USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 64
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Ezra Baird, a native of New York State, came to Lewiston in 1862 and was for some time engaged in mining at various places in the territory, after which he embarked in the stage and express business with headquarters at Lewiston. In 1874 he was elected sheriff of Nez Perce County, and in September, 1886, was appointed United States marshal by President Cleveland, for the Territory of Idaho, dying in Boise County in 1913.
On February 19, 1900, the Nez Perce County Pioneer Association was or- ganized with G. C. Kress, president ; Chester P. Coburn, vice president ; Wallace B. Stanton, secretary ; John N. Lindsey, treasurer; Edmond Pearcy, Robert Gro- stein, Joel Martin and M. A. Kelly, trustees. Of these officers Mr. Coburn came to Idaho in 1862, assisted in the organization of the territory, established a liv- ery and sales stable at Lewiston for saddle and pack horses, and was later engaged in the cattle business. Mr. Pearcy came to the Oro Fino mining dis- trict in 1861. Later he and a Mr. Allen put up a sawmill at Lapwai. Mr. Allen was drowned in 1866 and Mr. Pearcy was afterward engaged in the ferry busi- ness. Robert Grostein, a native of Poland, was one of the early merchants of Lewiston.
Nez Perce County claims a greater diversity of agricultural products than any other county in the state. The altitude varies from less than seven hun- dred feet at Lewiston to more than five thousand feet on Craig Mountain, which gives the county a climate conducive to the production of a wide range of plants and fruits. In the northeastern part wheat, barley and oats are the chief crops ; north of the Snake River is a rolling prairie, where grazing is the leading occu- pation; south of the Clearwater, between the Snake River and the Camas Prairie, is the great fruit growing section of what is known as the "Lewiston country," where apples, peaches, pears, cherries, plums, apricots, grapes and berries of all kinds grow in profusion, and even almonds and English walnuts are raised.
Two branches of the Northern Pacific railway system traverse the county, following the Clearwater and Potlatch rivers, and the Camas Prairie Railroad connects Lewiston with Grangeville. Along these several lines of railroad the principal stations in the county are Agatha, Culdesac, Gurney, Lapwai, Leland, Lewiston, Myrtle and Sweetwater. There are a number of interior villages, the largest of which are Cameron, Peck, Lookout, and Melrose, so that the ship- ping and trading opportunities are above the average.
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In 1910 the population was 24,860, but since then the counties of Clearwater and Lewis have been created from Nez Perce. The assessed valuation of prop- erty in 1918 was $15,180,088, the county standing ninth in the state in valuation.
ONEIDA COUNTY
As originally created, by the act of January 22, 1864, this county embraced a large part of Southeastern Idaho and all that portion of the present State of Wyoming west of the Continental Divide. The boundaries as defined by the act were as follows: "Commencing at the point of intersection of the meridian of longitude 113° with the northern boundary of Utah Territory, and running from thence north along said meridian 113° to the Snake River; thence up said river in an eastern direction to the 112th meridian ; thence north on said meridian to the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and from thence along said summit in an eastern direction to the boundary of Colorado Territory, and from thence west along said boundary of Colorado Territory to Utah Territory, and from thence along the said northern boundary of Utah to the place of beginning."
If the reader will take a map and trace these boundary lines, he will notice that Oneida County included all the present county of that name, Bannock, Bear Lake, Franklin, Madison, Clark, Caribou and Teton counties, the eastern half of Fremont, a large part of Power, nearly all of Bonneville and the eastern portion of Bingham. The county seat was located at Soda Springs by the act creating the county, but on January 5, 1866, Governor Lyon approved an act removing it to Malad City, which is still the seat of justice. It is the terminus of a branch of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, which connects it with Brigham, Utah. This is the only railroad in the county.
After the numerous changes, by the organization of new counties, Oneida is now composed chiefly of the Malad Valley. The mountain ranges that inter- sected the country and divided the original county into isolated districts, have become boundary lines or attached to other counties and the Malad Valley is all that is left. In 1879 a newspaper called the Idaho Enterprise was started at the old town of Oxford (now in Bannock County) and subsequently removed to Malad City. This newspaper issued a "holiday number" in 1910, from which the following extracts are taken :
"It is agreed that the first permanent settlement of Malad Valley occurred in 1864. In the early spring of that year four men and three boys came to what is now Malad City and in May they began the work of reclaiming the valley and transforming it from a vast wilderness, the home of Indians and wild game, to a community of wealthy farmers, of substantial business concerns, of beautiful homes and fine public buildings.
