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 14

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 14

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ilar schemes the newspapers of the respective lo- calities carried on a lively contest.

In 1865, the year of which we are now writing, the overland immigration was large. Eighteen hundred and forty wagons passed Fort Kearney in May, the most of which made their way to Idaho and Montana. The emigrants coming with these trains generally possessed consider- able means and comfortable outfits; probably nine-tenths of them were fully equipped for mak- ing a successful and permanent settlement in the new territory. . The nuclei of towns and "cities" were made noisy by the hammer and saw of the carpenter. The stages also brought many full loads of passengers who had money. But the immigrants who brought merchantable goods with them were the most welcome.

During the next year, 1866, notwithstanding the continued depredations of the Indians and other obstacles, the Humboldt and Chico routes were again opened, to establish communication with the coast. For this purpose the money, men and horses were raised by citizens of Owy- hee and Boise City, to fight the Indians, and money, coaches and horses were raised also by Mr. Mullan, in New York and California. Thirty wagons were advertised to start from Chico, with a number of the company's coaches, early in April; and, indeed, trains did arrive over the Chico route by the middle of the month. This was the occasion of renewed rejoicing, for the prospects of success were so bright that the Ore- gon Steam Navigation Company offered to re- duce their freight charges. To aid the Idahoans by way of competition with that great company, the California Navigation Company and the Cen- tral Pacific Railroad Company offered to carry freight free to Chico landing. Thus freight was carried by wagon to Ruby City and Boise for eleven and twelve cents a pound. Ox teams came through in one month, and Mullan's Stage Com- pany put men and teams upon the road to im- prove it, build stations and cut hay. The coaches began running in August, making the distance from Chico to Silver City in four days, and treasure and government freight were also car- ried over the route.

About this time also a man named Conness, of California, introduced a bill in the senate to provide for the opening of a wagon road from

HISTORY OF ID.4HO.

Boise City to Susanville, in that state, with a branch from Surprise Valley to Puebla, with an appropriation of ten thousand dollars for surveys. This was called the Red Bluff route and was favored by the Northern Teamsters' Association, which advertised to take freight for eleven to thir- teen cents, and obtained many consignments. Also, Sacramento merchants subscribed five thousand dollars as a bonus to the first train which should carry one hundred tons of mer- chandise through to Owyhee by the Truckee pass, to be applied to the extra expenses of the trip. Jesse D. Carr secured a contract for carry- ing a daily mail between Virginia City, Nevada, and Boise City, by the last mentioned route, which ran east of the Humboldt mountains. A large amount of money was expended in these enterprises, but success was attained.

From a valuable work written by Joaquin Miller and issued by the publishers of this His- tory of Idaho we make the following extracts, the same being peculiarly pertinent and interest- ing in connection with the account of the early mining enterprises in Idaho:

There is a sort of Freemasonry among miners and all sorts of honest men of the gold mines. The men of the placer gold mines are and have been from the modern Argonauts a sort of civilized advance army. They are men who have stepped to the front from out of the millions. It is their courage, enterprise and audacity of faith that has set them to the front; besides, they are generally men of good sense, good physique, good education. Travel-for they all had to travel much and have much intercourse with traveled men to reach the gold mines-gave to even the rudest of them a sort of polish not found so general in any other large body of men on the globe. You can always find more sincere manhood and real politeness in a mining camp with its sprinkle of cattle men, grangers and the like than in the average crowds of London and Paris.

Being among the first in the new mines of Oro Fino in the spring of 1861, I found myself at once among friends, and friends of the best; for these miners of Pierce City and Oro Fino were not only gentlemen of the class described, but they were, many of them, also old personal friends from northern California. It was the glorious old Yuba and Shasta days over again, and they were very happy and hopeful.

Pierce City at this date was a brisk town, neatly laid out, built of hewn logs, brooks through the streets, pine trees here and there on the gently sloping hillside to the sun, with white tents all around and up and down the mountain of dark woods to the east, red-shirted men, mules, long lines of laden, braying mules, half-

tame Indians with pack panniers, a few soldiers off duty, crowds of eager people coming and going,-action, motion everywhere. The old days had come again, we all believed, and miners who had missed fortune in other lands and laid the blame upon themselves resolved not to miss her favors now, if work could win them.

