probably as early as 1865 by Schissler & Siers, from whose brand the place came to be named the "21" ranch. At the numerous sta- tions along the route to the Kootenai mines there were small settlements and portions of the land adjacent were cultivated to furnish garden supplies. There were doubtless other small attempts at agriculture in different parts of north Idaho, but the industry was slow in becoming established and when it was at last found that farm products could be successfully raised, progress was still slow for a time owing to the lack of transportation, the danger of trouble with Indians and other causes. Mr. Coburn thinks that Caldwell & Hall, who took a farm at the top of the high Clear- water bluff above Lewiston about, the year 1869, were probably the earliest wheat farmers in the Idaho part of that great stretch of country now so famous for its production of cereals.

But throughout the first decade at least the main industry of the country was mining. After the richest product of the placers had been exhausted with rocker and sluice box, the hydraulic was brought into opera- tion wherever possible, thus keeping up the annual out- put to nearly its old proportions, though with a smaller population and less excitement. No statistics of output are vailable for the counties of northern Idaho, but the estimates for the entire territory show an annual in- crease until 1865, when the mines yielded nearly $13,- 000,000, then a decrease till 1869, which year is credited with a production of $1,600,000. Thereafter the mineral output increased slowly, reaching $3,600,- 000 in 1873. It dropped to about two millions in 1875, then increased and decreased alternately until 1881, when it jumped to nearly $5.000,000. The existence of gold-bearing quartz in north Idaho was known to the earliest miners and prospectors, but they paid no attention to it, being without means to purchase ma- chinery for its reduction or ways of transporting it to the mines if they had it. In 1868, however, Rescue

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

ledge on Warren creek and another just above it on Slaughter creek were discovered. Judge Poe, Alonza Leland and others became interested in the former property. They built a small mill on it, while an east- ern mining expert named Isenbeck, in company with Godfrey Gamble, erected one on the Slaughter creek ledge. Litigation soon took the Rescue property tem- porarily out of the hands of its owners, and while thus alienated it yielded considerable gold. Upon its re- covery by Poe, Leland and their partners, these men succeeded in interesting eastern capital by which means they were enabled to take the initial steps to- ward installing a large stamp mill. Some of the ma- chinery reached Mount Idaho, where it still remains as a relic of an abandoned enterprise and a monument to the inaccessibility of the Warren region.

'The Isenbeck-Gamble Company eventually removed its stamp mill to what was known as the W. B. Knott mine, on Steamboat creek, but the mine failing to yield as expected, the company was forced into bank- ruptcy. Leland and Starr also had a small mill on a branch of Steamboat creek, at the Hic Jacket mine, which, however, never proved a property of any great merit. The mill was afterward operated on the Res- cue ledge. Another unsuccessful quartz mill was erected on the Charity mine, four miles south of the W. B. Knott ledge. But the richest quartz mine in the Warren district was the Little Giant, on Smith's gulch, about a mile from the town of Washington. It be- longed to a man named George Riebold, who erected a ten stamp mill on it, the product of which is supposed to have aggregated fully $500,000. Quartz ledges were known to exist also in almost all the old placer camps, but their development was never undertaken with energy until comparatively recent years.

Comparison between a census of Idaho Territory taken in 1864 and the United States census of 1870 shows that the population of north Idaho counties neither increased nor diminished materially during the six years. The population of north Idaho accord- ing to the former census was 2,634, but the enumera- tion was no doubt very carelessly made.

"In 1870," says C. P. Coburn, who took the census of Nez Perces county that year, "there were at Pal- ouse bridge, about three miles east of the state line, Frank and William Points, John Buchanan, and one or two others. They had in a small crop when I passed through. At the California ranch, east of Spokane, and at the Spokane bridge, on the state line, I found a few settlers farming in a small way. There were probably a dozen men at the bridge settlement. On Camas prairie were perhaps twenty-five or thirty set- tlers besides those in Mount Idaho, which then con- sisted of the hotel of Loyal P. Brown, Rudolph's gen- eral store, a blacksmith shop and a few houses. It had been founded by one Moses Milner, who in 1862, when the Florence rush was at its height, conceived the idea of establishing a station at the foot of the moun- tain. Accordingly he cut a trail through from this point to Florence, built a cabin and began advertis- ing the route."

