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 6

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 6

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ing for her and against us. She now has the ex- clusive possession of the Columbia, and all she wants is time to ripen her possession into a title. For above twenty years * * the present time for vindicating our rights on the Columbia has been constantly objected to, and we were bidden to wait. Well, we have waited, and what have we got by it? Insult and defiance !- a declaration from this British ministry that large British in- terests have grown up on the Columbia during this time, which they will protect, and a flat re- fusal from the olive-branch minister (Lord Ash- burton) to include this question among those which his peaceful mission was to settle! No, sir; time and negotiations have been bad agents for us in our controversies with Great Britain. They have just lost us the military frontiers of Maine, which we had held for sixty years, and the trad- ing frontier of the northwest, which we had held for the same time. Sixty years' possession and eight treaties secured these ancient and valuable boundaries; one negotiation and a few days of time have taken them from us! And so it may be again. The Webster treaty of 1842 has ob- literated the great boundaries of 1783,-placed the British, their fur company and their Indians within our ancient limits; and I, for one, want no more treaties from the hand which is always seen on the side of the British. I now go for vindicating our rights on the Columbia, and, as the first step toward it, passing this bill, and mak- ing these grants of land, which will soon place the thirty or forty thousand rifles beyond the Rocky mountains, which will be our effective negotiators."

The bill of Mr. Benton passed the senate by a vote of twenty-four to twenty-two. It went to the house, where it remained unacted upon dur- ing the session. But its moral effect was to as- sure the enterprising people of the west that the period of national procrastination and timidity was well-nigh over, and that it would be but a very short time before such decisive action would be taken as would compel a settlement of the con- troversy with England.

A Snake River Scene.

CHAPTER V.

RIVAL CLAIMS AND PRETENSIONS, CONTINUED.

F OLLOWING immediately in the train of the events just related, came the presiden- tial election of 1844. The Oregon ques- tion was too available a question for the uses of a political campaign to be kept out of the prelim- inary canvass. "America for Americans," "The Monroe Doctrine," "Fifty-four Forty or Fight," became the catch-words, if not the watchwords, of the hour. The politicians of one party took their cue from the obvious tendency of this popu- lar cry. The annexation of Texas and the imme- diate occupation of Oregon were very skillfully united together in the platform of the convention that nominated James K. Polk for president. On the Oregon question it declared that our title to the whole of Oregon up to 54° 40' north lati- tude was "clear and indisputable," thus denying and defying the pretensions of Great Britain to any territory bordering on the Pacific. The nom- inee of the Democratic party for president, Mr. James K. Polk, indorsed the platform, and the canvass for him proceeded on that issue. Mr. Polk was elected over Henry Clay, who, although the idol of his party and one of the most popular of American statesmen, could not overcome the excited state of the public mind on these ques- tions. Thus the verdict of the people of the United States at the election was unquestionably in favor of Oregon, even up to 54° 40' north latitude. It was well known, however, that the leading statesmen of the Democratic party be- lieved the forty-ninth degree to be the line of our rightful claim. Mr. Benton had already dem- onstrated it on the floor of the senate. Mr. Cal- houn, as Democratic secretary of state for Mr. Tyler, at the very moment when the Democratic convention was making its platform and nomi- nating Mr. Polk upon it, was engaged in a nego- tiation with the British minister in Washington, and offering to him a settlement of the entire question on the line of the forty-ninth parallel. Only some item in regard to the right of Great

Britain to navigate the Columbia river prevented the acceptance of this proposition by the British minister, and the settlement of the whole ques- tion at that time.

While, doubtless, Mr. Calhoun himself would have been glad to have concluded the Oregon question as secretary of state, and as he evi- dently might have done, politically he did not dare to do so. The annexation of Texas was a southern question, and the south could be carried for Mr. Polk on that issue. Oregon was a north- ern question, and the north could be carried in the same way by keeping up the cry of "Fifty- four Forty or Fight." To settle on 49° would be to yield the question, and with it the election to the Whigs, and make Mr. Clay president. So the Oregon question was not settled, as it might have been before the election of 1844, and exact- ly the same line as was adopted two years later, after it had achieved the political results for which it was kept in the air during the political canvass of 1844, namely, electing Mr. Polk presi- dent, and finally defeating the aspirations of Mr. Clay for that eminent position.

