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 20

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 20

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HISTORY OF IDAHO.

villainous characters. But the Boise basin was the most afflicted with crime of all the districts of the territory. For some unassigned reason the work of the courts in this region was not effec- tual in improving the general state of society, while politics dominated the division of the com- munity into classes to such an extent that when a crime was committed the perpetrator was shielded, at least to some extent, behind the im- munity of political sectarianism. In 1864 the Union men of Idaho City organized themselves to meet the coming crisis, precipitated by the "Democratic" victory of that year.

Horse-stealing and the theft of all other do- mestic animals, especially those at grazing on the ranches, were rife, and the settlers suffered in- tensely. W. J. McConnell, for example, a gar- dener on the Payette, was left without a horse, either to cultivate his crops or to draw anything to market; and this was the exciting cause, the last in a series, which led to the formation of the first vigilance committee in the Boise basin. Salient features of this occasion were these, as related in Bancroft's history.

"Having discovered one of his horses in a stable in Boise City, in recovering it by process of law, he (McConnell) found the costs in a jus- tice's court to exceed the value of the animal. This he paid amid the jeers of a crowd composed of idlers and disreputable characters, who re- joiced in the discomfiture of the 'vegetable man.' Thereupon he addressed them in a short speech, which contained the following pertinent words: 'I can catch any damned thief who ever stalked these prairies; and the next one who steals a horse from me is my Injun; there will be no law- suit about it.' A few days later two thousand dollars' worth of horses and mules were taken from his ranch and those adjoining. McConnell and two others immediately pursued, overtak- ing the robbers near La Grande, killing three and mortally wounding a fourth, in a short and sharp conflict. Finding the leader of the gang had gone to La Grande for supplies, McConnell fol- lowed. By a series of well devised maneuvers, the man was captured and taken to camp. A confession was exacted of all the names of the organizations of thieves with which these men were connected, and the prisoner was shot."

The bravery and skill of the gardener soon

made him leader in the organization of the Pay- ette Vigilance Committee, whose career after- ward was characterized by many strange and ex- citing incidents. An effort was made in the win- ter of 1864-5 to disband this committee, as being a body of men organized to violate the law, but the citizens stood by them and secured their re- lease. The farmers had no further trouble with horse thieves, and the results of the work of the committee seemed to prove as good as those of the efforts of the great vigilance committee of San Francisco in 1854. However, crime was not fully ended in Idaho. The carelessness of some of the citizens in many districts and the wicked- ness of others constituted a major element in the election and appointment of officers, so that crime and misdemeanor were still rife for an in- definite period; especially along the routes of travel. Besides the many crimes committed by common outlaws, almost every public official also who had the handling of the public money was tempted to take advantage of his position and embezzle some of the funds that came into his possession. During the first two years after the organization of the territory the murderers of Magruder were the only ones hanged by the le- gally constituted authorities. It is estimated that at least two hundred outlaws were executed by vigilance committees in Idaho and Montana be- tween 1861 and 1866.

Succeeding Daniels. Caleb Lyon, of New York, was governor of Idaho. In 1865 he left the care of the territory in the hands of C. De Witt Smith, a native of New York, a young man of promise, educated for the bar, and for some time an employe of the government in Washing- ton, D. C. But he yielded to the temptations peculiar to society here, indulged in peculation and dissipation, from the effects of the last of which he died, at Rocky Bar, August 19, 1865, six months after his arrival.

Horace C. Gilson, of Ohio, who had been act- ing as secretary of the territory under Smith, was commissioned secretary in September, and thus became acting governor; but during the follow- ing summer, he too became a defaulter, in the sum of thirty thousand dollars, and absconded to China. Meanwhile Governor Lyon made such unwise use of the public funds as practically to result in robbing the territory. The territorial

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prisons, which were the jails of Nez Perces and Boise counties, being under the care of the terri- torial treasurer, were made the channel of most of the official peculation.

