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 62
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Abundant building material is to be had at the very doors of the city. Two miles west of the place a quarry is worked which is practically inexhaustible, from which the stone was taken to build some of the finest structures in the city, and even used for trimming when other stone is used for the body. Although soft when first taken from the quarry, and easily worked, it hardens on exposure to the weather. It is a light gray in color and is pronounced by experts to be as fine a building material as any in the country. An- other quarry, of much harder rock, is worked at a short distance south of the city. The stone is a very close-grained and hard sandstone, and has been used for the construction of the great storage basin of the Pocatello water-works. Its supply also is without limit.
Some buildings here have been constructed of semi-lava boulders, which are abundant on the southern section of the town site, but they are hard to work and not handsome in a wall. The clay in the vicinity of the city is good for brick, and hence all the brick used here is home-made, and is excellent both in quality and appearance. At times the brickmakers here have been rushed with work.
The Pocatello opera-house is one of the pret- tiest in the west. It was completed in 1893, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, is a, three-story brick structure, trimmed with "reservation" stone. The seating capacity is five hundred on the main floor and two hundred and fifty in the gallery. The stage is fifty by twenty-seven
feet and is furnished with nine full sets of scenery.
The Pavilion, a large amusement hall, is the scene of most of the balls that are so popular here. It is a large frame building with an ample and excellent dancing floor, well lighted and admirably adapted for orchestral and exhibition purposes.
The Pacific Hotel was practically the first house built in Pocatello. It is a large, barn-like two-story frame, with Mansard roof, and has over fifty rooms. It was originally built for the accommodation of overland travel and the rail- road employees at this point. The fare at this hostelry is very good. The Pocatello House is a handsome three-story brick building, com- pleted in 1893, at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars. It has forty rooms, but is strictly a lodging house rather than a hotel for the tran- sient public. It is well kept. The Hanks Hotel is a three-story brick structure, furnished with steam heat and electric light, like the other houses just mentioned, and is equipped with the modern conveniences. This hostelry is con- ducted by Mrs. Hanks, a model landlady.
Pocatello has a magnificent water-works sys- tem, ample for a city of thirty thousand inhabi- tants. There are two immense reservoirs, with a combined capacity of over four million gallons. The upper reservoir is five hundred and sixty- two feet above the highest point in the city, and therefore gives force enough to the hydrants throughout the city to serve any emergency. The water supply, indeed, is an ideal one.
The system was conceived by J. J. Cusic, who in 1890 appropriated the water for its supply from Gibson Jack and Mink creeks, two tribut- taries of the Port Neuf that flow from the moun- tains south of the city. In 1891 he and Dr. F. D. Toms began the work of constructing the reser- voirs and flumes and also a large dam in Gibson Jack creek. The next year the Pocatello Water Company was incorporated, with J. J. Cusic, F. D. Toms, A. F. Caldwell, T. F. Terrell and E. J. Adams as members, and the capital stock was placed at one hundred thousand dollars. In Oc- tober of that year the system was completed and in operation. Early in 1893 James A. Murdock, a Butte capitalist, purchased the entire plant and proceeded to make extensive improvements.
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HISTORY OF IDAHO.
The water is as pure as crystal, coming from a natural reservoir of granite, shale and slate high up in the mountains, four miles above the reservoirs, and through a covered flume which has a capacity of four million gallons every twenty-four hours. The lower reservoir, used as the service basin, has a capacity of four hun- dred thousand gallons, is three hundred feet lower than the other, but is two hundred and sixty-two feet above the highest point in the city, as already mentioned. The water rate, for all purposes, is fixed by a commission appointed by the common council.
Pocatello has an electric-light plant second to none in cities even of twice its size. The Port Neuf river has been harnessed and furnishes the power that lights the streets, business houses and homes of the city. In round figures, the plant cost forty-five thousand dollars, and has a ca- pacity sufficient to furnish light for a city twice the size of Pocatello and a water power ample for a plant many times the size of the present one.
