History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 17

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1024

USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 17

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Mr. Adelmann then returned to his home in New York city, where for three years he continued in business as a confectioner and pastry cook, while later he spent four years in the grocery business. But the opportunities of the growing northwest at- tracted him and he left New York city in company with his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Jauman. On the 18th of July, 1872, he arrived in Bolse, where he has since made his home, and through the intervening period he has been closely con- nected with the development of the city and state not only along business lines but in connection with its civic interests and, moreover, he is a veteran of the Bannock Indian war of 1878, in which he served with the rank of second lieutenant. Arriving in Boise, Mr. Adelmann became connected with mercantile interests and for nearly twenty years remained one of the prominent representatives of commercial activity in this city. He has also followed quartz mining to some extent and the careful manage- ment of his business affairs has brought to him a substantial competence. As the years

RICHARD C. ADELMANN

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passed he made investment in city property and also in mining property, becoming the owner of considerable stock in the Sorrel Horse, said to be one of the richest gold mining properties in the state.

At Boise, in 1875, Mr. Adelmann was united in marriage to Miss Emma B. Ostner and they became the parents of two children: Alfred G., horn July 6, 1876; and Carl, born June 27, 1878. Following the death of his first wife Mr. Adelmann was married on the 12th of January, 1882, to her sister, Julia A. Ostner, daughter of Charles L. Ostner, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work in connection with the sketch of his son, Albert W. Ostner. Both sons attended the public and high schools of Boise and Alfred G. Adelmann, after serving an apprenticeship of six years to the plumbing, heating and sheet metal trade, organized the Acme Plumbing & Heating Company in 1900. He became the president of the company, with his brother as secretary and treas- urer, and they developed the largest business of the kind in the state, their patronage extending throughout Idaho and into various other states. The brothers also hold mining interests in Ada county and both are progressive business men. Carl Adel- mann was married in Boise, January 10, 1912, to Bertha Stoner, of Shoshone, Idaho. Both of the sons are members of the Boise Commercial Club and of the Elks Lodge, No. 310, while Alfred G. belongs to the Pacific Indians. In politics they have followed in the footsteps of their father and are earnest republicans. To Richard C. and Julia A. (Ostner) Adelmann have been born four children, namely: William A., whose birth occurred October 30, 1882; John P., born May 28, 1885; Warren R., whose natal day was April 16, 1895; and Julia L., who was born on the 1st of July, 1898.

For many years Mr. Adelmann has been a recognized leader in the ranks of the republican party, his opinions carrying weight in local councils. He served as an alderman at an early day yet he has not been a politician in the sense of office seeking. Years ago, too, he was a member of the old volunteer fire department and acted as its chief for two years. He now belongs to the Volunteer Firemen's Association of Boise, an organization formed of those who many years ago voluntarily aided in fighting fires before there was a paid fire department in the city. He likewise became a member of the Boise Turn Verein, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Honor and the Pioneer Association of Idaho and he proudly wears the little bronze button that proclaims him a member of Phil Sheridan Post, No. 4, G. A. R. Mr. Adel- mann has indeed been an active factor in the development and upbuilding of Boise through the forty-seven years of his residence here. He has enjoyed the respect and confidence of his fellowmen, who attest his worth as a business man and as a citizen, his sterling characteristics ever commanding for him the high regard and warm esteem of those who know him.

RALPH A. LOUIS.

Ralph A. Louis is a representative citizen of Idaho Falls, where he recently re- tired from the office of mayor, leaving the city free from indebtedness. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, April 17, 1862, and is a son of George and Anna (Creese) Louis. The father was a native of Prussia and came to America in 1858, settling first in Ohio, while subsequently he removed to Wisconsin and in 1859 became a resident of Chicago, Illinois, where he engaged in business as a furrier, remaining in that city until called to his final rest. He died in October, 1891, and is still survived by his widow, who was born in Worcestershire, England, and has now reached the age of seventy-nine years.

Ralph A. Louis was reared and educated in Chicago and when fourteen years of age began learning the butchering trade, which he followed in his native city until the 3d of July, 1880. At that date he left home and made his way to Montana, where he again engaged in butchering at Butte. There he built the first cold storage plant west of the Missouri river. He there remained in the butchering business until Sep- tember 1, 1903, when he came to Idaho Falls in company with William Luxton, who had been his partner in Montana. Here they purchased a market and their associa- tion was maintained until the 1st of January, 1909, when Ralph A. Louis purchased his partner's interest in the business, which he carried on until May 1, 1910.

In community affairs Mr. Louis has been active and prominent. He is a stalwart supporter of the republican party and in April, 1917, was elected councilman. On the 7th of January, 1918, he was elected mayor by the city council to fill a vacancy and held the office until May, 1919. He brought splendid business qualities to the ad-

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ministration of the public duties that devolved upon him and when he retired from office he left the city out of debt.

