USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 76
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Idaho furnished no volunteers to the Union army during the war, as it was not organized as a territory until in March, 1863. After the war many who had served in the Union army sought homes in the West. Some of those veterans had been affiliated with the Grand Army before coming to Idaho and in time the order was introduced through their efforts into the territory. At first, Idaho was included in a "department" that included Utah and Montana as well and was known as the Department of Utah. The first posts were organized under the jurisdiction of that department.
The Department of Idaho was organized on January II, 1888, with W. H. Nye as the first department commander. A number of the early posts have ceased
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to exist, chiefly due to the fact that the ranks of the membership became so deci- mated by death that an organization could no longer be maintained. In 1918 there were eighteen posts in the state, viz. : R. B. Hayes, No. 2. Lewiston ; McPherson, No. 3. Salmon ; Phil-Sheridan, No. 4. Boise ; Major Anderson, No. 5. Moscow ; E. D. Baker, No. 6, Hailey ; George H. Thomas, No. 9, Blackfoot ; General Canby, No. 11, Murray : George A. Custer, No. 14, Pocatello ; A. T. McReynolds, No. 19, Coeur d'Alene; Hugh Wilson, No. 21. Caldwell; General Fremont, No. 23. Emmett ; Edward McConville, No. 26, Weiser: G. A. Hobart, No. 27, Nampa ; General Lawton, No. 29. Rathdrum; W. T. Sherman, No. 31, Payette; U. S. Grant, No. 32, Sandpoint ; Dan McCook, No. 33, Twin Falls : Joe Hooker, No. 34. Idaho Falls.
There are two ladies' auxiliaries connected with the Grand Army-the Women's Relief Corps and Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. Both of these are well represented in Idaho, the membership being composed of the wives and daughters of the veterans of the Civil war.
TIIE ELKS
About the close of the Civil war in 1865, a number of "good fellows" in New York City, most of whom were members of the theatrical profession, with a sprinkling of newspaper men, fell into the habit of meeting together and passing an evening in friendly intercourse, singing songs, "swapping yarns," etc. After a few months a club was organized under the name of the "Jolly Corks." The adoption of this name is said to have been due to Charles Vivian, a young Eng- lishman, who was one of the most active participants in the club exercises.
In the winter of 1867-68, after the club had been running for more than two years, some one suggested that it be used as the nucleus of a fraternal society. Then the objection was raised that the name "Jolly Corks," while proper for a local club, was not sufficiently dignified for a secret order. A committee was therefore appointed to select a more appropriate name for the proposed order and also to prepare an initiation ceremony. That committee happened to visit Barnum's Museum, then a popular attraction in New York City, where they saw an elk and learned something of the animal's habits. The name "Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks" was then proposed and adopted.
New York Lodge, No. I. was organized on February 16, 1868, and for about three years it was the only lodge of Elks in existence. On March 10, 1871, it was incorporated as a grand lodge, with power to establish subordinate lodges in cities having a population of 5,000 or more. The second lodge was instituted at Philadelphia soon after the grand lodge was incorporated. As almost all the leading actors of that period were Elks, they carried tidings of the new society "to all parts of the country and on April 18, 1876, San Francisco Lodge, No. 3. was organized. Within five years from that time lodges had been instituted in all the principal cities of the United States. The order has spread to Alaska, the Philippine and Hawaiian islands, and now numbers over 500,000 members.
During the early history of the Elks the convivial feature was prominent, but in more recent years it has been subordinated to the cultivation of a fraternal spirit and charitable work. The initials "B. P. O. E." are sometimes said to stand for "Best People On Earth." The motto of the Elks is: "The faults of our
ELKS' CLUB, POCATELLO
ELKS' TEMPLE, BOISE
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brothers we write upon the sands; their virtues upon the tablets of love and memory."
In Idaho there are only a few cities with the requisite 5,000 population, but in each of them-is a lodge of Elks. These lodges are all prosperous, have a strong membership and most of them own handsome club houses, equipped with reading, billiard and dining rooms and all the accessories of the modern social club. The club houses at Boise, Pocatello and Coeur d'Alene will compare favorably with those in some of the large cities of the country.
