USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 66
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John Lemp, another of the old timers who materially assisted in building up the city, was born in Germany and come to Boise a few weeks after the town was started. In the spring of 1864 he built the first brewery in Southern Idaho and although starting on a small scale soon developed an extended business. Mr. Lemp took a keen interest in municipal matters, served as member of the city council for twenty years and was elected mayor of the city. He erected many of the business buildings of Boise and was one of the important factors in its development until his death a few years ago. His surviving children have kept his large estate together and continue to exercise a strong influence in civic matters.
Many others prominent in the early history of Boise deserve extended refer- ence by reason of their efforts in its upbuilding, but lack of space forbids more than mention of the names of James A. Pinney, Hosea B. Eastman, David Falk, Nathan Falk, H. E. Prickett, James H. Bush, Bishop Tuttle, William Russell, Bishop A. J. Glorieux, M. H. Goodwin, M. B. Morris, H. C. Brantstetter, Ben Anderson, Lute Lindsay, J. B. Oldham, James H. Hart, John Broadbent, John G. Gray and Timothy Regan, whose names are all inseparably connected with the development of Boise.
To no one man is greater credit due for making Boise the center of the finan- cial interests of Idaho, than to C. W. Moore, through whose efforts was formed the First National Bank in the late '6os, and who headed that great financial institution until his death in 1916, when his place was taken by his son Crawford Moore.
To Mr. Moore and the other great pioneer business men of Boise, Frank R. Coffin, the Falk Brothers, John Lemp, John Broadbent, Peter Sonna and others who like them expended their energies not only in the business of the moment then confronting them, but with the idea of benefiting those yet to come by pav- ing the way for great future developments, is Boise indebted for its present pros- perity.
But the one man to whose far-seeing mind Boise owes more than all others is William B. Morris, who originated the idea that the future of the city depended upon opening up the bench lands of the Boise Valley, and with his own means
IDAHO BUILDING, BOISE
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CERLAD
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OVERLAND BUILDING, BOISE On the site of the old Overland Hotel
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and at a time when the present improved machinery for such purposes was not obtainable, and when his ideas were scoffed at by most of the people, built the Ridenbaugh Canal, and made possible the real development of the Boise Valley. Followed by the New York, the Phyllis and other canals, it made homes in the close vicinity of Boise possible for thousands, and so assured the future of the city. It was these canals which made the waters of the Boise River available for irrigation purposes down the valley, gave an impetus to the agricultural development of the section immediately tributary to Boise, and changed the basis of the town's prosperity from the uncertain field of headquarters for the various mining camps in the vicinity to the more permanent field of agricul- ture, and so it was that the exhaustion of the rich placers of the Basin, while emptying the mining camps there of thousands of gold-seekers, and shrink- ing communities which once contained thousands of people to mere hamlets, had no particularly evil effect upon Boise.
THE OVERLAND HOTEL
For many years the best known hostelry in the intermountain regions was the Overland Hotel, at Boise. It was the building of this hotel in 1866 that made the corner of Eighth and Main streets the center of the little community, a posi- tion which it held until the tearing down of the old frame structure to make room for Boise's first large and modern office building, and the site still maintains a com- manding position in the business district of the city. To the new-comer no adequate idea can ever be given of the place which the old Overland Hotel held in the hearts of the people of Idaho. It was a two-story frame structure, 100 feet front on Main Street, running back to the alley on Eighth Street, with a wide porch from the second story running all around the building and extending over the sidewalk. From this porch every public speaker of note in the early days at some time in his career addressed the citizens, and the Overland Hotel was not only the center of Boise, but became the center of all Idaho. "Meet me at the Overland" was the common expression when friends parted upon the streets or when someone from out of town would write that he was coming. The fame of the old hotel was not confined to Idaho, but was general throughout the inter- mountain and coast countries, as travelers by the old stage coaches that formed the connection between rail and steamboat transportation to the East and West, always loooked forward to the stop at the Overland in Boise as the traveler in the great desert longs for the first glimpse of the oasis which he is nearing. Captain Griffen, the Eastman Brothers, Putnam & Childs and E. W. Johnson were its successive landlords, and each did his full share in the upbuilding of the city.