On the 20th of August, 1884, Mr. Louis was married to Miss Sarah Orenstein. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and has been secretary for the past two years. He has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise a charter member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Idaho Falls. His religion is that of the Jewish church. Alert and enter- prising, he is a typical citizen of the northwest-one ever ready to promote public progress and improvement as well as to advance his legitimate business interests.

JEREMIAH D. JONES.

Jeremiah D. Jones, president of the Idaho Hardware & Plumbing Company of Boise, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, March 22, 1857, a son of William and Elizabeth (Rogers) Jones, who were also natives of Georgia. The father served in the Con- federate army during the Civil war and Harrison Jones, an elder brother of Jeremiah, was killed in the battle at Marietta, Georgia.

Jeremiah D. Jones was reared in his native city to the age of seventeen years and remained there all through the trying times of the Civil war. He then started out independently, making his way to Texas, where he spent five years and then re- moved to Colorado, where he also continued for a period of five years, working as a journeyman plumber, having learned the trade in Atlanta before leaving that city. On removing from Colorado he took up his abode in Montana, where he remained for twelve years but afterwards returned to Colorado and spent three years at Pueblo. In 1891 he came to Boise, Idaho, where in connection with J. R. Lusk he established a plumbing and sheet metal business under the firm style of Lusk & Jones. This later was reorganized under the name of the Idaho Plumbing & Heating Company and still later became the Idaho Hardware & Plumbing Company, which was incorporated in 1900 with Mr. Jones as the president. The company conducts a wholesale and retail business, having the largest of the kind in Idaho. Thorough and expert workmanship, absolute reliability and undaunted enterprise have been the dominant factors in the success which has attended the company from the beginning.

In 1893 Mr. Jones was married to Miss Clara Ostner and they have become the parents of four living children: Ralph Ostner, Clara Elizabeth, Estella Anner and Lonise Barbara.

Mr. Jones is a democrat in his political views and for two years has served as councilman of Boise but otherwise has never sought or desired office, preferring always to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs, which have claimed the major part of his time and which, wisely directed, have brought to him substantial success. He is, however, interested in the welfare of Boise, as is indicated by his connection with the Commercial Club. He likewise belongs to the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks and his religious faith is indicated in the fact of his member- ship in the First Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a trustee.

OMER W. ALLEN.

Omer W. Allen, a general contractor of Boise, where he has made his home since 1905, came to this city from Hot Springs, Arkansas, after less than a year's residence there. His earlier life had been passed in Indiana and Kansas. He was born in Ladoga, Indiana, April 5, 1876, the only son of William H. and Mary (Gardner) Allen, the former still living in the state of Indiana at the age of seventy-seven years. The mother, however, died when her son Omer was but three years of age, after which the father married Mattie Kelsey, who proved a devoted mother to her stepson. She, too, has now passed away. Mr. Allen has one full sister, Eva, now Mrs. Otis Scattergood, of Chicago, and a half-sister, Kelsey, who became the wife of the Rev. Russell Phillips, a Methodist minister of Indiana.

When Omer W. Allen was six years of age he removed with his father and step- mother to Hoopeston, Illinois, and a year later the family home was established in Abilene, Kansas. After a year, however, they returned to Indiana and for twelve

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months resided in Crawfordsville. In 1885 they again became residents of Kansas, settling at Kingman, where Omer W. Allen remained until 1900. 'The father followed the occupation of carpentering and the son learned the trade under his direction, be- ginning work along that line when a mere lad. He commenced to use the saw and hammer in carpentering during the summer vacations when in his teens. In 1896 he was graduated from the high school at Kingman, Kansas, and at the age of twenty years he began working regularly at the-carpenter's trade for wages. In 1900 he left Kingman and went to Kansas City, Missouri, where he had a fine position with a large contracting and home-building firm for several months, but hard work, heavy lifting and exposure brought on a desperate case of inflammatory rheumatism and for several years he was unable to do much work. Finally, in 1904, he went to Hot Springs, Arkansas, as a last resort, seeking a cure. Ten months there brought him a com- parative measure of health though at times he is still troubled by the disease in spite of the fine Idaho climate.

It was climatic conditions that induced him to locate in this state. He reached Boise on the 11th of August, 1905, with eight dollars and thirty-five cents in his pocket. Here he was employed as a journeyman carpenter for four years, mostly by the firm of Vernon & Saunders, then prominent contractors of the city. In 1909 he took up contracting and building on his own account and heavy demands have been made upon his time and attention throughout the intervening period of eleven years. He has per- haps built more residences in Boise in this period than any other contractor of the city and it is said by those who know that "Omer W. Allen has built more houses in Boise than all other carpenters and contractors combined." His banner year was 1912 and during the building period of that year he built thirty-two residences, ranging in price from two to eight thousand dollars. He has seven men in his employ, who have been with him for nine years. In addition to the hundreds of homes which he has erected in this city and section of the country he built the new Ada County Hos- pital and now has a contract for the building of the Sisters of Mercy Hospital at Nampa at a cost of seventy thousand dollars. He has recently completed the United Presby- terian church at Nampa and has built other important structures there as well as in Boise.

