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 18

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 18

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A native of Kentucky, Mr. Crutcher was born in Shelby county, on the 31st of December, 1835. His ancestors were early settlers of Virginia and North Carolina, and members of the family be- came pioneers in the development of Kentucky. It was in that state that Thomas M. Crutcher,

g.I. Enulches.

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

father of our subject, was born, his natal day being in 1810. He wedded Miss Mary Ann Ed. wards, a native of Woodford county, Kentucky, who also belonged to a family of equally early settlement in the south. Her father was James Edwards, a pioneer widely and favorably known in Kentucky. Thomas M. Crutcher was an en- terprising farmer, and through the capable man- agement of his agricultural interests won a com- fortable competence. He held membership in the Christian church, and died in the seventy- third year of his age. The mother of our subject died when he was only four years of age, after which he was reared by his stepmother, who is still living, and now, at the advanced age of eighty-two years, is spending the evening of her life upon the old homestead in Shelby county, Kentucky.

James I. Crutcher acquired his education in the schools of Frankfort, Kentucky, and in 1860 left his native state, crossing the plains to Colo- rado with a party. After two years spent in the Golden state he came to Idaho, in 1862, locating in Elk City, where he engaged in mining for a few months. He then made a short trip to Ore- gon, and on returning to Idaho took up his resi- dence in Boise county. In 1865 he was elected sheriff of the county. At that time the office was no sinecure, owing to the rough and lawless ele- ment that had come to the new district, hoping to gain a living in ways that would not bear legal inspection. However, he discharged all the du- ties that fell to his lot most fearlessly, never wavering in the fulfillment of any task assigned him, and his course at once inspired confidence in the law-abiding citizens and terror in the hearts of the evil-doers. After his four years' term of office expired he resumed his mining operations, and since then he has been largely interested in various mines which have yielded him good returns. He entered upon his duties as United States marshal in 1894, and even the most malevolent can say naught against his faith- fulness and ability in office. Politically Mr. Crutcher has always been an ardent Democrat, stanchly supporting the principles of the party and doing all in his power to promote its growth and insure its success in a legitimate way.

In 1865, in Idaho City, Mr. Crutcher was united in marriage to Miss Adelma C. Belknap.

Her father, Dr. David H. Belknap, was one of the pioneer physicians of Oregon. Her mother, who bore the maiden name of Rachel E. Stub- bins, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1814, and died in Silver City, Idaho, in 1875. To Mr. and Mrs. Crutcher have been born four children, three sons and a daughter, but all are now de- ceased, the only daughter, Rachel Harriet, hav- ing passed away January 1, 1899, at the age of twelve years, four months and fifteen days. The Daily Capital of January 3, 1899, expressed the sentiment of the entire community when it said: "In any form and at any time the angel of death is most unwelcome; but when he enters the home and strikes down the young, the talented, the lovable, when he bears away the choicest and only jewel of the hearthstone, then, indeed, he seems most cruel. Rachel was the only child left to Mr. and Mrs. Crutcher. One by one the oth- ers passed into the empyrean of the immortals, and now Rachel has joined them, leaving the par- ents in the dark shadow of a bitter bereavement. The many friends of Mr. and Mrs. Crutcher extend to them their most sincere sympathies."

Since 1894 Mr. and Mrs. Crutcher have resided in Boise, the capital of the state. They have in their possession a relic in the shape of a melodeon that was purchased in San Francisco in 1856 by Dr. Belknap and taken to Portland, Oregon; and in 1863 the old instrument was transported across the country from Umatilla, Oregon, to Idaho City by pack animals, a distance of three hundred and fifty miles. This instrument was the first used in all southern Idaho, and was nsed at funerals for many years and at parties, etc.

Mrs. Crutcher is a consistent member of the Episcopal church and one of the leading ladies of Boise, presiding with gracious hospitality over her pleasant home, which is a favorite resort with her many friends. Mr. Crutcher was made a Mas- ter Mason in Arrow Rock, Missouri, and has also taken the Royal Arch degrees. He has been a prominent factor in the public life of the state, and belongs to that class of men of public spirit and patriotism who place the good of the com- monwealth above partisanship and the welfare of the many above personal aggrandizement. He was a member of the convention which framed the present constitution of the state of Idaho, and throughout the long years of his residence here

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

he has ever labored for the advancement and up- building of the commonwealth. Mr. Crutcher is an excellent type of the southern gentleman, courteous, genial and kindly, and he and his wife are popular throughout Idaho, where their friends are legion.

