USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 63
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There are 160,000 acres of arable land in the county under irrigation, the entire irrigated land being water from the Twin Falls North Side Canal, and the water used being stored water from the Jackson Hole reservoir at the headwaters of the Snake River in Wyoming. There is no dry farming in the county. The principal industries are general farming and stock raising. Alfalfa, fruit, sugar beets, potatoes and wheat are the principal crops raised. Postoffices are : Jerome, Eden and Hazelton.
KOOTENAI COUNTY
Kootenai County, so named after the tribe of Indians that once inhabited a considerable portion of Northern Idaho, was created by the Second Territorial Legislature, Governor Lyon approving the act on December 22, 1864. That act defined the boundaries as follows: "Beginning at a point on the forty-eighth degree of north latitude, on the dividing line between Washington and Idaho territories : thence north with said dividing line of longitude to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude; thence east with the said degree of latitude to the northwest corner of (the boundary line) Montana Territory; thence southerly with the boundary line of said territory to the forty-eighth degree of north lati- tude, and thence west along the said degree of latitude to the place of beginning."
The boundaries as thus described contained the present counties of Bonner and Boundary, but no part of the present County of Kootenai, all of which lies south of the forty-eighth parallel of north latitude. By the act of December 22, 1864, the county seat was located at a place called Seneaquoteen (or Sinna- quateen), situated on Clark's Fork, about where the Village of Laclede, Bon- ner County, now stands. The act also provided that whenever fifty or more inhabitants applied to the governor for a county organization, he should appoint three commissioners, who should, among other prescribed duties, appoint the rest of the county officers. Subsequent legislation changed the boundaries so as to include the present County of Kootenai and the act of January 9, 1867, authorized the county commissioners (when appointed) to locate the county seat.
For more than fifteen years the county could not muster the necessary fifty persons qualified to sign a petition for county organization, but in 1880 the Northern Pacific Railroad Company began building the road into Kootenai and new settlements were formed along the line of the railroad. In July, 1881, a meeting was held at George B. Wonnacott's store, about two miles west of Fort Sherman, at which the preliminary steps were taken for the organization of the county. A petition was presented to the governor, who appointed O. F. Can- field, William Martin and J. T. Rankin as a board of county commissioners. In October, 1881, the organization was completed by the appointment of the following officers: Fred Haines, sheriff ; George B. Wonnacott, recorder ; M. D. Wright, assessor and collector; Max Weil, treasurer; A. L. Bradbury, probate judge, these officials to serve until the next general election. The county seat was located at Rathdrum until after Bonner County was cut off from Kootenai in 1907, when it was removed to Coeur d'Alene.
No county in Idaho is better provided with railroads than Kootenai. The Northern Pacific, the Spokane International, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
LATAH COUNTY COURTHOUSE, MOSCOW
WILLIAMSONS DEPARTMENT STORE
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MAIN STREET, MOSCOW
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Paul, the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, the Spokane & Inland Empire and the Idaho & Washington Northern traverse the county in all directions and afford excellent transportation facilities. The principal rail- road towns are Athol, Bayview, Cataldo, Coeur D'Alene, Garwood, Gibbs, Hauser, Post Falls, Ramsey, Rathdrum and Spirit Lake, and there are a number of ininor stations and a few interior villages. The population of the county in 1910 was 22,747, and in 1918 the assessed valuation of property was $18,396,436, the county standing seventh of the forty-one counties in this respect.
The notable industries are lumbering, farming, mining, fruit growing, dairy- ing and poultry raising. Several thousand acres of the Rathdrum Prairie are supplied with water for irrigation and here the finest fruits and vegetables are grown. The forests of white and yellow pine, fir and tamarack are practically inexhaustible, the estimated quantity of merchantable lumber in 1915 being 23,000,000,000 feet.
LATAH COUNTY
When Latah County was first created by the act of December 22, 1864, it was bounded as follows: "Beginning at a point in the channel of the Snake River at its junction with the Clearwater River; thence running due north along the dividing line between Washington and Idaho territories to the forty-eighth degree of north latitude ; thence east with said degree of latitude until it inter- sects the boundary line of Shoshone County; thence south with the boundary line of said county to the middle channel of the Clearwater River; thence with the channel of said river to its junction with the Snake River, the place of be- ginning."
