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 63

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 63

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Aside from the prizes that have been awarded to the

349

HISTORY OF IDAHO

Potlatch fruit-growers at the annual fruit fairs at Spokane, Washington, one of a national character that bears testimony to the superior quality of the fruit was awarded by the World's Fair commission, in the shape of a medal and diploma to John Hepler, of the Pot- latch, for the best exhibit of pomaceous fruit. The exhibit was of eight varieties of apples and the medal and diploma were awarded on the decision of the com- mittee that the apples were free from blemishes and defects, and recommended the fruit as an excellent marketable fruit.

The experience of the last few years has demonstrated that the climate and soil are especially adapted to the raising of apples, prunes, cherries and berries, while other fruits do remarkably well. In view of the increase in the orchard acreage, and the interest that is being centered around this infant industry, it is only a matter of a few years when the chief occupation of the people will be raising fruit. This industry is yet but in its in- fancy, and still the records show that one hundred and twenty-seven carloads of fruit were shipped in 1898. Another industry that is connected with fruit-raising is the drying of fruit. The progress and success of dry- ing fruit has kept pace with the other improvements, and to-day the Potlatch dried prunes are finding ready sales in outside markets. Numerous individual dryers are in operation, and the product is of an excellent flavor. Dried prunes, pears and apples are the product.

While a good climate is an absolute necessity to the raising of fruits, cereals and vegetation, a rich soil is a necessity as well. The soil of the Potlatch is of a rich black loam, and might appropriately be called "vegeta- tion rot," and lies at various depths, from eighteen inches to four feet. Underlying the soil, a strata of clay is found which helps retain the moisture in the soil by refusing to let it seep away. This is what contributes so much toward her luxuriant crops of fruit, cereals and vegetation. The country is remarkably free from pestilence, very few squirrels have been found, and only in the land in close proximity to the rimrock do the crops suffer from heat. The experiments of the last few seasons have proven beyond doubt that corn, which it was thought could not be grown on account of the cool nights, will do exceedingly well here. The corn of the past seasons, while growing to a remarkable height. has produced well. Sorghum cane grows well. All kinds of vegetables, such as potatoes, beans, turnips, produce enormously. Wheat yields on an average of thirty-five and forty bushels per acre, while there are instances where eighty-acre tracts have yielded sixty bushels through and through,-such are common. Oats, barley, rye and flax and other varieties do equally as well. The production of cereals has grown from fifty thousand bushels in 1890 to about eight hundred thousand bushels in 1898, and with the constant en- croachment of the new settlers upon the timbered foot- hills, and the farming of the section lying idle, this will be greatly increased in the next few years. Two hun-

dred and seventy-five thousand bushels of wheat were shipped in 1898.

There is no industry that asserts a more potent in- fluence in the progress of a town than that of mining. As capital is necessary to develop mining property, pay-rolls are made, and that is the backbone of a town. It creates a substantial form of improvement, that rep- resents capital and gives confidence and activity. Ken- drick receives much of her trade from several large quartz and placer mines which are tributary to her.

Another resource which already gives promise of great benefit to the future prosperity of Kendrick is the vast body of timber which stretches eastward from Kendrick. Fine bodies of cedar, yellow and white pine are to be found in the region of country at the source of the Potlatch river. The state has selected a large portion of this timber and will soon place it upon the market for sale. The diminishing of the white-pine forests in the east is naturally causing them to turn their attention towards the west for their future supply. Several syndicates have been here during the last few years, investigating this body of timber, and surveys made by lumbering men show that the most feasible and available route for putting it on the market is down the Potlatch river to Kendrick. The Potlatch, with but a comparatively small expense, can be driven with logs, which will not necessitate the building of a railroad to the timber, which, owing to the roughness of the country in that direction, would be very expen- sive. It is reasonable to conclude under the circum- stances, with so much in Kendrick's favor, that she will in the near future feel the magnetic touch from this great resource. The white-pine tract of timber begins about twenty miles east of Kendrick and comprises about one hundred and fifty thousand acres in all. The timber is of an excellent quality.

THE BANK OF KENDRICK.