EDWARD J. CURTIS.

Among the eminent men of the northwest whose life records form an integral part of the history of Idaho was numbered Hon. Edward J. Curtis. In his death the state lost one of its most distinguished lawyers, gifted statesmen and loyal citizens. As the day, with its morning of hope and promise, its noontide of activity, its evening of completed and successful efforts, ending in the grateful rest and quiet of the night, so was the life of this honored man. His career was a long, busy and useful one, marked by the utmost fidel- ity to the duties of public and private life, and crowned with honors conferred upon him in rec- ognition of superior merit. His name is insep- arably interwoven with the annals of the Pacific coast, with its best development and its stable progress, and his memory is cherished as that of one who made the world better for his having lived.

Edward J. Curtis was born in Worcester, Mas- sachusetts, in 1827 and acquired his preliminary education in public schools and under the instruc- tion of private tutors in his native town. He was thus prepared for college and entered Prince- ton, where he was graduated with high honors. On the completion of his collegiate course he re- turned to Worcester, but soon after went to Bos- ton, where he began the study of law in the office of the renowned jurist, Rufus Choate, but after a short time the news of the discovery of gold reached the east, and in company with a number of young men he started for California, crossing the plains to San Francisco, where he arrived early in 1849. Soon, however, he went to San Jose, where he entered the law office of Judge Chipman, and later removed to Sacramento, where he continued his studies under the direc- tion of Judge Murry. In 1851 he removed to Yreka, where he became editor of a paper, and was elected to the legislature from Siskiyou county, serving for two terms. In Sacramento, in April, 1856, he was admitted to the bar, be-

ginning practice in Weaverville, Trinity county, California, where soon afterward he was elected judge of the court of sessions of northern Cali- fornia. He also owned and published the Trinity County Journal.

At the outbreak of the civil war Judge Curtis was commissioned a second lieutenant by Gov- ernor John L. Downey, in a company of the Sec- ond Brigade of California Volunteers, but his command was never ordered to the front. When his property in Weaverville was destroyed by a flood he removed to Virginia City, Nevada, where he formed a law partnership with Hon. Thomas Fitch, the famous orator. In 1864 he went to Silver City, Idaho, with Hon. Richard Miller and the noted Hill Beachy, of stage-line fame. In that new and prosperous mining camp Judge Curtis and Mr. Miller opened a law office. In 1866 the latter was appointed by the president judge of the second judicial district of the terri- tory, and the former was elected district attorney, after which he became a resident of Boise. From that time forward he was prominently connected with the events which form the history of the commonwealth, with its business interests and political life, and at all times was a leader in pub- lic thought and action. In 1869, while in Wash- ington city, he was appointed by President Grant to the position of secretary of the territory of Idaho, and in 1872 he was elected a delegate to the Republican national convention at Philadel- phia, where he cast his vote for the renomination of the hero of Appomattox. Later he was reap- pointed territorial secretary, which position he held for eight consecutive years, and during four years of that time was acting governor of Idaho. At the breaking out of the Indian war of 1877-8 he was adjutant-general of the territory, and as such made treaties of peace with several hostile chiefs in southern Idaho. Such was the excellent record which he made in these various positions, and so high was his standing in Washington cir- cles that President Arthur appointed him, entirely without solicitation on the part of Judge Curtis, and even without his previous knowledge, to the office of territorial secretary, and by President Harrison he was reappointed in 1889, holding that position until Idaho was admitted to the Union and passed under control of the new offi- cials, in November, 1890.

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

His efforts in behalf of Idaho were by no means confined to his political services. He was the advocate of all measures which tended to advance her social, moral, material and intellectual wel- fare, and it was through his instrumentality that the Territorial Library was established. He went to Washington, D. C., to get an appropriation for that purpose, and through the co-operation of Senators Edwards and Sumner he secured the sum of five thousand dollars, the full amount asked for. This library grew and prospered un- der his fostering care and would now do credit to any state in the Union. After his retirement from office Judge Curtis resumed the private practice of law, in which he continued until his last illness. He was one of the most distinguished members of the bar of this state, and on account of his wonderful command of language and his persuasive eloquence was irresistible before a jury. His arguments, too, were based upon the facts in the case and the law applicable to them, and displayed a profound knowledge of the prin- ciples of jurisprudence.