OTHER ORDERS
The Improved Order of Red Men, whose ritual is based upon the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor at the beginning of the American Revolution, is represented in a number of the leading towns and cities of Idaho. The local societies of this order are called "tribes" and the chief officer is the "sachem."
There are a number of societies in which fraternal insurance is the leading feature. Among these are the Ancient Order of United Workmen, which was introduced into Idaho from Nevada, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights and Ladies of Security, the Royal Neighbors, the Court of Ben Hur, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Royal Arcanum and a few others, all of which are represented at some point or another in Idaho.
The United Commercial Travelers have organizations in the commercial cen- ters of the state, and the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic society, have councils in those towns and cities where that church is well established.
WOMEN'S CLUBS
One of the active civic agencies in recent years has been the women's clubs. The first effective work in the way of organizing clubs of this character in Idaho came from the efforts of J. M. Wells, commissioner to the Columbian Exposition of 1893, to get the women of Idaho to furnish the Idaho Building on the world's fair grounds in Chicago. The furniture used for that purpose was returned to Boise and placed in a room in the city hall. The women who had procured it for exposition purposes then organized the "Columbian Club," and decided to fit up the room as a library and reading room. A few books and magazines were obtained and on June 1, 1894, Mrs. Ella C. Reed was made librarian. The Columbian Club soon grew to a membership of about 300, including in its ranks a number of prominent women whose residence was outside of the capital city. This club "mothered" the first traveling library in the West-the forerunner of the free traveling library now maintained by the state. Its work in this line attracted attention all over the country, and it was also active in agitating the movement for a national park in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.
At the beginning of the present century there was less than a score of well organized women's clubs in the state. In 1900 Mrs. S. H. Hays was elected general federation secretary for Idaho and in the same year called a meeting at Mountain Home for the purpose of organizing the women's clubs of the "second district" into a federation. Six clubs were represented at the meeting. On February 13, 1901, the first district federation was organized at Blackfoot, and
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on April 24, 1902, the third district was organized by a meeting held at Moscow. On January 31, 1905. the Idaho State Federation was formed.
The clubs forming the federation now number about seventy-five. They believe in "team work" and by keeping in touch with each other through their corresponding secretaries and executive committees all throw their influence to whatever object they may have in view. These clubs have been influential in working for juvenile courts, probation officers, the establishment of a state industrial school and a home for feeble minded, the care of delinquent children and the enactment of laws for the punishment of the parents of such children, laws to prevent or regulate the employment of child labor, etc.
Locally they have worked for the passage of ordinances by city councils to compel citizens to clean up their premises, to secure the destruction of unsightly weeds upon vacant lots, for the establishment of public parks and the maintenance of public libraries, and in many other ways have manifested their interest in the general welfare of the community.
COMMERCIAL CLUBS
There are fully one hundred cities and towns of Idaho in which commercial clubs have been organized. As these clubs are all organized along the same lines and for the same purpose, to attempt to give a history of each one is deemed unnecessary. They work in harmony with the state departments for the general upbuilding of Idaho, and particularly for their local interests. A great deal of "literature" has been published by these clubs in the last few years setting forth the advantages of their respective localities, and they have done much toward advertising the wealth of Idaho's resources abroad.
CHAPTER XL MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER-THIE OTTER MASSACRE -- EARLY DAY PRICES-PICTURE WRITING-THE MARION MORE TRAGEDY-THE BALDWIN AFFAIR-PAT BRICE'S STORY-MURDER OF AN EX-SHERIFF.
In every state, county or community events are constantly taking place which possess certain points of interest, although they may have no direct influence upon the history of that state, county or community as a whole. Other events, apparently independent, or even insignificant at the time of their occurrence, may have an aftermath that lingers for years in the recollections of the people and wields an influence in shaping the destiny of their affairs. Idaho is no exception to this rule. A volume might be filled with accounts of such miscellaneous events, the personal recollections of the brawny, red-blooded men, whose adventures and achievements played a conspicuous part in the "building of the West." but for this chapter only such incidents have been selected as directly affect the history of the state, or show the character of the early inhabitants and the conditions by which they were surrounded, with an occasional local occurrence that awakened general interest at the time it took place.
