An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 250

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 250
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 250
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 250
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 250

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A private school was opened September 15, 1884, hy Mrs. Robert Neil, with an attendance of thirteen pupils. Monday, March 30, 1885, the school trustees of District No. 3 (Murray), having so ordered, the first public school taught in the Coeur d'Alenes was opened with 25 pupils ; fourteen girls and eleven boys. Miss Selma Talbott had been engaged as teacher at a salary of $75 a month. During the same year a lot was purchased for public school purposes and a suita- ble building erected thereon. The present handsome building, built in 1897, cost $2,350.

Mr. Adam Aulbach, edior and proprietor of the Murray Sun, is authority for the statement that in the winter of 1884-5 there were one thousand people on the Murray townsite, and fifteen hundred in contig- uous mines. There were, also, fifty saloons. The same winter a heav snow storm, which set in on the afternoon of December 18, wrought considerable dam- age, crushing four large buildings, and destroying the roofs of others. The largest of the structures thus ruined was the Theater Comique. By December 23, thirty inches of snow had fallen during the season.

A call for a public meeting to participate in the or- ganization of a fire department was issued in January. 1885, pursuant to which the court room of Justice Mc- Kay was filled with an enthusiastic gathering of the business men of Murray. A volunteer fire company was rapidly enrolled, and the following officers elected : J. T. Roberts, chief; J. Marks, assistant ; John M. Burke, foreman; J. Hackleman, assistant foreman ; Frank Stevens, second assistant foreman; M. L. Fein- berg ; G. N. Culver, treasurer. The name of the organ- ization was Friendship Company, No. I. The immi- nent danger from fire was again eagerly discussed March 11, 1886, at a public meeting held at Union hall. Before adjournnient a committee of eleven was named and instructed to devise some practical plan for pro- tecting the town from fire. The committee selected were W. L. Blossom, S. Fuller, W. W. Hart, Warren Hussly, W. J. Hawkins, Roderick Mckenzie, A. B. Levi, O. D. Garrison, Adam Aulbach and Messrs. Moffitt and Wolf. The result of the deliberations of this committee was the establishment of the Murray Water Company, with a capital of $5,000, divided into shares of $25 each. This stock was readily taken by the citizens of the town, and a water right was located at the head of the cast fork of Alder gulch, and fifty inches of water were taken.

From the many lot-jumping sensations common to Shoshone county residents of Murray were not ex- empt. In January, 1885, a number of unoccupied lots on lower Main street were jumped. Temporarily this excited only passing comment, as the owners

were, at the time, out of the county. This served, however, to embolden others; the contagion spread rapidly. Within a remarkably short period every vacant lot in Murray was jumped. The title under which the jumpers purposed to hold these lots never possessed any validity whatever, and was, in the main, a side issue of the Schultze-Keeler case, adjudicated several years later. Still it was serious enough to en- danger a small reign of terror. The climax was reached at 11 o'clock, a. m., January 30, when, ac- cording to the Murray Sun, one man "planted himself on the north side of First, at the intersection of Main street, stuck up a notice that the ground belonged to him, and with a shovel proceeded to clear away the snow." This action developed a panic. To protect the other side of the streets citizens hastily secured planks and fenced them in. In their raid a number of the jumpers attacked the "Widow Claim," erecting fences right and left. These, however, were promptly razed to the ground by William Keeler, Mr. Cromie and others. So serious became the situation that, in response to a petition a public meeting was held at Smith's hall, and the following resolution unani- iously adopted :

Resolved, that the streets of Murray, between Gold Run and Alder Gulch, as laid out by the original locators of the town, must, and shall be. kept open as public thoroughfares.

At this meeting Judge Claggett, one of Murray's earliest pioneers, made an earnest and patriotic appeal for law and justice to the property owners. To en- force this resolution. remove obstructions and assume general charge of the matter, a committee was named comprising J. R. Roberts, Con Sullivan, William Keel- er, R. R. Cummins and Adam Aulbach. The spirit of this meeting was manifested by a motion which heart- ily prevailed, to the effect that all lots of fifty feet front and 125 feet in depth, upon which there were improvements, should be protected vie et armis against jumpers.

This outbreak was followed by litigation of far greater significance. It was in 1884 that the famous suit of A. J. Prichard vs. William Keeler, et al.,-a cusuc celebre-was placed upon the court calen- dar, there to remain ten years, or until July, 1894. The original plaintiff, however, had been C. A. Schultze and the suit involved title to four-fifths of Murray's townsite. It was finally compromised and the plain- tiff, Prichard, who had taken up the claim of C. A. Schultze, M. H. Lane and W. O. Endicott, was per- mitted to take judgment. Keeler, as it appears from the records, was accused of having jumped the claims of these parties.

