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 61

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 61

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The bankers of Boise are high-class, honorable gen- tlemen and bankers in the truest interpretation of the word, which is of vital importance to the public, whose commercial blood flows through the arteries of these institutions. And the business men of Boise are pros- perons, shrewd and solvent, always ready to protect their customers and maintain the high standard of business ethics that insures commercial stability.

Boise is justified in a feeling of security in its educa- tional institutions, which are second to none on the coast, especially in the public schools, which are a high standard of perfection. The Episcopal and Catho- lic schools, are high-class and of a good standard of discipline and management.

The churches of all denominations are ably pastored and have large and intelligent congregations, and all of the secret orders have cozy homes and good mem- berships.

Boise has the finest natatorium in the United States, being supplied with natural hot water. Boise is the only city in the United States whose dwellings and business blocks are heated by nature in the shape of hot water from artesian wells.

Boise has a United States assay office, military post,

View of Main Street, Lewiston.

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HISTORY OF IDAHO.

signal service, electric lights, telephones, electric rail- roads and paved streets.

The sanitary conditions of the city are good. The municipal government from Mayor Alexander to Chief of Police Francis are the right men in the right places.

Boise has a population of ten thousand, is a city of commercial solidity, beautiful homes, and refined, cul- tured, Christian people who believe in their city, their state, and their flag.

Boise has for its environments a vast and rapidly developing mining country whose minerals consist of gold, silver, copper, iron and lead, an agricultural and horticultural country of such magnitude that it must be seen to be understood; it is the home of the prune, pear and apple; sweet flowers and sturdy people grow on these broad acres. Irrigation companies are reclaim- ing thousands of acres from their native aridity and irrigation is king. Boise is the natural and actual rail- road, mining, agricultural and commercial center in southern Idaho.

LEWISTON.

The early history of this point is nearly all given in the general history of Idaho on other pages of this volume, under the various heads of discovery, early mining, the history of the In- dians, including the various wars with them, and the political government of the territory, as this town was for a time the capital of the common- wealth.

Lewiston is situated in the fork made by the Snake and Clearwater rivers, at an average ele- vation of only six hundred and twenty-five feet above the sea level, and hence has the best cli- mate of all localities in this part of the United States. During the severe winters in the moun- tains the early miners came out to this place and enjoyed the climate as well as they would that of California in the winter time,-indeed much bet- ter than they would that of the Sacramento valley and many other highly praised localities in the Golden state. It has been estimated that as many as twenty thousand persons were in the mines in this vicinity during the early '6os, the winter population of Lewiston running from ten to twelve thousand people. These men would touch nothing for less than ten dollars a day, some "earnings" running up to thousands of dol- lars a day!

The cause of the delightful character of the climate here during the colder portion of the year is seen in the fact that a river of warm air flows through this valley from the heated table-lands of Arizona, the Colorado valley and the dry val-

leys of northern Mexico; and possibly also the warmth of the earth itself, as indicated by the numerous hot springs of this and adjoining states, has a perceptible effect upon the super- incumbent atmosphere. Another fact is, the air here is dry, enabling any one to endure a far greater degree of heat or cold than in moist air. The average rainfall here per annum is about one foot.

It was during the early mining period, namely 1863, that the territory of Idaho was organized, with the capital at Lewiston. Accordingly the first legislature met here on the roth of Decem- ber, that year, attended by representatives from very distant points, now in Montana, Wyoming, etc. About this time the gold which was easily picked up began rapidly to disappear and the miners naturally ran to other points from which they chanced to hear extraordinary reports, the transient population drifting southward to the Owyhee country and the Boise Basin. This stampede proved to be sufficiently permanent to force the capital away from Lewiston to Boise City the very next year, 1864. As related in an- other place, when the order was given to remove the territorial records to Boise City, the county commissioners of Nez Perces county, of whichi Lewiston is the county seat, enjoined the removal of the capital, on the ground that the legislature ordering the removal did not assemble at the re- quired time and the members had not all taken the oath prescribed by law. The supreme-court justice, A. C. Smith, decided in favor of Lewis- ton, and for ten months confusion reigned, the territory being without an acknowledged capital, while the governor returned to New York to escape the controversy ; nor was there even a ter- ritorial secretary to take temporary charge of the executive business. Finally United States Mar- shal Alvord received instructions to convey the records to Boise; but the transfer had to be made stealthily in order to avoid a riot.

