An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 187

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 187
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 187
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 187
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 187

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The political campaign of 1900 was fought on the same issues, with but little variance, announced in the platforms of 1898. There were several parties in the field and four tickets, the Republican, Fusion, Middle of the Road Populist and Prohibition, the Fusion ticket being made up of representative Democrats, Silver Republicans and Populists. The Prohibitionists and Middle of the Road Populists polled an insignificant vote. A few Silver Republicans returned to old party affiliations this year, but there were not enough peni- tents to enable the Republican party to overcome the

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combined forces arrayed against them and they went down under majorities ranging from III for county attorney to 436 received by Dwyer, Fusion candidate for representative. The election was held November 6, with results as follows: State senator, S. P. Don- nelly, Fusion, 1799; William F. Whitaker, Republi- can, 1389; Donnelly's majority, 410; representatives, Kline Wanamaker, Carrie E. Lieberg and George C. Thompson, Republicans. 1407, 1350 and 1417. re- spectively ; J. T. Scott, J. C. White and P. J. Dwyer, Fusionists, 1796, 1843, 1786, respectively ; Fusion ma- jorities, 389, 426 and 436: sheriff, Edwin Doust, Re- publican, 1,481 : C. W. Dyer, Fusion, 776, majority, 295 : treasurer, Frank O. Hill, Republican, 1,418, W. J. McClure, Fusion, 1,826, majority, 408; probate judge, A. W. Post, Republican, 1,418, J. C. Brady, Fusion, 1.798, majority, 380; county attorney, Ralph T. Morgan, Republican, 1,539, James Graham, Fusion, 1,650, majority, III; assessor, Herbert Orvis, Republican, 1,467, H. J. Brothwick, Fu- sion, 1.723. majority, 256; superintendent of instruc- tion, R. C. Egbers, Republican, 1,461, Daniel Van Duzer, Fusion, 1,788, majority, 327 ; surveyor, Will- iam Ashley, Jr., Republican, 1,596, B. H. Williams, Fusion, 1,573, Ashley's majority, 23; (Ashley was the only Republican elected to office) ; coroner, John Bushy, Republican, 1,520, Dr. G. E. Barker, Fusion, 1,658, majority, 133; commissioner, first district Clem B. King, Republican, 1,390, R. D. McKinnis, Fusion. 1,774, majority, 384; second district, R. C. Thompson, Republican, 1,489, J. W. Ryan, Fusion 1,656, majority, 167; third district, George Ross, Re- publican, 1452. W. W. Bush, Fusion, 1745, majority, 293; Thomas L. Glenn, Fusion candidate for con- gress, received 1,783 votes in Kootenai county, a ma- jority of 322 over his Republican opponent, Jolin T. Morrison. For governor, Frank W. Hunt, Fusion candidate, received 1,809 votes, a majority of 396 over D. W. Stanwood, Republican candidate.

In 1901 a resolution was introduced in the Wash- ington state legislature, reviving the question of the annexation of the Idaho Panhandle to Wash- ington. It was proposed that committees from the legislatures of the two states meet and form- ulate a plan for the cession of the territory by the state of Idaho to the state of Washington. The newspa- pers of Kootenai county were outspoken in their op- position to the scheme, one paper saying editorially that "That there was a time when the citizens of the panhandle of Idaho were willing to be annexed to Washington, but that was about the time when Wash- ington was admitted as a state and when the chances of Idaho remaining a territory for many years was very bright. Things have changed now and it can safely be said that not one in a hundred in this county at least would favor being annexed to Wash- ington. The consent and co-operation of the legisla- ture of Idaho will never be secured to aid and abet the dismemberment of our proud 'Gem of the Moun- tains.'" The efforts of the Washington legislatures came to naught.