In 'the creative act the name of the county was spelled "Lahtoh" and it was provided that when fifty or more inhabitants desired to perfect a county organi- zation they should apply by petition to the governor, who was authorized to appoint three "discreet and well qualified citizens of the county as a board of county commissioners," with power to fill offices by appointment until an elec- tion could be held. Kootenai County was created by the same act and the two unorganized counties were attached to Nez Perce for all civil and judicial pur- poses until they should be organized according to law.
The people of Latah County made three separate efforts to perfect a county organization, but each time the opposition of Lewiston, county seat of Nez Perce County, was strong enough to prevent such action. In 1887 they appealed to Fred T. Dubois, then Idaho's delegate in Congress, for relief. Mr. Dubois introduced a bill in Congress providing for the organization of the county, and by securing the cooperation of Senator Mitchell, of Oregon, succeeded in hav- ing it passed. It was approved by President Cleveland on May 14, 1888. Latah County therefore enjoys the distinction of being the only county in the United States organized by an act of Congress. The act defined the boundaries as they are at present and named W. W. Lancdon, William Frazier and J. L. Naylor as the first board of county commissioners. On May 29, 1888, this board ap- pointed the following county officers, to serve until the next general election : W. B. Kyle, auditor and recorder; Louis Jain, probate judge; W. W. Baker, treasurer ; Robert Bruce, sheriff ; L. C. Roberts, assessor ; C. B. Reynolds, dis-
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trict attorney ; S. L. Campbell, surveyor; J. W. Lieuallen, superintendent of schools; William Gray, coroner.
One of the first settlers was William Ewing, who located in the Palouse Valley in 1869 and engaged in the cattle business. About two years later Asbury Lieuallen located a homestead in the Paradise Valley three miles east of where Moscow now stands. Other early settlers were W. J. Hamilton, Bennett Sum- merfield. Albert and James Howard, S. J. Langdon, John Russell and a few others. On June 1, 1891, the Latah County Pioneers' Association was formed in the Grand Army Hall at Moscow with G. W. Tomer, president ; Bennett Summerfield and Silas Imbler, vice presidents; J. L. Naylor, secretary ; John Johnston, treasurer. The first reunion was held on June 15, 1892, on the picnic grounds at the foot of Moscow Mountain, with A. J. Green as orator of the day.
Five lines of railroad traverse Latah County, viz .: The Northern Pacific, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navi- gation Company, the Spokane & Inland Empire, and a short road called the Washington, Idaho & Montana. Altogether there are 107 miles of railway in the county. The leading railroad towns are Bovill. Collins, Deary, Genesee, Harvard, Helmer, Kendrick, Juliaetta, Moscow, Princeton, Potlatch and Troy. There are a number of small villages off from the lines of railway, the largest being Cora, Park and Viola.
Latah County has an area of 1,128 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Kootenai County; on the east by Shoshone and Clearwater; on the south by Clearwater and Nez Perce counties; and on the west by the State of Wash- ington. It is divided by a mountain range called the Thatuna Hills, south of which is the famous Palouse country, where fruits of all kinds are raised in abundance. This section is also one of the great wheat fields of Idaho, the yield sometimes running as high as sixty bushels to the acre. In 1910 the popula- tion was 18,818, and the assessed valuation of property in 1918 was $19,864.539, only four counties in the state returning a larger valuation.
LEMHI COUNTY
Situated in the eastern part of the state, taking in the Lemhi Valley and ex .. tending northwest into the Valley of the Salmon River, is Lemhi County, which was created by an act of the Fifth Territorial Legislature, approved by Gover- nor Ballard on January 9, 1869. The county takes its name from the Mormon settlement that was made in the Lemhi Valley in 1854, an account of which is given in an earlier chapter of this history. It has an area of 4,867 square miles ; is bounded by the State of Montana on the north and east ; by Fremont County on the southeast ; by Custer County on the south and by Idaho County on the west. Along the eastern boundary are the Bitter Root Mountains, the Lemhi Range lies along the line separating Lemhi from Custer County, and in the western part are the Salmon River and Yellow Jacket Mountains. The valleys between these ranges are fertile and produce abundant crops. Two national forests-the Lemhi and Salmon-afford excellent grazing facilities and in 1917 the county stood first in the number of cattle and fifth in the number of sheep.
