An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 31

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 31
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 31
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 31
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 31

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).

"After a careful examination, the Clearwater river at a point about two and a half miles above the town, has been selected as the source of supply. That this stream is not misnamed can be seen at its confluence with the Snake river. The latter river is charged with sedimentary matter and is highly alkaline, while Clear- water is soft, clear and free from impurities, and as they meet, the two waters are as distinct as a blue and a brown ribbon, side by side.

"The works will be a pumping system having a capacity of two million gallons, raised to an elevation of 225 feet, giving a pressure of 97 pounds per square inch in the lower and business portion of the town, and will give the beautiful plateau above the bluff ample pressure for all purposes.

"The plant will consist of a brick engine and boiler house, forty by forty feet, on a concrete foundation fourteen feet high along the river front, into which is built the heavy wrought iron inlet pipe and pump well, with their attached gate and foot valve. The inlet pipe will be five feet below extreme low water. The engine will be of the modern type of double compound condensing engines. The boiler will be of steel, 85 horse power, with a steam pressure of 120 pounds. The reservoir will be cement lined and of a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons. The mains will be 8 66-100 miles long, consisting of 12, 10, 8. 5 and 4 inch pipe."

Another enterprise projected this year, which would have proved of immeasurable benefit had it been car- ried to a successful consummation, was that of the Sweetwater Irrigation Company, organized to con- struct a ditch seventeen miles in length to convey the waters of Sweetwater creek to Lewiston. It was in- tended to store the water in reservoirs on the flat above town, to be distributed whenever and wherever needed.

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

During the spring of 1891, the Lewiston Chamber of Commerce was organized with T. B. Cooper as president, and W. S. Buck, corresponding secretary. Committees were appointed to perfect the organi- zation and attend to its detail work. The old Board of Trade had lost its vitality and a new organization was necessary that the best interests of the city should be conserved. Company I, of the Idaho National Guards, was likewise organized in Lewiston, on March 13th, Fred Kroutinger being chosen captain, C. A. Forseman and J. H. Robinson lieutenants.

The water system, begun during the previous twelvemonth, was completed this year giving the city one of the finest plants of its kind in the northwest, outside the large cities. The engine was said to have a capacity of 700,000 gallons per day of ten hours, and the reservoir, situated half a mile south of the pump house, a capacity of one million gallons.

Residents of Portland and The Dalles will re- member that the year 1894 was one of grave disasters by the flood of those cities and other Columbia river towns. Naturally the same conditions obtained in Lewiston. We have spoken of the record breaking high water of 1887, but the flood of this year left the highest mark of that fully thirty inches under water. For two weeks during the last of May and first of June, citizens held back the raging torrent by means of dykes constructed of sacks of sand and loose dirt, but on the third of the latter month the force of the waters could no longer be resisted and about 2:30 o'clock the bell gave warning that the flood had gained the victory. Persons living in the lower portion of the city had moved out in anticipation of this, there- by reducing the damage to a minumum. The Main street business men had moved everything out of their basements. They were not looking for water six inches over their floors, however, but that is just what came, catching them unprepared and greatly damaging their goods. The people on the low ground in the vicinity of the courthouse were also taken by surprise, their dyke having betrayed the trust they had reposed in it. Sidewalks, fences and other movable objects were carried away and deposited around some obstruction and the irrepressible small boy found much sport in navigating the center of the street on a piece of drift. Fortunately these conditions were of short duration and in a few days the city had a force of men at work removing the debris and replacing the sidewalks. It is said that $700 was expended by the council in this manner.

It might be supposed that the flood and the financial depression would have a very deleterious effect upon the prosperity and development of the town, but we are assured that there were no hard times in Lewiston such as were experienced in other points in the north- west and that a steady forward movement was main- tained, though of course the pace of the progressive march was of necessity reduced somewhat. In 1895 came the opening of the reservation, causing an influx of home seekers and the distribution of hundreds, nay thousands, of dollars of Indian money among the Lewiston merchants. These causes were efficient to

overcome the depressing influence of outside conditions and to produce a period of prosperity which lasted until the clouds had cleared from the country's financial sky. When good times came Lewiston had no despondency to rally from and it was ready to enter upon a career of rapid advancement which has con- tinued to this day.