This institution was opened for business in the fall of 1890 by Captain J. M. Walker and his son, R. M. Walker, and was managed by them until July, 1892, at which time the First National Bank of Kendrick was organized and absorbed the Bank of Kendrick. The capital of the bank was fifty thousand dollars. F. N. Gilbert was elected president and Math Jacobs, cashier. It contin- ued to do business under the national banking system until May 1, 1899, when it surrendered its charter, preferring to do business as a state bank. Its present officers are Math Jacobs, president; F. N. Gilbert, vice-president; A. W. Gordon, cashier; and P. R. Jacobs, assistant cashier. It does a general banking business, and as its meth- ods are liberal it enjoys a prosperous business, having among its patrons all of the best people of Kendrick and the surrounding country.

350

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

MOUNTAIN HOME.

This, the county-seat of Elmore county, is a nice town on the Oregon Short Line Railroad, in the midst of a rich and productive valley along the Snake river. The village comprises about a thousand industrious and intelligent inhabitants, has a large brick school-house, with eight depart- ments, and a fine little library. The school fa- cilities are indeed fully up with the most im- proved methods of the age. The Episcopalians, Congregationalists and Baptists all have church organizations, while the first two mentioned have also commodious houses of worship. A new brick bank building and a fine large brick hotel are in process of construction at the time of this writing. There are four general stores in the place, three blacksmith shops, two livery stables, two millinery stores, two weekly newspapers,- the Elmore Bulletin and the Elmore Republi- can,-two hotels, two physicians, two lawyers, one dentist, one real-estate office, one drug store, one restaurant, two meat markets, and other facilities in proportion.

The town is one of the best situated and best platted in the state, second to none of its size in Idaho, and is the natural shipping point for a great interior country which is rapidly coming to the notice of the general public. Over a million and a quarter pounds of wool are shipped an- nually from the railroad station here, besides many head of live stock. Indeed, this is one of the largest shipping points in the state. It is also the outlet for a number of rich mining camps. The state legislature has already appro- priated half a million dollars' worth of school lands as an endowment for a state industrial school at Mountain Home, and it is expected that ere long the state will erect a fine school edifice here. An abundance of cool water is found at a depth of only fifteen feet below the surface of the ground. Three miles distant is a large reservoir for irrigation purposes, while the lands in the vicinity of Mountain Home are unexcelled in their adaptation to fruit culture. Twenty miles distant in the mountains is a large canyon where water, at a comparatively light expense, can be collected sufficient for the irrigation of two hun- dred and fifty thousand acres of land.

The history of the town dates back only seven- teen years,-to 1881,-when W. J. Turney, now

the postmaster here, began improvements at this point by the erection of a building. There is no doubt that Mountain Home has a very bright future before it, because of its location, good climate, vast tract of rich fruit and farming land in every direction, as well as the rich mines tribu- tary to the prosperity of this locality, while irri- gation is feasible almost anywhere. Such is the permanent foundation for a lasting prosperity in store for Mountain Home.

GRANGEVILLE AND THE BUFFALO HUMP MINES.

The following interesting account is repro- duced from the San Francisco Wave of May 13. 1899, the article being from the pen of Alan Owen. Not only does it depict a glowing future for Grangeville, but tells briefly but carefully the history of the famous Buffalo Hump mining dis- trict, opened with almost the enthusiastic "rush" of the old-time mining days:

The first white man to test the temper of the Nez Perce Indians by living among them was a pioneer missionary named Spaulding. This visitation dated from 1836, and the subsequent rude behavior of the dark-skinned brethren has nothing to do with the mat- ter now in hand. A son of the pioneer, H. Spaulding. early in the year 1874. came to the Camas prairie for the purpose of organizing a grange. The population of that portion of central Idaho scarcely numbered three hun- dred white men, and the settlers were widely scattered: the prairie was a place of magnificent distances. In July a representative gathering was obtained. which niet one day in a school-house near Mount Idaho. Six- teen persons signified their willingness to unite with an order to be known as Charity Grange. Initiations followed; William C. Pearson was chosen worthy mas- ter, and J. H. Robinson, secretary. The foundations of the city of Grangeville, the coming commercial center of the Clearwater country, were thus laid.