In the summer of 1866 a party of prospectors from Montana discovered rich placer mines in the Big Creek Basin, between the Salmon River and Yellow Jacket Mountains, about eighteen miles from where Salmon, the county seat,
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URSULINE CONVENT, MOSCOW
PUBLIC LIBRARY, MOSCOW
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is now situated. At that time the territory comprising Lemhi County was a part of Idaho County, but the rush to the new mining fields soon brought a large population, with the result that a provisional county government was established in July, 1867, and the county was regularly organized in January, 1869. The act creating Lemhi County named George L. Shoup, E. H. Tuttle and Benjamin F. Heath as commissioners to organize the county and appoint the other county officers. They appointed R. H. Johns, auditor and recorder; John S. Ramey, sheriff; J. G. Finnell, probate judge; Charles G. Chamberlain, county clerk ; Francis J. Lemman, assessor. These officers served until the first election, which was held on June 7, 1869, when George L. Shoup, E. H. Tuttle and Fred Phillips were elected commissioners; Charles G. Chamberlain, clerk; Jesse McCaleb, auditor and recorder ; John S. Ramey, sheriff; E. C. Whitsett, treasurer; A. C. Harris, probate judge; J. P. Jewell, coroner. George L. Shoup was the last territorial and the first state governor of Idaho, and was one of the first United States senators after the state was admitted into the Union. The present court- house at Salmon was completed in 1910, at a cost of $40,000. In the spring of that year the Gilmore & Pittsburgh Railroad was finished through the Lemhi Valley, with stations at Baker, Cruik, Gilmore, Leadore, Lemhi, Maier, Salmon and Tendoy. Away from the railroad the villages are Carmen, Forney, Lees- burg, May, Nicholia, Shoup and a few smaller places.
Among the early settlers were the above named county officers, Thomas Pope, James McNab, J. L. Kirtley, B. F. Price, N. I. Andrews, F .. B. Sharkey, Thomas Ryeatt, William Peterson, John W. Ostrander, Elijah Mulkey, David A. Wood, Albert Green, Joseph Crain, Thomas Elder, James Glendenning, and A. M. Stephenson. Most of these men were attracted to the country by the reports of the rich mineral discoveries. Mining is still one of the leading occupa- tions, about fifty thousand tons of ore being shipped from the Gilmore mines every year. Some coal is mined near Salmon. In 1910 the population of Lemhi County was 4,786, and in 1918 assessed valuation of property was $5,481,170.
LEWIS COUNTY
This is one of the new counties of the state and its early history is included in that of Nez Perce County, from which it was taken by the act of March 3, 1911. It is bounded on the north by Nez Perce and Clearwater counties; on the east by Clearwater and Idaho counties; on the south by Idaho; and on the west by Nez Perce County. The Clearwater River flows along the eastern boundary and the Salmon River touches the southwest corner. Although one of the smallest counties in the state, Lewis is one of the best agricultural coun- ties of Idaho. The eastern half lies in the Nez Perce Prairie, where the soil is largely of lava production and highly productive. Alfalfa, barley, wheat, oats and potatoes all yield large crops and there are some good orchards in the county. The western half is devoted chiefly to grazing and lumbering.
The act creating the county located the county seat temporarily at Nez Perce, the permanent location to be decided by the voters at the general election of 1912. The first county officers were appointed by the governor and served until the election in November, 1912, when the following were chosen: Isaac P. Ragan, N. B. Schlader and I. H. Lowrey, commissioners ; Clyde E. Clovis, clerk :
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E. H. Ratliff, assessor ; Manford H. Paige, sheriff ; Luther T. McKee, treasurer ; Thomas M. Roberts, probate judge; A. J. Warren, surveyor; Homer C. Par- rish, coroner; Eva B. Henderson, superintendent of public schools. Up to August, 1918, no courthouse had been erected, the county officers occupying rented quarters in the Union State Bank Building at Nez Perce.
In 1908 the Camas Prairie Railroad was completed through the county. The Craig Mountain Railroad connects with the Camas Prairie line at Craig Junc- tion, and the Lewiston, Nez Perce & Eastern (also called the Nez Perce & Idaho ) connects the county seat with the Camas Prairie Railroad at Vollmer. This road was built by local capitalists in 1910. The principal railroad stations are Ilo, Nez Perce, Reubens, Vollmer and Winchester. Forest, in the western part, Mohler, about six miles northwest of Nez Perce, and Russell. in the northern part, are trading villages for agricultural communities.