The first capital of the territory, as already stated, was at Lewiston, as appointed by the gov- ernor of Washington, and the first legislative as- sembly, which was held there, adjourned without making any change in the location of the seat of government; but the legislature of 1864 removed it to Boise City, where it has ever since remained. The people of Lewiston and vicinity were natur- ally so much opposed to this removal of the capi - tal that the county commissioners there refused to acknowledge the legality of the proceeding, claiming some technical irregularities, and they went so far as to enjoin the removal of the arch- ives and thus bring the matter into the courts. A. C. Smith, the associate justice, before whom the issue was first brought, decided in favor of the Lewiston people, against the "law-and-order" party. Governor Lyon had escaped all respon- sibility by leaving the territory, and the new sec- retary sided with the legislature and the Boise people. Appeal was made to the supreme court, which, according to law, was obliged to hold its sessions at the "capital" in August of each year. The judges, however, avoided their responsibility in this regard by holding a session in neither place, and for ten months there was anarchy. In the midst of the controversy Secretary Smith died, and for a while there seemed to be neither capital, governor nor secretary. Finally United States Marshal Alvord received orders from Washington to take the archives to Boise City, and no local authority dared resist the orders of the general government. Thus the matter was settled.

The legislature of 1864 created the county of Ada out of the southwestern part of Boise county, with the county-seat at Boise City. La- tah county was created from territory north of the Clearwater and west of Shoshone county, with the seat of its government at Coeur d'Alene; and the remainder of the narrow strip reaching to the British Columbia line was organized into the county of Kootenai, with the seat at Seneaguo- teen. But the county boundaries of Idaho in many places gave much trouble on account of the mountains, and several lines had to be altered.

Lemhi county (name taken from the "Mormon Bible") was organized in 1869, with the county- seat at Salmon City; Cassia, in 1879, with the county-seat at Albion; Washington, also in 1879; Custer, in 1881 ; and Bear Lake, in January, 1875, with Paris for the county-seat. Nez Perces county was organized in 1867, Idaho county in 1875, Bingham in 1885, Logan and Elmore in 1889, Canyon and Lincoln in 1891, Bannock and Fremont in 1893, Blaine in 1895, in which year Lincoln county was reorganized and Logan and Alturas counties abolished.

The legislature of 1864 was characterized by the passage of many acts granting charters for roads, ferries and bridges, thus showing the growth of the permanent population, but, as a rarity in territorial history, did not ask anything of congress. The council at this session com- prised the following members: J. Miller and E. Smith, Boise county; E. B. Waterbury, Nez Perces: S. Capps, Shoshone; S. S. Fenn, Idaho; S. B. Dilly, Alturas ; J. Cummins, Owyhee, presi- dent. Members of the house: H. C. Riggs, W. H. Parkinson, J. B. Pierce and J. McIntosh, Boise county; E. C. Latta and Alexander Blake- ly, Idaho; George Zeigle and T. M. Reed, Nez Perces; E. C. Sterling and Solomon Hasbrouck, Owyhee; W. A. Goulder, Shoshone; W. H. Howard, Alturas and Oneida. Blakely was elected the speaker.

But the next legislature passed a large num- ber of memorials asking appropriations for pub- lic buildings and other enterprises, also for such a change in the act organizing the territory as to allow a popular election of the territorial auditor, treasurer and superintendent of public instruc- tion, and the probate courts to have jurisdiction in all civil cases where the amount in dispute did not exceed a thousand dollars, and also to allow the legislature to give justices of the peace jur- isdiction up to two hundred and fifty dollars. The act passed by the first legislature increasing the salaries of the territorial officers was so amended as to exclude the governor from its benefit.

Lyon was reappointed governor in the autumn of 1865, and he returned to Idaho. J. S. Butler, a local historian of the time, said of Lyon: "He was a conceited, peculiar man, and made many enemies and misappropriated much public

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funds." Lyon, indeed, Bancroft adds, accepted his reappointment in the hope of gain. While in New York, pending his confirmation, he was ap- proached by one Davis, who had in his posses- sion a number of small stones which he declared to be Idaho diamonds, found in Owyhee county. The secret was to be kept until they met in Idaho. Lyon arrived first, and after waiting for some time, having become convinced that Davis was drowned on the Brother Jonathan, went to Owyhee and imparted his secret to D. H. Fogus, to whom he presented one of his diamonds, re- ceiving in return a silver bar worth five hundred dollars. One evening the governor and the miner stole away over the hills toward the diamond fields, as described by Davis, in order to make a prospect. But the sharp eyes of other miners de- tected the movement and they were followed by a large number of treasure-seekers who aided in the search. "The result," says Maize, "of two days' hunting was several barrels full of bright quartz and shiny pebbles. Lyon was greatly disappoint- ed and showed us the specimens, on one of which the carbon was not completely crystallized." Along the beach line of the ancient sea, border- ing the Snake river valley, there are a number of stones described in mineralogical works as allied to the diamond.