For the construction and maintenance of this enterprise, as well as for purposes of irrigation, The Pocatello Power & Irrigation Company was organized in 1895. But long before that date a citizen named Dan Swinehart, who came here in 1888 as a butcher, conceived the feasibility of the enterprise here described, and despite much ridicule and discouragement from many friends proceeded to inaugurate the improvements neces- sary to the' undertaking. He was elected the first mayor of the city, and such was his faith in its future growth and prosperity that he erected the first brick block in Pocatello, the "Pioneer" block, a handsome structure.
In July, 1892, on the very next day after the town site was thrown open to the market, Mr. Swinehart took up the water right that is to-day the life of the Pocatello electric-light plant, and posted his notices appropriating six thousand inches of water from the Port Neuf river for electric-light, power and irrigating purposes. He had his surveys made and plans for the plant made up, which plans called for an expenditure of thirty thousand dollars. He found most of the people incredulous and many of them even ridiculing his project, and even claiming that he could not develop as much as a six-horse power
and that Pocatello was not going to be much of a city anyway! But he persevered, and in the autumn of 1892 built a dam across the Port Neuf between C and D streets northwest, and cut the ditch and finished the canal to the power-house site.
The power-house was erected in June, 1893, and furnished with the finest machinery that could be purchased at the time, comprising two Thomson-Houston one-thousand-candle-power incandescent-light dynamos and one Thomson- Houston fifty-light arc dynamo. February 22d the machinery started and the light began to blaze in the city. Previously a small concern known as the Pocatello Electric Light & Tele- phone Company supplied a number of electric lights, with power from the railroad shops. Mr. Swinehart bought its franchises and property and incorporated them with his own. But soon after he commenced operation he was met by a new difficulty which at first seemed insurmount- able, namely, his dam caused the Port Neuf to overflow the land adjoining the pond and many damage suits were brought against him; but this was overcome by his purchase of the land in question, in part, and condemnation of the rest. Afterward he raised a levee along the bank of the river on the east side, which prevents all over- flow, and now he enjoys the enhanced value of the land.
By the beginning of the year 1894 all difficul- ties were cleared away, but by this time the en- terprise had cost him forty-five thousand dollars. In 1895 Mr. Swinehart sold his institution to a company consisting of himself and C. W. Spauld- ing, F. W. Smith and A. D. Averill, of Chicago, and it was incorporated under the laws of Illi- nois, under the name of the Pocatello Power & Irrigation Company. The capital stock, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, is all paid up. Mr. Swinehart, who holds one-third of the stock, is the president and general manager.
The prospects for valuable minerals in the mountains adjacent to Pocatello began to attract attention in the early '6os; but the hostility of the Indians, added to the excitement caused by the fabulously rich strikes in the Boise country. prevented any active work in this region, and indeed any thorough prospecting.
In 1868 the Fort Hall reservation was set
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HISTORY OF IDAHO.
apart for the benefit of the Shoshones and Ban- nacks; and as white men were forbidden to tres- pass upon the reservation and the Indians were troublesome, the rich minerals hidden in the mountains here were lost sight of until after the town of Pocatello had sprung into existence. Then people began to speculate on what might be in the hills. Occasionally a rich piece of float was picked up on the reservation, and at length this set men to looking for what they could find. In the course of a few years men by the hundred came to Pocatello, many of whom waited for months, and even years, for an opportunity to get at the hills.
The mountains south of Pocatello are known to contain vast deposits of copper, silver and gold, as demonstrated by many outcroppings that give promise of the most fabulous richness. Many assays from the rock have been made, and they run up into the thousands. The agent in charge of the reservation, however, has been strict in enforcing the treaty laws. In the sum- mer of 1893 a company of Pocatello men dis- covered a copper ledge of marvelous promise on Belle Marsh creek on the reservation, and made a determined effort to work it. They put a force of men to work there and uncovered a ledge for a distance of a hundred feet and found a well defined ledge six feet wide of wonderfully rich copper ore. They worked it until twice warned off by the Indian agent, and quit only when they were finally threatened with arrest. Experts who have examined this property pronounce it as promising as any in the west.