"The natural conditions were such as to make this a very easy place for the pioneer to get a start. A natural meadow provided ample forage for the live stock, and a number of fairly good sized mountain streams run through the valley, so that the matter of securing water for irrigation was quite easily solved. Great forests of pine trees grew in the mountains, so timber for building homes, for fencing, for fuel and for all purposes was easily accessible. There was an abundance of fish in the streams and game of all kinds was plentiful. No doubt that little party of trail blazers noted all these things before they, decided to cast their lot at a point so remote from the centers of civilization.
ONEIDA COUNTY COURTHOUSE, MALAD
PUBLIC AND HIGH SCHOOL BUILDINGS, MALAD
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"In the winter of 1864-65 five families made their homes here, but during the summer of 1865 there was a great acquisition to the valley's population, ten families having moved in during that year from Salt Lake and the settlements of Northern Utah. From that time on for a number of years the increase in wealth and population was rapid. Within a few years all of what was then con- sidered the desirable land, that lying directly under some stream, was taken, and it was thought that the valley had reached its capacity in the matter of providing homes. Then followed a period when the people did not care for land. Grasshoppers and crickets infested the country in such numbers as to make the raising of any form of vegetation almost impossible. This lasted for about fif- teen years, and during that time it was necessary for the men to seek employ- ment in all parts of the country. Some went to the mines at Butte, some to the railroad then building across the continent, while many of them took to freighting.
"Providence seemed to take a hand in directing the affairs of this commu- nity, for when, in 1879, the Utah & Northern Railroad was built and practi- cally put an end to the freighting industry, which had come to be the principal source of revenue to the people, the grasshoppers and crickets disappeared and the real work of developing the resources of the valley was commenced. The people were forced to depend more and more upon themselves. During the period of our prosperity flour and sawmills had been established here, so that when the time came that the people had to depend almost entirely upon them- selves and what they produced for a livelihood, they were pretty well equipped to cope with the exigencies of the time."
Cattle raising has been the leading industry for many years and thousands of cattle are shipped every year. Grain is the leading crop, there being four large elevators at Malad City. Alfalfa and sugar beets are also raised, and in recent years dairying is becoming an important feature. The population of the county in 1910 was 15,170 and in 1918 the valuation of property for tax purposes was $5,129,722.
OWYHEE COUNTY
This was the first county to be organized by an Idaho Legislature after the creation of the territory. On the last day of December, 1863, Acting Governor Daniels approved an act erecting the County of Owyhee, with the following boundaries : "Beginning on the Snake River at the mouth of the Owyhee and running due south along the eastern boundary line of the State of Oregon to the northern boundary of Nevada Territory; thence east with the boundary line of the Territory of Nevada and Utah to the 113th meridian of longitude ; thence north with said meridian to the Snake River, and thence down the channel of the Snake River in a westerly direction to the mouth of the Owyhee-the place of beginning."
As thus bounded, the county embraced all of the present counties of Owyhee, Twin Falls and Cassia. It is the second largest county in Idaho, occupying the southwest corner of the state, and is now bounded on the north by the counties of Canyon, Ada, Elmore and a little of Gooding, being separated from those counties by the Snake River; on the east by Twin Falls County; on the south by the State of Nevada; and on the west by the State of Oregon. The name
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"Owyhee" is said to be of Hawaiian origin, and that it was given to the river by two Kanakas who were in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Ruby City was named in the creative act as the county seat, but it was re- moved to Silver City in 1866. The first county officers were: D. H. Fogus and George Carter commissioners (the name of the third commissioner cannot be learned) ; Gilmore Hays, clerk; Lyman Stanford, sheriff; T. D. Beckett, treas- urer ; Ezra Mills, assessor ; Frank R. Browker, surveyor ; O. H. Purdy, superin- tendent of public schools; L. F. Alpey, coroner. The present courthouse was built about 1870, at a cost of $15,000, though some repairs and alterations have since been made.