THE OTTER MASSACRE
About the 20th of August. 1860, two brothers. Jacob and Joseph Reith, arrived at the Umatilla Indian agency in Oregon, with the startling news that a party of emigrants had been attacked by Indians about twenty miles below the Salmon Falls, in what is now the state of Idaho. The party consisted of several families from southern Minnesota and Iowa, six discharged soldiers from Fort Hall, the two Reith brothers above mentioned and numbered in all forty-four persons, under the leadership of a Mr. Otter. George H. Abbott, who was then in charge of the Umatilla agency, afterward made a report of the affair, from which the fol- lowing account is taken. It illustrates the dangers to which the pioneers of the Northwest were subject in their efforts to develop the resources of what are now the wealthy and populous states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
At a point on the Oregon Trail some distance from water the Indians formed an ambush and waited for the train. At the beginning of the attack Mr. Otter ordered the wagons to be formed in a sort of corral for protection. For nearly
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forty-eight hours the emigrants held the savages at bay, when the necessity for water for themselves and animals compelled them to move on. The six soldiers, who were well mounted and armed, offered to act as a rear-guard, but as soon as the train started forward the Indians pressed their assault with such vigor that the soldiers were forced to give way and fled for their lives without offering any resistance. The Indians then rushed upon the defenseless emigrants and an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children ensued. Nine of the twelve members of the Otter family were killed early in the rush, and several of the party, in the effort to save their lives, abandoned the wagons, not stopping to secure either arms, ammunition or food.
The Reith brothers were among those who thus escaped and pushed forward on the trail, hoping to overtake the six soldiers, which they did on the second day after the massacre. At the Malheur River the trail divided, one route running northward down the Snake River and the other up the Malheur. They chose the latter and followed it for six days before discovering that it was an abandoned trail, offering no hope of relief. The Reiths then tried to persuade the soldiers to return to the other road, where there was some prospect of falling in with another party of emigrants, but were threatened with death if they attempted to turn back or to leave the party. That night, however, the two brothers and one of the soldiers took one of the horses and stole quietly out of the camp. Not being acquainted with the country, they deemed it best to retrace their steps to the Malheur River, where the road forked, which point they reached on the fifth day. There they met a boy about sixteen years old who informed them that the other refugees who had escaped were at the Owyhee River, only a few miles distant.
Being without food, they killed the horse and roasted some of the meat. The soldier decided to wait for the arrival of the refugees, but the two brothers, taking a supply of the horse meat, went on. They had with them a double- barreled shot gun, with which they were able to kill a bird or a rabbit occasionally while their ammunition lasted, and on one of the streams they were fortunate enough to catch a few salmon. They finally reached the agency utterly exhausted, having been twenty-two days on the road. Mr. Abbott, the agent, was absent at the time of their arrival, but Byron N. Dawes, who was in charge, immediately started two men with a pack mule loaded with provisions to meet the refugees. The next morning he sent out a man with a light wagon carrying additional supplies. The two men with the mule went as far as the Burnt River without seeing anything of the party and decided to retrace their steps. When they met the wagon the driver also turned back.
About this time one of the five soldiers who had been left on the Malheur River came in and reported that they had been assaulted by Indians and that the other four had been killed. Mr. Dawes reported the affair to the military authorities at Walla Walla and Portland, and the next day Mr. Abbott returned to the agency. In his report of the incident he says :
"The commanding officer at Walla Walla had reported to the commanding officer of the District of Oregon at Vancouver, and when the military red tape was finally gotten through with, Captain Dent, who was a brother of Mrs. U. S. Grant, the general's wife, was dispatched from Walla Walla with a command of almost eighty cavalrymen. He crossed the Blue Mountains, passed through Grand
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Ronde Valley, the Powder River and Burnt River valleys under the guidance of an old Scotch mountaineer named Craig, who lived among the Nez Perce Indians at Lapwai. Joe Reith was also with the command. When they were crossing over the high point between the Burnt and Snake rivers, they came upon the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Van Norman and boys and found they had been killed by the Indians, who had taken the girls as prisoners and carried them away. Of course the bodies were buried where they were found, but the Van Norman girls were not rescued until several years later, at the conclusion of the war with the Indians in southern Idaho, when the United States troops were under the command of General Connor."