Lyon, who was once described by a newspaper correspondent as "a revolving light on the coast of scampdom," found himself in such disgrace that at the end of six months he abandoned his post, leaving the administration of public affairs in the hands of the territorial secretary, S. R. Howlett, who acted until June, 1866, when David W. Ballard, of Yamhill county, Oregon, was appointed governor. The latter reappointed Howlett secretary.

The federal act organizing the territory pro- vided that each member of the legislature should receive as a salary four dollars a day and four dollars for every twenty miles of travel; but, as in keeping with the times, these figures were too low, the legislature gave six dollars more per diem. Also the salary of the governor was doubled from twenty-five hundred to five thousand dol- lars, and the secretary's from fifteen hundred to three thousand, and the clerks and other officers had their salaries proportionately increased. This legislature, it seems, were on the whole a

rather undignified body, quarreling with both the governor and the secretary. Bancroft's History of Idaho speaks as follows:

"With a virtuous air, the legislature demanded information concerning the amount of federal appropriations, the money received and the cor- respondence with the treasury department. How- lett replied that the statement given in the gov- ernor's annual message was correct; that he found Secretary Smith to have expended nine thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars for the territory, but that he had no knowledge of any other money having been received by previous secretaries, nor had he received any, al- though he had applied for twenty-seven thousand dollars on the approval of his bond for fifty thousand dollars. The legislature chose to ig- nore Howlett's answer and telegraphed to Mc- Cullough, secretary of the United States treas- ury, alleging that Howlett had refused to give the information sought. This brought the state- ment from the department that fifty-three thou- sand dollars had been placed at the disposal of former secretaries, and that twenty thousand dol- lars had that day been placed to Howlett's credit. This was the knowledge that they had been thirsting for, as it was a promise of the speedy payment of their per diem."

The governor seemed to be as conscientious as any man could be in vetoing whatever acts of the legislature he considered disconsonant with the organic act of the territory, which was its consti- tion. At the same time many of the members had evaded taking any oath of office which re- quired allegiance to the general government, and proceeded to pass laws over the governor's veto. They passed an act abolishing the extra pay of the governor and secretary; an act depriving the governor of the appointing power, regardless of the organic act, and reserving it to themselves or the county commissioners, and an act appropri- ating thirty thousand dollars for sectarian schools; but these laws were disapproved by con- gress. The great majority of this legislature had the opposition to a Republican government "on the brain," and thus, in a kind of mania, could scarcely think of anything else to do but pass acts militating against everybody and every- thing imported from the east.

During the proceedings above recited, How-

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

lett was necessarily in correspondence with the treasury department at Washington, and had given information concerning the refusal of the majority of the members to take the oath of office. Accordingly the department instructed Howlett to withhold the pay of the rebelling members until they had taken the prescribed oath. Of course this raised a storm. The leg- islature passed resolutions charging the secre- tary with incompetency, malfeasance in office, etc., and demanding his removal from office. Personal violence seemed to be imminent. The secretary then called on the United States mar- shal for protection : the latter in turn called upon the military force at Fort Boise, and a squad of soldiers was accordingly stationed in front of the legislative hall, which naturally .rritated the dis- loyal members still more, raising their temper up to white heat. In order to prevent bloodshed, Judges McBride and Cummings recom- mended that Howlett pay all that would then take the oath of allegiance, and the next day a majority did this and received their pay. This plan was successful in calming the troubled waters.