Lewis County was named in honor of Capt. Meriwether Lewis, one of the first white men to visit this section of the country, who with Capt. William Clark and a small company explored the country from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast in 1805. In 1910 the population was included in the census re- turns of Nez Perce County. The assessed valuation of property in 1918 was $7,815,835.
LINCOLN COUNTY
Lincoln County was first created by the First State Legislature, the act be- coming a law without the governor's signature on March 3, 1891, the five days given the governor by Section 10, Article IV, of the state constitution having expired. The boundaries as fixed by that act were as follows: "Commencing at the northeast corner of township 3 south, of range 11 east of Boise meridian ; thence south, following the line between ranges 11 and 12 east to a point where said line intersects the middle channel of the Snake River ; thence easterly, fol- lowing the middle of the channel of the Snake River to a point where the town- ship line between ranges 25 and 26 east intersects said channel, thence north along said township line to a point where said line intersects the line between townships 2 and 3 south ; thence west along said line to the place of beginning."
These boundaries included the present counties of Lincoln, Jerome, Good- ing and Minidoka. Alta County was created by the same act, but in the lat- ter part of June, 1891, the Supreme Court held the act to be unconstitutional and the counties were not organized. In 1895 the Legislature created Blaine County out of the eastern part of Alturas and Lincoln was recreated with the boundaries the same as those described in the act of 1891, with the county seat at Shoshone. Gooding and Minidoka were cut off from Lincoln in 1913, reduc- ing it to its present dimensions. It is bounded on the north by Camas and Blaine counties ; on the east by Minidoka ; on the south by Minidoka and Twin Falls, being separated from the latter by the Snake River; and on the west by Good- ing County.
The altitude varies from less than 3,000 feet along the Snake River to over 5.000 feet in the northern portion. Much of the land is irrigated and fine crops are raised. Some dry farming is practiced in the eastern part and there are some fine orchards in the county, apples and prunes especially doing well.
Lincoln County is well supplied with railroads, the main line of the Oregon
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GYMNASIUM, UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO, MOSCOW
RIDENBAUGH HALL, UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO. MOSCOW
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Short Line passing from east to west through the central part, the Wood River and Hill City branches of the same system serve the northern portion. In 1910 the population was 12,676, which included the population of Gooding and Minidoka counties. The assessed valuation in 1918 was $8,187,562.
MADISON COUNTY
The act creating Madison County from the southern part of Fremont was approved by Governor Haines on February 18, 1913, the same day that Jeffer- son County was created, and the same conditions applied to both counties, viz. : That the question of organizing a new county should be submitted to the voters living in the territory of the proposed new county and if a majority favored the proposition then the county should be organized, otherwise the act became void. The boundaries as defined in the act were as follows: "Commencing at the southwest corner of section 34, township 4 north, range 41 east; thence east on the boundary line between Fremont and Bonneville counties to the boundary line between Idaho and Wyoming; thence north on said boundary line to where the same intersects the north fork of Birch Creek; thence westerly down said creek to where it intersects the main channel of the Teton River; thence down the main channel of the Teton River to the line between ranges 41 and 42 east ; thence south to the township line between townships 6 and 7 north; thence fol- lowing certain section and township lines to the place of beginning."
The territory included within these boundaries embraced the present cóun- ties of Madison and Teton, the latter of which was erected into a separate county two years later. An election was held on November 5, 1913, at which the sepa- rate county proposition received a majority of 1,100 votes and Madison was fully organized on January 1, 1914. At the same election Rexburg was made the permanent county seat without opposition. Since the segregation of Teton County, Madison is bounded on the north by Fremont County ; on the east by Teton; on the south by Bonneville; and on the west by Jefferson.
Madison is well provided with railroads. The Yellowstone branch of the Oregon Short Line system passes through Rexburg, and east and west of this line are the branches known as the "Beet Loops." The most important railroad stations are Austin, Edmonds, Kruger, Rexburg, Salem, Sugar, Thornton and Walker. There are but few interior villages, Archer, near the Snake River and about ten miles south of Rexburg, and Herbert, in the southeastern part being the largest.
Agriculture and stock raising are the leading occupations, alfalfa, grain and sugar beets being the principal crops. Part of the Palisade National Forest lies in Madison County and affords excellent grazing opportunities for stock- men. In 1918 the assessed valuation of property was $6,460,073.