Another legal decision has been embalmed in the archives of Murray, and one which assumed rather dramatic effects. The story is well told in the Murray Sun, of October 27, 1885.

An unusual incident for a mining camp occurred in Mur- ray last evening when news that Judge Buck had given his deci ion favorable to the Golden Chest Mining Company, a case in which this company's right to the ledge was contested

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ny Murrayites, reached town. History has recorded few such demonstrations over such an event. The town resounded with cheers and murmurs of satisfaction, the Golden Chest whistle screamed with joy, men shouted themselves hoarse with en- thusiasm over the outcome. It was a genuine outburst of feeling, not confined to a certain class, but a general, popular demonstration, significant in its spontaneity, for the people did honor to a just victory.

Preparations had been made to fire a salute at the inter- section of Main and First streets, with giant powder, and a number of cartridges had been prepared and placed in a box. In lighting the fuse of the first cartridge a spark must have ignited some of the fuse in the box, for immediately after the first explosion, which was a light one, the fuse in the box was burning. Mr. Mountenay yelled to the men to run for their lives, and then, picking up the box, threw it into the middle of the street. Scarcely had it struck the ground when a terrific explosion occurred, breaking every pane of glass in the neighborhood The Palace Hotel front was shattered; likewise Holzman's front. "Dutch Jake's," Garrison & Strong's, Bennington's, Coeur d'Alene Brewery Saloon's, Mint Saloon's, Wallace & Company's and for a block away. Many lamps were knocked down, but, fortunately, no fires were started. All damage will be paid for. The rejoicing continued until past midnight About nine o'clock a procession was organ- ized, headed by fife and drum, which paraded the streets with hastily improvised transparencies. No political victory was ever celebrated with greater enthusiasm than was shown by this sympathetic community toward the pioneer quartz mill and the company.

Most of the more prominent fraternal societies are represented at Murray. Tuesday evening, November 24. 1885, the first A. O. U. W. lodge in the Coeur «l'Alenes was organized, No. 14, under jurisdiction of the grand lodge of Nevada. 'The original officers were . Richard A. Pomeroy, P. M. W. ; John C. Harkness, M. W .; Thomas A. Linn, overseer; Jesse Coulter, foreman; C. f. P. Bass, recorder ; Ernest Rammerl- meyer, recorder; Thomas E. McLelland, financier ; John M. Burke, guide: William P. Conellard, I. W .; Andrew Cavanaugh, O. W. ; John M. Burke, Richard A. Pomeroy and Thomas F. Hanley, trustees. This lodge was organized with a membership of thirty.

Coeur d'Alene Lodge, No. 20, A. F. & A. M., was organized in November, 1886. Canby Post No. II, G. A. R., was mustered in at Masonic Hall, Sunday afternoon, October 3, 1886. Murray Lodge No. 38, 7. O. O. F., with twenty-two charter members, was organized in March, 1891. Damon Lodge, No. 22, Knights of Pythias, was among the pioneer organi- zations in the Coeur d'Alenes.

Coulson & Company's express line, the first stage route between Murray and Wardner, began making regular trips May 10, 1886. On March 31, 1891, the mail contract between Murray and Thompson, Mont., was discontinued, since which period all mail has reached Murray from Wallace, on the south fork. April I, 1891, the Bank of North Idaho was opened by Frank F. Johnson, superseding Hussey's bank. The present officers are L. A. Doherty, president; C. B. Craven, cashier.

Sunday afternoon, September 20, 1896, Murray suffered from the most disastrous fire in her history. Considering, however, the demoralized condition of the fire department it was acknowledged by all resi- cents that they escaped cheaply. This was rendered possible by absence of high wind. The fire originated

from a panful of lard in the residence of Pascal Michieu, on Gold street, between First and Paradise aventtes. Five buildings were destroyed and the flames communicated to Niedenthal & Smith's new barn and the roof of Coons & Paskill's place. Mich- ieu, whose residence was destroyed, was badly burned on one hand and lost $50 in currency. Although the entire loss suffered by this disaster was not large, it fell mainly upon poor people who could ill afford to lose their homes.

Events in Murray during 1898 were sharply ac- centuated by a homicide, the killing of James Urqui- hart by Mrs. Thomas Saling. The husband of the woman was away from home, and Monday morning, December 5, Urquihart, who was under the influence of liquor, attempted to break into the cabin. Mrs. Saling seized a rifle and shot him. The wounded man was taken to the Providence Hospital, Wallace, where he died at 4 o'clock, Wednesday morning. Mrs. Sal- ing was promptly acquitted by a coroner's jury.

