An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day, Part 13

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Idaho > An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day > Part 13

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).

It will be interesting to notice in this connec- tion a characteristic of the Californian which is

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

conspicuous in the Golden state even to this day, and that is a freedom from the Puritanic re- straints of the east and a kind of easy and social manner more characteristic of the Kentuckian and Tennesseean than of any other people in the world. During this period of which we are writ- ing, 1863-5, there were many Californians in southern Idaho,-two hundred and thirty from Siskiyou county alone in the Boise basin. Some of these free and easy-go-lucky but honest and social men were also from Oregon. Generally they were enterprising men, also patronizing charities and pleasures liberally. The sport which offered the most novel attractions, while morally unobjectionable also, was that furnished by the "sliding" clubs, of which there were several in the different towns. The stakes for a grand race, according to the rules of the clubs, should not be less than one hundred dollars nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars, for which they ran their cutters down certain hills covered with snow and made smooth for the purpose. Some of the larger occasions were accompanied by un- usual festivities. One sled was so large as to carry twenty persons, and the position of the pilot was a peculiarly responsible one, and many were in fact injured in this exciting and danger- ous sport. Many found entertainment by patron- izing a circulating library and a literary club, -- evidences of a high degree of civilization.

The winter of 1863-4 proved to be somewhat treacherous in one important respect. It was so mild and yielded so little snow that pack-trains and wagons kept under way between Walla Walla and the mines until February, and stage com- panies made great preparations to start up with their great trips about the 20th of that month; but about that time a heavy snow came, accom- panied by a fall of the temperature to a point about twenty-five degrees below zero, which de- layed stage traffic till the Ist of March, but caught many travelers en route to their destin- ations. The snow was so deep that even six horses could not pull an empty sleigh through. For the same reason the express from Salt Lake City, which was due early in February, did not arrive until in March.

Here is an appropriate place to give some of the most important particulars concerning stage enterprises, as it was here and during this period

that some of the most exciting experiences in connection with them were undergone.

The line from Walla Walla to Boise, the route most used in those days, was owned by George F. Thomas and J. S. Ruckle, who announced that they would, on commencing business, use only the best horses out of a band of a hundred and fifty, to be driven by a man named Ward, a famous coach-driver from California, where coach-drivers had attained the highest reputa- tion for skill in the world. Thomas himself had been stage-driver in Georgia. Going to Califor- nia in the early times of gold-mining in that state, he engaged in a lucrative business and be- came a large stockholder in the California Stage Company, which at one time had coaches on fourteen hundred miles of road. As vice-presi- dent of the company he established a line from Sacramento to Portland, where he went to reside.

On the discovery of gold in the Nez Perce country he went to Walla Walla and ran stages as the ever-changing stream of travel demanded. In partnership with Ruckle he constructed a stage road over the Blue mountains, at a great expense, and opened it in April, 1865.

Henry Greathouse was another stage proprie- tor on the route from the Columbia to Boise, and was an enterprising pioneer who identified him- self with the interests of this new region. Al- though a southern man he had the prudence to remain neutral in regard to the great and excit- ing issues between the north and south during the great war. While he was making arrange- ments to put on a line of stages to connect with boats at Wallula, he succeeded, on the 16th of March, in bringing through to Placerville the first saddle train for a month, with a party of twelve, one of whom was a woman. They were eleven days on the road.

On the Ist of April the pioneer coach, belong- ing to the Oregon & Idalio Stage Company, which was to run its stages from Umatilla land- ing to Boise, arrived at Placerville, with a full load of passengers, at one hundred dollars each. But this coach had come from Shasta, California, and had taken the California and Oregon stage road to Portland, going thence to The Dalles by steamer and there taking the road again. It had been fifty-nine days on this trip. Four other coaches of this line, starting from Shasta March

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

2, accomplished the journey in twenty-three days. Ish & Hailey, of Oregon, owned this line. To Mr. Hailey is due the honor of first taking a com- pany through the Blue mountains from the Col- umbia into Idaho in the dead of a snowy winter. On the Ist of May, coaches began to run from Idaho City and Placerville to Boise City and Owyhee. Ward, the driver previously men- tioned, and John J. McCommons, owned this line at first.