Oro Fino lay a brief half-hour's walk to the south at the foot of a steep, wooded mountain and in the forks of a creek of the same name and Rhodes creek. This Rhodes creek had been discovered by William Rhodes, of Siskiyou county, California. He was a manly mu- latto of great good sense and very honest. Oro Fino was a hastily built place, having tumbled together in great disorder with one narrow street, and made up out of round logs and mud and brush. Compared with Pierce City, it was a wild-looking place; but it was very orderly, very much in earnest, and preaching and Sunday-school here, as well as at Pierce City, came as regularly as the Sunday. There were a good many saloons in these towns, as well as up and down the creeks, but I recall no drunkenness nor depravity of any sort. Women were scarce as yet, and of children there was the merest sprinkle. But many of these first men here were expecting their families on from Califor- nia and Oregon, and were not slow in their support of church and school.

As for myself, I had studied law, and had been ad- mitted to the bar a few years before, and came here to practice my profession. But the place was so or- derly, so far from any sort of disturbance or contention, that there was absolutely no business whatever in this line. I found plenty of lawyers, but no law, or rather no need of any law.

Having two brothers with me and finding several cousins here, and none of us getting any foothold, we pushed out over the mountains to the east.

Do you know the music of the pick and shovel as they clang and ring on the bed-rock, the rattle and the ring of the sluice-fork in the hands of the happy, tall, slim man who stands astride the sluice and slings the gravel behind him in high heaps of polished pebbles? He has a keen eye. There may be a big nugget on the tines of his broad sluice-fork at any moment. He is a supple man, of not too much flesh, and keeps his footing finely on either side of the sluice-box which he bestrides. To fall will be not only to break his own knees, but to endanger the backs of his dripping and bespattered partners in the pit beneath him.

And now he sees something glitter in the swift water that washes the gravel down across the ripples. Down goes a long, dripping arm at the risk of his neck; but somehow the rugged, slim man never falls! Up goes the long right arm in the air. A shout! The men in the pit look up altogether, and then there is a shout that shakes the very pine tops above them. The gold nugget, half quartz, is nearly as big as a hen's egg. The slim man on the high sluice-box who holds the nugget high in the air laughs and shouts with the rest. We have struck it! The friendly Freemasonry sort of good will and well-wishing among miners spread in a

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

day or two to Pierce City and Oro Fino, and the place was soon packed with prospectors.

The stampede that always was created by the news of a new discovery of gold is thus described:

Although there were in this then distant land of Idaho no telegraph wires or other means of rapid com- munication, the discovery of new gold fields or a rich strike made within the boundaries of the territory trav- eled with the rapidity of a carrier pigeon. Apparently one caught the news from the breezes. No one could give the source of the whisperings that a new find was reported. It was sufficient to the toilers and pros- pectors that such were the reports without investigating whence they came. These reports grew as they trav- eled. They were passed from cabin to cabin along down the gulches and across the flats and bars. Tom would tell Bill that near the bed-rock they were getting five cents to the pan. Bill would inform Sam that in the new "diggin's" they were getting ten cents right in the grass roots; and thus it kept on increasing as it traveled until it would reach a dollar or two to the pan!

In the fall of 1861 reports began to be noised about Oro Fino that new places had been discovered on the head-waters of the Salmon river, which were said to be fabulously rich. The matter was discussed by the miners during the day while shoveling gravel and sand in their sluice-boxes. At night they would gather in their cabins and discuss the probabilities by the snap- ping of log fires. Then it was noised about that the Smith boys from Pierce's bar had left their claims and disappeared in the direction of the new El Dorado, and again parties from Ore Grande and Rhodes creek were making preparations to start. Later, information was circulated about the camp that two men had just arrived for the purpose of laying in a stock of supplies, and who confirmed the previous reports as to the richness and extent of the new find. The old miners who had had many visions and dreams of wealth to be obtained just over the ridge were soon worked up to fever heat. Horses and mules to pack supplies were in great de- mand. Any kind of an animal would bring four times the price it would have brought a few months before.