This year development work in all the industries

of Kootenai county made giant strides, in fact during the two preceding years advancement was rapid. Many new settlements were made and the commis- sioners were constantly petitioned for roads and bridges for the convenience of ranchers and stock- men all over the county. In compliance with these petitions the following bridges and ferries were con- structed at a total cost of $12,192.07 : Mission bridge. at Cataldo, $365.34, Priest river bridge, $1,543.70, Coeur d'Alene bridge, $3.254.30. Trestle Creek bridge and road, $2.760.85., Wilson Creek bridge, $100.00, bridge signs, $15.00, Feeney creek hridge, Coeur d'Alene river, $272.67, Mission creek bridge, $100.00, Lane bridge at Lake Killarney outlet $698.05, bridge near Kootenai, $90.00, bridge, district No. 13, $54.00, bridge, district No. 43, $40.09, Sand creek bridge. $70.00, bridge over Baldwin's slough, $168.16, miscellaneous small bridges and culverts occas- ioned by the creation of new roads, $795.50, Harrison trestle and ferry, $1,401.80, Lane ferry on Coeur d'Alene river, $140.73, Clark's ferry, $162.15, Green's ferry, Spokane river, $138.82. As an evidence that a new era of progress began in 1901, we cite a number of stock companies that filed articles of incorporation with the county recorder this year: William How- ard Land and Lumber Company., capital stock $500,000, Humbird Lumber Company, $500,000, Cameron Lumber Company, $200,000, Hope Lumber Company, $25.000, LaClede Lumber Company, $100,000. Empire Lumber Company, $200,000, Hey- den Lake Mining and Milling Company, $25.000, North Dakota Mining Company, $75,000, Bonner Mercantile Company, $20,000, St. Joe Improvement Company, $100,000, Spokane Valley Land and Im- provement Company, $500,000. In March of this year a deed was recorded with the county auditor in which the Northern Pacific Railroad Company trans- ferred to the Humbird Lumber Company twenty thousand and eighteen acres of timber land situated in the Priest River forest reserve. The price paid was $144,133, or over seven dollars per acre.

We have to chronicle, as a portion of the record of this year, an event of a tragic and sorrowful na- ture, one that will long be remembered by the citizens of Rathdrum in particular, though men's hearts were stirred throughout the county, and, as with one voice, an angry cry, tempered with sorrow, went up from every town, hamlet and home. We refer to the as- sassination of Judge John C. Brady at Rathdrum on the night of July 5. 1901. At the time of his murder Mr. Brady was editor of the Rathdrum Silver Blade and was also probate judge of the county. In the summer of 1899 a man named Henry Williambusse was brought before the Judge on a charge of insanity and after the hearing was consigned to the asylum for the insane at Blackfoot. Several months after he had been an inmate of the asylum he escaped there- from, and in a few days was apprehended at Ogden, Utah, and returned to the asylum, and remained an inmate there until the month of June, 1900, when he again escaped and made his way back to Kootenai county to his home or farm near Rathdrum.

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The superintendent of the asylum wrote to the sheriff of Williambusse's escape and requested the sheriff to keep "an eye on him;" that if he showed symptoms of a recurrence of his trouble to take him in charge and to notify him (the superintendent). No steps were taken to return him to the asylum, al- though he made no secret of the deep-seated grudge he held against all who had in any way been re- sponsible for his former trial, conviction and incar- ceration, and made many threats against their lives. On the night of July 5th he came to Rathdrum with the evident purpose of executing his threats against Judge Brady. Shortly after ten o'clock on that eve- ning he found the Judge at work with the typewriter in his office. He entered unceremoniously and ac- costed him in the following language: "How are you, Brady? How do you feel tonight? " The Judge looked up, unsuspicious of all harm, and replied lightly, "Pretty fair; how are you?" The assassin then said: "Take that in your old face," drew his revolver and fired; after which he put out the light and left the office. The ball struck the Judge in the face, under the right eye, and went almost horizontally backward, lodging against the brain. The base of the skull, as learned afterward, was penetrated and frac- tured.

Mr. and Mrs. Sheriff Dyer were retiring in their rooms in the jail building, which is separated by a small yard, perhaps fifty feet across, from Judge Brady's office. They heard the shot, but the report being muffled by the walls of both buildings, they were in doubt as to whether it was

a pistol shot or the report of cannon fire cracker, the celebration of the Fourth being scarcely over. They raised a window and peered out into the darkness. A light was burning in Judge Brady's office, which flickered a moment and went out. Then came to their ears an agonized cry from the Judge: "I am murdered!" "I am murdered !" Seizing his revolver, Sheriff Dyer hastened to his re- lief. As he reached his office the stricken man stag- gered out and fell bleeding to the side-walk. A figure, supposed to be the murderer, was seen in the shadows and heard running down by the Catholic church. The sheriff gave pursuit, but the figure dis- appeared in the darkness. The deputies were then summoned and a determined pursuit instituted. Meantime the wounded man had been taken into the office of the jail and his wounds dressed by Dr. Wenz, who had been hastily summoned. Mr. Brady was able to speak in a rational manner of the terrible affair, and gave an account of the shooting substan- tially as above, saying that he had been shot by that crazy man, Williambusse.