The boom of early bonanza mining and the capital both gone, nothing remained for the building up of Lewiston excepting permanent features, which, however, have proved to be far greater than had been before imagined. The location is at the head of navigation on the Snake river, and at the mouth of the Clearwater, which is navigable for a considerable distance. This

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fact, besides the delightful climate already men- tioned, together with the development of good agricultural, horticultural and grazing lands in the vicinity, has constituted a permanent founda- tion for Lewiston's prosperity. The bench lands, of varying heights as one approaches the moun- tains, have proved to be first-class grain-produc- ing grounds, the farmers often reaping thirty to forty bushels of wheat to the acre, grain of first- class quality, and this, too, without irrigation.

At first the Indians in the vicinity were turbu- lent and were a great obstacle in the way of the settlement of the country ; but at the present time they are peaceable citizens, following agricultural pursuits, and give to Lewiston a considerable trade. Thus Lewiston has kept ahead of all the northern towns of Idaho.

Very soon after the pacifying of the Indians, the city secured the passage of an act by the legis- lature creating it an independent school district, and a handsome, commodious school building of three stories was erected, at a cost of eleven thousand dollars. The graded system was intro- duced and has been continued with great success ever since. In 1881 the Columbia River confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal church estab- lished the Lewis Collegiate Institute here; and subsequently the Catholics erected a large and important structure, where their St. Aloysius Academy was conducted. Rev. A. D. McCon- key's school and other private educational insti- tutions added to the city's growing importance as a home center. At that early date it was con- ceded that Lewiston was destined to be known as the Athens of the northwest.

A government land office was established here in 1875, which had jurisdiction over Nez Perces, Idaho and Shoshone counties, which included Latah county, segregated from Nez Perces in 1887. This office necessarily had a great amount of business. The lands to the east are chiefly oc- cupied as a reservation by the Nez Perces. In 1896 these lands were first sown for crops, pro- ducing half a million bushels of wheat and pro- portionate quantities of other grain, hay and vegetables; and the next year the acreage was doubled, and so on. The products of this section are now mostly marketed at Lewiston, either by wagon or by navigation of the Clearwater. Also considerable business comes to Lewiston from

across the Snake river, as far out as the Seven Devils mining region, in Oregon and Washing- ton. On both the east and the south the rich rolling prairies gradually ascend until, sixty to eighty miles distant, they fade into mountain ranges that hold the mineral treasures that made Idaho famous in the early '6os. Nearly all these mining camps are tributary to Lewiston and form a large part of its trade.

Not, however, until within a few years has a railroad reached this distant point from the great centers of civilization, the Northern Pacific hav- ing recently completed a branch to this place, putting it in communication with the east and west. Other lines of railway are in contempla- tion.

Lewiston at present has a population of about five thousand, with two national banks, numerous large mercantile houses, two daily newspapers and one semi-weekly, the State Normal School, five church edifices and flourishing congrega- tions and the nsnal benevolent and fraternal or- ganizations, which are largely supported. The Masonic and Odd Fellows orders have handsome structures of their own.

It is a unique and noteworthy feature of the commercial stability of Lewiston that instead of paying interest and dividend charges to outside financial institutions, the town receives this tribute from its neighbors; and consequently dur- ing the severest periods of stagnation it continues healthy and able while other points are depleted. The Nez Perces Indians are indeed among the wealthiest people of the country, and their trade alone brings a hundred thousand dollars a year into the city. The general government expends annually fifty thousand dollars upon the Indian industrial school and in the maintenance of the agency, both situated but a few miles ont of town, and this money is largely poured into the coffers of the citizens of Lewiston.

The government is at work on the dalles of the Oregon river constructing a canal around the falls, in order to render navigation uninterrupted between Lewiston and the high seas.

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK.