Like other contagions, this mining fever is catching, and when it strikes you the only remedy is to go. You do not stop to consider the hardships, but only have the wish to reach the promised land and acquire the glittering metal that would serve to make the folks at liome happy. How many of such hopes have been blasted! Yet those hopes and expectations were the incentives which caused the pioneers to push out into the snow-covered mountains and broad valleys and lay the foundations for civilization.

During the early mining period of Idaho the quality and amount of the precious metals were rated as follows: The standard of goll bars was

1,000, and anything below half that amount was denominated silver. A bar 495 fine was 500 fine of silver, worth ten dollars and twenty-three and one-fourth cents per ounce. A bar 050 fine was 45 fine of silver and was stamped nineteen dollars and sixty-three cents per ounce, as the Kootenai gold for example. Santiam (Oregon) gold was 679 fine; Oro Fino gold-dust assayed sixteen dol- lars to the ounce; Elk City, from fifteen dollars and seventy-five cents to sixteen dollars and for- ty-five cents; Warren's diggings, ten dollars and eight cents to fourteen dollars and fifty-four cents; Florence, from eleven dollars and eighty cents to thirteen dollars and seventy-five cents; Beaver Head, eighteen dollars and thirty-seven cents to eighteen dollars and fifty cents; and Boise, fourteen dollars and twenty-eight cents to seventeen dollars and forty cents, little of it as- saying less than fifteen dollars, at which price the merchants of Idaho City agreed to take it, while paying only ten dollars for Owyhee and twelve dollars for Florence.

The actual amount of gold produced in any particular district of either of the territories for a given time would be difficult of computation. A Portland paper estimated that during the summer and autumn of 1862 about three million dollars was brought to that city; but some of this was not Idaho gold. A government officer reported that between seven and ten million dollars was probably a fair estimate of the gold taken from the Nez Perce mines in two years. In six months, from June to November, 1863, the express com- pany shipped two million and ninety-five thon- sand dollars, which certainly was not more than one-third of the product of Idaho and Montana for 1865 and 1866 at a million and a half dollars monthly. For 1866, J. Ross Browne, in his pamphlet Mineral Resources, etc., states that Montana yielded twelve million dollars, Idaho six millions, Oregon two millions and Washing- ton one million ; but the San Francisco Chronicle makes the product of Idaho for that year eight million dollars, and for 1867 six and a half mil- lions, 1868 seven millions, 1869 the same, 1870 six millions, 1871 five millions, and 1872 only two millions and five hundred and fourteen thousand. Of course only guess work can be made of the quantities mined during that exciting and chaotic period.

4. n

United States Assay Office, Boise.

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

In 1864 an attempt was made to obtain a mint for the Boise basin, and two years later it was proposed to bring the North Carolina mint to Boise, neither of which movements was success- ful. In the first year congress appropriated one hundred thousand dollars for a branch mint at The Dalles, a measure which Portland vigorously opposed because of more local interest; and be- fore the mint was erected at The Dalles it be- came apparent that on the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad bullion could be shipped to Philadelphia as easily as to The Dalles, and the act was revoked, which was a definite defeat of any proposition for a mint in either Oregon or Idaho. An assay office, however, was erected by the United States government in 1870, at Boise, at a cost of eighty-one thousand dollars. It was built of sandstone, sixty feet square, two stories high above the basement and well finished. It was built under the direct supervision of J. R. McBride, once United States district judge of Idaho.

THE UNITED STATES ASSAY OFFICE.

The assay office was founded here by the United States government in 1871. Minerals are purchased from miners, assayed here and for- warded to the mint in Philadelphia, free of trans- portation charges. An idea of the importance of this institution to this section may be gained from the fact that in 1897 there were about five

thousand depositors, whose bullion amounted to a million and a half dollars in valuation, -an increase of about fifty per cent in the past six years. The building occupied is a substantial one of cut stone, is fifty by sixty feet in dimensions and two stories and basement in height. The structure was completed the same year that the office was established here, and was erected and has been maintained by the government. The ground on which it stands is bounded by Main, Idaho, Sec- ond and Third streets. This block was donated to the United States by the city, which, in turn, has been incalculably benefited by the location of the assay office here. The building is in the center of a beautifully kept lawn, tastefully em- bellished with flowers and fine shade trees, the spot being considered one of the restful and picturesque places of interest in Boise.