Road and ferry franchises were much sought after. A new road up the John Day river and through Canyon City to Boise was opened on the 20th of June. A franchise was granted to a company to build a road from the Camas prairie north of Salmon river to Boise, but it was after- ward found impracticable to open that route. The Owyhee Ferry Company also obtained a franchise at the first session of the Idaho legis- lature. Bristol established a ferry across Boise river at Boise City, and another across Snake river on Jordan's road to Owyhee. Michael Jor- dan, Silas Skinner and W. H. Dewey built a toll road from Owyhee to Boise in the summer of 1864.

Naturally the matter of cheaper freights en- gaged the attention of many enterprising men, who made sundry attempts to find better routes, or routes from new points, from Los Angeles to Fort Benton and Portland, and several large companies were incorporated for the purpose of establishing extensive routes, most of which found that they were undertaking enterprises too expensive. In May, 1864, two express lines were established between Boonville and Sacramento. They left Boonville on the 2d and 4th respec- tively, and returned successfully. The first men- tioned arrived at Boonville on the 22d, bringing the Sacramento Union of the 16th, to the great delight of the Californians here. These lines were successful until interrupted by Indian hostilities.

Westerfield and Cutter ran an express front Star City, Humboldt valley, to Jordan creek, fur- nishing news only nine days old. In June, John J. McCommons and C. T. Blake bought out Hillhouse & Company, who owned the express line between Idaho City and the Owyhee mines, which they operated until the death of McCom- mons, by the hands of the Malheur Snake In- dians, in February, 1865.

In the spring of 1864 a contract to carry the tri-weekly mail from Salt Lake to Walla Walla by way of Fort Hall and Boise City was awarded to Ben Holladay & Company, carriers of the Cal- ifornia mail, the service to begin July Ist; and an Indian agent was sent over the route with men, teams, hay-cutting apparatus and other means and appliances. The agent arrived in Boise in June. The main line from that place passed directly to Payetteville, a station on the north side of the Payette river, crossing the Snake river a short distance above the mouth of the Payette and running through Burnt Powder and Grande Ronde valleys to Walla Walla. The first overland mail reached Boise on the Ist of August.

In the early mining period of Idaho the preju- dice against Chinese labor was as great as it was in California, and the immigrants, indeed, went so far as to adopt regulations against their em- ploy; but at times and places white labor could not be secured to do the work, and despite the regulations a few Chinese were employed, who were obliged to pay a tax of six dollars a monthı for the privilege, one-half of this to go into the territorial fund and one-half into that of the coun - ty. The places where Mongolian labor was em- ployed were those where the richest pockets of gold and silver had been abstracted and the gath- erings were more tedious and not so remunera- tive; for a white man, naturally, had too little patience to work at any given spot when he heard rumors of greater discoveries elsewhere. The most of these white miners were almost constant- ly running around from one field to another.

Silver was discovered at various points in the Kootenai region as early as 1859, especially over in British territory, but little was done to open the mines. Gold was discovered in the Pend d'Oreille and Coeur d'Alene country as early as 1853, but the hostility of the Indians and the dis- coveries of gold elsewhere diverted attention from this region. Good prospects were found on the Kootenai river in the autumn of 1863.

In the spring of 1864, although much snow was remaining upon the ground, many prospec- tors from eastern Oregon and northern Idaho located claims fifty miles north of the United States line and started a town which they named Fisherville. During the winter early in 1864 a

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

fleet of thirty bateaux was built at Colville, on the Columbia, in what was then northeastern Ore- gon, now Washington, and the building of a steamer was commenced, to run on that river above Colville, and was completed within the next two years, by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company.

The favorite country, however, for the immi- grant miners of this period was still southern Idaho and the newly created territory of Mon- tana, which for a year was a part of Idaho. Among the more important discoveries made in 1864 were those on the North Boise, where the mining towns of Beaver City and Summit City were founded in the latter part of the winter; on the Malade river in Volcano district, forty miles south of the Little Camas prairie, by a company led by J. Z. Miller; in the Silver Hill district, in July, by a party headed by James Carr and Jesse Bradford, and here two towns, Banner and Eu- reka, were begun, with a hundred miners each; and minor discoveries in many other places.