Owyhee County got its first settlement and notoriety from mining. In May, 1863, a party of twenty-nine men left Placerville to look for the lost mine known as the "Blue Bucket Diggings" and on the 18th found gold on Jordan Creek (so named after Michael Jordan, one of the party), about six miles below the present Town of Dewey. The names of these twenty-nine men, with a further account of their adventures and discoveries, are given in Chapter VIII. Other pioneers of the county were: David and Peter Adams, Joseph Babington, C. D. Bacheler, Robert Bruce, Frederick and J. M. Brunzell, T. J. Butler, Peter Con- nors, W. H. Dewey, Fred and John Grete, George W. Gilmore, Charles M. Hays, R. H. Leonard, Robert Noble, Arthur Pence and John Turner, most of whom were connected with mining operations. During the early days the War Eagle Mountain produced over fifty million dollars in silver and some mining is still carried on in the county.
Geologically, the formation of Owyhee is mainly the lava deposits so com- mon in the plains along the Snake River. Along the Snake River, in the north- ern part are the sedimentary deposits of what is believed to have been an old lake bed. In this section the lands are very fertile and several thousand acres have been brought under irrigation. The eastern half of the county is composed chiefly of lavan and sage brush plains, through which flows the Bruneau River, and in the western part there are considerable areas of granite. The elevation increases from 2,200 feet in the Snake River Valley to 8,500 feet in the south- ern part. Grazing is the principal occupation on the high plateaus and in the mountainous districts, the county standing first in 1917 in the number of cat- tle and sheep returned for taxation-32,202 cattle and 221,964 sheep. The total assessed valuation of property for 1918 was $5.444.963.
Two branches of the Oregon Short Line railway system touch the north- western part of the county, the first leaves the main line at Nampa and terminates at Murphy, about eight miles from the Snake River, and the second runs along the west side of the Snake River from Ontario, Ore., and terminates at Homedale. The only railroad stations in the county are Homedale, McCoard, Murphy and Riva. People living in the northeastern part of the county find railroad accommodations in the main line of the Oregon Short Line system, which here runs close to the north bank of the Snake River. There are a number of small towns scattered over the county, the most important being Bruneau, Castle Creek, De Lamar, Dewey, Grandview, Hot Spring, Oreana and Silver City. The last named is the county seat. In 1910 the population was 4,044.
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PAYETTE COUNTY
On February 28, 1917, Governor Alexander approved an act directing the county commissioners of Canyon County to call a special election for May 11, 1917, in that portion of the county north of the line dividing townships 5 and 6 north, which was to be erected into the County of Payette, provided two-thirds of the voters living in the territory voted in favor of the new county. The act also located the county seat at Payette "until removed as provided by law," and authorized the governor, in the event the required majority voted in favor of the new county, to appoint officers therefor to serve until the next general election. Very few dissenting votes were cast and Governor Alexander appointed the following officers, who were to assume their duties on May 29, 1917: C. W. Giesler, Walter Burke and B. F. Tussing, commissioners; W. A. Cloud, audi- tor and recorder ; R. L. Hollenbeck, treasurer; J. H. Harrigan, sheriff ; O. E. Bosson, assessor; V. B. Ledman, probate judge; Monroe P. Smock, prosecut- ing attorney; W. C. Sturdevant, surveyor; Fae Sutton, superintendent of public instruction.
Payette County is bounded on the north by Washington County; on the east by Gem; on the south by Canyon, from which it was taken; and on the west by the Snake River, which separates it from the State of Oregon. It is one of the small counties of the state, having an area of about four hundred and fifty square miles, but is one of the richest counties from an agricultural standpoint, large quantities of wheat, hay, cream, potatoes and fruits being shipped from the county every year. The early history of Payette is interwoven with that of Ada and Canyon counties, of which it was successively a part before being erected into a separate subdivision of the state. One of the early settlers was David S. Lamme, who came to Idaho in 1864 and tried his luck at mining for a time, when he bought 320 acres of land in the Payette Valley, and was one of the founders of the City of Payette. Peter Pence first came to the Boise Basin in 1862 and followed mining until 1867, when he settled on a ranch about ten miles up the river from where Payette now stands. He and his family frequently slept in the bushes near their cabin for fear of an Indian attack.