This solid and ably conducted financial institu- tion of Lewiston was founded in 1883 by J. P. Vollmer; ex-Governor M. C. Moore, of Wash-

Lewiston National Bank.

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ington; William O'Donnell, of Walla Walla, Washington; Wallace Scott, of Grangeville; and R. Schlicher, of Lewiston, and was capitalized for fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Vollmer was elected its president and has since remained in charge of the affairs of the bank in that capacity, his administration proving most acceptable and satisfactory. The history of the bank is a record of remarkable success, there being now a surplus of fifty thousand dollars, ninety-two thousand dollars of undivided profits and a reserve fund of forty-five thousand dollars, and the bank has re- turned to the stockholders the original stock and thirty per cent additional. On the roll of honor of the thirty-three hundred national banks of the United States the First National of Lewiston holds the thirty-fourth place-surely a most cred- itable record. The present officers are J. P. Voll- mer, president; Ralston Vollmer, vice-president ; and E. W. Eaves, cashier. The directors are J. P. Vollmer, W. Scott, A. W. Krontinger, C. V. Shearer and Ralston Vollmer. A general com- mercial banking business is carried on, and the First National is regarded as the strongest and safest financial institution of the state.

THE LEWISTON NATIONAL BANK

This is one of the strongest banking institu- tions in the state. It was founded August 9, 1883, by William F. Kettenbach, John Brearley and others. Mr. Brearley was elected its presi- dent, but lived only a short time after its organi- zation, when Mr. Kettenbach was chosen his suc- cessor and served in that capacity, with remark- able ability and fidelity, until his life's labors were ended in death, September 9, 1891. His brother, F. W. Kettenbach, was then elected to the presi- dency, and held that office until January 1, 1897, when he was succeeded by Daniel M. White, whose death occurred December 11, 1898. The vacancy thus occasioned was supplied by the election of W. F. Kettenbach, the son of the founder of the bank, to the presidency. Al- though only twenty-four years of age at the time, he had previously filled, in a most capable man- ner, almost all the lesser positions in the bank, and he now has the honor of being the youngest bank president in the United States.

The capital stock of the bank at its organiza- tion was fifty thousand dollars, and there is now

a surplus of fifty thousand and undivided profits amounting to six thousand dollars. The bank has had a most prosperous and honorable career and has been enabled to pay to its stockholders ever since its organization a semi-annual dividend of five per cent. It does a general commercial banking busi- ness, sells exchange on all parts of the world, and owns its magnificent bank building, which is constructed of magnesia stone, being three stories in height. It was built by Mr. W. F. Kettenbach during his presidency of the bank, at a cost of forty-seven thousand five hundred dollars, and is considered the finest bank block in Idaho. The main floor is splendidly equipped for banking purposes, and the other floors are divided into office suites, the rental of which is four hundred dollars monthly.

POCATELLO.

This, the "Gate City of Idaho," was named in memory of the doughty old chief of the Bannack Indians, a band of surly savages who formerly roved over the Snake river plains and kept the pioneers of civilization uneasy. The city is sit- uated at the intersection of the Oregon Short Line and the Utah & Northern Railroads, and has a commanding location at the natural gate- way to the great northwest of the region west of the Rocky mountains. By its railroad facilities -lines from the east, the west, the north and the south meeting within its limits-it controls the freight traffic from the east and the great Missis- sippi valley and the trans-Mississippi centers of commerce to the northwest coast and growing commonwealths of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Sixteen years ago this site was a sage-brush covered plain ; to-day there is a city here with a population of five thousand, with handsome brick business blocks, fine private residences, the finest school edifices in the state and prosperous busi- ness enterprises. Its growth and prosperity have been phenomenal. Only nine years ago the place was without a substantial building of any descrip- tion ; to-day it numbers its brick and stone blocks and residences by the score.

Topographically, the city is located at the head of the Port Neuf valley and on the banks of the river of that name, a tributary to the magnificent old Snake river. At the foot of the city lie the

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broad level plains of the Port Neuf valley, com- prising as rich and fertile land as any in the west. They stretch out in level distances as far as the eye can carry the vision and until they meet the still broader and equally fertile plains of the Snake river valley. Behind the city the broken spurs of the Wasatch range rear their rugged sides and rocky peaks, rich in all the minerals that have made the golden west great.