Also, during the same summer, a strong com- pany of capitalists of Pocatello, Butte and Salt Lake City, organized and made an effort to se- ctire a lease of the mineral lands on the reserva- tion; but other men in Pocatello, who had been watching prospects and opportunity for years, entered a protest and the interior department at Washington refused to grant the lease. The same year still another attempt was made to ob- tain permission to develop mines on this reserva- tion, by a Pocatello organization, but it also failed. In 1891 some very rich galena was dis- covered about two miles east of Pocatello,-so rich, in fact, that it almost created a stampede here to the point, and miners from other parts of Idaho and from Utah and from Nevada
rushed to the scene and began digging vigorous- ly. The signs were most encouraging, but the In- dian agent again camedown upon them and drove them all off the reservation. During the sum- mer of 1895 there was found ore assaying thirty- three dollars to the ton in a quartz cropping in the mountains just south of the city. Accord- ing to the testimony of all the old-timers in this region there are many rich deposits of the re- spective valuable minerals in nearly all the moun- tains in Bannock county, but the particulars can - not be given to a great extent, on account of the severely executed prohibitory laws made in treaty with the Indians. Even coal, apparently in paying quantities, has been discovered at vari- ous points. Also, some very fine specimens of asbestos have. been exhibited, obtained in the hills near Pocatello. Apparently there is enough of this material here to make a whole community rich. Of the fine building stone here we have spoken in our sketch of the city of Pocatello.
KENDRICK AND THE POTLATCH EMPIRE.
Perhaps no more adequate description of the "Metropolis of the Potlatch Empire" can be giv- en than that which is afforded by the following extracts from a special edition of the Kendrick Gazette:
Kendrick is located at the junction of the Bear creek and Potlatch river, on the southern boundary line of Latah county, and on account of her location in respect to the geographical lay of the Potlatch country, has been appropriately named the Metropolis of the Pot- latch Empire. The Palouse branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company furnishes its transportation facilities.
Nestled between hills, nature has made her the natural and logical location for a town, by breaking the walls that protect her with gulches through which lead the roads to the various ridges, the scenes of her resources. These ridges, divided by gulches through which flow beautiful streams, form what are known as the Potlatch, American, Big and Little Bear, Texas, Fix and Cedar Creek Ridges, which, with their prolific soil, are among Kendrick's resources. It might well be said that Kendrick was born of necessity, from the fact that the resources of the Potlatch naturally sought an outlet at her doors, through easy and accessible routes, generously supplied by nature.
With her strongest competitors-Moscow, about thirty miles north, and Lewiston, thirty miles south- west,-Kendrick must remain for an indefinite period of time the metropolis of some of the finest agricultural, timber and mineral country in the northwest.
View of Kendrick, Latah County.
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HISTORY OF IDAHO.
Draw a circle with a radius of seven miles from Kendrick and you include the territory known as the Potlatch Empire, being about evenly divided between the counties of Latah and Nez Perces. Nowhere are a people more favored than those of the Potlatch, with their rolling fields of rich black soil and invigorating climate. The gentle zephyrs that steal across the hills to kiss the waving fields of grain, are purified and scented with occasional belts of tapering pines, that stand as barricades to moderate the hot winds, and allow him who toils to reap.
Scarcely fifteen years ago, the hardy pioneer drove his team across these hills in search of better land. rather than take these rolling prairies, that annually blossom with the luxuriant crops that have made her famous. The Potlatch knows no crop failure, and her people appreciate the fertility of its soil. Scarcely eight years have passed away since the whistle of the iron- horse broke the somber stillness of these hills and prairies, to furnish the transportation facilities for the shipment of her produce to the markets of the world. The thrift and energy of the people soon asserted itself, and the fields that once fed bands of cattle were trans- formed into waving fields of grain. In the spring-time the scene on the various ridges is one of unusual splendor, with the fields robed in green stretching out to the foot-hills in the distance. In no section can a more enterprising class of people be found than those of the Potlatch. Between the citizens of the town and those of the country the best of feelings exists, which harmonizes all the phases that enter into the progress and welfare of the Potlatch Empire in general.
Scarcely had the outlines of the town that was des- tined to become the keystone of the Potlatch assumed shape erc the energy and enterprise that have character- ized its existence were asserted by the building of roads to the various ridges. To-day Kendrick's location, with roads leading in from all sides, might well be com- pared with the hub of a wheel, that holds its position through the spokes. Each serves as an avenue of re- source, which ycar by year strengthens with the devel- opment of the country and contributes towards the healthy progress of the town.