The spring of 1896 saw the commencement of work, by the Lewiston Water & Power Company, on an irrigation ditch from Asotin creek to Lewiston flats, just across Snake river in the state of Washing- ton. In January. 1897, the work was completed. It gave a wonderful impetus to settlement and develop- ment in that section of the country and to the up- building of Clarkston, Lewiston's sister city, which is so closely connected with the Idaho town by the bridge across Snake river as to make the two practic- ally one city:

In 1897, the year of railway construction into Lewiston, and the year of unprecedented advancement in the history of the town, was marred by a rather serious fire which occurred on the evening of the 8th of August. The cause of the conflagration, was the explosion of a lantern in the hay mow of Collins's livery barn, which was consumed with the ontbuildings belonging thereto. The entire block was wiped out of existence, the buildings destroyed being J. B. Mun- shaw's house, the residence of N. B. Holbrook, that occupied by J. O. Barbour and a log building owned by Martin Collins. Mr. Munshaw, who was operating the stables under lease at the time, lost but $600, most of his property being covered by insurance, but Col- iins' loss was in the neighborhood of four thousand dollars and Holbrook's two thousand. Only the fortunate presence of plenty of water and the efficient work of firemen and citizens saved the lower end of the town from destruction.

No general disaster of any kind detracted from the blessings of the prosperous year 1898 in Lewiston. Five substantial brick blocks added to the solidity of the town, while numerous residences of a good class improved its appearance and added to its size. The Lewiston Commercial Club was organized this year, former institutions of the kind having apparently fallen into "innocuous desuetude." Its officers elected Sep- tember 5th, were: President, B. F. Morris; vice- presidents, J. P. Vollmer and Robert Schleicher ; treas- urer, George H. Kester; trustees, J. Alexander, W. A. Austin, A. H. Alford, E. H. Libby, J. B. Morris, C. Weisgerber, J. E. Babb, C. C. Bunnell, J. W. Reid and O. A. Kjos. The advent of the railroad and the general prosperity were celebrated by a harvest carni- val, attended by hundreds from the surrounding coun- try and hundreds more who came in from points be- tween Spokane and Lewiston on two special railway trains.

The causes which produced the good times of 1898, viz .: the interest in the section of transconti- nental railway companies, the presence of transpor- tation facilities. the increased knowledge of tributary resources, and the development of various Salmon river mining districts, continued operative during the

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

ensuing twelvemonth and the year 1900 opened with bright prospects for a continuous growth and develop- ment of the town. One question of importance which arose during this year was the securing of a better and more satisfactory water supply. Those residing upon the hill complained that the provision for their necessities was insufficient and as scores of new houses were being erected and scores more were in contemplation, the need of solving the water problem was rapidly becoming more urgent. Accordingly the city council made overtures to the Lewiston Water & Light Company for the purchase of their plant, and the company expressing a willingness to sell, T. B. Cooper, an expert, was employed to estimate the value of the system. He reported its worth $54,- 934.36. The company asked a much larger sun1. Though the council expressed its willingness to accept the terms of the owners of the system, the transaction hung fire until the fall of 1901, when a newly elected council brought matters to a crisis by reducing the water rates more than twenty-five per cent. The company refused to accept the reduction and took the case into court where a decision was rendered against them.

Meanwhile a special election was decided upon, to vote upon the issuance of $80,000 in bonds for the purpose of enabling the city to own its water and light plant. The election was held November 19th. The bonding proposition carried by a large majority, over 90 per cent of the votes being in its favor. The Lewiston Water & Light Company again went into court asking that the city be restrained from opening bids submitted for the purchase of the bonds, alleging that the election was irregular and that the Company's franchise was exclusive. The court re- fused the injunction. The bids were opened and that of Teasongood & Mayer, bankers of Cincinnati, ac- cepted. These gentlemen offered a premium of $68.80 per thousand, bonds to bear interest at the rate of 5 per cent. The city went ahead with its plans to construct a new water system and the Lewis- ton Water & Light Company proceeded with its suit in the courts of the state. Meanwhile, however, nego- tiations were continued for the purchase of the sys- tem already constructed and after several conferences between committees representing the two interests, it was finally agreed that the city should take the company's plant for a cash price of $70,000, all suits by the latter to be held in abeyance until the contract for purchase should be signed, then dismissed without prejudice, each party paying its own costs. The terms of agreement were accepted by the council on the evening of March 10, 1902, and confirmed by the voters at an election held April 24th of the same year.