Mr. Brady died at the Sacred Heart Hospital, Spokane, July 17, after eleven days of great suffering. Immediately after the shooting Sheriff Dyer offered a reward of $200 for the assassin, dead or alive, and a posse of twenty men besides his own deputies scoured the country in every direction. On Tuesday evening following the murder Williambusse was cap- tured, after a terrible struggle, on Howard street in

Spokane, by Police Officer McDermott. He was re- turned to Rathdrum and lodged in jail. In February, 1902, he was tried in the district court and convicted of murder in the second degree and on February 27th was sentenced to hard labor for the rest of his natural life in the state penitentiary at Boise.

There were three parties in the field in the political campaign of 1902, Republican, Democrat and Social- ist. The Republicans held their convention at Sand- point, August 5th, and placed in nomination John F. Yost, of that place, for senator; William Ashley, of Rathdrum, James Reid, of Coeur d'Alene, and War- ren Flint, of Harrison, representatives ; A. V. Cham- berlain, of Coeur d'Alene, clerk of the court; E. L. Whitney, of Bonner's Ferry, sheriff ; R. C. Thompson, of Rathdrum, assessor; George L. Fitzsimmons, of Mica Bay, treasurer; T. H. Wilson, of Harrison, attorney ; John R. Wilson, of Rathdrum, pro- bate judge; Robert C. Egbers, of Athol, super- intendent of schools; W. H. Edelblute, of Lane, surveyor ; T. A. Bishop, of Bonner's Ferry, coroner ; Joseph Fisher, of St. Maries, first district, A. A. Merritt, second district, Alex Quirrie, of Hope, third district, commissioners. The convention en- dorsed the national administration, and, among other declarations, favored the opening to settlement of the agricultural portion of the Priest River forest reserve, and a portion of the Coeur d'Alene Indian reservation.

The Democratic convention was held at Coeur d'Alene August 2Ist and 22nd. The Populists con- vened at the same time and place. The parties held separate conventions and adopted resolutions in en- dorsement of the national platform of each, but nom- nated a fusion ticket as follows: treasurer, W. J. McClure, of Rathdrum; auditor, T. L. Onarles, of Rathdrum : assessor, Charles Waggoner, of Post Falls ; attorney, James Graham, of Coeur d'Alene : probate judge, F. A. McCall, of Sandpoint; sheriff. F. H. Bradbury, of Rathdrum: superintendent of schools, Daniel Van Duzer- of Rathdrumı; surveyor, Oscar Sheffield. of Rathdrum; coroner. Dr. O. F. Page, of Sandpoint ; commissioners, first district, R. D. Mc- Kinnis, of Coeur d'Alene ; second district, S. H. Wat- kins, of Athol: third district, M. V. Bogel, of Bon- ner's Ferry; state senator, J. C. White. of Coeur d'Alene ; representatives, S. A. Frear, of Hauser. W. F. Ninneman, of Hope, and Charles S. Moody, of Sand- point. C. S. Moody, of Sandpoint, Daniel Van Duzer, of Rathdrum, Charles Wagoner, of Post Falls, and R. D. McKinnis, of Coeur d'Alene, nominees, respectively, for the offices of representative, school superintendent, assessor and commissioner first district, were Popu- lists : the remaining candidates were Democrats.

The Socialists met at Coeur d'Alene September 22nd and nominated for state senator William Platt, for representatives, J. R. Danborn, Walter Ellin and George Wright, for clerk of the court, K. Brundage, for sheriff, Andrew Thomas, for school superintendent, J. L. Kennedy, for coroner. S. A. Stowe, for commis- sioners, first and second districts, Samuel Reid and Jerry Crather.