In 1856, while in Sacramento, California, Judge Curtis married Miss Susan L. Frost, of New Haven, Connecticut, who at that time was one

of the popular school-teachers in Sacramento. The marriage was a most happy one, and their union was blessed with five children. E. L. Cur- tis, the eldest, served as territorial secretary, act- ing governor and register of the land office, tak- ing a leading part in public affairs, but his brill- iant career was terminated by death in 1890. Anna, the only daughter, is the wife of Dr. J. K. DuBois, a physician of Boise; and the younger sons are William R., John J. and Henry C. Mrs. Curtis and her children, with the exception of the eldest son, survive the husband and father and are yet residents of the capital city, where the Judge made his home for thirty years. He was a life-long Republican in his political affiliations, was a member of Ada Lodge, No. 3, I. O. O. F., and of the Pioneers of the Pacific Coast. His death occurred December 29, 1895. Faultless in honor, fearless in conduct, stainless in reputation, -such was his life record. His scholarly attain- ments, his statesmanship, his reliable judgment and his charming powers of conversation would have enabled him to ably fill and grace any posi- tion, however exalted, and he was no less hon- ored in public than loved in private life.

CHAPTER XI.

*THE SNAKE RIVER VALLEY-REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS-ITS PRESENT-ITS FUTURE.

I N 1833 Captain Bonneville, an officer in the army, secured leave of absence and spent about two years here, mostly in the Snake river valley. He left his horses for the winter with some Indians at a camp near where St. An- thony is now located. He and his men made their way down Snake river in boats till they reached Black Rock canyon, where now is Idaho Falls, the thriftiest town in southeast Idaho; but they dared not venture in their boats through the canyon.

Captain Bonneville found a desolate sage-cov- ered valley, holding out no promise of ever being more than a range where Indian cayuses might pick a precarious living on bunch grass. Not a tree as far as the eye could reach, except an occasional wind-twisted and gnarled juniper growing out of the seams in the lava rock along the banks of Snake river.

In 1849, when the California stampede was on, many of the gold-seekers passed over the same Snake river valley, and, in after years, relating their experience, described it as one of the most hopeless spots encountered in their ox-train jour- ney across the continent.

In 1864 the stampede for Alder Gulch, Mon -. tana, was fairly under way. Whether from east or west, the Snake river valley was on the route. A ferry was put in by John Gibson just below where Blackfoot now is, and soon afterward one by a man named Kutch, some miles further up the river. The same year Harry Rickets started a ferry, known as the Eagle Rock ferry, to catch the travel that came over what was known as Lander's cut-off, or the Soda Springs trail. It was in this year also that Ben Holiday started his ever memorable stage line and put up stage stations at intervals of fifteen to twenty miles.

This year may be said to have been the starting point in opening southeast Idaho to the knowl- edge of even western people.

Early in the century Fort Hall had been estab- lished for a trading post with the Indians, but it was no more than an isolated post, such as the Hudson's Bay Company now have scattered over the northwest territory. The camp where Cap- tain Bonneville left his horses was not a fort at all, and he, by the way, never saw his horses again. In short, prior to 1864-5 the few white people in the country were hunters and trappers, -often "squaw men," who were little more civil- ized than the Indians, their only associates.

The ferries were the important points in the country. After General Conner's battle with the Bannocks, on Bear river, in 1864, in which he killed more than half the "bucks" of the tribe, travelers and the ferry-owners still felt insecure, and some of Conner's troops were stationed at Eagle Rock ferry, about nine miles above the present Idaho Falls. That ferry in 1864 took in tolls over thirty thousand dollars in greenbacks from wagons Montana bound; but it must not be forgotten that thirty thousand dollars in green - backs at that time was only equal to fifteen thou- sand dollars in the current money of the coun- try,-gold dust,-and, by the way, Anderson Brothers' Bank, at Idaho Falls, still uses on occa- sions the identical gold-scales used by Harry Rickets in 1864 for weighing gold dust.