The Van Norman family were members of the Otter party and had left the main body of the survivors. Captain Dent, after burying the bodies, pushed on to the Owyhee River, where he found the remainder of the refugees, who had lived for six weeks upon wild berries and a few fish given to them by friendly Indians, finally consuming the body of one of the men who died of his wounds received in the first attack. The bodies of an infant and one of the Otter boys, about ten years old, were also eaten by the sufferers. Says Abbott:
"I saw these people at the camp of Captain Dent at the western base of the Blue Mountains on the Umatilla reservation on his return with them, and although he had traveled very slowly and carefully, after resting with them about a week at their camp on the Owyhee, a more pitiful sight would be exceedingly difficult to imagine. With the exception of Mrs. Myers and the young boys who had remained on the Burnt River there was no one in the party who appeared to have the intelligence or mental strength of a child of three years of age. Captain Dent conveyed them to Walla Walla where they were well supplied and cared for until they recovered their normal strength. They were then permitted and assisted to proceed on their way to the Willamette Valley."
Of the forty-four persons in the party at the time of the attack, thirty were either killed or carried into captivity. To people of the present day, in the full enjoyment of the comforts of modern civilization, it may seem incredible that white persons were ever compelled to resort to the loathsome custom of can- nibalism within the limits of Idaho; but to the credit of those unfortunate emigrants it may be said that they did not kill the people that hunger compelled them to eat. The man died of wounds, the Otter boy wandered away from the camp and was killed by the Indians, and the infant died of starvation.
EARLY DAY PRICES
Within recent years, especially since the beginning of the great war in Europe in 1914, much has been said and written in the United States about the high cost of living and the constant advance in prices of all staple articles. The early settlers of Idaho were confronted by higher prices than those of the present day, but with this difference : The prices that prevailed in the early days were inflated because the commodities were bought in eastern cities and paid for in greenbacks, which were worth only about half as much as gold, and also the cost of freighting long distances by wagon must be added to the price of the goods when they reached the mining camps, while much of the present day high prices is due to the cupidity of dealers through what has become almost universally known as "profiteering."
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In 1863 the firm of Higbee & Company, general merchants, whose place of business was on the corner of Main and Wall streets in Idaho City (or Bannock City, as it was then called), gave corrected weekly market reports to the Boise News for publication. In the issue of the News for December 26, 1863, appeared the following "Prices Current" (the prices given are those per pound except where otherwise stated) :
Apples (dried), 50 to 55c ; apples (green), 50c; bacon, 60 to 7oc; beans, 40 to 45c; beef (on foot), 121/2c; butter, $1.25; candles, $1.00; chickens, $36.00 per dozen ; coffee, 70 to 75c ; eggs, $2.00 per dozen; flour, $33.00 to $36.00 per 100 pounds ; ham, 75c; kerosene oil, $8.00 to $9.00 per gallon; lard, 70 to 8oc; onions, 25 to 30c ; peaches (dried), 65 to 75c ; rice, 50c ; salt, 35 to 40c ; shoulders, 6oc ; soap, 40 to 50c ; sugar, 50 to 70c ; syrup, $5.00 to $6.00 per gallon ; tea, $1.50 to $2.00; tobacco (natural leaf), $1.60 to $2.25; tobacco (sweet), $1.30 to $1.50; nails (cut), 40 to 50c ; women's calf shoes, $6.00 per pair ; men's kip boots, $9.00 ; men's calf boots, $12.00 ; gum boots (short legs), $11.00 ; gum boots (long legs), $12.00 ; Salem blankets, $13.00 to $15.00 ; California best blankets, $16.00 ; Oregon socks, $9.00 per dozen; red drawers, $2.50 to $3.00 per pair; red undershirts, $2.50 to $3.00 each; buck gloves, $18.00 to $30.00 per dozen; whisky, $6.00 to $7.50 per gallon ; brandy, $10.00 per gallon.
The prices quoted were paid in gold dust at the rate of $16.00 per ounce, although the actual value of gold dust from the Basin placers varied from $14.00 to $19.00 .per ounce.