August 28, 1902, the city voted to authorize the sale of ten thousand dollars street improvement bonds, the proceeds to be used in grading Main street between Fifth street and the courthouse, the gravel to be taken from the Fifth street cut. Work upon this much needed improvement is still in progress at this writing, and the great good accruing from it in

giving the city a clean and solid business street, and the people of Normal hill the benefit of an easy grade to their elevated homes is abundantly justifying the vote of 108 to 53 by which the bond issue was authorized.

Perhaps the developments that have taken place between the time when Lewiston was a town of tents encroaching upon an Indian reservation and the pres- ent cannot be better summarized than by enumerating the various business enterprises which are being sus- tained within its limits to-day and the men at their heads. It is difficult to be sure that some of these have not been omitted, but practically all are in- cluded in the following: The dry goods and furnish- ing stores of John P. Vollmer & Company, O. A. Kjos and John M. Fix, also the Grand Leader and the Bee Hive; the grocery stores of E. L. Russell, Reed & Brashears, W. R. Wyatt, Merriam Brothers, C. A. Phelps, the Lewiston Grocery & Bakery Company, the Golden Rule and the Normal Hill Grocery Company : the art store of Fair & Thompson ; White Brothers and A. S. Burnett, wholesale dealers in fruits and vegetables; the music store and supply house of W. H. Young; Charles Hahn, Naylor & Norlind, plumbing; Lewiston Trading Company, dealers in agricultural implements, carriages, etc .; the drug stores of J. Q. Moxley, Ray & Osmer, Dent & Butler, the Lewiston Drug Company; the shoe store of C. A. Hastings; the hardware stores of G. W. Fletcher, Myers & Neyland, and the Cash Hardware Company ; the clothing stores of Meuli & Lomax and H. A. Nixon; D. J. McGilvery, L. C. Neal and the Lewiston Furniture & Undertaking Company, deal- ers in furniture and house furnishings ; the harness and saddle store of R. M. Coburn ; the J. S. Cox and R. L. Pennewell Outfitting Companies: the jewelry stores of Charles G. Kress, George H. Lake, J. H. Bethel and H. Haines; L. Diebek, manufacturing jeweler ; the Idaho National Bank, W. P. Hurlburt, president, C. D. Thomas, cashier; the Lewiston National, W. F. Kettenbach, president, G. H. Kester, cashier ; the First National, J. P. Vollmer, president, E. W. Eaves, cashier ; (this last is the strongest bank in the state and among the national banks of the American Union, it was officially ranked in 1901 the fifty-seventh) ; the stationcry and news depot of Thatcher & Kling; the Idaho Tea Company: the galleries of E. G. Cummings, J. W. Gomond, and E. Fortin, photographers : the Boss Meat Market, also the meat markets of Ehrman & Company, Dill Brothers, A. M. Cherier, F. M. Long & Sons ; the Mark Means Company, distributors and manufac- turers' agents : Pring Candy Company, manufacturers of confectionery ; the Arcade, the Boss, Shafer & Heller, Mallory & Lydon, the White Front, Idaho and Farmers' livery and feed stables; the fruit, cigar and confectionery stores of M. N. Farmer, S. A. Coppinger, and George F. Loeb; E. L. Wiggin, H. R. Miller and Louis Grostein, dealers in cigars and tobacco; W. T. Carpenter, dealer in curios ; A. J. Kraudelt, confectionery; Theodore Hartman, John C. Manson, F. Hacker & Company, Aurelio Farren

