An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 141

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 141
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 141
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 141
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 141

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household necessities. And such roads!" The follow- ing is the history of the stockade: In June, 1877, came the Joseph Indian war. At the first alarm the settlers with their families sought safety in temporary forts and stockades that were hastily constructed as a pro- tection against the raids of the treacherous redskins. The first stockade was built near the residence formerly occupied by J. S. Howard, who died in the early eighties. The permanent stockade was built where part of Moscow now stands, back of the residence of John Russell and now the residence of Mrs. Julia A. Moore. The stockade was built of logs from six to ten inches in diameter, set on end in the ground close to- gether. They were hauled from the mountains six miles distant and at a time when it was taking a man's life in his hands to make the trip. These old posts may yet be seen along the road to the south of the Moore residence. Here about thirty settlers and their fam- ilies spent many anxious days and night. The greatest danger was from the Coeur d'Alene Indians of the north joining their forces with those of the wily leader of the Nez Perces and making a raid on the settlers who were very poorly supplied with arms and more poorly supplied with ammunition. But through the ef- ferts of their chief, who was always peaceably disposed towards the whites, and the timely assistance of the good Father Cataldo, the mission priest, they were held in check. In the meantime the United States troops and volunteers pressed the hostile Joseph and his war- riors so hard that they retreated across the old Lolo trail to Montana, where they were finally captured. The very scarcity of settlers in this section caused the savages to turn their attention southward towards Grangeville and Mt. Idaho, where there were more scalps and plunder to be obtained. Greater alarm than would perhaps otherwise have existed was caused by the killing of John Richie, who was shot by an Indian while standing in the doorway of his house in Pine Creek. This apparently confirmed the report that the Spokane and Couer d'Alene Indians would join the Nez Perces in a general war against the whites.

At the time of the Bannock Indian war in 1878. Latah county citizens prepared for emergencies by or- ganizing two companies of volunteers who held them- selves in readiness to respond to any call that might be made for their services. Moscow had a company of forty or fifty men, officered by W. D. Robbins, cap- tain, and Henry McGregor, first lieutenant. At the sawmill northeast of town was another company equally as large of which S. J. Langdon was captain ; R. H. Barton, first lieutenant ; H. S. Epperly, second lieu- tenant, and J. L. Naylor, orderly. Guns were secured from Lewiston for which happily there proved to be no need, as the Indians did not appear in this part of the country.

To show something of the rapidity with which the Palouse country was settled during the 'seventies, we reproduce some correspondence taken from an issue of the old Lewiston Teller, dated June 9, 1881. The author of the correspondence was the editor of the Teller at the time and was on an overland trip from Lewiston to Spokane. The camping places referred to

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were along the Idaho-Washington state line north of Moscow. "It is hard to describe the changes that have taken place since I camped here nine years ago (1872), when not a solitary habitation could be found within many miles of this place. At that time we had been riding north from Lewiston to find settlers to sign a petition for a mail route fromn Lewiston north to Spo- kane Bridge. We crossed at the forks of Hangman's creek then turned and went down the north side and about every half mile found a statue with a shingle nailed to it, upon which was written the name of some man with the announcement that he claimed a tract of land at or near that point. Until we went down the creek about eight miles we found no settler. Then we found the savage family. Further down we found fif- teen or twenty persons camped, among them Major Wimpy. They were cutting hay and getting timber in the mountains and making other preparations for the beginning of permanent homes. On our return we found six or seven log structures completed and occu- pied. We now find almost the entire section within a radius of eight or ten miles absorbed by settlers, save the railroad reserves, and many of these have been occupied and much improved. Good homes have been built, good fences and extensively improved fields are everywhere visible and the acreage under cultivation is large.

A gap in the divide between the two mentioned creeks led us by a good wagon road into the Rock creek valley, which now contains from 125 to 140 voters with their families, which ought to give a population of from 700 to 1,000. When we passed through this country nine years ago over the Indian trails leading from Lapwai to the Spokane, not a solitary habitation was visible throughout the whole vast extent of prairie land from Moscow north. Now Genesee valley, Paradise valley, Strawberry valley and Rock creek valley are settled and the greater portion of the lands occupied."