At that time the land upon which Grangeville subse- quently grew was a pasture belonging to the farm of J. M: Crooks. Two stores were in existence in Mount Idaho, which made that place an outfitting place for miners, the only town between Florence and Lewiston, a gap of one hundred and twenty miles. Three miles below the foothills that serve as a site for the hamlet Mount Idaho, the members of Charity Grange com- menced building a hall in 1876. All work on the struc- ture was done by hand, planing mills being a dream of the future, only to be realized, so far as the prairie is concerned, in 1899. During the winter of 1875-6, a joint stock company was formed in the grange and incor- porated to build a flour mill, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, in shares of twenty-five

351

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

dollars each. The company built the mill now owned by Vollmer & Scott, the machinery being hauled on wagons from Walla Walla. The mill was grinding wheat in the fall of 1876. During the Nez Perce war of 1877-8, the grange hall was made a safe refuge by a heavy stockade of logs, sixteen feet long, set upright around the building, and the upper floor banked all around to the height of the windows with flour in sacks from the grange mill. This floor was used as a hospital for sick and wounded soldiers during the Indian war.

A large proportion of the prairie pioneers were south- erners, forced to seek a new country by loss of property consequent upon the war of the Rebellion. They made, therefore, a good and steady nucleus for the foundation of a community, and to a broad western spirit many southern graces will be found grafted in the habits and manners of the early settlers. The country twenty years ago was absolutely without transportation facilities, and walled in by mountains exceedingly difficult of access. Even to-day it is not the easiest locality in the world to reach in the winter time. The Camas prairie farmers paid seven cents a pound for seed wheat, but, on the other hand, could command their own price for their produce. Meanwhile Grangeville was growing. In 1878 a small merchandise store was opened by a settler named William Hill, and next came a miners' outfit- ting store. By 1886 substantial progress had been nade. About this time Hon. A. F. Parker founded the Idaho County Free Press. The publisher, one of the best authorities on the mineralogy of the northwest that the state affords, made his annual trip in August to the great gold belt of central Idaho, leaving his paper in the hands of a substitute. That worthy, in a burst of enthusiasm over the town's advancement, wrote "Grangeville already possesses the attributes of a place ten times as populous, viz., a high school, a resident minister of the Methodist persuasion, a brass band and other indications of culture and refinement." As a mat- ter of fact, the growth of the town at this time was steady, if not very rapid. In 1892 the Bank of Grange- ville was founded, with the wealth of the firm of Voll- mer & Scott, estimated at over a million dollars, behind it. About this date Grangeville was organized into an independent school district. A new school-house was built in 1893, to accommodate some two hundred and fifty pupils, costing seven thousand dollars. In 1892 the Bank of Camas Prairie was incorporated by a num- ber of the citizens of Grangeville and capitalized at fifty thousand dollars. In October of 1898 the town of Grangeville was incorporated, the first board of trustees consisting of Henry Wax, chairman; W. F. Schmadeka, E. C. Sherwin, W. W. Brown and A. F. Freidenrich. Subsequently a number of stores and residences of a substantial character were erected, and Grangeville was in a fair way of advancement when the discoveries at Buffalo Hump attracted the eyes of the mining world to central Idaho.

The fame of the discoveries, in three short months, was instrumental in changing the face of the town. It

brought fresh blood and capital, and gave an impetus to enterprise that at one bound has succeeded in con- verting a country village into an up-to-date American city. Now Grangeville boasts the best water supply of any city in the state. A volunteer fire department has been organized and equipped. Other improvements and enterprises directly attributable to the new order of things include lime kilns, brick yards, building-stone quarries, an eighteen thousand dollar hotel, a brewery and distillery.

The conditions under which the great discovery at Buf- falo Hunt was made are interesting to rehearse. A couple of prospectors, named B. R. Rigley and C. H. Rob- bins, camped on the main trail between Florence and Elk City in August, 1898. The trail crossed the Buffalo Hump mountain, and their camp lay on this mountain, some eight feet from a solid wall of quartz, three thou- sand feet in length and six hundred feet wide, that had been ridden and climbed over for years by veteran pros- pectors on their way to the Boise basin. In an idle moment the prospectors clipped off a chunk from the ledge, burned it, crushed it on the flat of a shovel, and from this rough method of assay got big values in gold. They at once took samples back to Florence and, hand- ing them to an assayer, got the following results:

Sample No. I, an average of 24 feet of the ledge, $38.81 in gold and silver.