The old hotel building was razed in 1903, to make room for the large office building that succeeded it, but before its final destruction, Messrs. H. B. and M. H. Eastman, its proprietors, gave a notable banquet in the old diningroom to all the pioneers of southern Idaho that could be brought together, and proper ceremonies were had in commemoration of the occasion.
EARLY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES
The first buildings erected, while the town was in the experimental stage, were of the crudest and most primitive character, some of them being mere
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brush shanties that afforded but meager protection against rough weather, but as time went on these flimsy structures gave place to others of a more sub- stantial nature. Cyrus Jacobs, who was present when the town was platted, was on his way to Idaho City with a stock of goods, which he placed in the hands of H. C. Riggs and James Mullaney, "Agents for C. Jacobs & Company," a cheap building was erected and a store opened. This was the first mercantile concern.
A little later H. C. Riggs and James D. Agnew put up an adobe building on the northeast corner of Seventh and Main streets. It was used for a saloon and the firm of Riggs & 'Agnew also had a livery and feed stable in the rear of the saloon. This location was known for years as "Riggs' Corner," and was burned in 1879.
Cyrus Jacobs bought the first gold dust that was brought in from the mines in the Boise Basin. Two or three weeks after the Jacobs store was opened Du Rell & Moore brought a stock of goods and opened the second store. The first physician was a Doctor Holton, who was also the first justice of the peace. He had his office in a log cabin on the northwest corner of Eighth and Main streets, where the Overland Building now stands.
The first hotel was kept by Burns & Nordyke on the northwest corner of Main and Seventh streets, opposite Riggs & Agnew's place. The Central Hotel, located on the corner of Seventh and Idaho streets, came a little later. Other hotels followed, among them the Overland, on the northwest corner of Eighth and Main, where Doctor Holton's office was situated. Here the Overland stages arrived and departed and in its day the Overland Hotel was one of the best known hostelries in the Northwest. It was torn down a few years ago to make room for the modern office building, which bears the old, historic name of "Over- land." With the passing of the Overland Hotel the last of the early houses of entertainment disappeared and sojourners in Boise »are now accommodated by the Owyhee, Idanha, Bristol, Grand and other hotels equipped with modern con- veniences unknown to the old time "Taverns."
Cyrus Jacobs, who was one of the most active business men among the pioneers, built the first flour mill and ground all the wheat raised in the sur- rounding country. He also established a packing house and cured large quan- tities of bacon, selling the products of his flour mill and packing house to the residents of Boise and the occupants of the mining camps. He also late in the 6os established the only distillery ever run in Idaho and run it for several years.
The first bank-the First National Bank of Idaho-was organized on March II, 1867, with B. M. Du Rell, president, and Christopher W. Moore, cashier. A few days later the bank's advertisement appeared in the Idaho Statesman, announcing an authorized capital of $500,000, of which $100,000 was paid up, and correspondents in all the principal cities of the country. This bank has been in continuous existence since its organization.
POLITICAL
On December 12, 1864, Governor Lyon approved an act of the Legislature incorporating Boise City, with the boundaries thus defined: "Commencing at a point one quarter of a mile east of the northeast corner of said town, on the line
CAPRIAGE PAINTING,
ONE OF THE OLDEST SCHOOL HOUSES IN BOISE. FORMERLY LOCATED WHERE CARNEGIE LIBRARY NOW STANDS
CARNEGIE LIBRARY, BOISE
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of the military reserve; thence westerly along said line one mile and a half ; thence south one mile and one quarter ; thence east two miles; thence north to the place of beginning."