At the second session of the territorial legislature which convened at Lewiston, November 14th and ad- journed December 23d, 1864, the following act was passed and approved : "An Act creating the Counties of Lah-toh and Kootenai. Be it enacted by the Legis- lative Assembly of the Territory of Idaho as follows: Section I. That all that portion of Idaho Territory embraced within the following described boundaries, be and the same is hereby created into, and shall be known as the county of Lah-toh, to wit: Beginning at a point in the main channel of the Snake River at its junction with the Clearwater River ; thence running due north along the dividing line between Washington and Idaho territories, to the forty-eighth degree of north latitude ; thence east with said degree of latitude until it interesects the boundary line of Shoshone coun- ty ; thence south with the boundary line of said county to the middle channel of Clearwater river ; thence with the channel of said river to its junction with the Snake river to the place of beginning ; and the county seat of said county of Lah-toh is hereby located at Couer (i'Alene."

At the fourth session of the territorial legislature which convened at Boise December 3, 1866, and ad-

journed January II, 1867, an amendatory act was passed redescribing the boundaries of Kootenai county and repealing section 1 of the act of 1864, which created Lah-toh county. In the fall of the year 1878 the peo- ple in and around Moscow, and in the northern part of the county determined to organize the county of Lah- toh under the assembly act of 1864. They were for some reason without knowledge of the amendatory leg- islation of 1867. Meetings were held at Moscow and elsewhere, a petition having the required fifty signatures was secured and forwarded to Governor Brayman with the request that he appoint commissioners. By the old act the 48th parallel of latitude was named as the northern boundary and Coeur d'Alene as the tem- porary county seat. Governor Brayman had also over- looked the repealing act of 1867 and granted the re- quest of the petitioners, going so far as to appoint com- missioners in the persons of Messrs. Canfield, Rankin and Martin, residents in the vicinity of Coeur d'Alene. Governor and people were not long in discovering their mistake, however, and the movement to organize Lah- toh county was for the time dropped. Again in 1881 a petition and communication were forwarded from Coeur d'Alene to Governor John B. Neil asking for the appointment of commissioners for the county of Lah- toh. This the governor replied he could not do under existing laws and cited the petitions to the acts of 1864 and 1867. As the northern boundary line of Nez Perces county had been in the meantime established on the di- vide between Hangmans' creek and Palouse river by the government survey of the Coeur d'Alene Indian reservation, and as the act of 1867 described Kootenai county as embracing all territory north of Nez Perces county, the petitioners found that they were no longer in the Lah-toh county described by the act of 1864. L'pon the return of the papers from Governor Neil, therefore, they substituted the name of "Kootenai" for "Lah-toh" and at once sent them back for his recon- sideration. The following extract from a letter pub- lished in the Lewiston Teller explains the action of the petitioners at Coeur d'Alene : "Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Ty., July 22, 1881. A. Leland Esq .: Shortly after you left here we received a letter from Governor Neil disapproving of our county organization under the name of Lah-toh. We at once took the necessary legal steps to organize as Kootenai county. The territorial officers have acknowledged us and we are now a de facto and de jure government under the name of Kootenai, etc.," Messrs. Canfield, Rankin and Martin became Kootenai county instead of Lah-toh county commissioners.

In September, 1885, the O. R. & N. railroad reached Moscow, which has remained the terminus of the road since that date. During the summer of 1883 commit- tees from Colfax, Pullman and Moscow visited the farmers along the proposed route of the railway and secured the right of way. All the country needed in order to make it exceedingly prosperous was transpor- tation facilities. It is not our purpose to recount here the history of the building of the railroad. In another portion of this work a special chapter has been devoted to railroad schemes and railroad construction and in

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

this chapter the reader will find details concerning the O. R. & N. and N. P. Railroad. The O. R. & N. reached Moscow about the middle of September and the first cars crossed the Idaho-Washington line and ran into Moscow on the 23d of the month. There was general and great rejoicing : salutes were fired, whis- tles blown, and speeches made. Wednesday, the day of the arrival of the first train, witnessed a grand cele- bration and on Friday a grand ball was held which was attended by hundreds. The results following the com- pletion of the road can never be properly estimated. They were not all manifested in a year or in a decade ; they are accumulating still and must ever continue to accumulate for the agricultural resources of the county are practically inexhaustible and all industrial interests must grow and keep pace with the gradual develop- ment of these resources.