With this result achieved, and on this ground, this question could not slumber. Mr. Polk brought it promptly forward in his inaugural ad- dress, reaffirming the position of the platform on which he was elected. The position of the in- augural threw the public mind of Great Britain into a ferment, and the English nation thun- dered back the cry of war. For a year the two nations stood face to face like gladiators, with uplifted swords waiting for a word that would send them breast to breast in the fierce grapple of war. History must record that the United States must retreat, in her diplomacy and in her legislation, from the political decision of her people, or the inevitable war must come. It was an embarrassing and mortifying position for the new government, but it had to be endured and met as best it could be.

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

James Buchanan was now secretary of state. He waited for some time for a proposition from the British minister at Washington to renew the negotiations on the Oregon question, but none came. On the 22d of July, 1845, he therefore addressed a note to Mr. Packenham, the British minister at Washington, resuming negotiations where Mr. Calhoun had suspended them, and again proposed the line of forty-nine to the ocean. This the British minister refused, but invited a "fairer" proposition. The knowledge of this proposition on the part of the secretary of state raised a political storm in his party before which the administration cowered, and, as Mr. Packen- ham had not accepted it, it was withdrawn. The president recommended strong measures to as- sert and secure our title, and the political storni was measurably appeased. Meantime, the with- drawal of the proposition of Mr. Buchanan, con- pled with the recommendation of the president, somewhat alarmed the British people, and it be- gan to be rumored that England would propose the line she had before rejected. The position of the dominant party absolutely required that it should make a demonstration according to its iterated and reiterated promises to the people. Accordingly, a resolution determining the treaty of joint occupancy, and looking to the mainte- nance of that position, was introduced into the house of representatives, most ably debated- John Quincy Adams taking strong grounds in its favor-and, on the 9th of February, 1846, adopted, by the decisive vote of 163 to 54.

The resolution thus passed in the house went to the senate. Here, in the form in which it passed the house, it encountered violent opposi- tion, a strong contingent of the Democratic party taking position against it. Among these, if not their leader, was Senator Benton. General Cass, E. A. Hannigan and William Allen led the de- bate in its favor. Besides, Benton, Webster, Crittenden and Berrien made exhaustive argu- ments against it. It was well understood in the senate that President Polk thought it necessary to recede from the position of his party-the posi- tion on which he had fought the campaign in which he was elected to the presidency-and ac- cept the line of 49° without a "fight." So the resolution of the house was defeated in the sen- ate. But the senate adopted another resolution,

authorizing the president "at his discretion" to give notice to Great Britain for the termination of the treaty. The senate resolution was con- ciliatory, its preamble declaring that it was only to secure "a speedy and amiable adjustment of the differences and disputes in regard to said ter- ritory."

When this resolution went to the house that body receded from its former position, and, with even a greater unanimity than had characterized their action on that which the senate had rejected, adopted it; only forty-six, and they almost en- tirely northern Democrats, voting against it.

With this action the danger of the war with Great Britain was dispelled. It was immediately followed by a treaty between Mr. Buchanan, sec- retary of state, under the direction of the presi- dent and British minister at Washington, adopt- ing the forty-ninth parallel as the boundary be- tween the two countries, with certain concessions touching the line westward of where that parallel strikes the gulf of Georgia, and, for a definite period, the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company and the navigation of the Columbia river by the British. Thus closed a controversy with Great Britain that came very near involving the two nations in a conflict of arms. In a war England could have possessed, and, it may not be too much to suppose, would have possessed Oregon, but, perhaps at the cost of the Canadas. Had the settlement been postponed a few years longer, it is not improbable that American emigrants would have so filled the country even up to 54° 40' and all the country would have been one. In the discussion both sides were partly right and partly wrong, as history clearly demonstrates. The "30,000 rifles" theory of Senator Benton, in the hands of emigrants, was correct. The "time and patience" theory of Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun was also correct. These acting together solved the "Oregon question," and on the whole, as matters stood in 1846, solved it honorably and justly to both the high contracting parties.