Sample No. 2, an average of nine feet of the ledge, $458.17 in gold and silver.

Sample No. 3, an average of three feet of the ledge, $712.17 in gold and silver.

About one-eighth of the foregoing values were in silver, and the balance gold.

The formation of the rock is gneiss, and the general character of the ore of the district is identical with that of the Mother Lode in California. 'A California or Colorado gold mill will save from fifty to sixty per cent on the plates, and the remaining values can be saved in the form of concentrates that will run from four hun- dred to five hundred dollars per ton. Soon after the discovery by Robbins and Rigley, three tons of the ore were packed on horses to a Huntington mill, a distance of fifty-five miles. The ore assayed six ounces gold and seven silver, and the yield was four ounces fine gold and three hundred and sixty pounds of concentrates. These latter were shipped to Tacoma and gave returns from the smelter of one hundred and forty ounces of gold and sixty-three ounces of silver,-a gross value of two thousand eight hundred dollars per ton. The saving was fully ninety per cent of the values.

The vein is cross-cut in two places. The first claim located was the far-famed Big Buffalo. The vein is exposed for over a hundred feet northerly from the first cut on the Big Buffalo, and one hundred feet southerly from the second cut on the Merrimac, showing a con- tinuous ore body three hundred feet in length by an average width of thirty-five feet. It may be safely pre- sumed that in this ore body, should the vein hold to a depth of one hundred feet of the same character of ore.

352

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

there will be in sight seventy-five thousand tons, having a gross value of one million five hundred thousand dol- lars. Captain De Lamar offered five hundred thousand dollars for the Big Buffalo group after having the prop- erty thoroughly experted. The offer was refused. Spokane capitalists finally purchased the group for five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, making a cash payment of twenty-five thousand dollars. This is the largest sum ever paid for an undeveloped prospect. In pursuance of the terms of the bond, the syndicate controlling these claims are expending fifteen thousand dollars per month in actual development work.

Over three hundred mining locations have already been made within a radius of ten square miles of the original discovery on the Hump since August, 1898. In the opinion of one of the most competent experts in the state, no one, however skeptical, can doubt the permanency of these ledges. There are thousands of tons of pay rock lying above the surface, and, according to the authority quoted, of better grade gold ore than is now being milled in any of the gold districts of South Africa, Nova Scotia, California, Utah, Dakota or Colo- rado.

I cannot do better, in closing this brief glance at the history of Grangeville and the great mineral belt tribu- tary to the city, than to quote a portion of the recent speech made by the Hon. A. F. Parker before the Portland Chamber of Commerce:

"The Clearwater and Salmon river country," said that authority, "may very properly be considered as the mother of gold in the northwest. On tributaries of these rivers were discovered in 1860 the rich placer camps of Pierce City, Elk City, Florence, Warrens, and the rich bars bordering on these streams, from which probably five hundred million dollars of gold have been produced from that date on in a more or less desultory way, owing to our isolation and distance from railroads, for the past twenty years and always with profit. There is no more promising field for prospecting and investment than the Clearwater and Salmon river country. It has gold mines, fine farm lands and unlimited stock ranges, and will eventually develop into the richest and most thickly populated part of the northwest interior."

The head of dry-land navigation to the Bitter Root and Salmon river mining camps is Grangeville. The city almost owes its origin and certainly its growth to the fact that in the past it has been the most convenient point of access for investors and mine owners to meet on the common basis of Central Idaho's mineral wealth. Recent revelations concerning the richness of this belt explain the happy choice of site for founding the metropolis of Camas prairie.

Within ten miles gold-bearing quartz has been found on the Clearwater. This discovery, made less than a month ago, is assuming an importance that will de- mand notice from the mining world in the near future. Scarce twenty miles from the city of Grangeville winds the Salmon river, from the banks of which reports of gold discoveries arrive with increasing frequency, as

more men pour into that temperate region. Many of these prospectors, while testing the river's bed and banks as a method of putting in their time until Buffalo Hump has shed its fifteen-foot mantle of snow, have at time of writing made discoveries that bid fair to throw the Big Buffalo find into the shade. A placer proposition always possesses 'superior popularity to quartz, however rich returns the latter may yield under assay, and in like degree free-milling quartz with gold glistening beneath the naked eye will outrank refrac- tory ore of possibly better final values. Free gold is the Salmon river slogan.