Flames again menaced Murray, February 21, 1901, and it was with no little difficulty that the town was saved from destruction. The fire threatened seriously the Coeur d'Alene Company's large warehouse, and only a desperate half hour's fight kept the flames with- in bounds. A gasoline lamp explosion, in the rear of the postoffice building, was the cause of the fire. This building, with much of its contents, was totally de- stroyed, with a loss of $2,000, partly insured.

The business enterprise of Murray in 1902 is rep- resented as follows :

General stores-Murray Mercantile Company, J. C. Feehan, manager ; M. Prager & Co., Ltd., Louis Prager, manager. Grocery and bakery-E. W. Bur- ton. Hardware-Murray Hardware Company. W. P. Northup, manager. Druggist-Dr. George S. Lesher. Express and postoffice-C. C. Landes. Meat market-Fuller Bros. Millinery and dry goods-Mrs. Tena Schmidt; Mrs. Josephine Erwin. Restaurant- Mrs. Klepinger and sister. Hotels-Murray, George Gilpatrick ; Louisville, Charles Manley. Rooming house Mrs. Martha McCorkingale. Blacksmith-Amos Wat- kins. Barber shop-Robert Wilkinson. Fruit stand- Frank Savage. Doctors-G. S. Lesher, Rova Alex- ander. School teachers-G. H. Dunn and wife. Jus- tice of the Peace-Dr. G. S. Lesher. Constable-Ben Schneiderjamm. Livery-McCann & Dunn. Tailor- E. G. Tarbox.

KELLOGG.

The original plat of the town of Kellogg was filed with the auditor of Shoshone county July 7, 1893. At that period the streets were Silver, Mill, Market, Port- land, First, Main, Fifth and the Mullan road. To Mr. Robert Horn we are indebted for the following facts concerning the early history of Kellogg :

In September, 1885, Robert and Jonathan Ingalls located the flat below Wardner as a ranch four days after discovery of the Bunker Hill & Sulllivan mine. These men were deeply impressed with the conviction that the district was destined to increase in importance

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

and in January, 1886, they laid out the town of Milo, named after Milo creek, along whose banks it was lo- cated. Of the original town site there were eight owners,-Robert Horn, Jonathan Ingalls, John M. Burke, Alfred Brile, Thomas Hanley, John A. Martin, Jr., Charles Sinclair and Jacoh Goetz ("Dutch Jake"), the latter at present one of the proprietors of the Cœur d'Alene Theater, Spokane, Washington. The entire ranch, comprising 160 acres, was divided into town lots. Within the year following the name "Milo" was exchanged for that of Kellogg, in honor of N. S. Kel- logg, discoverer of the Bunker Hill mine. At one period the town entered the contest for county seat dis- tinction, but was defeated by Murray which, in turn, lost to Wallace. The pioneer business man of Milo was Morris Prager, who brought in the first stock of general merchandise in May, 1886. During the fall of 1885 Messrs. Horn & Sinclair began work on a hotel which was completed the following spring. At pres- ent it is the oldest building in the gulch and is occupied by the Fair store. Other pioneer business men were George McGinnis, John Polly, W. W. Calder and Ed- ward Wilson. The political trend of thought among citizens of Kellog is illustrated by the fact that of the ninety-two votes polled in 1886, eighty-eight of them were Republican. In the summer of 1886 a school house was erected at a cost of $800. Miss Nettie Buck, niece of Judge Buck, was the first teacher em- loyed. In the establishment of the school Mr. Horn was an important factor, being at that period acting in the capacity of town site agent.

Kellogg, as delineated by Mr. Horn, has always enjoyed the reputation of a moral town, the first law passed by the authorities prohibiting a "red light dis- trict," and which has since never been permitted to be established. Rev. J. B. Orr, Congregational min- ister at Wallace. preaches at Kellogg on alternate Sun- clays.

It1 1901 the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mining com- pany donated to the town of Kellogg one of the finest brick school houses in the state, costing $8,000. At present the enrollment of the district, No. 9, is 107 boys and 96 girls : the total average attendance 166.5. Four teachers are employed, Alice Tarkington, James W. Hodge, S. Annette Bowman and Minnie C. Mur- phy. In 1886 the townsite company gave the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company fifteen acres of land for sidetrack purposes, and secured the road. The first train steamed into Kellogg in 1888.

DURKE.