Although the Oregon treaty was made, and had been proclaimed as the law of the land, one thing remained to be done which became a mat- ter of infinite disagreement, and came very near involving the two countries in war before its final conclusion. The line was agreed upon, but it was not run. The trouble arose from a long-

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

continued permission, on the part of Great Brit- ain, of the application of the description of the line from where the forty-ninth parallel of lati- tude strikes the gulf of Georgia. Thence, as it was worded in the treaty, it was to follow "the middle of the channel which separates the con- tinent from Vancouver's island," and follow it through the straits of Fuca to the ocean. No map or chart was attached to the treaty on which the line could be traced; so little was really known of the geography of the gulf of Georgia that it would have been difficult for the commis- sioners to have traced the middle of the channel had one been present. This left open a ground for dispute and diplomatic finesse, which contin- ued to drag the controversy along through many

years, the matter being finally submitted for final arbitration, without appeal, to Emperor William of Germany, on the 8th of May, 1871.

For twenty-five years, under the finesse of British diplomacy, the treaty of June 15, 1846, had waited for its execution. Its interpretation was the last question of territorial right between Great Britain and the United States. For over ninety-two years, the two great English-speaking nations of the world had been trying to decide upon a line that should decide between them from sea to sea, and at Berlin, and by the Em- peror William, the last and definite word was spoken, and the controversy was ended, July 21, 1872.

CHAPTER VI.

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS.

RICHARD Z. JOHNSON.

P ERHAPS there is no part of this history of more general interest than the record of the bar. It is well known that the peace, prosperity and well-being of every community de- pend upon the wise interpretation of the laws, as well as upon their judicious framing, and there- fore the records of the various persons who have at various times made up the bar will form an important part of this work. A well known jurist of Illinois said, "In the American state the great and good lawyer must always be prom- inent, for he is one of the forces that move and control society. Public confidence has generally been reposed in the legal profession. It has ever been the defender of popular rights, the cham- pion of freedom regulated by law, the firm sup- port of good government. In the times of dan- ger it has stood like a rock and breasted the mad passions of the hour and finally resisted tumult and faction. No political preferment, no mere place, can add to the power or increase the honor which belongs to the pure and educated lawyer. Richard Z. Johnson, of Boise, is one who has been honored by and is an honor to the legal fraternity of Idaho. He stands to-day prominent among the leading members of the bar of the state,-a position which he has attained through marked ability.

A native of Akron, Ohio, he was born May 21, 1837, and is descended from an-' cestors who were early settlers of New Eng- land. On both the paternal and maternal sides representatives of the families were found among the "minute men" who fought un- der Generals Putnam and Stark in the war of the Revolution. Harvey H. Johnson, the father of our subject, was born in Rutland, Vermont, where his people had resided for many years. He studied law, became a prominent attorney and subsequently removed to Akron, Ohio, at

once taking an active part in the affairs of that city. He served as its first postmaster, was for a number of years its mayor, and represented the old fourteenth district of Ohio in the national congress. He married Miss Calista F. Munger, also a native of Rutland, Vermont, and to them were born six children. The father departed this life in 1896, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, and the mother died at the age of fifty-five. They were Congregationalists in their religious faith and were very highly esteemed people.