Naturally many discoveries were made where quartz-mining was indicated, but nearly all these were remote from the few mills in the territory at that time, and capitalists did not feel justified in rushing up a mill immediately upon the dis- covery of a ledge, on account of the uncertainty attending the durability of the vield. The first quartz mill erected in the Boise basin was built by W. W. Raymond on Granite creek, about two miles from Placerville. The apparatus arrived in July and the mill was started in September. It consisted of ten stamps, each weighing nearly six hundred pounds and crushing one and a half tons daily, with a reserved power amounting to half a ton more each. This mill crushed ore from the Pioneer, Lawyer and Golden Gate ledges, and from its first week's work fifty pounds of amalgam. A novel device for crushing ore, on a small scale, was profitably practiced at the Landon lode, three miles northeast of Idaho City, on the divide between Moore and Elk creeks. Ordinary sledge hammers were fastened upon the ends of spring poles, and by this process one man in three days would crush two hundred pounds of ore, yielding about forty-six dollars. But soon a mill was placed here, by the Great Consolidated Boise River Gold and Silver Min- ing Company, which, with five stamps, com-

menced operation in December; and during the year other mills were erected in the district. A ten-stamp mill was started in December on the Garrison Gambrinus; two others, one on Sum- mit Flat, owned by Bibb & Jackson; another, a mile from Idaho City, owned by F. Britten & Company; another, on Bear Run, at Idaho City, attached to the steam power of Robie & Bush's sawmill, to do custom work. This sawmill, which was first erected at Lewiston, was removed to Boise in July, and was burned in September; it was rebuilt in October, with the quartz-mill at- tached. At South Boise between thirty and forty arastras were run by water power, with flattering results, and the number was soon increased to eighty-four, each crushing about a ton a day. In the arastra the Ophir yielded one hundred dollars to the ton.

In order to attract the attention of capitalists in the east and in San Francisco, several mining companies of Idaho shipped to New York and San Francisco from one to ten thousand tons of ore, but this was an expensive task, as the ore had to be hauled to great distances by the em- ployment of horses or mules.

The Confederate Star mine yielded one hun- dred and fifty dollars per ton, and the Ada El- more one hundred dollars, by the use of the quartz-mill in South Boise, owned by Carter, Gates & Company. As a specimen of modern wickedness, we may relate here the instance of the operation of the Ada Elmore mine by specu- lators, a company who employed an agency to run a tunnel in the ledge, at an enormous ex- pense, in such a way as purposely to let the roof fall in, so that by additional expense they could freeze out the small share-holders.

An eight-stamp mill at this time was built in Portland for South Boise, intended for the Idaho lode, and at the same time Andrews and Tudor, who left South Boise for the east in November, 1863, purchased a twelve-stamp mill in Chicago, for the Idaho, which was hauled by ox teams from the Missouri river in Nebraska, at a cost of thirty cents a pound. It reached its destination in October and was ready for work in December. In the autumn a five-stamp mill, built at Port- land, was placed on the Comstock ledge. R. B. Farnham took a ton of rock to New York and on its merits succeeded in forming a company,

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

called the New York & Idaho Gold & Silver Mining Company, who purchased and shipped to South Boise a thirty-stamp mill, which, how- ever, arrived too late for work that year.

South Boise had at this time four towns,-Es- meralda, Clifden, Rocky Bar and Happy Camp, and about two thousand persons were scattered over the district. A good wagon-road was com- pleted to Boise City in August, by Julius New- berg & Company.

In 1864 a new mining district was discovered on the headwaters of the middle Boise river, which was named Yuba. The ledges found on the south and middle Boise were solid quartz, larger than those of Owyhee but not so rich. They were in granite.

Among the many companies who organized and flourished more or less this year, 1864, we would mention the Oro Fino Gold & Silver Tun- nel Company, which was incorporated in May, in the Carson district, in the Owyhee country, for the purpose of running a tunnel through Oro Fino mountain. Thirty locations had already been made upon this mountain, one of which, named the War Eagle, subsequently gave its name to the mountain itself. This wonderful mass of mineral constituted the dividing ridge between Jordan and Sinker creeks; and it was on the northeastern side of this ridge that the first quartz-mill of the Owyhee region was placed.

