USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 37
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Starting with almost nothing, the Intermountain Institute now owns 2,200 acres of land, 600 acres of which are under cultivation, and a score or more of buildings, the most pretentious of which are Slocum Hall, for boys, Beardsley Hall, for girls, the blacksmith and woodworking shops, the dairy barn and the concrete block shop. Andrew Carnegie gave the school a donation for a library a few years ago, and in her will Mrs. Russell Sage left a bequest of $200,000 for the benefit of the Intermountain Institute. Each student is required to pay $100 in money and is permitted to pay for the rest of his schooling in work.
COEUR D'ALENE COLLEGE
In 1907 the Columbia Conference of the Augustana Synod of the Lutheran Church decided to establish a college at some point within the conference limits. A beautiful woodland slope, just outside the City of Coeur d'Alene and overlook- ing the Spokane River, was selected and in 1908 Coeur d'Alene College was opened. Other improvements were added until the college now has a number of substantial buildings, including two large dormitories-one for boys and the other for girls-a central heating plant for all the buildings on the campus and class- rooms and laboratories sufficient for all demands. The course of study comprises five departments and the school is on the accredited list of academies and uni- versities for the Northwestern States.
FIELDING ACADEMY
At Paris, the county seat of Bear Lake County, is located the Fielding Academy, which was established and is conducted by the Latter-day Saints. It was organ- ized in the year 1887 under the name of the Bear Lake Stake Academy, with Wil- liam Budge as president of the board of trustees. The first term was taught in the county courtroom and was really nothing more than a graded school. From the courthouse the school was removed to one of the churches, and later to a va-
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cant storeroom, where it remained until 1901, when the present building was erected. Two years of high school work were then added to the course of study and the number of students was greatly increased. With the dedication of the new building the name was changed to the Fielding Academy.
In 1908 the work of the academy was divided into the high school, normal school, domestic arts, domestic science and manual training departments, with special attention given to theology and physical culture. No instructor is employed who uses liquor in any form, tobacco, tea, coffee or any other kind of stumulant, and no student can remain in the school who is addicted to the use of any of these things. The cigarette smoking, so common among students of other educational institutions, is "conspicuous by its absence" at Fielding Academy. Drones are not permitted to remain in the school, industry and moral character being the qualifications required of every one connected with the institution.
RICKS ACADEMY
Like the Fielding Academy, this institution, located at Rexburg, is under the auspices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When first founded, in 1888, it was known as the Bannock Stake Academy and ten years later the name was changed to the Fremont Stake Academy. In January, 1902, the Fre- mont, Bingham and Teton stakes were united into one educational district and a new board of education, consisting of the three presidents of the consolidated stakes. It was decided to erect a new school building, which was ready for oc- cupancy on October 1, 1903, when the institution was christened "Ricks Academy," in honor of Thomas E. Ricks, who had been active in its organization fifteen years before.
The first term of school in 1888 was taught in a log schoolhouse of only one room and instruction was confined to the common school branches. Jacob Spori was the first principal. During the greater part of the first ten years, the school was taught in part of the First Ward Meeting House, and in 1898 it was removed to the upper floor of the Rexburg store. The store building was afterward pur- chased and used until the erection of the new building in 1903.
Being located in an agricultural community, special attention has been given to instruction in agriculture and its allied branches. Many of the students are boys from the surrounding farms and during the summer they have ample op- portunity to apply what they have been taught in the classroom. To accommodate this class of students the fall term does not begin until October and school is taught six days in the week instead of five, thus shortening the school year from four to six weeks, which gives the boys a chance to engage in the spring work on the farms. This innovation has proved to be popular with students and patrons of the academy. The property of the institution is valued at $100,000.
ONEIDA ACADEMY
Shortly after the Oneida Stake of the Latter-day Saints' Church was organ- ized in 1884, it was decided to build an academy at Preston. A considerable sum of money was raised by subscription and a fine cut stone building was erected at a cost of $50,000. The school now has a faculty of ten instructors and about three hundred students. Although a church institution, the course of study em-
ACADEMY
RICKS ACADEMY, REXBURG
VIEW FROM SCHOOL OF MINES, MOSCOW
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braces the regular branches of study, including high school courses and is well equipped with scientific apparatus, etc.