James M. Taylor, an energetic man well known in Colorado and Montana, and Robert Anderson bought out the Eagle Rock ferry in 1865 In the winter of 1865-6, at an expense of twenty thou- sand dollars, under a territorial charter signed by "Caleb Lyon, of Lyonsdale," first governor of Idaho, they built a toll wagon-bridge across that identical Black Rock canyon where Captain Bonneville had to let his boats down by ropes held on to by men on shore. The bridge tim- bers were cut and hewn out at Beaver canyon and

*This very interesting reminiscent and descriptive chapter is contributed by that well known pioneer and representative citizen of Idaho Falls, Mr. Robert An- derson.

View on Snake River at Lewiston.

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

in six feet of snow, then hauled eighty miles in wagons over the road which Ben Holiday's stage mules could not keep open with their semi-occa- sional winter trips. As an instance of the diffi- culties encountered, and the high cost of every- thing, it is interesting to recall that to get a little strap-iron for stirrups on the bridge one broken- down wagon was bought for the sake of the tires, at a cost of two hundred and fifty dollars. All prices were high. In mining camps it was not uncommon to balance gold and tobacco against each other in the scales, ounce for ounce. In the fall of 1865 the ferry people laid in their winter's supply of potatoes at twenty-five cents per pound, and were glad to get them at that. The common price for bacon, lard, sugar, coffee and many other articles of food was one dollar per pound. Flour, and a poor article at that, was twenty-five dollars for a fifty-pound sack.

In those "good old days," besides the Indians squatted round the store, filling the air with the smell of their sage-brush-smoked buckskins and breath nauseating with the smell of wild garlic, were a very few trappers: Beaver Dick, Johnny Poe, and then, in the next two or three years, came Captain Heald, Doc. Yandell, Shep. Med- aira, Charley Conant, for whom Conant valley was called, "Tex." (whose name was Parker), and old Joe Crabtree (uncle to Lotta, the celebrated actress, and much ashamed that his niece had descended to the stage).

Paul Coburn was superintendent of the stage line and Paul, justly or unjustly, was not held above suspicion. In July, 1865, the stage was robbed at Robbers' Roost, in Portneuf canyon, and thirty thousand dollars in dust was carried off by the robbers, or road agents. The stage was crowded with passengers and every one of them was killed except a small boy, who escaped in the brush on the Portneuf river, and a man named Carpenter, who got off with the loss of a leg. Suspicion pointed to Paul as a silent partner in the job, but it was never established, though a vigilance committee came down front Montana to investigate.

In the spring of 1866 the wagon bridge was opened and the ferry people moved down from the ferry and brought the name of Eagle Rock with them. A small dwelling house was built of driftwood. A little storeroom and a black-

smith shop were made of some boards and old ferry-boat timbers, and the station of Eagle Rock had been started.

Wells, Fargo & Company, soon after this, bought out the Ben. Holiday stage line and started a first-class daily service. Local charges for passengers was twenty-five cents per mile. William H. Taylor was superintendent, Dan. Robbins and John Burnett being his assistants. A few of the old drivers were Jack Clark, James Boyle, Bilvon, Tom Lauder and Black Jack. Boyle now lives at Oxford, Lauder at Market Lake. The others have probably all gone over the "great divide."

Good hay in abundance was harvested when it grew on land overflowed by the melting snow in the spring and was hauled to the various sta- tions. The stage company paid for cutting, haul- ing and stacking at the stations from twenty to forty dollars per ton, the price being gov- erned by the distance to be hauled.

John Creighton, now of Omaha, built the tele- graph line from Utah to Montana. Stations were located at Malad, Ross Fork, Eagle Rock, and the next one north at Pleasant Valley, Montana.

Freighting was the great interest through southeastern Idaho. On it depended nearly all business. Long trains of ox-wagons were con- stantly, during the season, on the road. Two, sometimes three, wagons were trailed together, and ten or twelve yoke of oxen in each team. The stage took the gold dust from Montana in treas- ure-boxes, and the passengers paid two dollars each for their breakfast, dinner or supper. For beds they wrapped themselves in their blankets and slept on the floor at the stations. At Eagle Rock, one night a little later on, old man Com- stock, the discoverer of the Comstock lode, poured out his plaints nearly all the night into the unwilling ears of the tired travelers in the house, of how he had been cheated out of his in- terest in his great discovery. He was then on his way to Cheyenne to join a party about to start across the Black Hill country. But the old man never found another "Comstock" and, heartsore and bitter, after the trip was made and they reached Bozeman, he put a pistol to his head and ended all.