There is an interesting reminiscence entitled to a place here. in explanation of the old railroad grade which runs through the north end of town, but which has never been used. At the time the O. R. & N. was projected. Miles C. Moore, of Walla Walla, and Charles Moore, of Moscow, were joint owners of a tract of land on the north side of Moscow and they induced the company to build their grade through this tract, giv- ing them the right of way. In return for this conces- sion, they demanded exclusive warehouse privileges for a term of years. W. J. McConnell, W. W. Baker, A. A. Lieuallen and others living in the north end of town were also desirous, because of their property holdings, that the road should use this end of town for their terminal equipment. There were those in the south end of town who were not averse to having the road cross their property and as the company was loathe to grant exclusive warehouse privileges to anyone, circumstances rather favored the southenders. Both Field Engineer McClellan and a new chief who had just come upon the ground favored the south end, claiming that if the company ever wanted to extend the line east they could not get out of town by the north end route. The chief and his assistants were boarding at the Barton house at the time and R. H. Barton, accidentally learning their views, at once took steps to push matters to a conclusion. Henry McGregor and James Deakin were the owners of land on either side of the present main street in the south end of town. It was night, but Bar- ton hurriedly summoned M. J. Shields, Henry Durn- ham and John Kanaley to a special meeting to be held on the bridge south of town. He then located James Deakin and Henry McGregor and piloted them to the bridge. Here the situation was explained to the land owners, and after some vigorous characteristic speeches by Shields and Barton, and promises of an equal dis- tribution of their loss involved in the concessions de- sired, they readily consented to give the railroad any- thing they wanted in the way of right of way through their places, provided they would change the route. The party then disbanded and Mr. Barton informed the engineers that if they would survey the line through south Moscow they could have all the land needed there for tracks, depot, etc. The offer was at once com-

municated to the officials at Portland with the rec- ommendation that it be accepted. On the following day M. C. Moore was in Portland and repaired to the offices of the railroad company to press his claim for warehouse privileges. The officials were independent and refused to make any concession of this character. Some "puts and calls" were exchanged and at the close of the argument, a message was sent to the engineers at Moscow to survey the new route. This was at once done and the old grade was abandoned. This was the sequel to the midnight meeting on the bridge.

Turning again to an earlier period in the history of the county, let us record briefly the work of those who followed the argonauts of the 'fifties, 'sixties and seventies in their quest for golden treasure. These men were not in search of pastoral lands, and had they been, they would not have builded their homes in the Palouse country. for it was not thought possible in those days to produce crops on the hills of Genesee and Paradise valleys, nor on the ridges of the Potlatch. Ten years before a new one considered the Latah coun- try adapted to agricultural pursuits, mining was car- ried on in various parts of the county. As far back as 1862 placer claims were worked along some of the water courses. Besides the deposits of gold and silver, mica and opals were found in several localities. The exhibit of Idaho opals at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, came from Latah county. In 1881 a mine of mica was discovered about thirty miles from Moscow by J. T. Woody, and in a short time a number of other locations were made in the same vicinity. The prin- cipal placer mines in the county are situated in the Hoodoo district which has been worked for the last thirty-five years. Other mines worked successfully are on Jerome creek, Swamp creep, Gold creek and many others, and in Howard gulch, Garden gulch, Crum- rine gulch and others on Moscow mountain. The first quartz mill in the county was operated on a ledge on Moscow mountain and owned by Dr. Worthington and D. C. Mitchell. In 1896 a mill was started in the Daisy mine on Jerome creek, which is now on a paying basis. On Ruby creek is a most valuable gold and silver mine called the Silver King. For years gold has been taken from the ledges of Moscow mountain by the "arrastre" process and if this mountain of wealth were situated in some remote locality, difficult of access it would be considered a veritable Klondyke. The Gold Bng, Golden Gate and the Big Ledge are the principal mines worked there in recent years. The Golden Gate Com- pany has a 200 foot tunnel, and contemplates putting in a mill. Adjoining the Golden Gate is the White Cross mine which has a fine stamp mill.