The act also provided for a city election to be held on the first Monday in January of each year, at which a mayor, recorder, treasurer, marshal, assessor and five members of the common council should be chosen by the qualified voters. For some reason no municipal organization was effected under this act, the city dating its incorporation from January 11, 1866, when another act of the Legis- lature was approved by the governor. It seems, however, that the people were in no great haste to inaugurate their city government, as the municipal records show that the first mayor assumed the duties of the office on November 18, 1867. Following is a list of the mayors of the city, with the date when each entered upon his official duties and serving until his successor was elected and qualified :
H. E. Prickett, November 18, 1867; Thomas B. Hart, January 14, 1868; Charles Himrod, January 16, 1869; George H. Twitchell, July 12, 1870; John Lemp, March, 1874; Thomas E. Logan, March, 1876; Charles Himrod, March, 1878; Cyrus Jacobs, March, 1880 ; C. P. Bilderback, March, 1881 ; James A. Pin- ney, July 13, 1881 ; Solomon Hasbrouck, July 20, 1885; Joseph W. Huston, No- vember 5, 1885; Peter J. Pefley, July 13, 1887; James A. Pinney, July 11, 1889; Peter Sonna, July 15. 1893; Walter E. Pierce, July 10, 1895; Moses Alexan- der, July 15, 1897; J. H. Richards, July 12, 1899; Moses Alexander, July 13, 1901; James H. Hawley, July 18, 1903; James A. Pinney, July 15, 1905; John M. Haines, April 6, 1907; Joseph T. Pence, April 10, 1909; Harry K. Fritch- man, April 8, 1911; Arthur Hodges, May 25, 1912; Jeremiah Robinson, April 15, 1915; S. H. Hays, June 5, 1916.
Boise was made the capital of the territory by the act of December 7, 1864, and an account of the litigation which followed is given in the chapters on Ter- ritorial History. Section 2, Article X, of the constitution adopted in 1889, pro- vides that "The seat of government of the State of Idaho shall be located at Boise City for twenty years from the admission of the state, after which time the Legislature may provide for its relocation by submitting the question to a vote of the electors of the state at some general election." No change was ever made and the city is still the capital of the state.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The people of Boise early became interested in the subject of fire protection. In the Idaho Statesman of March 14, 1867, appeared the following:
"Special Notice :- Fire Company-There will be a meeting of the citizens of Boise City held at the courthouse on Friday evening at 7 o'clock for the pur- pose of organizing a hook and ladder company. A full attendance is desired."
The meeting was well attended and a volunteer company was formed, but its records appear to have been lost. As the city grew, the volunteers gradually gave way to a paid department, until in 1918 there were four fire stations- Central, Engine Company No. 2, and Chemical Companies No. 3 and No. 4, equipped with modern fire-fighting apparatus. Boise has always been justly proud of its firemen, and the fact that there has never been a fire but what has been confined to very narrow limits attests its efficiency.
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STREET CAR LINES
Boise is well supplied for a city of its size with street car lines, practically all the suburbs of the city being connected with the business district and the lines being run by electric power.
An interurban system joining Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Meridian, Star, Mid- dleton, Eagle and Ustick, the principal towns of the Upper Boise Valley, in a "loop," has proved a great benefit to the entire valley and permits hourly com- munication with the main line of the Oregon Short Line Railroad. The build- ing of this road lessened to a great extent the disagreeable features of the largest city of Idaho being on a branch railroad line and has greatly contributed to the advancement of the city.
THE NATURAL HOT WATER SYSTEM
Boise has the unique distinction of being the only city in the United States heated by natural hot water. The source of this supply is artesian wells situated northeasterly and less than a quarter of a mile from the city limits. The ground where the wells are dug is higher than the city and the water is carried in wooden pipes by gravity through the eastern section of the town and houses are heated from it. No growth accumulates in the water pipes as is usual with natural hot water so carried. The warmth of the water is well retained and the heat given out is sufficient to heat the houses using it in the unusually mild climate of Boise. The water is very soft and is eminently fitted for bathing and laun- dry purposes and over 300 residences are heated by this water.
ADVANTAGES OF BOISE
One of the main assets of Boise is its climate. As before stated, the thermometer seldom shows in the short cold spells of winter lower than ten degrees above zero. The snow fall is very light and only sufficient for sleighing about once in every three years. Absence of wind also is a boon to the residents, the peculiar situa- tion of Boise at the head of the valley saving the town from winds often prevail- ing in the adjoining sections. The fertility of the soil upon which the city is built adds much to the beauty of the city, in not only permitting shade trees of all varieties to freely grow, but enables a wealth of flowers to be raised, remind- ing one in that respect of the towns of Oregon and California.
The equable climate of Boise has made it the residence place of many of Idaho's citizens who have retired from actual business and the headquarters of stock men whose main interests lie in adjoining counties. These matters, added to the fact that it is official and political headquarters, and is the home town of an extended agricultural section, insures its future.