With such a scope of fine agricultural land, superbly adapted to the raising of fruits, at her doors, which is the basis of all manufactures, the questions of power. space and shipping facilities naturally come up, which find answer in the force of her position. Just above the town empties Bear creek into the Potlatch river, a beautiful stream of clear, running water, which takes its source from mountain springs. With numerous trib- utaries it taps valuable forests of timber. Fir, cedar, yellow and white-pine timber tracts line the banks of both streams.
The current of the river is strong; the waters have about thirty feet fall in every one thousand yards. Along the banks of the stream are many beautiful sites for mills. In the corporate limits of the town the river has a fall of thirty-eight feet in one thousand yards, which, with the body of water that runs continually the
year around, would furnish power to operate a number of mills. With the expenditure of but little money the stream could be cleared sufficiently to drive logs down to mills, where shipping facilities can be had on the Palouse branch of the Northern Pacific railway. With such a water-power and mill sites in abundance, Ken- drick offers advantages to manufacturers superior to any town in the country. A flouring mill and a tannery are numbered among the successful industrial enter- prises established here.
Another important and attractive feature of Ken- drick's location is in respect to her superior advantages for maintaining a system of water works. With a gradual slope towards the west, the lay of the ground furnishes a perfect system of drainage and sewerage.
The climate is exceptional. High hills protect the town from winds, making a difference in the climate of the top of the hills and Kendrick of from ten to twenty degrees. The summers are delightful. The days from twilight to sunset lengthen to about sixteen hours. With the going down of the sun a refreshing breeze blows across the country to fan the brow of the weary toiler. The winters are free from severe blizzards, so common to other parts of the country, and last from eight to ten weeks. Mountain ranges protect it from the chilling blasts from the north, while the warm southwest winds sweep across the country melting the snow, which soaks into the soil for the summer's moist- ure. Here is where the man who toils may sleep with comfort, for the nights are cool and refreshing.
Kendrick has reason to feel proud of her public schools and houses of worship. The public schools are chief among the hopes and aspirations of the people, and to-day her schools stand in the highest ranks of the educational institutions of the public-school system. The high standard that the public school has attained has been one of the potent factors in making Kendrick a town of homes. Four religious denominations, in- cluding the Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and United Brethren, look after the religious welfare of the com- munity.
On October 15, 1890, on petition of H. L. Frost, the pioneer editor of Kendrick, and others, the town of Kendrick was incorporated. The first board of trustees were: Thomas Kirby, the founder of Kendrick, Cap- tain J. M. Walker, president of the Lincoln Hardware & Implement Company, and one of our most progres- sive citizens; M. C. Normoyle, the genial proprietor of the St. Elmo Hotel; E. V. Nichols, until recently proprietor of the Pioncer City dray, and now of Nez Perces; E. Kaufman, of the well known firm of Dern- ham & Kaufman, at present manager of their large main store at Moscow. These practical business men held the reins of the city government and wisely guided its infant steps, so that it has kept free from debt in assuming premature improvements.
The advantages of Kendrick's location for a town were due to the foresight of Thomas Kirby, who saw at a glance its superior advantages. Mr. Kirby also showed equally good judgment in selecting men to asso-
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HISTORY OF IDAHO.
ciate with him in the building of the "Hub of the Pot- latch." Aside from the officials of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, he associated with him such prac- tical business men as G. E. Potter, deceased, of Colfax; G. Holbrook, Colfax; Hon. J. C. Lawrence, Water- ville; W. White, of Colfax, Washington; J. P. Voll- mer, of Lewiston; and R. D. McConnell and James Grimes, of Moscow.
The streets of the growing burg had hardly assumed their definite outlines when the handful of business men organized themselves into a board of trade to com- mence aggressive work for the upbuilding of the new town. All was activity. New businesses were opening up, the extension of the Palouse branch of the North- ern Pacific Railway was built into Kendrick in the winter of 1890, the first train arriving on February 4, 1891. From that day on new life entered the people, and progress was made the watchword. On July 4, 1890, the day on which Idaho's star was placed on Old Glory, as one of the states of the Union, with no cover- ing but the blue-arching canopy of heaven, the first issue of the Advocate, the forerunner of the Gazette, was issued.