OTHER INSTITUTIONS
The schools, colleges and academies above enumerated are by no means all the educational institutions in the state. The Adventist Church established the Gem State Academy at Caldwell in 1918, erecting buildings at a cost of about thirty thousand dollars. Every city of importance has a business or commercial college, conducted as private schools, which give instruction in shorthand, type- writing, etc., and there are a number of parochial schools, but as the private and parochial schools are not required to make reports to the state it is difficult to give their history.
A little booklet, issued by the Union Pacific Railway System a few years ago, says of the Idaho schools (and while the booklet was published chiefly for adver- tising purposes, the statement regarding the educational system of the state is literally true) : "Idaho has unqualifiedly more fine schoolhouses for a given popu- Jation than any other state in the Union. The wages of women teachers-there are few male teachers-are higher than in all but three other states, being $78.95 per month. The state has developed, perhaps more than any other state, the or- ganization of strong central schools, with free school wagons to bring children in from a distance, giving better instruction than is offered in the ordinary rural school. The state furnishes free text books for all pupils. More than eight thou- sand boys and girls are enrolled in the special agricultural and domestic science classes in the public schools."
CHAPTER XIX NEWSPAPERS OF IDAHO
ORIGIN OF THE NEWSPAPER-FIRST PRINTING PRESS IN IDAHO-IDAHO'S FIRST NEWSPAPER-TERRITORIAL NEWSPAPERS-BOISE NEWS-IDAHO STATESMAN- OWYHEE AVALANCHE-LEWISTON NEWSPAPERS-MOSCOW NEWSPAPERS-KOOTE- NAI COUNTY NEWSPAPERS-YANKEE FORK HERALD-PARIS POST-IDAHO FALLS REGISTER-KETCHUM KEYSTONE-WOOD RIVER TIMES-MISCELLANEOUS NEWS- PAPERS-POCATELLO TRIBUNE-FIRST TELEGRAPH SERVICE-LIST OF NEWSPAPERS IN 1919.
To the civilization of ancient Rome the nations of the modern world are indebted for the crude idea that has been developed into the daily or weekly newspaper. The Roman "Acta Diurna" were manuscript publications-written or engraved upon wax tablets with an instrument called the stylus. The edi- tion was necessarily limited and the few copies issued were displayed in the most public places in the city, in order that the people might acquaint themselves with current events and political trend of the times. The "Acta Diurna" were not issued at regular intervals, but only upon the occurence of some event of more than or- dinary interest.
The first publication in England worthy of the name of "newspaper" made its appearance in 1622. It was called the "Weekly News from Italie and Ger- manie." Prior to that time the wealthier class of Europeans had received their news of the world's doings through the medium of the written "news-letter," but this form of manuscript literature was too expensive for the masses of the peo- ple to afford. The "Weekly News from Italie and Germanie" was printed upon a crude and clumsy press-the invention of Nathaniel Butler-operated by hand power, but this primitive press has been designated by historians as the progenitor of the modern machine that turns out thousands of newspapers in an hour's time. The contents of this first small newspaper consisted mainly of social items and satirical essays, until about 1641, when the parliamentary reports were published in its columns. This was the first attention given by the "press" to political mat- ters. The first advertisement was published in this paper in 1648. It was writ- ten in rhyme to call the attention of the public to the merits of a Belgravia mer- chant tailor.
In 1709 the "London Courant," the first daily morning newspaper ever pub- lished, was started. It consisted of a single page and the contents were largely
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translations from foreign journals. With the inauguration of the daily news- paper, the press gained rapidly in importance and by 1760 over seven million copies of daily newspapers were sold annually in England.
The first newspaper in the United States was the "Boston Public Occur- rences," a small quarto sheet, established in 1690. It was latter suppressed by the colonial authorities of Massachusetts. Next came the "Boston News-Let- ter," started in 1704 by John Campbell, then postmaster at Boston. James Frank- lin established the "New England Courant" in 1721 and conducted it for about six years, when it suspended. Two years later Benjamin Franklin established the "Pennsylvania Gazette," at Philadelphia, and conducted it as a weekly until 1765, when it was merged with the "North American." The "Evening Post" of New York City was founded in 1801 and is still published. Soon after newspapers were started in all of the larger cities and in a few years were hundreds in number.