The great discovery of 1865 was what has since been generally known as the Poorman mine, so named, it is said, because the discoverers were without capital to work it. The ore was the rich- est known, and so easily worked that it could be cut like lead, which indeed it resembled, but with a tint of red in it, which gave it the name of ruby silver. It was a chloride of silver, richly impreg- nated with gold, and brought four dollars an ounce as it came from the mine. The discoverers were O'Brien, Holt, Zerr, Ebner, Stevens and Ray, according to one authority, but according to others D. C. O'Byrne or Charles S. Peck.

The initial point of discovery was about a thousand feet from what is now called the dis- covery shaft, the ore being good but not particu- larly rich, and the vein small. Before operations had proceeded very far, Mr. Peck found the rich "chimney," or discovery shaft, concealing the place until he learned from Hays and Ray, the

first locators, the boundaries of their claim, and that it included his discovery. Peck then cau- tiously endeavored to buy the mine; but, finding that it was held too high, absented himself in the hope that the owners would diminish their price. In the meantime another of the prospectors came upon the rich chimney and located it, calling it the Poorman. A contest now arose for the pos- session of the mine, the Hays and Ray owners taking Peck into their company for finding and tracing the vein from their opening into the Poor- man. The Poorman company erected a fort at the mouth of their mine, which they called Fort Baker, and mounted some ordnance. They took out some of the richest of the ore and sent it to Portland, where it aroused a great sensation; but the prospect of endless litigation over the pro- prietorship induced both companies to sell, one to Put. Bradford and the other to G. C. Robbins. both of Portland, who worked the mine jointly, taking out nearly two million dollars, after which they sold to a New York company.

In the spring of 1864 was discovered the Mam- moth district, south of the Carson district, con- taining veins of enormous size. Flint district, separated from the latter only by an extension of the War Eagle mountains, was also prospected with good results. Of this the Rising Star ledge was the principal mine.

INDIAN HOSTILITIES.

Indian hostilities seemed to increase with a prospect of permanence. On the 3d of May, 1864, a party of whites was attacked about sixty miles from Paradise valley, and J. W. Dodge, J. W. Burton and others were killed. Between Warner and Harney lakes, Porter Langdon and Thomas Renny were killed, and the ranch of Michael Jordan was attacked in July, the owner soon afterward losing his life. A force of one hundred and thirty-four men was raised, which overtook the Indians in a fortified canyon and killed thirty-six, losing two of their own number, besides two being wounded. Colonel Maury then took the field, with one hundred men and four howitzers, encamped on Jordan creek and en- gaged in scouting during the remainder of the summer. About this time the people of Idaho petitioned to have General Conner sent to them from Utah; but most of the fighting was done in

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

Oregon, by the First Oregon Cavalry, who ex- tended their operations to Alvord valley and thence into Nevada as far as Mud lake.

The spring of 1865 opened with renewed hos- tilities, and a detachment of Washington infantry, under Sergeant Storm, and a small company, came upon Indians on Catherine creek and killed eight of them. The Shoshones becoming power- ful by their many depredations upon the property of the whites, began to give unusual trouble, and the people throughout the Pacific slope petitioned the general government for better defensive measures, and Charles McDermitt, of the Second California Volunteer Cavalry, established Camp Bidwell, near Goose lake, on the California road, which had been closed by hostilities, and from this point operated with good effect. After the close of the great civil war the general govern- ment spared several detachments for the far west, which in a year or two reduced the hostilities of the Snake Indians and kindred tribes.

The winter of 1864-5 set in during the month of November with a violent snow-storm, which inflicted heavy damages by destroying miles of flumes in eastern Oregon, letting the water into the ditches and carrying dirt into the claim open- ings and breaking down many of the fences of the newly improved farms. Heavy rains followed, which made the season unusually severe. But the spring opened early, and there was a heavy immigration, which arrived before the freight trains could get through. The new-comers, many of whom were the "left wing of Price's army," created first a bread famine, and then a riot. There was food enough for all, however, but flour was a dollar a pound, and bread an "extra" dish at the eating-houses. Street meetings began to be held by the idle consumers to compel the mer- chants, who had a little flour left, to reduce the price. A mob of sixty men marched to the store of Crafts & Vantine in Idaho City, where they found about two hundred pounds of flour and seized it. Proceeding to the store of Heffron & Pitts, the command was given by their leader to seize whatever flour they found. At this point Jack Gorman, deputy sheriff, with great courage arrested and disarmed the leader, a blustering Missourian six feet tall, and this action soon re- sulted in the restoration of order. The merchants reduced the price of their flour to fifty cents a

pound, and not long after that the coveted com- modity was as low as six cents a pound !