COMING OF THE RAILROADS
The greatest boon to Boise, but one which many at the time thought would prove her death knell, was the construction of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, as a link in the Union Pacific's transcontinental system. The road missed Boise by twenty miles, and this would probably have been the town's undoing had it not been for the construction in a very short time of the branch line connecting at Nampa.
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PARK SCHOOL, BOISE
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It was at first thought that Caldwell would prove a rival for the commer- cial supremacy of Southern Idaho. Caldwell has grown and prospered, as have Nampa, Parma, Meridian, Emmett, and other thriving towns of the Boise Val- ley, but all have played an important part in the development of Boise, instead of proving rivals which would effect her undoing.
Boise has, since the building of the railroad, increased both her population and resources at a steady rate surpassing any other town between Salt Lake City and Portland, Ore., with the exception of Walla Walla, and with that thriv- ing town, Boise has always kept abreast, and there is no rivalry between those towns, as each has its own purpose to serve.
EDUCATIONAL
The first school in Boise was taught by F. B. Smith in the winter of 1863-4, in a little log house, corner of Seventh and Idaho streets. This was a sub- scription school, each patron paying so much as tuition fee for each child sent to the school, which stood opposite the site of the old Central Hotel. There is a tradition that the first free school was taught in a small brick building on the corner of Eighth and Washington streets. It is certain that one of the first schoolhouses in the city was located on Washington Street between Eighth and Ninth, where the Carnegie Public Library now stands. It was afterward sold to a carriagemaker and used as a paint shop. As it was a one-story brick struc- ture it may have been the schoolhouse referred to in the tradition as the home of the first free school.
In February, 1881, the Boise Independent School District was created by act of the Legislature. At that time the city was without a well-defined public school system. Under the new law a school board was elected and during the summer and fall the Central school building was erected. There were then only about two hundred children of school age in the city, and the board was severely criti- cized for "squandering" money to erect a building of sixteen rooms when a much smaller one would have been sufficient. The cost of the grounds, school- house and furnishings was nearly fifty thousand dollars. With the completion of the new building the board engaged John W. Daniels, a graduate of Bates College of Lewiston, Maine, and a teacher of several years' experience, as superintendent of the city schools. Mr. Daniels immediately began the work of organizing the public schools. A few years demonstrated the wisdom of the school board in erecting a sixteen-room building. In 1894 more room was needed and the Whittier School, at the corner of Twelfth and Fort streets, was erected. Two years later the Lincoln School, at the corner of Fourth and Idaho streets, was built.
The Boise Independent District now has eleven school buildings, the esti- mated value of which is nearly one million dollars, and the people of the city are justly proud of their new high school building, which has been pronounced by educators as one of the best appointed in the entire West. Over four thou- sand pupils are enrolled and during the school year of 1917-18 there were em- ployed 135 teachers.
In addition to the public schools, the Episcopal Church maintains St. Mar- garet's Hall, a school for girls; St. Teresa's Academy and St. Joseph's School
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are catholic institutions for girls and boys respectively, and Boise has a com- mercial college that compares favorably with similar institutions in much larger cities.
COMMERCIAL CLUB
. The Boise Commercial Club was first organized as the Chamber of Com- merce in the spring of 1901. It was reorganized some five years later and on February 12, 1906, it was incorporated as the "Boise Commercial Club" with the following as the first board of directors: C. B. Hurtt, J. E. Clinton, Jr., .Leo J. Falk, C. R. Shaw, L. G. Chapman, A. E. Carlson, L. A. Coate, W. T. Booth, William Davidson and C. J. Northrop. Since then the board of direc- tors has been increased to twenty-one members, seven of whom are elected from the membership at large and the other fourteen from members engaged in the various lines of business-one representing the jobbing interests, one the dry goods and department stores, one the hotels and restaurants, one the manufac- turing and mining interests, etc.
The officers of the club for 1918 were: Charles L. Joy, president ; Karl Paine, vice president ; B. E. Hyatt, secretary ; W. J. Abbs, treasurer; George B. Graff, secretary of the traffic department.