In 1882 the Oregon Short Line Railway was completed, connecting the Oregon Railway & Navigation line in the west with the main line of the Union Pacific in the east. In the same year the Pacific Hotel was built and the division headquarters of the railroad established here, which have remained here ever since. Pocatello then consisted of the hotel and store of the Fort Hall Indian trader, it being almost in the geo- graphical center of the Fort Hall Indian reserva- tion. The railroad company had a grant of some two hundred acres of land here, and it was a con- venient point for an overland eating-house. This state of things called the hotel into existence, but at the same time the wildest flights of imagination saw no prospects of a great city in the future.

The railroad company, however, early began to see the advantages of the situation. With the completion of the Utah & Northern line, north and south, Pocatello became the natural location for the great shops of the united lines, and ac- cordingly, in 1886, the shops, which had been lo- cated at Eagle Rock, were removed to Pocatello and very much enlarged. This enterprise at once brought four or five hundred men, many of them with families, to Pocatello, and for their accom- modation the railroad company began the erec- tion of the neat dwellings which constitute what is known as Company Row, and these were the first residences built in Pocatello. The first to occupy any of these were J. M. Bennett and wife; he was superintendent of bridges and buildings on this division. The depot, which had been completed the previous year, was dedicated with a grand ball in October.

Pocatello was a booming town in those days, a typical frontier town, and almost the last that the United States has seen. Money was plenti- ful and flowing freely, and the restraints of law and the effete features of eastern civilization were scarcely noticeable. Immigrants rushed in, with

money and enterprise, even faster than room could be found for them, for the railroad com- pany owned the only available land, the rest of the land belonging to the Indians. Squatters were ordered off the reservation and their "shacks" pulled down.

Something had to be done. In 1886 there were six hundred people in Pocatello and more crowd- ing in every day. At this juncture the railroad company began to permit people to build on their right of way, and, as if by magic, a city of "shacks" and shanties, devoted to all kinds of business, sprang up on what has since been called the plaza-the broad, open space around the hotel and office buildings-and where the parks are located. The town did not present a very commanding appearance, but was accomplishing an immense amount of business. Directly after the town site was thrown open to market the "shacks" were torn down and better structures were under way.

One of the first buildings erected in the town was a school-house, in which school was opened in 1887, with Miss Brooks as teacher. The citi- zens, however, were often in sore straits for money to keep the schools going; but private subscriptions and benefit entertainments were al- ways found in time, and since its founding the city of Pocatello has always maintained a high reputation for its schools. To-day it has two public-school edifices and also a handsome pri- vate academy, unexcelled in the state.

The crowding of a pushing and enterprising population into the narrow limits of the railroad right of way at once resulted in agitation for more room. Delegate Dubois was appealed to for relief. Barbecues and "big talks" were held with the red men of the tribes of the Bannacks and Shoshones at Fort Hall. The braves were fed and petted and finally agreed to a treaty sell- ing two thousand acres of land to the United States for a town site, and Mr. Dubois promptly had a bill passed by congress ratifying this treaty.

In June, 1889, the town site was surveyed, and the next summer the lots were sold at public auc- tion. Pocatello had in the meantime grown to a city of between thirty and thirty-five hundred population. Long previously the people had overflowed the extreme limits of the railroad

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lands and were squatted all over the town site. Many of them, indeed, had erected buildings of considerable pretensions, and it was feared that there might be some trouble when the sale took place; but fortunately everything passed off quietly. A committee of citizens was organized, and when a lot with improvements on it was of- fered for sale a member of this committee an- nounced that Mr. - had improvements on it and asked outsiders not to bid; and this request was honored excepting in one instance, and then the bidder was soon persuaded to withdraw his bid. Thus most of the people who had gone ahead and built houses secured their property by the payment of ten to fifty dollars per lot, the appraised value. A large number of speculators were present, who bought many outside lots, which were held for a time, some of them for a number of years.