PICTURE WRITING
A great deal has been written by different authors concerning the custom of the Indians to record events or convey information by means of picture writing. At least one instance of this occurred in Idaho in early days. The story of the writing, as well as the events which led up to it, is thus told by Jud Boyakin, one of Idaho's pioncer newspaper men :
"A few evenings ago some old Idahoans met, and with cigars lighted, fell into a reminiscent mood, indulging in stories of early days long past, when these grizzled pioneers were young men with smooth faces, and Idaho was a part of Washington Territory with more Indians on its trails than white men. The con- versation turned on the great Atlanta lode, which at this time is attracting so much attention. The Democrat learned it was discovered in 1863 by a party of pros- pectors who left Warren diggings on the 5th of July of that year for the purpose of prospecting on the upper tributaries of the South Fork of the Salmon River, a region which at that time had never been trodden by the foot of a white man. The party numbered twenty-three men, Frank R. Coffin being one of them and the only one at this time known to be a resident of Idaho. All of theni had mined at Florence the previous year, a fabulously rich placer camp, situated in a basin twelve miles from the main Salmon. They were now going to look for a similar basin, which they felt certain would be found in the wild and rugged mountains they were going to explore. Nothing of value was discovered, until reaching Stanley Basin, named for Capt. John Stanley, the eldest man of the party. There they found gold on two different gulches, but to work the mines involved the bringing of water a long distance. The remoteness of the country from supplies and the feeling of uneasiness on account of fresh Indian signs
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on their trail made it inadvisable, if not impossible, for them to avail themselves of what in after years proved to be a rich placer camp.
"At Stanley the party divided and separated, thirteen, under the leadership of Joe Haines, returning to the Warren diggings. Attempting to go back by fol- lowing the river, they got into deep canyons where they had to abandon their horses, after killing some of them for food. Enduring great hardships and losing one of their number by death, twelve out of the unhicky thirteen reached Warren.
"The party of ten, consisting of Captain Stanley, Barney Parke, Ed Deeming. Frank Coffin, Jack Frowel, Ben Douglas. Dan ยท Lake, Matt Gardner, Lee Mont- gomery and one whose name has been lost, left Stanley the same day the returning party did. As their provisions were nearly gone, they hoped soon to find a pass through the mountains that would lead them to Boise County, or Bannock, as Idaho City was called at that time. They had gone about fifteen miles over the old Indian trail east of Stanley, when suddenly and unexpectedly they came upon a band of about sixty Indians camped on a large creek. In the twinkling of an eye the Indians disappeared in the tamarack timber beyond them. Here was a poser that called for a council of war. Dropping back on the trail behind the point that had brought them in view of the Indians, the veteran Stanley was appealed to for advice, but alas! he who had been through the fire of a score of desperate Indian battles, and bore on his weather-beaten frame the scars as unmistakable evidence of his courage, was no longer a leader. The old man's nerve was gone. He begged and implored the party to turn back on the trail and overtake the Haines company.
"In a short time after the Indians vanished in the timber, seven of them rode out in sight with superb grace and dignity and one of them dismounted, divested himself of his blanket and accouterments, laid his rifle on the ground at his feet, and, raising his open hand, made signs that he would like for one of the white men to meet him unarmed on the open ground between the two parties. Frank Coffin being an accomplished Chinook linguist, was selected to meet the gallant brave. Observing the same formality that his red brother had, he proceeded to the ground designated by the Indian for the talk. When they met, the Indian extended his hand, and with many assurances in poorly spoken Chinook but very expressive sign-language, convinced Coffin that his people did not want to fight. The representative of the white men, in elegant Chinook and with much impressive gesture, assured the red men that neither were his men on the war path, but were gold hunters on the way to Boise County.
"Proceeding a few miles along the trail from where they met the Indians, they left it and bore directly for what appeared to be a low pass over the range, but after floundering around for two days in the timber and brush, they were confronted with towering cliffs and lofty perpendicular mountain walls that bar- ricaded their path. They had reached an elevation that enabled them to see that they would have to return to the trail they had left and travel farther east before they could get over the range. Retracing their steps they struck the trail not far from where they had left it three days before.
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