Payette, the county seat, is located in the northwestern part of the county at the junction of the main line and Idaho Northern branch of the Oregon Short Line railway system. Other railroad stations are Falk, Fruitland and New Ply- mouth. There are no interior villages of importance. In 1918 the assessed valu- ation of property was $4.764,374.
POWER COUNTY
Power County was created by the act of January 30, 1913, from parts of Bingham, Blaine, Cassia and Oneida counties, nearly two pages of the laws of that session being taken up with the technical description of the boundaries. It is an irregularly shaped county, bounded on the north by Blaine and Bing- ham counties ; on the east by Bannock ; on the south by Oneida and Cassia; and on the west by Cassia and Blaine. The act creating the county assigned it to the Fifth Judicial District, gave it one representative in the lower branch of the Legislature and a senator jointly with Oneida County, and located the county seat at American Falls, where the power plant is located from which the county
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takes its name. At the first election the following officers were chosen: W. S. Sparks, M. E. Walker and C. F. Eggars, commissioners; Paul Bulfinch, clerk and auditor; D. B. Jeffries, sheriff; F. Nettie Rice, treasurer; O. F. Crowley, assessor ; A. C. Haag, probate judge; S. L. Baird, prosecuting attorney ; Madge E. Whistler, superintendent of public instruction; Frank Moench, surveyor ; H. R. Hager, coroner. At the same election the county seat was permanently established at American Falls by popular vote.
Along the Snake River, which flows through the county, the lands are irri- gated and are highly productive. In the northern part there are some arid lands and about the Village of Rockland, south of the center, dry farming is carried on successfully, the precipitation averaging about seventeen inches annually. American Falls enjoys the reputation of being the heaviest wheat shipping town on the Oregon Short Line Railroad, the main line of which crosses the county north of the center, crossing the Snake River at American Falls. The principal interior villages are Arbon, near the Oneida County line, and Rockland, on the Rock Creek about fifteen miles south of American Falls.
Power County is too young to have much history of its own. The first set- tlements were made while the territory belonged to Bingham and Oneida coun- ties. A portion of the Fort Hall Indian reservation extends southward into the county and the early settlements were made near the borders of the reservation. In 1918 the assessed valuation of the property was $9,749,210, the county stand- ing fourteenth in the state in this respect.
SHOSHONE COUNTY
A county called Shoshone was created by the Legislature of Washington Territory in January, 1858, which included all that part of the present State of Idaho north of the Snake River. In December, 1861, the southern part of this county was cut off to form the counties of Idaho and Nez Perce, and the first session of the Legislature of Idaho Territory, by an act approved on February 4, 1864, defined the boundaries of Shoshone as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of the South Fork of the Clearwater River; thence up said South Fork of the Clearwater to the Lolo Fork; thence with the Lolo Fork in an easterly direction to the summit of the Bitter Root Mountains; thence in a northerly direction with said range of mountains until said range turns in a westerly direction and is called the Coeur d'Alene ; thence with said Coeur d'Alene range of mountains in a westerly direction to a point from which running a line due south will strike the mouth of the South Fork of the Clearwater River-the place of beginning."
In the old records of Walla Walla County, Washington, may be found the certificate of George Galbreath, county auditor, of the returns of an election held in Shoshone County on July 8, 1861, at which the following officials were elected : J. Tudor, W. Cardwell and J. C. Griffin, commissioners ; D. M. Jessee, probate judge; R. L. Gillespie, sheriff; E. L. Bradley, auditor; L. H. Coon, treasurer ; H. M. Bell, assessor ; D. Bell, coroner. These were probably the first county officers ever elected within what is now the State of Idaho, and it was in Shoshone County, as then constituted, that the first discovery of gold was made on the Oro Fino Creek in 1860. The Moose Creek mines, northwest of the Oro Fino district, were discovered in 1862 and worked for a short time, when they were abandoned. About this time a man named Petjade established
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a station on Ford Creek, a small tributary of the Clearwater south of the Oro Fino mines, at which prospectors and others bound for the mining camps could find "entertainment for man and beast."