Forty-five miles separate the Robbins mining dis- trict from Grangeville. They are not easy miles to brave in winter. Prospectors with experience in Alaska prefer the Chilkoot. The novel theory advanced by trading points more than a hundred miles dis- tant, that the trip is simplified the farther away from the Hump a start is made, is more amusing than attractive.

In the first place, Grangeville is a mining center. The wealth of the district is concentrated here, and the people are possessed of extensive knowledge not only of the country but the needs of prospective set- tlers. The prospector will obtain reliable information, based upon actual experience, concerning seasons, dis- tances, and the time required to make the trip. A stranger can learn more of trails, roads, and the topog- raphy of the country by talking with Grangeville men, in one day, than he could learn in a month of aim- less exploration.

Grangeville, so long lacking railroad and transpor- tation facilities, will soon be the terminus of two systems. The Oregon Railway & Navigation Com- pany has already made its survey, obtained right of way and secured deeds for depot grounds. Large forces of men are at work along the Snake river section of the line, and as soon as spring opens they will push on up the Clearwater and onto the great Camas prairie, which is an agricultural belt about twenty-five by thirty-five miles in extent. A country as fertile and magnificent as the broad fields of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.

The Northern Pacific has made surveys and is grad- ing within less than fifty miles of Grangeville and is operating within twenty-six miles of the town. It is claimed by the best informed on the subject that this system will have trains running into Grangeville by November of the present year (1899). With rail- roads to transport farm products, mining machinery and supplies, lumber and live stock from the boundless ranges of this territory, Grangeville ought to be, within a brief space, the metropolis of Idaho.

THE BANK OF GRANGEVILLE.

This is a private banking institution which opened its doors for business in 1891. It is owned by the well known banking and mercan-

353

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

tile firm composed of John P. Vollmer, of Lew- of trade are creditably represented. A capacious iston, and Wallace Scott, of Grangeville. It is steam fruit-evaporator has been constructed, which goes far toward enhancing the market value of fruits raised in the vicinity. the agency of the First National Bank of Lewis- ton, and for its capital has the backing of the entire wealth of the firm, easily estimated at one million dollars, thus making it one of the strong- est institutions in the northwest. Wallace Scott is its manager and Martin Wagner its cashier, and it does a general banking business.

THE BANK OF CAMAS PRAIRIE.

This institution, which is located at Grange- ville, was incorporated in August, 1892, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. Since its organization it has paid a dividend of ten per cent per annum and has now (1899) a surplus of five thousand dollars. The bank building is a brick structure, twenty-five by fifty feet, which was erected for the special purpose in 1898. The interior is furnished with what are known as the Andrews fixtures, in polished oak, and has fire- proof vaults and a Diebold patent safe of solid steel, weighing sixty-five hundred pounds, with triple time-locks. The officers of the bank, elected on its organization, were F. W. Ketten- bach, president; A. Friedenrich, vice-president, and W. W. Brown, cashier. They have since continued to occupy their respective positions, and in 1898 John Norwood was elected assistant cashier. A general banking business is carried on and the institution is in a flourishing condi- tion. .

NAMPA.

This village of about eight hundred inhabitants is situated in the southwestern part of the state on the Oregon Short Line Railroad, at the junction of the railway to Boise and also of the railway to Silver City. The first residence at this point was built in 1885, by Alexander Duffes, who indeed was the founder of the village, platting the town upon his land, ever since which time he has been one of the most prominent factors in its upbuild- ing. Among the most prominent early business men here were John E. Stearns, Benjamin Wall- ing and B. Grumbling, and since their advent, in the order mentioned, the town has enjoyed a steady growth. There are ten or twelve good brick business blocks here at the present time, two hotels, three church edifices,-Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Baptist .- a large brick school- house and many fine residences. All branches

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 63

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