Richard Z. Johnson is the eldest of the family. He was educated in the schools of Ohio and New York, and pursued his professional course in the law department of Yale College, where he was graduated in the class of 1859. In St. Paul, Min- nesota, he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Winona, that state, where he remained for five years, during which time he served for two terms as city attorney. Subsequently he re- moved to Virginia City, Nevada, and thence to Silver City, Owyhee county, Idaho, where he practiced for fourteen years with excellent suc- cess. In December, 1878, he came to Boise, where he has since made his home. His law practice is large and remunerative, and has con- nected him with the most important litigation heard in the courts of his district through the past two decades. He has won for himself very favorable criticism for the careful and systematic methods which he has followed. He has re- markable powers of concentration and applica- tion, and his retentive mind has often excited the surprise of his professional colleagues. As an orator he stands high, especially in the discussion of legal matters before the court, where his com- prehensive knowledge of the law is manifest and his application of legal principles demonstrates the wide range of his professional acquirements. The utmost care and precision characterize his preparation of a case and have made him one of the most successful attorneys in Boise.

Interior View of Office of Johnson & Johnson.

for Maluo Hustru

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

Mr. Johnson has aided largely in shaping the public policy of his city and state, and his keen discernment and study of the public needs have made his efforts in this direction very valuable. He was a member of the territorial council from 1880 until 1882, has been a member of the city council, was attorney general of Idaho for two terms, and was one of the commissioners who compiled the revised statutes of the state, in 1878. He has ever been deeply concerned in the welfare and progress of the city, especially along educa- tional lines, and has done much for the advance- ment of the schools of Boise. He was the author, and secured the passage, of the law creating the independent school district of Boise, which meas- ure has contributed so largelv to the splendid school system of the city. For fifteen years he was a member of the board of education and actively co-operated in every movement for the real good and upbuilding of the schools. Heavy demands are made upon his time by his pro- fessional duties, but he never neglects an oppor- tunity to advance the welfare of his fellow men through public measures. His political support is given the Democracy.

The material interests of Boise have also been largely promoted by Mr. Johnson, who soon after coming to the city made extensive investments in real estate. He is now the owner of much valuable property, which he has greatly im- proved, erecting many pleasant and attractive residences, which he rents to a good class of ten- ants. He also built a large brick office building, where he is located in the practice of his pro- fession as the senior partner of the firm of John- son & Johnson. He has the largest private law library in the state, and has deservedly attained an eminence at the bar reached by few. He is president of the Idaho State Bar Association.

A portrait of Mr. Johnson appears as frontis- piece of this volume.

RICHARD HARVEY JOHNSON.

The subject of this sketch, the son and law partner of Richard Z. Johnson, subject of the pre- ceding review, was born at Silver City, in Owy- hee county, Idaho, on the 19th of July, 1870.

He received his education at the Boise high school, and in mathematics and the modern lan- guages at the Concordia, in Zurich, Switzerland,

and in Greek and Latin under Professors Lam- bert and Winneger, at Lindau, in Boden-See, Bavaria. Returning to America, he entered Yale University and afterwards graduated from the law department, with the degree of LL. B., in 1892, just thirty-three years after his father had taken the same degree at the same institution. Returning to Idaho, he entered into partnership with his father, in the practice of the law at Boise City, the capital of the state, with whom he is still associated.

At the general election in 1896, Mr. Johnson was elected to the house of representatives of the fourth session of the state legislature, as a Demo- crat, and served as chairman of the committee on state affairs.

JOSEPH W. HUSTON.

The history of a state as well as that of a nation is chiefly a chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have conferred honor and dignity upon society. The world judges the character of a community by those of its representative citi- zens, and yields its tributes of admiration and respect for the genius or learning or virtues of those whose works and actions constitute the record of a state's prosperity and pride. Among the distinguished citizens of Idaho is Judge Joseph Waldo Huston, of Boise, who holds dis- tinctive precedence as an eminent lawyer and jurist, as a statesman, as a man of high scientific and literary attainments, a valiant and patriotic soldier and as one who occupied a most unique and trying position in an important epoch in our judicial history, in which connection he bore himself with such signal dignity and honor as to gain the respect of all.