FIRST PRINTING PRESS IN IDAHO
In 1839 the missionaries of the Hawaiian Islands presented to the Presby- terian missionaries of Oregon a small printing press and a supply of type. The outfit was brought the same year to the Lapwai Mission, about twelve miles from the present City of Lewiston, where it was set up and put in operation by E. O. Hall. It was not used for printing a newspaper, but for printing small books in the Nez Perce language. There was no population at that time to support a newspaper, but the press is mentioned in this connection because this was the first printing office west of the Rocky Mountains north of Mexico. Consequently, to Idaho belongs the honor of having the first printing press on the Pacific Coast.
IDAHO'S FIRST NEWSPAPER
The first newspaper in Idaho was the Golden Age, established at Lewiston by A. S. Gould. The first number was issued on August 2, 1862. Gould was a republican and as a large majority of the population belonged to the opposi- tion party, some of them being quite radical in their views, he encountered many obstacles. It is related that when he raised the United States flag over his print- ing office-the first one ever raised in Lewiston-more than twenty shots were fired into it by disunionists. He therefore soon sold out to John H. Scranton, who conducted the paper until August, 1863, when he was succeeded by Frank Kenyon. The First Territorial Legislature appointed Kenyon territorial printer. When the capital was removed to Boise the Age began to decline and in January, 1865, it was suspended. The plant was subsequently removed to Boise. In 1867 Mr. Kenyon started the Mining News at Leesburg, Lemhi County, and published it for about eight months. He then went to Utah and later to South America, where he died.
TERRITORIAL NEWSPAPERS
The Boise News, the first newspaper published in Southern Idaho, was founded by the Butler brothers in the fall of 1863. J. S. Butler came to the Boise Basin early in the spring of that year. On his way to the Basin with a pack train he stopped at Walla Walla, where he met Major Reese, publisher of the Walla Walla Watchman, who had but a short time before bought out a competitor in the newspaper business and had two outfits on hand. Mr. But-
J. S. Butler
Thomas J. Butler
TWO BROTHERS WHO PUBLISHED THE FIRST NEWSPAPER IN SOUTHERN IDAHO, THE BOISE NEWS, SEPTEMBER 30, 1863
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ler then and there conceived the idea of starting a newspaper in the Basin. Sell- ing out his packing business, he purchased one of the outfits and sent for his brother, T. J. Butler, who joined him as soon as possible. In August, 1863, the two brothers arrived at Idaho City with their outfit-or a partial outfit-and began their preparations for issuing their newspaper.
J. S. Butler made two composing sticks from an old tobacco box; the impos- ing stone was a slab of pine timber, dressed on one side and covered with sheet iron; and a local blacksmith made their chase out of horseshoe iron, for which he charged ninety-five dollars. Years afterward J. S. Butler, in speaking of their early experiences, said: "I remember that it was a very difficult matter to keep the surface of our wooden-sheet-iron stone true and level, and that, when we locked up a form and stood it on edge, it looked more like the mold-board of a plow than a newspaper." The first numbers of the Boise News were 24 by 36 inches in size, divided into four pages and were printed at one impression on a Washington hand press.
T. J. Butler was the editor of the News and the brothers conducted the paper for about fifteen months. Then the democratic party came into power and of course desired the "organ." Street & Bowman made the Butler brothers a liberal offer for their plant, which offer was accepted, and the new owners changed the name of the paper to the Idaho World, under which name it was in existence until its suspension in the fall of 1918.
Mr. J. S. Butler made a visit to Boise in 1907, and renewed acquaintance with his many old friends, and upon his return to Palo Alto, California, where he was residing, in a letter to Hon. John Hailey, librarian of the State Historical So- ciety, made comparisons of the past with what he had found on his visit shortly before, and referred to many of the incidents of the early days in the Basin and other localities in Idaho, and to a great many individuals, in such a way as to warrant reproduction :
"Palo Alto, Cal., September 7, 1907.