If not the oldest, Burke is certainly one of the old- est mining towns in the Coeur d'Alene country, and is regarded as one of the most important camps in the district. Of the more prominent mines Burke is the home of the Hecla, Tiger-Poorman and Hercules, the latter being one of the most prominent of recent min- eral discoveries. There are, in the immediate vicin- ity of Burke, aside from these great producers, pros- pect properties like the Sonora, Hummingbird, Burke, Anchor, Ajax, Oom Paul, Echo, Trade Dollar, Oreans

and others, all in various stages of development and many of which, it is safe to assume, are destined to show rich values. Burke is located on Canyon creek, seven miles from Wallace, with which it is connected by both the Northern Pacific and the O. R. & N. rail- roads.

The organization of the town of Burke dates from June 13, 1885, when at a meeting of Canyon Creek mi- uers, out of thirty votes cast, twenty-nine were polled for the name of "Burke." The odd vote was cast for "Onealville." James Brady and Dan Martin were ap- pointed to wait upon Mr. J. M. Burke and inform him of the action of the meeting. Thereafter Mr. Burke appeared at the meeting, thanked those present for the honor conferred upon him, and extended courtesies of a more substantial character to the miners. At that period the town consisted of twelve habitations, includ- ing tents, and one store under the management of Ben- jamin Stringham. Of the new town the Wallace Press, of January, 1888, said: "The town of Burke has two mines in operation, one concentrator (Tiger,) seven- teen saloons, four general stores, one beer hall, two boarding houses, two hardware stores, one fruit and confectionery store, one butcher shop, one livery sta- ble, one lawyer, one physician, one furniture store, one baker's shop, about 800 inhabitants, a large visiting ele- ment, the Canyon Creek railroad and not a hotel in town. There are two lots only that are suitable for hotel purposes, and these may be purchased in the fu- ture. From three to five carloads of ore are being ship- ped daily."

In 1888 Burke could boast of 300 buildings. One year previous the town had but twenty. In 1888 the South Fork Lead & Silver Company constructed a con- centrator under the supervision of Otto Abeling. The Burke fire company was organized July 16, 1888, with twenty-two members and the following officers: J. C. House, chief ; George Hardesty, treasurer : George H. Green, secretary ; J. K. Waite, foreman ; J. Davis, assis- tant foreman. The same year the Granite mine com- pany constructed a concentrator, and a branch county jail was erected, 18x30 feet in size, built of wood and iron. Quoting from the Murray Sun, of May 17, 1887 :

At a recent meeting of the citizens of Canyon creek, in the vicinity of the Tiger mine, Sunday, May 15, at which R. MI. Dryden presided, and G. V. Byrnet act- ed as secretary, a cominittee was appointed to lay out a town site, make rules, etc. The chair named Jesse Tabor, James Brady, Michael Therriault, Theodore Jacoby and G. V. Byrnet. On Monday evening the meeting reconvened at McDonald's saloon. They re- ported substantially as follows, which report was adopt- cd: That the town be known as Burke ; that our main street be named Flidden, one cross street O'Neil, one south side street. Brady ; that lots be 50x125 feet in size: that eaclt lot must be recorded within ten clays from date of location, and a substantial fence built around it, which shall hold good for sixty days pending substantial improvements; that all disputes shall be settled by a citizens' committee of five ; that the recording fee be $2; that 50 cents shall be col- lected from each lot owner to defray the expense of

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

surveying the town-site; that no person can take more than one lot of fifty feet front, and that no location can be made by proxy, except with the single pro- vision that those who were absent and had cabins completed, or nearly so, were entitled to this privi- lege.

At this same meeting the Lelande Mining District was organized and G. V. Byrnet was recommended for the position of deputy mineral recorder. The same year Burke enjoyed the unique distinction of being the only mining town known that ever se- cured a railroad before it had a wagon road. This year a school district was allotted to Burke, with William Graham, R. M. Dryden and Dr. J. C. House as trustees. The town was progressing rapidly and several hundred men were at work in the mines. The department grants a postoffice, insisting on calling it Bayard, and appointing R. H. Kello postmaster. Subsequently a vigorous protest is entered against this name and it is changed to Burke.

Thursday evening, May 17, 1888, a number of public-spirited citizens assembled and organized the Burke Water Power Company, placing the capital stoek at $2,000, divided into shares of $5 each. S. S. Glidden was selected as president, William W. Hart, vice-president ; P. O. Weber, second vice-pres- ident ; G. V. Byrnet, secretary, and William Graham, treasurer. The pipe was furnished by J. R. Marks & Co., of Murray.