Judge Huston was born in Painesville, Ohio, April 10, 1833. On the paternal side his ances- tors were from county Tyrone, Ireland, and were early settlers in the state of New Hampshire. The military record is one of which the family has every reason to be proud. The grandfather of the Judge valiantly aided in the struggle for independence, and his father, Caleb C. Huston, defended the new republic in the second war with England, after which he emigrated to Ohio at an early day. There he married Pamelia Hall, whose people were also early settlers of New York and northern Ohio. By this marriage were born seven

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

sons and a daughter. Four of the sons loyally served their country in defense of the Union dur- ing the Civil war, and one of the number was killed at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky.

Judge Huston was educated in Kalamazoo, Michigan, studied law under the direction of ex- Senator Stuart, was admitted to the bar in 1857, and soon afterward removed to Paw Paw, Michi- gan, where he engaged in the practice of his chosen profession until April, 1861. In the meantime he had been closely studying the questions arising out of the slavery conditions of the south, and when war seemed imminent, had resolved to defend the Union if the call was issued for volunteers. Accordingly, when Fort Sumter was fired upon and President Lincoln asked for the aid of loyal men in crushing out the rebellion in its infancy, Judge Huston went to the front as a member of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry. He assisted in the organization of the regiment, was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and after- ward to major. He served with distinction until 1863, when, on account of physical disability, he was mustered out of the service. His bravery, however, was made manifest on southern battle- fields, and with an honorable military record he returned home.

As soon as he had sufficiently recovered, Judge Huston resumed the practice of law, and in 1869 was appointed by President Grant to the posi- tion of United States attorney for Idaho. He at once came to this state, and for nine years, until 1878, filled that position in a most satisfactory and acceptable manner. He then resumed the private practice of law, which he continued until 1890, when he was elected to the supreme bench of the state. In 1894 he was re-elected for a term of six years. This office he fills with the utmost fidelity and fairness. Some of his decis- ions rank among the classics of judicial literature and are characterized by great clearness of thought and originality of illustration. His de- cision in the case of the state versus Reed elicited much favorable comment. He laid great em- phasis upon the fact, frequently overlooked Dy jurists, that the object of criminal courts was to punish criminals, not to furnish them means of escaping punishment. The Portland Oregonian published a large part of the decision, and had an editorial on the subject under the caption, "A

Decision Long Due," in which the decision was highly commended, especially because it came from one of the younger state supreme courts.

Judge Huston has been a lifelong Republican, but differs from his party on the money question, having long been an ardent bimetallist. He was a delegate to the silver convention held in Hel- ena, Montana, in 1892, was a delegate to the American Bimetallist League in 1893, and for several years has been vice president of the latter organization. In 1896 he supported Mr. Bryan for the presidency with great ability and zeal. He is a man of scholarly attainments and broad literary culture, possesses a very fine library and is a thorough Shakespearean student.

In 1855 Judge Huston was happily married to Miss Lucia Wilder, of Kalamazoo, who departed this life in 1863, leaving a daughter, who is now Mrs. Carrie Leonard, of Boise. In 1864 he mar- ried Miss Frances Collister, of Willoughby, Ohio, and for thirty-four years they have now traveled life's journey together. They have a son, Collis- ter P., a graduate of the Hahnemann Medical College, of San Francisco, and now with the First Idaho Volunteers, having enlisted for ser- vice in the Spanish-American war. The Judge has a very pleasant home in Boise, the center of a cultured society circle,-and there hospitality reigns supreme.

He is largely interested in mining in Washing- ton county, Idaho, but the practice of law has been his real life-work, and at the bar and on the bench he has won marked distinction. A man of unimpeachable character, of unusual in- tellectual endowments, with a thorough under- standing of the law, patience, urbanity and in- dustry, Judge Huston took to the bench the very highest qualifications for this most responsible office of the state government; and his record as a judge was in harmony with his record as a man and a lawyer, distinguished by unswerving integrity and a masterful grasp of every problem that presented itself for solution.

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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 6

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