With all lines of business represented, the march of progress began under favorable circumstances, build- ings were looming up on all sides, enterprises were being launched, the future looked hopeful and bright, until the 16th day of August, 1892, when a disastrous fire swept over the town, completely destroying six blocks of business and entailing a loss approximating about one hundred thousand dollars. The town had hardly been in existence two years, yet, with the same energy and enterprise that characterized its former progress, the citizens, undaunted and undismayed, im- mediately began the work of rebuilding, and in three months afterward nine substantial brick buildings had risen out of the ruins.
The spirit of progress did not cease, and in January of 1893 electric lights illuminated the streets and build- ings. In the spring of 1894 two fires occurred within a week of each other, destroying one and one-half blocks with a heavy loss. The panic of 1893, with its depressing influence, naturally served as a check on enterprises that demanded capital to push them, and the people, ever wide-awake and alert, inaugurated the immigration movement, for the purpose of showing the advantages and resources of the Potlatch Empire. The work has been carried on through the efforts of the Potlatch Immigration Association, which is distributing descriptive literature throughout the east. The fruit- growers, ever alert to their interests, have organized the Potlatch Horticultural Association.
With such unlimited resources of agriculture, timber and mineral, Kendrick's future must be one of progress. Her citizens, ever mindful of the needs of the Potlatch, stand ready to put their shoulders to the wheel of prog- ress. No discordant element or factions characterize their movements; a perfect unanimity of sentiment pre- vails. No legitimate enterprise has ever gone begging for support.
The financial condition of the city commends itself to the investor. The city is practically out of debt, as the present tax money, abont due, will have wiped out the last vestige of indebtedness, there being no bonded, only a warrant, indebtedness. The assessed valuation of the property of the city is $98,960, and the tax levy is eight mills.
Kendrick is one of the nearest railroad points to the Nez Perce reservation, which was thrown open to set- tlement on the 18th day of November, 1895. This ter- ritory embraces about seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of some of the finest timber and agricultural land in the Northwest, and in many respects shares the advantages of the Potlatch.
If there is any one attractive feature of the Potlatch, it is the adaptability of her 'soil and climate for the raising of fruits. With an elevation much lower than that of the Palouse country, and protected from the north winds by mountain ranges, the country receives the benefit of the soft, exhilarating winds that sweep up the Columbia and Clearwater valleys from the Pacific ocean, which makes it warmer. The success that has been attained in raising fruit might be considered phe- nomenal. The fruit is especially free from defects and blemishes so common to fruit, and to-day the fame of the Potlatch fruit has spread to such an extent that a ready market has been found in the east at remuner- ative prices to the grower. It is but a question of a few years until these slopes and benches will have become dotted with blossoming orchards, and a new source of revenue added to the farmer's income.
During the season of 1894 about twenty-seven thon- sand dollars were expended by the farmers for fruit trees, with proportionate amounts since, and to-day within a radius of seven miles from Kendrick there are three thousand acres of land given up to orchards. The short time in which these orchards thrive and bear relieves fruit-growing of much of the monotony that is experienced in some sections of the country, in wait- ing from eight to ten years for the trees to come into bearing. An attractive feature of growing fruit in the Potlatch is, that the trouble and expense of irrigation is unnecessary, as the tree draws its moisture from the soil, which gives the fruit a soundness and luscious flavor. In this, nature has favored the Potlatch with a lavish hand.
A peculiar characteristic of the climate of the Pot- latch is that the occasional frosts seldom affect the fruits. While this assertion may appear as preposterous to the fruit-grower in the east, who frequently sees his crop fail because of frost, yet this fact will be substan- tiated by any of the fruit-growers here. The reason of this is attributed to the fact that there are dranghts of air continually passing through the canyon which naturally draws the frosty air down. In one or two particular years, where the springs have been unusually late, and especially of the spring of 1896, instances are cited where the blossoms on the trees havc frozen solid, yet causing no material damage to the fruit crops.
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