The year 1871 may be considered as the date of the

first decided advance in the agricultural development of north Idaho. During the fall of that year the coun- try around Moscow, the Paradise valley region, re- ceived its first influx of settlers, and the remarkable success which attended their efforts in all forms of ag- riculture was a stimulus to further settlement. Almost incredible are the stories told of the enormous size of vegetable products and the yields per acre. Another stimulus in the same direction was the rapid decline of the placer output and still another the hope of rail- road transportation for products in the near future, as the Northern Pacific was known to be pushing west- ward to the coast and was supposed to be about ready to build across Idaho The northern counties in com- mon with other parts of the great inland empire were passing through a transition period, the middle ages of the country, during which mining as the main pur- suit was giving place to agriculture. The period was not without its manifold discouragements. Agricul- tural products could not be packed out on the backs of mules, as was the gold dust of the 'sixties, and ade- quate means of transportation were not at hand, neither were they to arrive as soon as expected, for the slow- ness of the Northern Pacific became proverbial.

At this time it was fully believed by the residents of north Idaho that the Northern Pacific Company, would build through the Lolo pass and down the Clear- water to Lewiston, thence into the territory of Wash- ington and beyond. It was pointed out by the news- papers that the route was many miles shorter than that via Pend Oreille lake and in the absence of surveys, the pass was supposed to be lower than the alternative pass, the Coeur d'Alene. Doubtless many people set- tled in Nez Perces and Idaho counties in full confi- dence that they would soon have a railroad, but in this they were doomed to disappointment, for the road, when at last it did come, chose the Pend Oreille route.

An incident of the year 1872, well remembered by old settlers throughout the entire inland empire, was the earthquake shock of December 14th. The seismic disturbance was very general, being felt at least over all of eastern Oregon and Washington as well as in north Idaho. The story of the shock as experienced in Lewiston and vicinity was described by the Signal as follows :

"On Saturday evening last, at twenty minutes past ten o'clock, this region of country was visited by a series of earthquake shocks. The first oscillation ap- peared to be from west to east and was of about eight seconds' duration. The first shock was followed by a second, ten minutes later, but of much less force. The violence of the first shock created considerable alarm among those who had never experienced such a thing before. Persons who were up at the time ran into the streets, while those who had retired supposed that a fierce and sudden gust of wind caused their buildings to sway and rock. Clocks were stopped and crockery and glassware caused to jingle. Frightened chickens flew about as though possessed of the devil. Dogs howled, cattle lowed, and all nature, animate and inanimate, was much disturbed. From all we can

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

learn the greatest force of the shock followed the streams, as those residing on the uplands felt it but slightly. To the westward from here the vibration seems to have been more severe than east of Camas prairie. To the east of here, as far as Elk City, it was felt very plainly-at Camas prairie more particularly than elsewhere except at Reed's ferry, northeast of the latter place, where the shock lasted two minutes and was followed by two others of less duration and violence. North of here, in the vicinity of Paradise valley, the shock was so severe as to make everything fairly dance. In this place and the immediate vicinity the force of the shock was greater along the margins of the streams than elsewhere. Along the water front of the town on the Clearwater it was more severe than back near the bluff."

Among the improvements of the year 1872 were several in the mail service which had developed by this time so as to be fairly adequate to the country's needs. A daily mail was established between Lewiston and Walla Walla and a contract was let to C. C. Huntly to carry mail from the former town to Spokane Bridge. Mail was also carried by the O. S. N. steamers be- tween Lewiston and Snake river points. The Baird Brothers were operating between Lewiston and Elk City and the Capps Brothers ran a stage, express and mail line from the former point to Pierce. The post- offices established in Nez Perces, Idaho and Shoshone counties at this time, with postmasters so far as known were : In Nez Perces county-Lewiston, C. A. Thatcher : Fort Lapwai, D. C. Kelly; Mount Idaho, L. P. Brown; Elk City, C. Collins; in Idaho county- White, Bird, -- -: Slate Creek (Freedom post of- fice), -- Barman; John Day creek, --; Florence, W. H. Rhett; Washington, C. A. Sears; in Shoshone county ; Pierce City, I. B. Cowen.

The year 1873 was a rather unpropitious one in north Idaho as elsewhere in the northwest. This, it will be remembered, was a year of panic and distress the United States over and besides the general causes

of stringency there were special causes in this portion of Idaho Territory. The decline of the mines had de- prived the country not alone of its abundant supply of money but of its excellent local market for farm pro- ducts; the means of transportation at hand were in- adequate and unbearably expensive, and the excellent crops harvested in the fall of 1872, the normal increase of cattle, sheep and horses and the many other favor- able conditions were unavailing when a market for produce was not to be had. Nevertheless the acreage cultivated during this year was estimated as being six times as great as that of the preceding twelvemonth. The number of bushels garnered from each acre was prodigious, and the singular anomaly was presented of the occurrence together of abundant harvests and hard times.

The year 1874 brought no amelioration of condi- tions, but rather an augmentation of the distress, and during the following twelvemonth affairs in north Idaho reached a very low ebb. In 1876, notwithstand- ing the fact that the Northern Pacific railroad was still many miles away and the transportation problem was in statu quo, there was some improvement in the outlook. Three small mining camps came into exis- tence during the year, all of which were very prosper- ous and thriving when winter came. Two of these were on the north fork of the Clearwater and the third at Marshall lake. Crops still continued abundant, and the enormous yield of wheat and other grains proved what the country might become if it were only sup- plied with means of transportating its products to the markets of the world.