J. W. Cunningham, who for many years has been the government custodian of the assay office, is eminently qualified for the responsible position, as he thoroughly understands every de- tail of the business and is entirely trustworthy and reliable. It was in 1889 that he was ap- pointed to the office of superintendent, by Presi- dent Harrison, and at the end of four years of service he was superseded, during President Cleveland's administration, only to receive a re- appointment at the hands of President Mckinley.

CHAPTER X.

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS.

COLONEL WILLIAM H. DEWEY.

A MONG the prominent influential citizens of Idaho, Colonel Dewey, of Dewey, en- joys a unique position and reputation. He is a pioneer Idahoan in the true sense of that word, and the marvelous development of the in- terests and industries of his adopted state is large- ly attributable to his enterprise and sagacity. He is a man of remarkable resources, and has never failed to measure fully up to all the requirements and emergencies of life. Although over seventy years old, he is well preserved and exhibits un- abated vigor of mind and body. Colonel Dewey is a native of the state of New York, and his first American ancestors were early settlers in Massachusetts.

In the autumn of 1863 he came to Idaho and located where the town of Dewey now is, but subsequently removed to where the town of Ruby City was located, and with others, March 21, 1864, laid out the town of Silver City.

The gentleman whose name introduces this review is a born miner, and from his first ar- rival in Idaho the Colonel became prominently connected with the mining interests of the north- west, in which connection it is perfectly fair to say that he has been one of the leading and prin- cipal factors in the development of the mineral resources of this state. He owned nearly half of the South Mountain camp during the period of its greatest activity and was one of three men to discover and locate this magnificent property.

He purchased the Trade Dollar mine in 1889, and after making numerous and expensive im- provements upon it, sold to the present owners one hundred and thirty-four thousand of the five hundred thousand shares.

He also owns over one-half of the Florida Mountain group of mines and has just succeeded in forming a combination of these mining prop-

erties, in which he holds the strategic position. The accomplishment of this consolidation re- quired rare tact and finesse.

At the village of Dewey, a town named in his honor, the Colonel has erected one of the best twenty-stamp mills in Idaho, or even in the west. He has also erected the fine Dewey Hotel, which is considered one of the best in the state, and he has built a beautiful residence for himself, and in addition constructed numerous valuable residences and business houses in the town of Dewey. He is also the projector and owner of the Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railway, on which line is a splendid steel bridge, crossing the Snake river at Guffey, which is the pride of the whole state. Colonel Dewey built this bridge at his own expense, and also the railroad from Nampa to Guffey, which he is now extending to Murphy. He is also preparing to extend his road north from Nampa, the surveys now having been com- pleted for a distance of fifty miles. When all these extensions are completed, the road will connect with the Central Pacific and furnish a continuous line from San Francisco to Butte, Montana, and thereby shorten the distance be- tween these two points by about three hundred miles.

Colonel Dewey is distinctly a man of great practical turn of mind. He is simple in his habits and unassuming in his manners, being all energy, push and enterprise. He was cast in a large mold and would have been conspicuous and successful in any department of human activity that he might have entered. He has been fre- quently urged to accept nominations for import- ant official positions, but has invariably declined. His name is now mentioned in connection with the nomination for United States senator from Idaho. This is against the Colonel's wishes, but his many friends are very urgent in their re-

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

quests that he shall openly enter the field for that distinguished office.

HOMER G. PATTERSON.

Homer G. Patterson is a leading member of the Idaho legislature, representing Blaine county, and is a prominent practitioner of dentistry in Hailey. Dentistry may be said to be almost unique among other occupations, as it is at once a profession, a trade and a business. Such being the case, it follows that in order to attain the highest success in it one must be thoroughly con- versant with the theory of the art, must be ex- pert with the many tools and appliances inci- dental to the practice of modern dentistry, and must possess business qualifications adequate to dealing with the financial side of the profession. In all of these particulars Dr. Homer George Patterson is well qualified, and therefore has at- tained prestige among the able representatives of dentistry in southern Idaho.