The club has been active in advertising the advantages of the city and in bringing conventions to Boise and entertaining the delegates while in the city. In the summer of 1918 a suitable tract of ground was obtained in the south- eastern part of the city and fitted up as a camping ground for automobile tour- ists. A kitchen twenty-four feet square was built, equipped with electric cook- ing plates, water service was installed, sinks and tables provided and sewer con- nections made. In this work the Commercial Club was aided by the city coun- cil, school board, the Rotary Club and a number of public-spirited business men. In the club bulletin published in the Boise newspapers of July 14, 1918, was the following :
"The idea is to extend to persons traveling through our country every cour- tesy possible. This is one of the best and most substantial ways to show tourists that we are not unmindful of their presence, but on the other hand that we appreciate their visit and are earnest in our efforts to provide for their comfort and welfare while they remain with us. Who knows how many may remain ; how many may return, or how many may come to us and become citizens, just because some one who has shared our hospitality, saw our country, liked it and said a good word about Boise Valley to someone looking for a better place to build a home ?"
This is only a single instance of the club's activity in its endeavors to pro- mote the material interests of Boise and its environs. The club occupies hand- some and commodious quarters on the top floor of the Boise City National Bank Building, fitted up with reading, billiard and assembly rooms, and practically every progressive business or professional nian of Boise is a member of the Commercial Club.
PUBLIC UTILITIES
The City of Boise is well supplied with water-both hot and cold-the greater part of the supply coming from artesian wells located in the foothills near the
COUNTY HOSPITAL, BOISE
ST. ALPHONSO'S HOSPITAL, BOISE
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eastern outskirts of the city, though some water is taken from the Boise River, filtered through a natural filter of sand and gravel into large wells or reservoirs, whence it is pumped into the mains. The waterworks system represents an out- lay of about half a million dollars. C. W. Moore, the first cashier of the First National Bank, was one of the organizers of the Artesian Hot and Cold Water Company and was for years its president. His residence was the first house in the United States to be heated by natural hot water, though there are now a large number of buildings in the city heated by this method.
The Hot and Cold Water Company built the famous natatorium in the east- ern part of the city, which is supplied with water having a temperature of 172° Fahrenheit when it emerges from the three artesian wells, which are 400 feet deep and supply 1,300,000 gallons of water every twenty-four hours. The nata- torium is a three-story building, of Moorish architecture, and with every comfort and convenience necessary in such establishments. It contains a swimming pool 70 by 120 feet, the depth varying from two to sixteen feet, 130 dressing rooms, including tub and steam baths, and on the third floor is a gymnasium. Connected with the natatorium is an amusement park called the "White City," which fur- nishes various forms of popular entertainments for visitors. The property is valued at $225,000.
The plant of the Boise Gas Company was installed at a cost of nearly half a million dollars and has a storage capacity of 150,000 cubic feet. Many fami- lies of Boise use gas exclusively for cooking, coal and wood-burning stoves and ranges being rarely seen.
Electric light and power are furnished by the Idaho Power Company, which operates a number of hydro-electric plants in the state. It also furnishes power for the Boise street railway and the electric line to Caldwell, and supplies light and power to a number of towns and cities.
MISCELLANEOUS
For twenty years after Boise was incorporated all goods were brought in by freight wagons and passengers traveled by stage. The first Overland stage arrived in Boise on August 11, 1864. In 1886 the city was connected by a branch railroad with the main line of the Oregon Short Line railway system at Nampa, an event which proved to be of great advantage, adding to the city's population and wealth.
In 1915 Boise reported an investment of $674,000 in manufacturing enter- prises which gave employment to 473 persons. These establishments included brickyards, stone quarries, creameries, foundries and machine shops, packing houses, ice factories, candy and cigar factories, etc. Other products manufac- tured in the city were canned goods, trunks, brooms, cement pipe, mattresses, tents and awnings, harness, shirt waists and soap. Five miles above the city and connected with it is the sawmill of the Boise-Payette Lumber Company which employs about four hundred men in the mill, besides an equal force neces- sary to operate the railroad of the company to the timber regions in Boise County and those employed in Boise County in various capacities. Two ten-hour shifts at work at this mill produce 700,000 feet of lumber.
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