In the election, which was held November 4th, the

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Republicans were successful, electing their candidates to all the county offices with the exception of clerk of the district court and probate judge, these offices going to Democrats by small pluralities. B. L. French, Re- publican candidate for congress, was given a plurality of 383; John T. Morrison, Republican for governor, a plurality of 404 : Ralph T. Morgan, Republican can- didate for judge of the first judicial district, a plurality of 378. The official returns of the county are as fol- lows :

For state senator, J. C. White, Democrat, 1,677 votes, John F. Yost, Republican, 1,845 votes, William Platt, Socialist, 180 votes, Yost's plurality, 168; for representatives, S. A. Frear, Democrat, 1,561, James Reid, Republican, 1,930, J. R. Sanborn, Socialist, 229, W. F. Ninneman, Democrat, 1,484, William Ashley, Jr., Republican, 2,029, William Ellin, Social- ist, 171, C. S. Moody, Democrat, 1.554, Warren Flint, Republican, 1,873. George Wright, Socialist, 185. Reid's plurality, 168, Ashley's plurality, 445, Flint's plurality, 319; clerk of district court, Thomas L. Quarles, Democrat, 1,811, A. V. Chamberlain, Repub- lican, 1,762, K. Brundage, Socialist, 159, Quarles' plu- rality, 49; sheriff, Fred H. Bradbury, Democrat. 1,659, Eugene L. Whitney, Republican, 1.927, Andrew Thomas, Socialist, 165, Whitney's plurality, 268: treasurer, W. J. McClure, Democrat, 1,789, G. L. Fitzsimmons, Republican, 1,862, Fitzsimmons' plural- ity, 73 ; assessor, Charles Waggoner, Democrat, 1,698, Robert C. Thompson, Republican, 1,884. plurality, 186; probate judge, Frank A. McCall, Democrat, 1,825, John R. Wilson, Republican, 1,793. McCall's plurality, 32 ; county attorney, James Graham, Demo- crat, 1,268, Thomas R. Wilson, 2,275, plurality, 1,007 ; superintendent of schools, Daniel Van Duzer, Demo- crat, 1,576, Robert C. Egbers, Republican, 1,957, J. L. Kennedy, Socialist, 170, Egber's plurality, 381 ; surveyor, Oscar L. Sheffield, Democrat, 1,607, William H. Edelblute, Republican, 1,951, plurality, 344; cor- oner, O. F. Page, Democrat, 1,537, Thomas Bishop, Republican. 1,891, S. A. Stowe, Socialist, 161, Bishop's plurality. 354; commissioner, first district, R. D. Mc- Kinnis, Democrat, 1,607, Joseph Fisher, Republican, 1,880, Samuel Reid, Socialist, 161, Fisher's plurality, 173; second district, S. H. Watkins, Democrat, 1,498, A. A. Merritt, Republican, 1,957. Jerry Crather, So- cialist, 154, Merritt's plurality, 459; third district, M. V. Bogtie, Democrat, 1,433, Alex Quirrie, Republi- can, 2.055, plurality, 622.

A few months ago there was organized in British Columbia the Alberta and British Columbia Reclama- tion Company, whose purpose was to build dykes along the Kootenai river in British Columbia in order to en- close and save from overflow seventeen thousand acres of land in the Kootenai valley on the Canadian side. When the work of dyking began it was discovered by the farmers on the American side of the Interna- tional boundary that their lands would be greatly damaged on account of the back water causing a longer and deeper overflow than they had heretofore suffered by the usual spring and summer freshets. Protests proving of no avail, C. S. Smith, representing himself