MINIDOKA COUNTY
By the act of January 28, 1913, the eastern part of Lincoln County was cut off to form the County of Minidoka and Rupert was designated as the temporary county seat, the selection of a permanent county seat being left to the voters at the general election in November, 1914. Temporary county officers were appointed by the governor and at the election on November 3, 1914, the follow- ing were elected: L. C. Haynes, O. F. Allen and E. T. Hollenbeck, commis-
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sioners; C. H. Burgher, clerk; D. H. Gregory, sheriff ; C. O. Cornwall, assessor ; C. L. Teyer, treasurer : J. C. Bond, probate judge ; John Sea, surveyor ; Ida E. Sullivan, superintendent of public schools; W. A. Goodman, coroner. Rupert was made the permanent county seat and the courthouse there was completed in 1917, at a cost of $31,000.
Among the early settlers were R. W. Adams, J. O. Johanneson, F. A. Nel- son, W. N. Shilling, F. N. Victor and John C. Vincent. The county owes its existence chiefly to the United States irrigation project, the Government with- drawing the irrigable land, filing on the Snake River as a water source, and constructing the Minidoka dam and the irrigation canals, after which the land was homesteaded in tracts of forty to eighty acres each. Besides the area wa- tered by gravity, the river develops about ten thousand horse-power at the dam, and this is used during the crop season to pump water to a higher level. The dam and power plant will eventually belong to the settlers who pay for the proj- ect. A large number of those living upon the reclaimed land now have electric- ity at a low cost for power and lighting purposes. Potatoes and sugar beets are the leading crops, though dairying and hog raising are becoming important industries.
Minidoka County in form resembles the letter "L;" it is bounded on the north and east by Blaine County ; on the south by the Snake River, which separates it from Cassia and Twin Falls counties ; and on the west by Lincoln. Its area is a little less than one thousand square miles and the assessed valuation of property in 1918 was $7,144.394. The county is well supplied with railroads, the main line of the Oregon Short Line system crossing the county near the center, the Twin Falls branch leaves the main line at Minidoka and runs south- west, the Bliss cut-off intersects this branch at Rupert and runs west, and the Milner & Northside Railroad touches the western part. The principal railroad towns are Acequia. Adelaide, Heyburn, Minidoka, Paul and Rupert. A con- siderable part of the area was included in Jerome County created by the Fif- teenth Legislature.
NEZ PERCE COUNTY
This was one of the counties created by the Legislature of Washington Ter- ritory before Idaho Territory was organized. The First Legislature of Idaho readjusted the boundaries, which included a much larger territory than is now embraced within the county limits, to wit: "Beginning at the mouth of the Clear- water River; thence up the same to the South Fork of the Clearwater River ; thence with the South Fork to Lolo Creek; thence with Lolo Creek in an easterly direction to the summit of the Bitter Root Mountains; thence south to the main divide between the waters of the Salmon River and the South Fork of the Clear- water River; thence in a westerly direction along said divide to a point where the summit of said divide is crossed by the road leading from the head of Rocky Canyon to the Salmon River; thence to a point on the Snake River known as Pittsburg Landing; thence down the center of the channel of the Snake River to the place of beginning."
In addition to the region inclosed within the above described boundaries, all that part of Idaho north of the Clearwater River and west of the 116th meri- - dian of longitude, the summit of the Coeur d'Alene Mountains and a line there-
NEZ PERCE COUNTY COURTHOUSE, LEWISTON
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WHITE HOSPITAL, LEWISTON
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HISTORY OF IDAHO
from due south to the middle of the South Fork of the Clearwater River was attached to Nez Perce County for civil and judicial purposes. This attached territory included all the present counties of Latah, Benewah, Kootenai, Bonner and Boundary. The county was named for the Indian tribe that once inhabited the country.
Among the pioneers of Nez Perce County was Perrin B. Whitman, the nephew and adopted son of Dr. Marcus Whitman, who was killed at the Waiilatpu Mis- sion by the Indians in November, 1847. When only thirteen years of age he crossed the plains to Oregon with his uncle and at the time of the massacre was at The Dalles, whereby his life was saved. He grew to manhood in Oregon, married Miss Priscilla M. Parker in 1854, and in 1863 came to Lapwai, Idaho, where he was employed as an interpreter and for a time had charge of the Indian agency. He died at Lewiston on January 26, 1899.
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