The winter of 1874-5 was so severe that thousands of head of cattle perished, bankrupting several stockmen.

Hardly had the sky begun to clear of financial clouds than it was suddenly overcast with the shad- ows of approaching conflict, and before north Idaho was to emerge from the darkness of its medieval days, it was fated to be baptized with a baptism of fire.

CHAPTER III.

THE NEZ PERCE INDIAN WAR.

When the indomitable Anglo-Saxon race began following the course of destiny to the westward the doom of the thriftless aboriginal peoples was sealed. The time had arrived in the progress of the world when the dusky, nomadic savage had become a cum- berer of the soil. The day of a grander development for this vast, prodigious west, teeming with the crude elements of wealth production, had at last dawned.

The night of savagery was over. The red man must himself become a factor in pushing forward the car of progress or be crushed beneath its wheels. Poor child of the darkness and the night! Without know- ing it he was face to face with the harshest, most in- excrable law of life, the law of the survival of the fif- test. No longer could he worship the Great Spirit in his own blind way; no longer could he roam at will

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

over the bosom of his much loved mother earth; he must lay aside at once his ancestral habits and adopt those of another and superior race or he must perish and perish miserably.

Had the Indians tried the plan of adopting the white man's customs hardly would it have been pos- sible for them to effect with sufficient alacrity a change so radical, to measure up to the required standard in time to save themselves from destruction in accord- ance with the mandates of natural law, but they did not try. They chose rather to set themselves in oppo- sition to manifest destiny and the result is that their race is hopelessly doomed. This contest with fate furnishes many of the saddest chapters in the history of our country. It could have but one issue. Even the Indian could hardly fail to foresee its outcome, but it is not in human nature to yield the field with- out a struggle. The red men fought valiantly and long. They fought with a bitterness almost amounting to frenzy, and with the courage of despair, but they fought in a hopeless conflict and the heel of the con- queror is upon their necks.

It is the purpose of this chapter to chronicle one of the last, fierce struggles in that long continued race war by which the soil of the new world was wrested from the hands of its aboriginal possessors. The ani- mosities growing out of former contests furnished the venom with which to poison the shaft of both whites and reds, but the causes of the war of 1877 have their roots deep in the incapacity of our government officials to understand Indian character and to deal with it in a sensible business like manner. When in 1855 Gov- ernor I. I. Stevens for Washington and Joel Palmer for Oregon negotiated their treaty with the Indians by which the latter disposed of a vast area of land to the United States, making certain reservations as homes for themselves, old Chief Joseph insisted that Wallowa valley should form a part of the reservation for the Nez Perces tribe. This beautiful valley had been used by him and his followers for years as a species of summer resort. On account of its beauty, grass, fish, game, various roots, camas, etc., or for some other causes, it occupied a warm place in the savage heart of this old veteran brave and had not the white nego- tiators agreed that it should form a part of the reserve their efforts to treat with the Indians would undoubt- edly have ended in failure and the great benefits ac- cruing to the whites from the treaty would have been lost, at least for the time being. As a matter of fact, Joseph, Three-Feathers, White Bird, Big Thunder, Looking Glass and others of the Nez Perces chiefs signed the treaty without being fully aware just what lands they were resigning their claim to, so the Indians aver, and when it was found that the Wallowa country was included in these lands an outbreak was imminent forthwith. However, the Indians were pacified by Stevens and Palmer, who promised that the Wallowa country should be reserved and the matter was set- tled for the time being.

While the Wallowa valley was, therefore, through the importunity of Joseph, made a part of the Nez Perces reservation and consequently the property of the

whole tribe, it was understood both by the Indians and the white representatives of the government to belong especially to Joseph and his band. Legally the Wal- lowa was undoubtedly the property of the Nez Perces; equitably it was Joseph's. Herein lay the cause of the whole difficulty.

In 1863 an amendatory treaty was negotiated with the Nez Perces by which the Wallowa valley, with other territory, was surrendered to the United States government. Joseph was present at the council in which this action was taken, but he positively refused to sign the treaty and never acknowledged its valid- ity. He continued his annual visits to the Wallowa until his death, impressing upon the mind of his sons and his followers that the valley was theirs and that they should hold it at all costs as a home for themselves and their children. The grave of old Joseph is in this val- ley, a circumstance which renders the spot hallowed in the minds of those allied to him by kinship or other ties. Meanwhile the United States government con- firmed the treaty negotiated by its commissioners and naturally assumed that the valley was a part of the public domain. The seeds of trouble were sown but they did not bear fruit until some years later.