The governor, David W. Ballard, who was a native of Indiana, had emigrated to Oregon in 1852, and had served in the Oregon legislature, from Linn county. He was a physician by pro- fession, a gentleman of mild manners and firm principle, and fearless in the public discharge of duty. His policy as the executive of the terri- tory of Idaho was such as to excite the opposi- tion of his political opponents, among whom were the impetuous element from the southern states, who were generally too hasty in precipi- tating anything like a fight. This opposition was led by a man named Holbrook, the delegate of the territory in congress. Although a man of in- tellectual force, having been a student at Oberlin College, in Ohio, he became a victim of dissipa- tion after his emigration to the Pacific coast in 1859. He was a young man, not yet thirty years of age at the time of his service as delegate in congress, when he was endeavoring to secure for the territory an assay office and an appro- priation for a penitentiary. He was finally shot and killed by Charles Douglass while sitting in front of his law office, in June, 1870. But his principal work at congress was to have Ballard

ousted from his office as governor of Idaho. Ac- cording to his request, in the summer of 1867, President Johnson suspended Governor Ballard and nominated for his place Isaac L. Gibbs; but before the commission was made out the presi- dent changed his mind. The letter containing the notice of suspension, which had been sent to Ballard, was forgotten, and the suspension was not revoked until November, when Ballard was restored to office.

For some time after the above episode the elective officers of Idaho were those nominated by the Democratic party, but violent characters among them became gradually more and more diminished in their numbers and the turbulent element from the old south fell to such a small minority that they dared not undertake many "high-handed" measures.

In 1868 J. K. Shafer was elected a delegate to congress over T. J. Butler, the founder of the Boise News, which was the pioneer journal of southern Idaho. Mr. Shafer was an able lawyer who, a native of Lexington, Virginia, had emi- grated to California in 1849, in which state he was the first district attorney of San Joaquin county, and for ten years the judge of the dis- trict court of that county. Having been a gradu- ate of a college at Lexington, he possessed fine literary attainments, and he was known to be of irreproachable character. He was a pioneer here in Idaho, and he finally died at Eureka, Nevada, November 22, 1876.

Ballard's administration of the affairs of the territory as an executive was popular, and a ma- jority of the citizens of Idaho petitioned for his reappointment; but by the time this petition was presented another man had been appointed gov- ernor, namely, Gilman Marston, of New Hamp- shire. At the same time a new secretary was also appointed, E. J. Curtis, who, in the absence of the governor, administered public affairs for a year and a half. A native of Massachusetts, he adopted the profession of the law, emigrating to California in 1849, resided in Siskiyou county, which he twice represented in the legislature, was judge of the court of sessions of Trinity county two years, came to Owyhee in 1865, and finally settled in Boise City, and continued in the prac- tice of law. As secretary of Idaho he brought order out of confusion and by protracted hard

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labor succeeded in having established a working state library.

While Mr. Curtis was secretary and acting governor, Marston resigned his office as govern- or, and Thomas A. Bowen, a southern Repub- lican who had been district judge in Arkansas, was appointed in his place; but he soon resigned and Thomas W. Bennett was appointed. He was a native of Indiana who had graduated at As- bury University in that state and became a law- yer; was a captain of a Union company in the civil war, major, colonel, and finally brevet briga- dier-general, and in 1869 was mayor of Rich- mond, that state.

Eastern men who were qualified to administer public affairs and demanded large salaries did not desire office in the wild west, and hence it was difficult to engage them to come to Idaho and reside. Therefore the party in power at Wash- ington was obliged to be almost continually seek- ing for men to accept office for Idaho, and the men selected generally desired to have the office only on condition that they remain east and draw the salary.

In 1870 the Democrats again succeeded in electing their candidate as delegate to congress, S. A. Merritt, and in 1872 John Hailey, whose sketch is given elsewhere in this volume, received as a Democrat an overwhelming majority. In 1869 McBride resigned his office as chief justice of the territory and David Noggle was ap- pointed. The latter had been a lawyer in Wis- consin, a circuit judge and a leading cam- paign speaker; but softening of the brain had be- gun before it was recognized, and his appoint- ment to the office here in Idaho was made after that disease had begun to influence his conduct. He became pliant in the hands of the forward politicians. J. R. Lewis, who was his associate in the third district, was an upright judge, and on that account made himself obnoxious to schem- ing politicians, one of whom, in order to have the judge removed, forged a letter of resignation and forwarded it to Washington. The same means had been tried to get rid of him in Washington Territory, by the whisky dealers of Seattle. Be- fore the trick of ousting him in Idaho was dis- covered at the seat of the federal government, M. E. Hollister, of Ottawa, Illinois, was ap- pointed in his place. Hollister succeeded Noggle