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

and J. J. Philippi, tailors ; Ora L. Kennedy, Mrs. Elaine Ritchie. milliners; M. H. Sprague, bicycles ; H. T. Madgwick, dealer in shingles, lime and brick ; A. Sempert, store and office fixtures ; A. C. Coburn, sign painter; the Lewiston Junk Shop, Shank & Calvert, proprietors; Idaho Steam Laundry Comp- any ; H. K. Barnett and the Nez Perces County Ab- stract Company, abstracters ; K. Wong Yick & Com- pany, general merchandise; Trader & Bartlett, manu- facturers of H. & K. cigars ; the Nez Perces Machine Works; C. F. Grimm, C. B. Nelson, William Wright, R. W. Carter, blacksmiths; the White Labor, the Woman's Exchange and the Boston lunch counters ; Imperial, John Long and O. K. barber shops; the Lewiston Bottling Works; the brewery of Christ Weisgerber ; the planing mill of E. A. Rowley ; H. T. Best, machinist ; William Agnew, gunsmith ; J. Schwert, shoemaker; Huber & Frazier, F. R. Seidel, builders and contractors; the Vollmer Clearwater Company and Kettenbach Grain Company, exporters of grain and flax ; F. W. Kettenbach, insurance agent ; Collins' feed store ; the Standard and Idaho dairy companies ; T. S. Williams, upholstering : the Lewis- ton Business and Shorthand College, Margaret Slat- tery, proprietor ; Skinner & Mounce, Potvin & Howe, Kroutinger & Cox, Wade R. Parks, J. W. Willison & Company ; F. W. Godard & Company, S. S. Rogers & Company and J. M. Edwards & Company, real es- tate agents ; the Raymond House, the Grand, the Bol- linger. Hotel De France, the Scully, the White House, the Grand Central, the Thatcher, the Spokane and the Columbia, hotels ; the Lewiston Mercantile Company, a wholesale house; the Lewiston Milling Company, capacity 200 barrels of flour per day : Ernest McCul- lough, Frank Doughty and I. L. Galbraith, civil engi- neers and architects : M. E. Adams, mining engineer ; Charles W. Shaff. J. B. Morris, John F. Hurlbut, F. L. Hinkley, F. S. Stirling, J. Marion Smith, C. C. Phillips, S. A. Roe, I. S. Collins, S. Salzburg, physi- cians and surgeons ; R. Victor Kuhn, J. J. Randall, J. F. Atkinson, dentist : Hattie Lorton and J. H. Watson, osteopaths ; E. O'Neil, James W. Poe, McFarland & McFarland, J. N. Smith, Johnson & Halsey, Price E. Stookey, G. W. Tannahill, John B. Anderson, R. S. Anderson, James E. Babb,, Crow & Williams, John E. Nickerson, Ray Walker, Thomas Mullen, Wade R. Parks, Bender & Alley, D. W. Bailey, Frederick D. Culver, lawyers ; Adrain D. Sweet, A. G. Glidden and M. L. Stowe, stenographers.

While Lewiston has suffered greatly in times past for lack of transportation facilities and is still look- nig forward to the advantages which an open river to the sea and one or more transcontinental railways will give, the town has no great reason for complaint on this score at the present time. The Northern Pa- cific Railroad maintains a daily passenger service be- tween the city and Spokane; the Clearwater passen- ger leaves Lewiston each afternoon for interior points, returning the following morning; while accommoda- tion trains are run over the Lapwai branch to Culde- sac three times weekly and oftener during the shipping season. The Oregon Railway & Navigation Company

operates a fine line of passenger and freight boats be- tween Lewiston and Riparia. At present the Spok- ane, the Lewiston and the Norma, each of 250 tons burden, are in use, the first two alternating with each other so as to give a daily service, the last running only when business demands. Captain E. W. Baugh- man, the pioneer navigator and one of the first crew to bring a steamer up the Snake river to its conflu- ence with the Clearwater, is in charge of the Spokane, Captain E. H. Works, of the Lewiston and Captain Ralph Baughman of the Norma. A fifty ton boat, the Imnaha, is being built by local capitalists to run on the upper Snake river. During the wheat shipping sea- son, the Northern Pacific operates the steamer J. M. Hannaford between Lewiston and points on the Co- lumbia.

The Pacific States Telephone Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company furnish to Lewis- ton wire connection with all the important towns and cities of the northwest, while the Lookout Telephone Company, a local corporation, has erected a network of lines connecting various towns and stations in the country surrounding Lewiston. Stage lines radiate in several directions giving communication and close connection with numerous towns and villages not reached by the railroads. One of the finest steel bridges in the northwest, erected in 1898-9 by the promoters of Vineland, in Asotin county, Washington, spans the Snake river between Lewiston and Clarks- ton, making the relationship between the two towns very intimate.

The fraternal spirit is strong in Lewiston, as in most other towns of the west and many fraternities are represented. The Masons have recently sub- scribed $50,000 for the erection of a Masonic temple, a fact which shows the strength of that society among our people. The different Masonic bodies maintained in the city are the Knights of Rose Croix, No. I,. the Knights of Kadosh, No. I, Lewiston Consistory No. I. the Scottish Rite, Lewiston Chapter No. 4,

Royal Arch, York Rite, Lewiston Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar, Nez Perces Lodge No. 10, A. F. & A. M., and Lewiston Lodge of Perfection, No. I. The Odd Fellows, who own a handsome brick hall in Lewiston, are represented by Clearwater Encamp- ment No. 7, and Lewiston Lodge No. 8. Among the other fraternal orders of the town are: Excelsior Lodge No. 2, Knights of Pythias, Poplar Camp No. 205. Woodmen of the World, Tsceminicum Tribe No. 8. Improved Order of Red Men, Clearwater Lodge No. II, A. O. U. W., Lewiston Council of the Royal Arcanum and a camp of Modern Woodmen, many of which have their various ladies' auxiliaries.