In due time the Wallowa valley was thrown open to settlement. In 1871 James Tulley entered it in search of range for stock. The next year he and his brother drove in a herd of three hundred head. James A. Masterson came also, and these three pioneers formed the entering wedge of white occupancy of the Wallowa. They saw Indians occasionally during the summer, but beyond making signs of displeasure at the presence of the whites, the Indians offered no resist- ance to their operations. Early that fall, however, the red men unequivocally expressed their displeasure at the encroachment of the whites in a council between themselves, numbering forty or fifty, and as many settlers. The council convened August 14th pursuant to a written call emanating from Indian sources. It seems to have been conducted in a friendly spirit, nevertheless the Indians were imperative in their as- sertions of right to the Wallowa valley and the whites were equally positive in refusing to withdraw from lands on which they had settled by permission of their government. The council broke up with nothing defi- nite accomplished save that the whites sent two men to consult the Indian agent at Lapwai regarding the matter, who were to report at a future council.

In the spring of 1875 the residents, not alone of the Wallowa country but of the Grande Ronde valley and of eastern Oregon generally, were greatly incensed by an order of the department of the interior looking toward the removal of the whites from the disputed territory and the establishment of the Indians therein. The substance of this obnoxious order is contained in a letter to superintendent Odeneal, which we reproduce as follows :

Department of the Interior, Office Indian Affairs, April 30. 1873.

Sir :- Your communication of the 7th inst., and the re- port dated the 4th inst. of yourself and Agent Monteith re-

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

lative to the band of Indians in the Wallowa valley, Oregon, were submitted to the Honorable Secretary of the Interior on the 25th inst.

Under date of the 28th inst, the Honorable Secretary returned the same and adopted without modification the sug- gestions and recommendations of this office, viz :

"That the band of Indians referred to be permitted to remain in said valley and occupy it during the summer and autumn or for such time as the weather is suitable according to a previous custom and that assurance be given them that it is not the intention of the department to disturb them so long as they remain quiet and permit no depredations upon white settlers."

The Hon. Secretary therefore directs that a proper des- scription of the said valley be obtained for the purpose of an executive order setting apart this valley for the use of the said Indians and that white settlers be advised that they are prohibited from entering or settling in said valley.

He also authorizes an appraisement to be made of the value of the improvements of said settlers in the Wallowa valley in order that Congress may be asked at its session for an appropriation sufficient to pay for said improvements at their appraised value in order that the claims of the settlers may be extinguished.

You will therefore proceed to carry out the instructions of the Hon. Secretary of the Interior as above indicated, and for this purpose you will cause an appraisement of the im- provements referred to to be made by two or more disinter- ested and competent persons, whose report shall be prepared in tabular form and submitted to you through this office.

Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant, H. R. CLUM, Act. Comm.

To T. B. Odeneal,

Sup't Indian Affairs, Salem, Oregon.

To further enforce the order, letters were sent out to the surveyor general and to the register and receiver of the United States land office at La Grande.

Some of the comments upon this action of the inte- rior department were revolutionary in the extreme, and go to prove that the sentiment of patriotism is not so deeply seated in most men's minds but that it may be quickly crushed out when the power of the government seems to have been turned against their individual inter- est. There was much excuse for chagrin and disap- pointment among the pioneer settlers of the Wallowa valley. Many of them had made considerable sacrifices in locating within its borders, not stipposing that there would be any danger incurred in so doing, as they were under the protection of a wise and juist government. They felt that to be compelled to sell their homes for a sum fixed by appraisers, relinquish their prospects of future gain, ptill up stakes and set out again in search of the natural means of winning a livelihood, all for the sake of a few shiftless, nomadic Indians, was an almost unendurable wrong. Some of them boldly declared that they would defend their rights in the Wallowa valley "against the savages or any other corrupt power."

The interior department was clearly in a dilemma. It could not deny the justice of Joseph's contention, for his right to the Wallowa certainly had never been ex- tinguished in fairness and equity, though it had legally passed to the United States. On the other hand the de- partment could not return the land to the Indians with- out doing a palpable injustice to white settlers who had invaded the valley and built homes there, planting the seed of civilization and progress, and all by invitation

of the government. The horn which it chose at first is indicated by the department instructions in the letter above quoted.

The immediate settlers in the Wallowa valley and even their neighbors in other parts of eastern Oregon were not the only ones who took an interest in the Wal- lowa matter. The people of western Oregon watched its development with interest, and the governor of the state went so far as to address a letter to the secretary of the interior, which is so clear an exposition of the whole subject from the settlers' standpoint that we feel constrained to quote it. It reads :

STATE OF OREGON, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Salem, July 21, 1873.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 14

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1524

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524