With the sale of the city lots, building started with a rush. Substantial business blocks and handsome residences sprang up everywhere as by magic. The old "shacks" came down by the hundreds and parks were laid out on their sites. The city now has many fine business blocks and residences, and every modern improvement that might be expected in a thriving western town occupied by the most intelligent people from the east.

The municipal history of Pocatello is compar- atively simple and brief. The community was organized as a village in the spring of 1889, prev- jous to which time there was no definite govern- ment, being situated on an Indian reservation and no one knowing who was in authority. Dep- uty marshals and deputy sheriffs were constantly present, but the people did about as they pleased. The village organization in 1889 was too late for the spring election that year, and the board of county commissioners of old Bingham county appointed the first board of trustees, for this pur- pose naming H. L. Becraft as chairman, and D. K. Williams, A. F. Caldwell, L. A. West and Dr. Davis as trustees. Sam Gundaker was appointed the first town marshal, but soon resigned, and W. S. Hopson was appointed in his place. At the city election in the spring of 1890, C. S. Smith was elected chairman of the board of trustees and J. H. Shuffleberger, John G. Brown, A. F. Cald- well and D. K. Williams trustees. James Scan-

lon was elected town marshal, and J. F. Myers treasurer.

In 1891 D. Swinehart was elected chairman and A. F. Caldwell, D. W. Church, John S. Baker and George Green trustees; E. G. Gallett, clerk; J. I. Frantz, treasurer; and W. S. Hop- son, marshal. In 1892 J. M. Bennett was elected chairman and Al. Davis, W. B. Eldredge, James Connors and Jack Gorman trustees; E. G. Gal- lett, re-elected clerk; M. C. Senter, treasurer; and W. S. Hopson, marshal.

By special enactment of the legislature of 1892- 1893 Pocatello was erected into a city of the first class. It was divided into four wards, and in the spring of 1893 elected a mayor, eight councilmen and a full city ticket. Edward Stein was chosen mayor by a plurality of six. Ed. Sadler was elected city clerk, J. J. Curl city treasurer, and J. F. Connor police magistrate. The council- men were George Griffith, A. M. Bagley, M. Condon, Al. Miller, F. H. Murphy, J. H. Shuf- fleberger, W. J. Harvey and E. P. Blickensderfer. The mayor, clerk and treasurer are elected for one year, and the police magistrate for two years. The aldermanic term also is two years, but at the first election one-half the number were elected for one-year terms, so that, according to custom, one-half the council can be chosen each spring while the other half hold over.

In the election of 1894 Ben Bean was elected mayor, Ed. Sadler clerk and J. F. Kane treas- urer. The councilmen elected were J. G. Sand- ers, John Fusz, T. B. Smith and Tim Farrell,- Griffith, Condon, Murphy and Harvey holding over. In 1895 W. F. Kasiska was elected mayor, W. D. Johnston clerk, A. W. Criswell treasurer, T. A. Johnston police magistrate, and M. M. O'Malley, J. Bistline, Felix Van Reuth and Eph. Miller councilmen.

Politically, honors have been about even. On the state ticket the Republicans usually carry Pocatello by fair majorities, but in municipal contests the honors have been almost evenly di- vided between the Republicans and Democrats, the Populists scarcely ever electing a man.

Financially, Pocatello keeps itself in good con- dition. It spends over two thousand dollars a year for electric light, and about the same amount for water, and also about the same or a little more for the fire department. For salaries of of-

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ficers, about fifteen hundred dollars represents the disbursement, while the annual income has been about eighteen hundred to two thousand dollars. The city started out with an indebted- ness of about twenty thousand dollars, which has since been reduced.

By an act of the legislature of 1892-3 the lower end of Bingham county was cut off and the county of Bannock created, with Pocatello as the county-seat, thus making this city the capital of one of the best counties of Idaho. The coun- ty contains scores of the very finest agricultural valleys in the state, besides high lands that are unsurpassed as cattle and sheep ranges. Soon after its organization, the county sold its six per cent. bonds at a very handsome profit. It is therefore on a cash basis, with first-class credit.

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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 61

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