Two important literary clubs are maintained in the town, both women's societies. The older, organized in the fall of 1899, is known as the Tsceminicum club, deriving its name from the Nez Perces words signifying "at the forks of the river." It meets fort- nightly at the homes of its members for the render- ing of literary programs. This club is to be credited almost entirely with the founding, in September, 1900, of what is now the city library. The conditions

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upon which the ladies donated their collection of books to the city was that it should be furnished at public expense with a library home and that its use should be free to all residents of Lewiston. From time to time since, the Tsceminicum club has, by giving library benefits in the form of public entertain- ments, sales. lectures, etc., secured the money with which to purchase additional books. The library has also been the beneficiary of the benevolence of Charles F. Adams, the Boston philanthropist, and is indebted to Senator Heitfelt for securing it hundreds of docu- ments and government reports. The collection con- sists now of 2,837 volumes, to which, according to the card issue, 1,479 persons have had access. Mar- garet G. Guyer has been librarian since the inception of the enterprise and to her is due the credit for the library's skillful management and its careful classi- fication and arrangement.

The other library society, known as the Twentieth Century Club, is very similar to the Tsceminicum in its objects and organization, but it is a somewhat younger society. Besides these, there is what is known as the Cecilian society, maintained, as its name implies, for the purpose of cultivating the musical faculties of its members.

Six church societies have been organized in Lewis- ton, the Catholic, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Episcopal, the Christian and the Baptist, of which the presiding pastors are respectively, Revs. Hubert A. Post, S. J., E. P. Giboney, John R. Gregory, Ever- ett Smith, J. A. Pine and R. T. Guernsey. All of these denominations are comfortably and satisfactorily housed except the Baptist, which intends building a new church edifice in the near future. These church societies are all vital and active, contributing im- measurably to the moral and spiritual life of the con- munity. The Catholics are projecting a new hospital, to be under the charge of the sisters of St. Joseph, and to be known as St. Joseph's hospital. It will cost $25,000.

A historical review of the county's public school system is a practical impossibility owing to the com- plete lack of statistical or other records in the county superintendent's office, but some reminiscences of Lewiston's schools may be of interest and not inap- propriate in this chapter. C. P. Coburn says that he has a very distinct recollection of the first teacher to pursue his profession in Nez Perces county. Late in the fall of 1863, according to Mr. Coburn, a middle aged man of professional appearance and quiet de- meanor appeared in Lewiston and proceeded to or- ganize a small school. He wore a tall silk hat, a suit of the blackest broadcloth and a white tie, all bearing unmistakeable signs of long usage and giving the im- pression that their proprietor was a broken down sport. They did not belie him, as later events proved, but for the time being the teaching ability of the man was all that was inquired into. After diligent can- vassing he secured a few pupils and opened his school. Everything progressed satisfactorily until the teacher drew his first month's pay, whereupon the sporting proclivities of the pedagogue manifested themselves.

He set out to double his money at the gambling table, but unfortunately for him, the fickle dame played him false at this most critical juncture and his wages passed into other hands. Not desiring to remain longer in Lewiston in the face of his ignominious downfall, he' quietly departed whence he came and the school was left teacherless.

Lewiston continued without educational facilities for nearly a year thereafter, or until the fall of 1864, when one P. H. Howe arrived and opened a subscrip- tion school in a small frame building on Fourth street. It is said that Schoolmaster Howe, who taught three months, was a very ardent Unionist, so ardent indeed that he was subject to frequent fits of patriotism, when he would have his little band of scholars sing "John Brown's Body Lies A-mouldering in the Grave," when they should be engaged in more arduous mental exercises. To him, however, is due considerable credit for placing the school in Lewiston in some kind of a working condition and awakening a slight educa- tional spirit in the town, which, for the first few years was populated by a migratory, gold-seeking class who paid but little attention to the refinements of life.

With the organization of the territory county af- fairs became better adjusted and the little school hield at Lewiston was given support by the levying of a small tax. For some time this was the only district to derive benefit from the tax, as no other had been organized. Mount Idaho district was the next to gain an existence.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 31

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