Early Monday morning, September 14, 1896, Burke was visited by a disastrous fire, entailing loss of life and destruction of the Tiger-Poorman Hotel. While the night cook was at work at the range a quantity of grease ignited and the room was soon enveloped in flames. Donaldson, the cook, ran up- stairs, giving the alarm to the sleepers as rapidly as possible, who rushed forth in their night elothes, leaping from windows and dropping from the porch to save their lives. Annie Johnson, an employe of the hotel, fell twenty feet to the ground, receiving a bad shaking up, but was not otherwise injured. William O'Mera was burned to death in his room. His gold watch was found beside him, but the body was so badly charred as to be unrecognizable, all but the thighs being burned to a erisp. He was a pioneer in the country, about forty years of age, a native of Ireland, and had no relatives in this section. He was a member in good standing in the Burke Miners' Union and was buried by that organization in Union cemetery, Nine Mile gulch. Others who were in- jured were: W. P. Fought, badly burned; E. L. Searles, three ribs broken; Joseph Coburn, W. P. Waterman, Pat and Martin McHale and Thomas Smith. They were taken to the Providence Hospital, Wallace. The hotel was completely destroyed. It was located thirty feet east of a mill, the roof of which caught fire, and for awhile it looked as if there would be entailed a loss of at least $100,000. The en- tire loss was $10,000, of which $5,500 was covered by insurance.

Educational matters have from the first engaged the attention of the best citizens of Burke. The

school, which is in District No. I1, is taught by Alice Fahey, principal, and Miss Dunham, assistant. There are enrolled fifty-seven boys and forty-four girls, and the average attendance is sixty-six and four-tenths. The district supports a nine months' school.

GEM.

Midway between the towns of Wallace and Burke, on the same lines of railways that conneet the two places, is the mountain town of Gem. Here is lo- cated the great Helena-Frisco mine, and its surround- ing prospects, many of which are under process of development. "For at least half a century to come," declare mining experts, "Gem will maintain its stand- ard among the prominent lead and silver camps of the Cœur d'Alenes." At present Gem is a lively, en- terprising town which, although it suffered severely during the low price of lead and silver, has resumed its place among the actively energetic output sta- tions of this wonderful mining district. The town is situated four miles below Burke, in the same can- yon, and from the Governor's report, in 1889, it is learned that there were at that period two hundred people in the vicinity of the new works of the Gem and San Francisco mines. The excellent water sup- ply of Gem is obtained from a spring in the guleh north of the town, the fall of which is three hundred feet. The school district, No. 16, supports a graded school of one hundred and ninety-four pupils-Nine- ty-four boys and one hundred girls-and the average attendance is one hundred and twelve. The teachers are Mary E. Halpin, principal; Kathryn M. O'Rourke, May Mckenzie. Two miles above Gem, toward Burke, is the postoffice of Mace, of which Miss Clara Hooper is postmistress. This is the home of the Standard mine, and the shipping point of its valuable output. The town is situated on the right- of-way of the oNrthern Pacific and O. R. & N. W. rail- ways, with an immediate and surrounding popula- tion of two hundred and fifty or three hundred peo- ple. The hotel is conducted by Charles McKinnis, and White & Bender and M. J. Flohr are proprie- tors of mercantile establishments in the town. A sa- loon is conducted by Friedman & Company.

KINGSTON.

At the mouth of the north, where it forms a confluence with the south, fork of the Cœur d'Alene river, is situated the town of Kingston. As early as April 28, 1884, the Cœur d'Alene Pioneer, pub- lished at Murray, said :

"At the present steamboat landing in the Cœur d'Alene river the new town of Kingston is located. WVagons run along the old Mullan road to Jackass station, about nine miles distant, where the trail to Fagle begins. Kingston contains about two dozen tents and the same number of log buildings. The Spokane & Cœur d'Alene Stage Company are run- ning a line of wagons from Kingston to Jackass sta- tion, where they conneet with saddle trains for Eagle

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City. The trail is shoveled and graded through eight feet of snow and the stage company intends to replace it with a wagon road as quickly as possible."

From the Eagle of the same year we learn that the new town was enjoying "a tremendous boom consequent on the report that it is to be the head of navigation for the present year." Over one hun- dred buildings were then erected and different busi- ness enterprises established. In July, 1888, the atten- tion of the citizens was directed mainly to the new railroad then being graded through the town. Kings- ton is located on the line of the Northern Pacific, about one-half mile south of the O., R. & N., the lat- ter road heing at present the only line in operation, high water having forced the abandonment of the Northern Pacific. The school report of Kingston, District No. 5, is as follows: Number of boys en- rolled, fourteen ; girls, thirteen; total, twenty-seven. There are eight months' school, taught by Edwin Smith. The average attendance is twenty.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 250

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