as chief justice in 1875, while John Clark suc- ceeded Hollister in the third district. William C. Whitson, who had been justice in the first dis - trict, and died in December, was from Oregon, where he had been clerk of Polk county. He as. sumed the office at the early age of twenty-one years, and was elected county judge at the age · of twenty-eight. He was a man of liberal educa- tion and a successful attorney. He died in De- cember, 1875, and Henry E. Prickett, who had been a member of the legislative council, was appointed judge of the first district. He held the position to the year 1884, which fact is an evidence of his capability.

As governor of the territory Bennett was suc- ceeded, in 1875, by D. P. Thompson, a rising man of Oregon, appointed by President Grant. Thompson was born in Ohio, in 1834; emigrated to Oregon overland in 1853; engaged in public surveys until 1872, among other transactions running the base line of Oregon across the Cas- cade mountains; was state senator from 1868 to 1872, from Clackamas county ; from 1872 to 1878 was extensively interested in mail contracts; ap- pointed governor of Idaho in 1875, but resigned the next year for business reasons, returning to Oregon; in 1878 was elected representative to the legislature from Multnomah county ; in 1879, chosen mayor of Portland; organized banks, of one of which he was president; built a railroad around the falls of the Willamette, and was en- gaged in many other business enterprises, in most of which he was successful.

His successor in the gubernatorial office here was M. Brayman, then J. B. Neil. S. S. Fenn became the territorial delegate, after a successful contest in a doubtful election. Curtis, as secre- tary, was succeeded in 1878 by R. A. Side- botham, and he by Theodore F. Singiser. In 1878 George Ainslie was elected to succeed Fenn as delegate.

About this time the people of the panhandle of Idaho began to make a move to be either an- nexed to Washington, or, with a slice from Mon- tana, to be organized into an independent terri -- tory, to be named Columbia. After the seat of government had been taken away from Lewiston and established at Boise, in the southern part of the territory, they felt as if they were "left out in the cold." To advance their claims they estab-

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lished, at Lewiston, a newspaper organ named the Radiator. Several propositions were made, the most important of which was the memorial of the Idaho legislature in 1865-6 to congress praying for an elision of the panhandle and an indemnity in the form of a slice from the territory of Utah; but all efforts in the direction of readjustment of boundary lines proved to be in vain. However, . erable amount of natural wealth. there were a number of settlements that were

supposed to be in northern Utah which proved on survey in 1871 to belong to Idaho. These were Franklin, Weston, Malad, Fish Haven, Ovid, Bloomington, Paris and St. Charles, ag- gregating about twenty-five hundred people, who had been paying taxes to Utah; and the addition of this strip to Idaho also brought in a consid-

W.F. Rettenbach

CHAPTER XIII.

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS.

WILLIAM F. KETTENBACH.

ILLIAM F. KETTENBACH, now de- ceased, was one of Lewiston's most en- terprising and successful business men, and for many years was president of the Lewiston National Bank. He left the impress of his indi- viduality upon the commercial life and prosperity of the city, and his history forms an important chapter in the annals of the growth and develop- ment of this section of the state. He was born in New York city, May 15, 1849, just two days after the arrival of his parents, Henry and Eliza- beth Kettenbach, from Germany. They were na- tives of that land. The father was descended from one of the noble families of Germany, and held the office of colonel of cavalry at Wurtzburg. On coming to America he took his family to In- dianapolis, Indiana, and there the subject of this review was educated. When sixteen years of age he left school and proceeded to the frontier, where he was in the government service, acting as a scout with Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill. After the civil war he for some years acted as guide to emigrant trains across the plains, and then returned to Indianapolis, where he was en- gaged in the wholesale and retail grocery busi- ness for three years. He then devoted his ener- gies to conducting a hardware store, and in the meantime invested largely in real estate, but in the financial panic of 1877 all his accumulations were swept away, owing to the great depreciation in values.

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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 20

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