The Hoodoo mines have had seasons of ups and downs ; worked successfully for a time in the early sixties, they experienced a long season of inactivity during the late 'sixties and the 'seventies. Again in 1885 and 1886 there was a season of excitement, many flocking there from all directions with the hope of improving their fortunes. What are known as the Hoodoo mines, comprising four gulches that empty into the Palouse river about 30 miles northeast of Mos- cow, were first discovered and worked in the years

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1862 and 1863 and paid all the way from $20 to $100 per day to the man. At that time all provisions, tools, etc. were packed into the mines on ponies over a very difficult and almost impassable trail from Lewiston, a distance of about eighty miles, which was the nearest trading point. The high prices that were then paid for merchandise in Lewiston, together with the high price also charged for packing, compelled miners to work only claims that would yield the precious dust in abundance. Mines that would not pay at least $20 a day were not considered worth taking. About the time the Hoodoo mines were being worked, there was great excitement raging in the northwest over new dis- coveries of gold in Montana and thousands of miners packed their blankets and picks and started eastward toward the new Eldorado. The Hoodoo miners, not making any new discoveries on the Palouse, one by one, gathered up their luggage and silently took their departure, following the chant of excitement. Thus Hoodoo was vacated. The pioneer prospectors left their little gold field that but a short time before was rich in its deposits of mineral wealth. Nothing more was heard of the Palouse as a mining district until the year 1870 when gold was discovered on Jerome, Ca- mas and Gold creeks, tributaries of the Palouse. These creeks were worked with very little excitement, and paid equally as well as the old Hoodoo mines. From that time mining has been carried on by a few in- dividuals. more or less, down to the present time. The Coeur d'Alene excitement brought hundreds of pros- pectors to this region and the result was the redis- covery of gold in the old Hoodoo district. Many claims were opened and the side gulches which were easily mined proved far richer than was expected.

Many will remember the excitement about Moscow during the summer of 1881 over the Roland quartz find in the mountains east of the town. Roland had guarded his secret carefully but while in town for supplies confided in a few personal friends and by the time he was ready to return to the mountains, several parties were ready to follow him. His secret soon be- came common property and scores of claims were taken up in the vicinity. Assavs from Roland's claim re- turned three to four hundred dollars per ton. A good deal of the development work has been done on this and other claims in the region but thus far no heavily producing mines have resulted.

Prior to the building of the Northern Pacific railroad, Lewiston, the county seat of Nez Perces county, of which the present Latah county was a part, was a very inaccessible point for citizens of Moscow and of all points north of the Clearwater river. The distance is about thirty miles and the roads in those days were, during a portion of every year, next to im- passable. It was necessary to go down the Clearwater breaks which is, even today, after years of work on the roads, an undertaking accompanied by a element of risk and danger. Since the building of the rail- road to Lewiston it is still necessary to travel fifty- three miles to reach the town from Moscow, making a semi-circle via Troy, Kendrick. Juliaetta, etc. Un- der these conditions it is not surprising that the citi-