Such was the history of the Snake river valley for the next four or five years. A few people

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

came in to stay. The Morrisites had seceded from the Mormon church and a few of them set- tled around Soda Springs, the "Beer Springs" of Bonneville. Stock-raising was beginning to at- tract attention. John Adams started a little store, and fought mosquitoes, at Market Lake. "Rush Reuben," whose name was then hardly known as Henry Dunn, settled on Blackfoot river. Presto Burrell came soon afterward, and these two still remain prosperous and respected citi- zens. Charles Higham, with his family, settled in Lincoln valley, now on the Reservation, and his sons are now thrifty stockmen. N. H. Just, one of the best commissioners our county ever had, was also in Lincoln valley, but was quite young. S. F. Taylor and C. G. Martin were al- ways enterprising in the stock business. "Ryland T.," one of the most noted geldings on the track, was bred by Mr. Taylor and sold from his range.

Still no agriculture was thought of. The windy, sage-covered plains remained unchanged from what Lewis and Clarke saw them in 1802-3 and Bonneville in 1833. On wintry nights the sharp bark of the coyote and the weird cry of the mountain lion alone were heard to break through the winter's storm. Otherwise there was no sound. In the house, the operator sits at the table and reads the associated-press dispatches being transmitted to Montana. It was a lonely, uneventful life. There was time and food for re- flection. A dispatch from Rome: Victor Eman- uel; Garabaldi; the Pope. From London: some great commercial house failed; prospective war; an ocean steamer sunk, with all on board. Paris: Napoleon ; William; Bismarck ; will there be war? Then the marriages, deaths, fires, intrigues, elec- tions, defalcations, assassinations. One might look at the world, imagining himself on high, as though riding with the spirit on Shelley's cloud, he watched the machinations of the creatures called men on the earth below,-their petty strivings to undo their fellow men, and for their own selfish advancement; their hopes and fears; their eager quest for wealth, fame and position. * *

* And, after all, what does it amount to: "Imperious Cæsar, dead and turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind away." Why should a bubble in midocean concern itself as to whether it is larger or smaller, as to whether its prismatic colors are brighter or duller than those

of other bubbles floating round it? The ripple of a wave; a drop of rain; a breath of air and it is gone forever,-taken back again into the bosom of the great ocean from which it sprang into being for a moment.

In the spring of 1869 Professor Hayden came with his geological party. He spoke favorably of the Snake river valley as a possible agricul- tural country. He reported the valley as "com- posed of a rich, sandy loam, that needs but the addition of water to render it most excellent farming land." But how was the water to be got from the river bed? There was one creek, Wil- low creek, which might be utilized; but still farming was not experimented with.

On Willow creek and the river near was the historical gathering ground for the Indians. Spring and fall, as far back as tradition carried them, Shoshones and Bannocks had congregated in hundreds to fish and to gamble-the one tribe against the other. It was not uncommon for a "buck" to gamble away the last thing he had on earth and to walk away at last as naked as he came into the world. But at this time they were peaceful. Often only a single man was at Eagle Rock where there were hundreds of Indians camped around. Mr. J. M. Taylor and his family had sold out and left Idaho; the remaining part- ner had no family and at times was left entirely alone, acting as stage agent, operator, post- master, storekeeper. Stage passengers no longer got their meals at the bridge. The Corbett sta- tion had been started south. Mrs. Corbett, weighing four hundred pounds, is still hale and hearty and living in the county.

In 1869 B. F. White, afterward governor of Montana, began operating salt works at the head of Salt river, northeast of Soda Springs. For some years most of the salt used in Montana smelters was furnished from these works. From time to time a little placer mining was done on the banks of Snake river, and the same is the case to this day, but it has never been a profitable branch of industry.

Fort Hall Indian reservation was laid out about this time, and Captain Putnam, for whom Mount Putnam was named, was in command of troops there for a number of years. The country by this time was showing some change-more people had settled. A few who are still in Idaho

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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 18

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