and sixty other settlers in the Idaho Kootenai valley, began proceedings by injunction in November, 1902, in the Kootenai district court before Judge Mayhew, to enjoin the reclamation company from completing the dykes. A temporary restraining order was granted on an ex parte application. Soon afterward the de- fendants in the suit made a motion to dissolve this re- straining order. A week was consumed in hearing the arguments on this motion, and, on account of the general equities disclosed by the pleadings and evi- dence and because of the conflicting testimony of the witnesses examined, Judge Mayhew made a second order dissolving and vacating the injunction. At the following term of court, held at Rathdrum in March, 1903, Judge Morgan presiding, C. S. Smith entered personal suit against the Canadian Reclamation Com. pany for five thousand dollars, on account of damage done to his land by floods, caused by the dykes. Judge Morgan rendered a judgment in his favor for the amount asked. With this precedent established it is probable that other similar suits will follow. The re- clamation of the lands of the Kootenai valley by dykes, or some system of drainage, is a question that will de- mand attention in the future, and the accomplishment of the task will require the expenditure of a vast amount of capital. But the expenditure will prove a splendid investment, as perhaps the richest agricul- tural lands in the county are in this .valley and they only need to be properly drained to become highly pro- ductive.

Advancement in Kootenai county in 1902 exceeded, if possible, that of 1901. The total valuation of all property at the close of the year was $4,095.946.40, an increase of $366,733.89 over the valuation of 1901. There were 574.997 acres of patented lands, valued, with improvements, at $1, 148,763. This is of course far below the market value. Twenty- six saw mills were in full operation and four- teen steamers plied on lakes and rivers. The Spokane Valley Improvement Company began the work of irrigating Rathdrum prairie. The erection of new saw mills on the lakes and streams, and the building of stamp mills and smelters in the mining regions was a feature of the closing months. That the spirit of progress has not wearied is evidenced in the fact that during the first three months of 1903 there were 396 deeds, 96 mortgages, 65 mining locations, 76 U. S. Patents and receivers receipts, 48 possessory right claims, 15 mining deeds and 33 mortgage releases filed with the county auditor. During this time there were also filed, articles of incorporation by the Richmond Gold Mining and Milling Company, capital $100,000; Conjecture Mining and Milling Company, capital, $62,500 ; St. Joe Boom Company, capital. $82,000 ; Northland Pine Company, capital $100,000 : Springs- ton Lumber Company, capital, $75.000; Wisconsin Log and Lumber Company, capital $500,000. There are now more miles of railroad in Kootenai county than in any other county in the state, the total of the four main lines and the Coeur d'Alene branch of the Northern Pacific being 260 miles ; and other lines are projected, among them an electric road from Spokane

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to Coeur d'Alene, the surveys for which have been made and the material ordered ; a branch of the O. R. and N. is contemplated from Farmington, Washington, to Coeur d'Alene, through a heavily timbered section ; the Spokane and Kootenai railroad, for which surveys have been made, will run, when built, from Spokane to Rathdrum ; thence to Sandpoint and north to Bonner's Ferry; thence up the Kootenai to the mouth of the Moyie river ; thence up the Moyie to the Canadian line, where connection will be made with the Canadian Pacific railroad. With the completion of these roads the lumber and mining industries of Kootenai county will be equipped with splendid shipping facilities and will continue to advance as wealth producers, adding wonderfully each year to the general prosperity of the county.

For a number of years Kootenai county made less progress than did some other sections of Idaho, but her record in the past four years is unsurpassed and scarce- ly equalled by that of any other county in the state, and all her industries are in the early stages of devel- opment. While we laud the energy and enterprise of the managers of business corporations that are now invading its forests and mining regions with roads and mills and machinery, building up and beautifying its towns. planting here and there institutions of learn- ing and bringing with them the best gifts and the highest virtues of civilization, adorning the wilder-

ness with the home, the church and the school, we must not forget to honor the sturdy pioneer who blazed the way over which have come the forces that vitalize and energize and enlighten. In Kootenai county there is no pioneer's association and we are unable to give a complete list of the frontiersmen who first pen- etrated the unexplored mountain recesses and went fearlessly into the depths of the black forest, making the slender, winding trail that eventually broadened into a highway for the march of advancing civilization. But there are many of these old heroes in different parts of the county and their names will be found in connection with the history of the various settlements and towns. They are in every particular worthy the high tribute recently paid the pioneeers at Edgemont, South Dakota, by President Roosevelt when he said : "Honor to all good citizens, but honor most of all to the men who took the lead in taming the shaggy wil- derness, to the trail blazers, to the men who marked out that earliest of highways, the spotted line, the blazed trail. You belong to that body of men who conquered a continent for a race and a people and you did your full share in making the nineteenth century the most wonderful upon which the sun has ever shown." The pioneer days are gone but many of the pioneers yet live. All honor to their sturdy manhood, their fearless natures and their lofty virtues.