A little later Thomas O'Brien, Ernest Hilton and William Shepard discov- ered some good placers on Moose Creek, near the ones that had been worked in 1862, and founded "Moose City," which within a short time boasted a saloon, an eating house, three general stores and a population of 300. Modern map makers know nothing of Moose City, as it has long since ceased to exist.
In the Fraser country, along Lolo Creek, a man generally known as "Texas" settled in 1862, opened a station and did some farming. He sold to Milo Thomas about 1866, and Thomas sold out to Hourcade ' 11: stockmen. John Alsop settled in this part of the county in 1874 and was shortly afterward followed by Patrick Keane. The Fraser country is now in Clearwater County. Others who settled in this section during the latter '6os and early '70s were Patrick Gaffney, Harvey Setzer, William Gamble and Levi Goodwin.
Edward Hammond, an old resident of the county, writing to the Lewiston Teller in 1881, gave the assessed valuation of property in Shoshone as $38,981, and estimated the population at seventy-five, of whom about a dozen were farm- ers. In 1918 the assessed valuation was $31,140,610, only one county in the. state (Ada) returning a larger valuation. Such has been the marvelous progress of Shoshone County during a period of less than forty years, due mainly to the discovery of the rich mines in the early '80s.
Capt. John Mullan, who built the military road across Northern Idaho before the Civil war, noticed indications of gold in the mountains of Shoshone County, but said nothing about it at the time for fear his workmen would desert road building for mining. A. J. Pritchard, R. T. Horn and a man named Gillett, three experienced miners, made a prospecting tour up the north fork of the Coeur d'Alene River in the summer of 1880 and near the present Town of Mur- ray, on a small stream since known as Pritchard Creek, struck "pay dirt." They remained in the mountains until the approach of winter, when they returned to the settlements. The following summer Pritchard returned and continued pros- pecting along the streams, finding values in several places along the streams. He then wrote to a few friends asking them to join him the following spring with the necessary tools and supplies for working the claims, at the same time en- joining secrecy, but his request in this respect was not heeded and when the time came to start for the diggings he found a crowd gathered, many of whom were inexperienced and without the usual equipment of the miner. He advised them not to undertake the trip to the rough, mountainous region until they were better prepared, but they threatened him with personal violence, even hanging, and he finally yielded to their importunities. When they reached the mines the waters in the creeks were so high that nothing could be done and many of those departed, cursing both Pritchard and the country. The few who had come pre- pared for the real work of development remained through the summer and were richly rewarded, and by 1884 the usual stampede was on to the new discovery.
In the meantime Tom Irwin, another prospector, had found gold in the Coeur d'Alene country, and it has been claimed that he was really the first to discover gold in this part of the territory, but the evidence is decidedly in favor of Pritch- ard and his associates. Irwin's discovery, however, was the means of bring-
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ing a large number of gold seekers to the new field. Eagle City and Murray were laid out in 1884 and the latter was made the county seat. The lead silver section on the South Fork were discovered in 1886 and soon became the prin- cipal mining section of the county. As the placer mines were worked out, quartz mining was introduced, the Bunker Hill and Sullivan being one of the first of this class in the county. The buildings at this mine were blown up by dynamite on April 29, 1899, by striking miners, an account of which is given in another chapter. A narrow gauge railroad (now part of the Northern Pacific system) was built, after which the development of the mineral deposits was more rapid. Shoshone is the leading mining county of Idaho. In 1917 it produced more than nine-tenths of the mineral wealth of the state, according to the report of the state mine inspector.
Three lines of railroad-the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company-cross the county from east to west, and the Northern Pacific has branches running into the mining districts. Along these lines are numerous small stations, the most important of which are Avery, Black Bear, Bradley, Burke, Clarkia, Ena- ville, Gem, Kellogg, Kingston, Mace, Mullan, Murray, Paragon, Wallace (the county seat) and Wardner. Away from the railroads the county is not thickly settled, the total population in 1910 being 13,963, more than one-half of which was in the four towns of Kellogg, Mullan, Wallace and Wardner. The north- - ern and southern portions of the county are heavily timbered, over one and a quarter millions of acres lying in the national forest reserves.
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