Restrained wickedness, however, soon found opportunity to vent itself, for the mob element set fire to the city, May 18, and burned the most valuable portion of it. leaving only three build- ings,-the Catholic church, the Jenny Lind the- ater and the office of the Idaho World. Besides these nothing remained but the scattered houses on the hillside, and Buena Vista bar, a suburb. Into these the homeless were gathered, while the Catholic church was converted into a hospital, the county hospital being among the structures consumed by fire. Much looting, of course, was done by thieves during the fire; but the mer- chants fortunately had a large portion of their goods stored in underground excavations, saved from both the fire and the thieves. Their aggre- gate losses were estimated at nine hundred thou- sand dollars. The town was immediately rebuilt, with many improvements, and by the middle of June it had almost its former proportions, and more than its former dignity of appearance. Idaho City was burned twice afterwards,-in 1867 and 1868, the loss in the former year being estimated at a million dollars!

In 1865 the emigration from the Pacific slope was so great as to lead to increased means of transportation. Hill Beachy. an enterprising citi- zen of the Boise basin, formerly of Lewiston, es- tablished direct overland communication with Star City, Nevada, and with California, supplying the road with vehicles and animal power for a distance of two hundred and sixty miles. In April he passed over this route with five coaches, filled with passengers; but the Indians burned one of the stations, within forty miles of Owyhee, killing the keeper, and the route was abandoned.

John Mullan, who published a miners' and travelers' guide to the west and was an engineer of the military road from Walla Walla to Fort Benton on the Missouri, undertook to establish a stage line from Umatilla to Boise City, and another from the latter place to Chico, California, organizing the Idaho & California Stage Com- pany. Early in September they advertised to sell tickets from Boise City to San Francisco, Vir- ginia City, Nevada, and several other points, promising through connections and rapid transit ; but the predatory Indians interfered and before

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

the close of October their property was mostly stolen and the running of stages entirely ceased.

In addition to all the obstacles mentioned, the citizens of Idaho had even the newspapers of Ore- gon to fight, which by this time began to defend the trade of their territory at the expense of what rightfully belonged to this territory. In favor of Oregon there were already in operation two great regular lines,-the steamship line from San Fran- cisco to Portland and the Oregon Steam Naviga- tion Company on the Columbia river. The trav- eling time from San Francisco to Idaho by the steamer route was nine days, and the fare, with meals, was one hundred and forty-two dollars. The Idaho Stage Company offered tickets to the Golden Gate city for ninety dollars, and promised to take passengers to Sacramento in six days. Freight from San Francisco by steamer cost from twenty-two to twenty-nine cents a pound; overland, about twelve cents. The Oregonians also seized upon all the mountain passes and river crossings with toll roads and ferries, thus wring- ing tribute from all the traveling public. The Oregon Road, Bridge & Ferry Company was in- corporated in April, 1865, and their object was to connect all the stage roads from Umatilla and Walla Walla at one point, Express Rancho, and thence down Burnt river to Farewell Bend, or Olds ferry, and so on down Snake river to the mouth of the Owyhee, with the control of all the ferries between these two points.

Many attempts, large and small, were made in vain to establish new routes of transportation. Among the larger was that of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, which at this time built a boat called the Shoshone, above the crossing of Snake river, at great cost, to test the navigability of the stream. She made her trial trip May 16, 1866. It was expected that she would carry a large amount of freight from Olds ferry to the crossing of the Boise City and Owyhee road, and also government freight to Fort Boise; and also that in case she could run up to Salmon falls a road would be opened to South Boise, and an- other to the mines of the Volcano district. But this experiment failed, for the boat could not pass the mouth of the Bruneau river, little more than half way between the Boise landing and Salmon falls, and there was not wood enough along the route for fuel. In connection with this and sim-

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An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day, Part 13

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1014