"Mr. John Hailey, State Historical Society, Boise, Idaho.
"Dear Mr. Hailey: Your kind note, enclosing one also from Professor Ald- rich, on the subject of the early history of Idaho, is at hand.
"I cheerfully comply with your request to contribute something, but, owing to the lack of data, I may be found at fault as to dates, etc.
"I left Red Bluff, Cal., in the fall of 1862, my immediate destination being Auburn, Ore., to look after a band of cattle left in Powder River Valley earlier in the year. I went first to Cañon City, on John Day's River, and about the middle of January crossed the Blue Mountains to Auburn. This proved the most difficult undertaking of my life, before or since. To cross these mountains in January, where the headwaters of John Day's River on one side interlap with those of Powder and Burnt rivers on the other, is an undertaking which, once accomplished, will prove sufficient for a lifetime. After battling with the snow, which was from three to twenty feet deep, for about eleven days, during most of which time we were lost, without even so much as taking off our boots, our party, numbering about a dozen, arrived at Auburn. This town at that time consisted of probably fifteen hundred inhabitants, all housed in log cabins, whose occupants were buoyed up with flattering mining prospects, but the mines were not there, so the town disappeared as rapidly as it came. It is now represented by Baker City.
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"In March, 1863, I organized a pack train, which had been wintered in Grande Ronde Valley, and started for Walla Walla. At this time the great rush had set in for Boise Basin, by way of the old immigrant road, crossing the Blue Moun- tains at Lee's Encampment. Going out by the same road, traveling light and continually meeting people with heavy-laden pack animals, we were expected to give the road. The trail was a very narrow one and in deep snow. Night came on and found us sitting out in the snow with the result of not having made more than five miles. We resolved to travel all night while those going in the opposite direction were in camp. This we did and arrived on the western slope of the mountains, where the road descends in one continuous steep grade for at least five miles, just as the morning's sun was lighting the bunchgrass plains of Umatilla Valley, disclosing to view one of the grandest sights that could be presented to anyone, and especially to the long snowbound mortals we then were. We had emerged from four feet of snow and entered a valley containing the most nutritious bunchgrass more than a foot high, in less than two hours. It is unnecessary to say that we went into camp at this place, as no power at com- mand could have moved our half starved horses and mules from their newly found feed, to say nothing of our own desire to take a rest.
"At Walla Walla I met Major Reese, of the Walla Walla Watchman. He had just bought out a competitor in the newspaper business and had two outfits on hand. This gave me an idea. Realizing that a great gathering of people was then taking place in Boise Basin, nearly three hundred miles from any news- paper, with the probability of an approaching political campaign, which after- wards materialized in its most heated form, I conceived the idea of starting a newspaper in the Basin. With this in view I sold out my packing business, sent for my family and my brother, T. J., who became the editor of our new enter- prise. We arrived at Idaho City with our outfit some time in August and issued the first number of the Boise News in the latter part of September or first of October, 1863, which was the first newspaper ever published in Southern Idaho. Before we arrived with our material we frequently discussed the situation and one of the most serious questions presented for consideration was as to where we would find our help in the way of printers, etc., but, before we had located a site, printers applied for a situation, almost in scores, and we had no trouble in securing a crew of some of the most competent men I have ever known, with a number of whom friendships were formed to last through life. ,
"In order to get to and hold the field (a number of efforts were then being made in that direction), and as we had had no time to fully equip ourselves, a visit to San Francisco seemed necessary, but as the delay attending such a trip would have virtually surrendered the field to a possible competitor, we resolved to improvise a great many things, such as the wooden composing stick, alluded to in Professor Aldrich's note. I remember quite well, although it is now forty- five years ago, that I made two composing sticks from a piece of an oak tobacco box. One of these sticks was taken away by a compositor named McGuire, who declared it was much to be preferred, on account of its lightness and greater capacity, to the ordinary composing stick. Another very important item which we were short of was an imposing stone. For this purpose we brought into use a large slab, split from a pine log, about 3 by 6 feet. We dressed off one side, mounted it on a frame and covered it with sheet iron. Among other im-
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provised things we attempted to use sheet zinc for leads (used for separating the lines of type) but found them a failure owing to their corrosion on being washed with lye, causing them to adhere to the type in such manner as to pre- vent their being distributed.