zens of the north half of the county should conceive the plan and endeavor to execute it, of removing the capitol of the county to Moscow. In 1882 a determ- ined effort was made to accomplish this end, first by seeking to create a new county north of the Clearwater. Petitions were formulated which were numerously signed, and a bill was introduced in the legislature providing for the creation of Latah county with Mos- cow as the county seat. The bill was introduced by William S. Taylor in the council and vigorously sup- ported by G. W. Tomer in the lower house. It was found, however, that the legislature was powerless to act in the matter owing to the existence of a recently passed congressional act forbidding special legislation by the territorial legislature, creating new counties or changing the boundary lines of old ones. Disap- pointed in this effort Mr. Taylor introduced another bill providing for a special election, submitting the question of relocation of the county seat of Nez Per- ces to a vote of the people. This election was held in June, 1883, and Moscow, through her citizens, worked hard to secure the coveted prize. She was doomed to a second disappointment, however, as Lewiston was selected by a vote of 922 to 642. At this time the cit- izens of all this region were praying for annexation to Washington and expected confidently that the union would be speedily consummated. During the county seat contest the friends of Lewiston worked diligently among the voters north of Moscow and inspired them with the belief that when annexation was accomplished there would be a readjustment of the county lines, in which case Palouse City, nearer their section than Moscow, would in all probability be chosen a county seat of some new county. When election day came. therefore, voters in the north end of the county voted with Lewiston and against. Moscow, this giving the vic- tory to Lewiston. In another chapter will be found the history of the annexation movement. It is only necessary to state here that the citizens of Latah were almost unanimous for political affiliation with Wash- ington. The principal causes of this unanimity of sentiment was the difficulty experienced in reaching Boise, the capital of Idaho, and the fact that Washing- ton was about to become a state while the prospects for Idaho remaining indefinitely a territory were at that time excellent. It is interesting to note, in looking over the files of newspapers printed during the time of the agitation of this question and after its settlement, up to and after the date of the organization of the state, that sentiment has gradually changed until, at the present time, it would be difficult to find anywhere in the Panhandle, a prominent advocate of annexation. The efforts a few years ago to revive the question by the introduction into the Washington legislature of a bill requesting the appointment of a joint Idaho- Washington commission to consider the question met with no supporting sentiment in northern Idaho and was ridiculed mercilessly in the editorial columns of the press, one edition stating that the panhandle would never again support any move to dismember the proud "Gem of the Mountains." In a speech recently made by A. J. Green, a pioneer attorney of Moscow, at a

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pioneers' reunion near Moscow, he gives a reason for the final settlement of the question of annexation. We quote his words: "In the early days there was great agitation of the question of annexing to Washington what is known as the panhandle of Idaho. This agita- tion continued for years and finally both houses of con- gress passed a bill annexing the panhandle to Washing- ton. Had it not been that President Cleveland vetoed this bill by putting it into his pocket and refusing to sign it, we would now be in the state of Washington instead of in the state of Idaho. The people of Mos- cow and Latah county, as I have said before, have al- ways been very ambitious. At the time to which I re- fer we had a new county and a new county seat, but we were not satisfied. The annexation scheme having failed and the question having been settled, as we be- lieved, for all time. we set about getting something for the new county and Moscow. The state university was to be located somewhere and by hard work we secured its location at Moscow. Southern Idaho having more than twice the population of northern Idaho, had al- ways fought the annexation of any part of the terri- tory to Washington ; so when a bill was introduced into the territorial legislature to locate the university at Moscow, all southern Idaho came to our support and assisted in making the bill a law, thinking that it

would forever settle the question of annexation. And it did ; when the university was located at Moscow the annexation question was finally settled."

Before closing this chapter it may be well to men- tion briefly the last effort on the part of the citizens of Moscow, prior to the creation of Latah county, to secure to their town political honors, and to themselves some of the conveniences enjoyed by the citizens of Lewiston and of all that portion of Nez Perces coun- ty south of the Clearwater river. In 1886 an effort was made to secure the passage of an act permitting the county to elect two sets of officers. It was de- sired only that there be two treasurers, two auditors and two tax collectors, one set with offices at Lewiston and one with offices at Moscow. The citizens of Mos- cow and of the north end of the county agreed to fur- nish suitable buildings for the accommodation of the extra officers, free of expense to the county. These were to include a jail and court room as it was pro- posed to hold a summer term of court at Moscow and a winter term at Lewiston, or vice versa. The scheme was poorly supported, however, and came to naught. Details concerning subsequent action looking to the establishment of a new county will be considered in another chapter.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 141

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