He was born in Ontario, St. Joseph county, Indiana, October 4, 1862. The family is of Scotch origin and the original American ances- tors were colonial settlers of New York and par- ticipants in the events which formed the early history of that state. Among those of the name were also members of the American army who fought for the independence of the nation. James H. Patterson, the father of our subject, was born in the Empire state and married Miss Wealthy J. Foster, a native of Michigan. When a young man he removed to Indiana and there followed the trade of carriage and wagon maker. Later he went with his family to Iowa, and subsequent- ly removed to Montgomery county, the same state.

The Doctor is the eldest in a family of five children, four sons and a daughter. The family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death, and the parents are now residents of Port- land, Oregon. Our subject was a child of seven years when they went to Iowa, and a youth of nine when they located in Montgomery county, Iowa. He was educated in the public schools and read medicine in the office and under the direction of Dr. J. B. Hatton. He afterward went to Oregon, where he studied dentistry in the office of Dr. Wise, of Portland, and in 1882 he went to California, where he continued his

preparation for the profession. In 1889 he opened a dental office in Bellevue, where he re- mained until 1896, when he came to Hailey, where he has since made his home. He has a well appointed office and from the beginning has met with gratifying success, his patronage con- stantly increasing.

In 1882 occurred the marriage of Dr. Patter- son and Miss Nettie J. Orr, a native of Illinois, and their union has been blessed with four daughters and a son, namely: Bessie, Lena, Roy, Lora and Irma. The parents are members of the Christian church, but as there is no con- gregation of that denomination in Hailey they attend the services of the Methodist church. Their pleasant home is characterized by a charm- ing hospitality and is the center of a cultured so- ciety circle.

The Doctor belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In addition to his professional in- terests he has several placer-mining clains, and in partnership with F. M. McDowell leased the Niagara silver mine on Boyle mountain. They have uncovered a vein of excellent ore a foot thick, which will undoubtedly make the mine a paying one. In his political views Dr. Patterson is a "silver" Republican, and on the fusion ticket he received a flattering majority for the office of state representative. He served in the fifth ses- sion of the Idaho legislature and his course indi- cated his loyalty to the best interests of the county and the commonwealth. He was appointed by the governor a member of the state dental board, and by said board was elected its president. Through the work and influence of Dr. Patter- son the state dental law was adopted.

CHARLES A. SCHNABEL.

Thirty-seven years have passed since Charles Augusta Schnabel came to Idaho. This state, so aptly termed "the gem of the mountains," was then a wild district, its lands unclaimed, its re- sources undeveloped. A few courageous fron- tiersmen had dared to locate within its borders, but the work of progress and improvement re- mained to the future, and there was little prom- ise of early development. In the years which have since passed Mr. Schnabel has not only wit- nessed a most wonderful transformation, but has

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

largely aided in the labors which have trans- formed the wild tract into a splendid common- wealth. Now in his declining years he is living retired, enjoying the well earned rest which is the merited reward of a long and honorable busi- ness career.

A native of Prussia, Mr. Schnabel was born in Elberfield, October 18, 1828, and for generations his ancestors had resided in the fatherland. He acquired his education in the public schools, and in Germany learned the trade of fringe and lace weaving. When a young man of twenty years he determined to try his fortune in America, landing in New York on the day that Zachariah Taylor was elected president of the United States. He then made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, where he had a brother living, and in that city worked at his trade for a year, when, hearing of the rich gold discoveries in California, he deter- mined to make his way to the Pacific coast. Twice he attempted to work his way across the country, but each time, after getting as far as western Missouri, lack of means forced him to turn back. A third time, however, he made the attempt, and this time succeeded in reaching the goal of his hopes. He traveled by way of New Orleans and by the Panama route to California, where he arrived in 1853, and in Sierra county successfully engaged in mining. He was thus enabled to send money home to his mother and sisters, but in the winter of 1862 mis- fortune again overtook him, a flood carry- ing away his flumes and other mining ma- chinery. It was at this time that he learned of the discovery of gold in Florence, Idaho, and so, traveling by way of Portland, Oregon, and up the Columbia river, he ultimately arrived in Florence, in May, 1862. His mining operations in that locality, however, did not prove profitable, and in the spring of 1863 he went to Idaho City, where he engaged in merchandising, his sales in one year amounting to one hundred thousand dollars. In a single day he sold and wrapped goods to the value of twenty-six hun- dred dollars.

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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 14

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