"We printed all four pages of our paper at one impression on a Washington hand press, the entire form being 24 by 36 inches in size. This we locked up in one solid chase. The chase we also had to have made, which was done in very good shape, out of horseshoe iron. The only particular thing I remember con- cerning this job is that it cost $95.00. I also remember that it was a very diffi- cult matter to keep the surface of our wooden-sheet-iron stone true and level, and that, when we locked up a form and stood it on its edge, it looked more like the mold-board of a plow than a newspaper. However, we were vain enough to think, and still think, that we made quite a success of the enterprise, espe- cially in a financial way. Our office was located on East Hill and proved to be but a few feet outside of the great fire of 1865.
"In the winter of 1864 I remember the snow at one time was about five feet deep and it was very difficult to obtain matter to fill our columns, small as they were, when our editor resorted to the scheme of copying from some book several pages of mythology.
"There probably never assembled anywhere, so many reckless adventurers, so far from the influence and restraints of society, and with such ample means to gratify their wild desires for gambling and dissipation, as were attracted to Boise Basin during the years of 1863 and 1864. Three theaters, Jenny Lind, Forrest, and Kelly's Varieties were maintained with nightly performances dur- ing most of that time, and some of the best actors of the day were called to their boards, Julia Dean Hayne, George Waldron and Mrs. Dayton being among them.
"The character of the mines, being exclusively placer, made it possible for all to make money who wished to work, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in revelry and sport. It was not unusual to hear in the morning of some fatal encounter at the gaming table, the result of the exciting life of the previous night. But as this was usually confined to one class of the people, the more conservative and respectable class generally summed the matter up with the remark, 'Let them settle it among themselves.'
"The people were not all bad, however. On the contrary, I think the extremes had met here. In civilized society many had been held in check by its regula- tions, while here, where there were no such restraints, the real character stood out, and one had no difficulty in determining it. Many of the best people I ever knew were found under these circumstances.
"We conducted our paper for about fifteen months, during which time we passed through two of the most exciting political campaigns possible to such a community. It was during the most exciting times of the Rebellion and the par- ties here were formed on the questions involved in that great issue, and, as a great many of Price's army, when it was disbanded, found their way to Idaho, that party prevailed.
"The democratic party having succeeded to local offices, it was necessary for them to have an organ of their own, so, on a liberal offer by Street & Bowman, we disposed of the whole outfit to them, who changed the name to that of the
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Idaho World, which I believe is still running. We left our files with the office which no doubt they still have.
"We ran our office night and day during the most exciting times, with shifts of printers, in order to get out the work which was offered. This included a cam- paign paper for each of the great parties and all their job work. In addition to this, we printed daily programs for each of the three theaters. Prices were regu- lated by what the traffic would bear and as ours was the only printing concern within about three hundred miles the traffic could stand a heavy strain. There were about ten thousand people in and about Idaho City at that time.
"Of the thousands of people I met at the various camps during the seven years I was in that country, I can now recall less than a score living. Joaquin Miller was justice of the peace at Cañon City, when I was there, in 1862. His wife, Minnie Myrtle Miller, was then the poetic genius of the family and after- wards contributed to the columns of the Boise News several short poems of con- siderable merit. Joaquin, himself, had not yet become famous. He is living at Oakland, Cal.
"At Idaho City, I can only call to mind your worthy president, J. A. Pin- ney, Captain Bledsoe, Rube Robbins and I. L. Tyner. Mrs. C. M. Hays was then a young girl and a member of our family.
"At Placerville, James H. Hawley, then a boy, was the agent and carrier of the Boise News. He is now your most distinguished attorney.
"Our Silver City friends are now represented by W. J. Hill, formerly of the Owyhee Avalanche and now the Salinas (Cal.) Index, who is easily the dean of country newspaper men of the Pacific slope, Chas. M. Hays, the East- man brothers and Chris Moore.
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