CHAPTER IV.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

RATHDRUM.

In pleasing contrast with the arid regions of Mon- tana on the east and Washington on the west are the wooded hills and mountains, the winding, picturesque valleys, and the beautiful lake regions of the Panhan- dle of Idaho. The west bound traveler on the North- ern Pacific railroad is enchanted with the beauty and grandeur of the vanishing views thrown upon the vista as the coach speeds along the broken shores of the magnificent lake Pend Oreille. To the left spreads the level body of water, in storm lashing its rocky confines with power and fury, in calm, reflecting rugged mountains clothed with primeval forests and crowned with everlasting snows. To the right is a bold outline of peaks and ridges with intervening can- yons receding into depths of mystery and gloom. After an hour's ride amid changing lake and mountain scenes a level timbered stretch is traversed which ter- minates at the foothills on the northern edge of the

valley of the Spokane river, termed locally the Rath- drum prairie.

Here when plain and forest, vale and mountain meet has been built the village of Rathdrum, one of the older towns of Northern Idaho, and the present county seat of Kootenai county. Since the first set- tlers laid the foundations of permanent homes in this part of the state less than a quarter of a century ago Rathdrum has been a town of importance geographi- cally and politically. In it has centered the political life and about it have been fought the political battles of the commonwealth. In 1871, in a cabin which stood near the present site of the home of Charles Wesley Wood, the rider on the pony mail and express route from Walla Walla, Washington, to Misssoula, Montana, rested for a brief period and made a hasty meal of venison or bear meat and beans while saddle and pack were being transferred to the back of a fresh relay. About the cabin was a small clearing, but be- yond this the trail wound in either direction through

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a dense forest of pine, primitive and unexplored ex- cept by wild beasts and savages. Over all of the pres- ent site of the village spreads this wilderness of pines and the occupant of the lone cabin was the only dweller within the present limits of the village.

The close of the next decade witnessed but few transformations. The cabin was still buried in the forest. The trail had but recently been widened to a passable road, and the wild beast and savage still roamed where now stand the homes and commercial buildings of a civilized and prosperous people.

The first occupant of the lone cabin was a hunter and trapper named Connors who squatted on the land and built the structure in 1861. In 1871 his squatter rights were purchased by Frederick Post, who, after the government survey had been made, journeyed by horse and boat all the way to Lewiston, where a Uni- ted States land office had recently been established, to file on the claim. Mr. Post's title to the land was afterwards transferred to his son-in-law, Charles Wesley Wood, who still resides on it and who has the distinction of being the pioneer citizen of Rathdrum. The greater part of the present town site lies within the original boundary lines of this homestead, whose legal description is as follows: Southeast quarter of section thirty-six, township fifty-two north, range five west of Boise meridian. Rathdrum was at first called Westwood in honor of her pioneer. In 1881 a post- office was regularly established with Zach Lewis as postmaster. Shortly after its establishment instruc- tions were received from the postoffice authorities at Washington to give the office a new name. The rea- son assigned for desiring a change was the existence of other offices throughout the territory bearing names similar to Westwood. Mr. Lewis was unable to choose one to his own satisfaction and appealed to M. M. Cowley, ex-president of the Traders' National Bank, of Spokane, then living at Spokane Bridge on the boundary line between Washington and Idaho. Mr. Cowley recited a number of names, among them, incidentally, Rathdrum, the place of his nativity in Ire- land. This was selected by Mr. Lewis as a name likely to be sufficiently satisfactory to the Washington authorities, and Westwood became Rathdrum. Dur- ing the 'sixties and 'seventies there were no permanent white settlers, other than those named, in the vicinity of the Wood ranch. At Bonner's Ferry and at Senea- quoteen were fur trading posts, and in the mountains and along the streams were a few temporary habita- tions occupied by trappers and hunters. These were usually squaw men who had taken unto themselves wives from the Spokane or Kootenai tribes of Indians, and who took no part in the future development of the country's resources. There were at this time no ap- parent causes that would naturally produce a commer- cial and political center in the wilderness.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 187

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