On the 4th of May, 1898, Mr. Allen was united in marriage in Kingman, Kansas, to Miss Dora Carper, a daughter of Isaac P. Carper who died at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Allen in Boise in 1908. He was at one time mayor of Kingman, Kansas.

Mr. Allen has a fine bungalow, built of wood and Klinker brick in 1912. He has built a large number of beautiful bungalows for himself in Boise and their attractive- ness has caused others to seek them and he has sold. At the corner of Twenty-sixth street and Railroad he owns a large planing mill and lumberyard which furnish him building materials. Mr. Allen is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and also of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He likewise has membership in the Boise Country Club and is fond of golf, enjoying a game whenever leisure permits. He also finds recreation in fishing and hunting. In politics he is a democrat but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking, nor is he strictly partisan, for at local elections he often casts an independent ballot. His success in life is the direct result of his earnest labor, and he has thoroughly qualified for his work, thereby obtaining the liberal patronage that is now his.

JESSE H. WILSON.

Jesse H. Wilson is a member of the firm of Cotton & Wilson, civil engineers of Idaho Falls, where he is also filling the position of city engineer. He was born near Zanesville, Ohio, November 10, 1883, and is a son of William H. and Mary H. (Coulter) Wilson, also natives of the Buckeye state. The father is a farmer and also followed the profession of school teaching for thirty-five years. He afterward purchased and improved a farm in Muskingum county, Ohio, near Zanesville, and has continued its cultivation to the present time, making a specialty of the raising of pure bred Durham cattle. His wife died in 1887.

Jesse H. Wilson attended the district schools of Ohio and after completing his preliminary work became a student in the Ohio Northern University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1909, completing a course in civil engineering. He

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then went to Fort Worth, Texas, where he spent four years in the city engineering department, and in September, 1912, he came to Idaho Falls, where he entered upon the practice of his profession, remaining alone in business until 1914, when he formed a partnership with W. O. Cotton, with whom he has since been associated. He has served as city engineer since 1915 and for a year prior to that time had charge of sewer con- struction for the city. He is doing a general engineering business in all the towns in this section of the state, covering several counties. His professional training was thorough and he has developed high efficiency in the conduct of the business.

On the 10th of September, 1916, Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Alvina M. Heller, and they have become the parents of a daughter, Florence, who was born June 15, 1917. Politically Mr. Wilson is a republican but has never been an office seeker, pre- ferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his professional interests. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, and fraternally he is connected with the Masons. He also belongs to the American Association of Engineers, as well as to the Idaho Society of Engineers and to the American Waterworks Association. Every problem that has to do with his profession is of keen interest to him, and he is never satisfied until he has found a correct solution for every vexing question. He has become one of the foremost civil engineers of this part of the state, doing most im- portant work along his chosen line.

TRUMAN C. CATLIN.

Truman C. Catlin, well known as a farmer and stock raiser of Ada county, his home being on Eagle Island, was born at Farmingdale, Illinois, December 21, 1839. The experiences of his life have closely connected him with the pioneer development as well as the later progress of the west. After mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools of his native town he pursued a course in Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois. His father, Truman Merrill Catlin, a native of Litchfield, Connecti- cut, had become a resident of Illinois in 1838, settling eight miles west of Springfield, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land that is still in possession of the family, being now owned by Daniel Kendall, a brother-in-law of Mr. Catlin of this review. The father and his neighbors, who were also Connecticut people, had to haul their grain by wagon to Chicago, a distance of two hundred miles. Mr. Catlin also hauled specie from Alton, Illinois, to Springfield, Illinois, for Bunn's Bank, a dis- tance of one hundred miles, carrying in this way thousands of dollars, for railroads had not yet been built at that time. Truman C. Catlin well remembers when the Chi- cago & Alton Railroad was built, his father becoming one of the owners of stock in the road. Truman Merrill Catlin reached the advanced age of ninety-three years, passing away in 1893 at Leavenworth, Kansas, in the home of one of his daughters, Mrs. D. C. Hawthorne, who had become a pioneer settler of the west. Her first hus- band, O. F. Short, and her son, Truman Short, were killed by the Indians when with a surveying party, all of whom met death at the hands of the savages save her other son, Harold Short, who is now engaged in the abstract business in Leavenworth, Kansas, and is serving his third term as county commissioner there. Both Harold Short and his brother Frank, who now resides at Eagle and owns one of the most beautiful homes in Idaho, were with their uncle, Truman C. Catlin, for a number of years. The mother of Truman C. Catlin bore the maiden name of Rhoda Pond and was a native of Camden, New York. She died at the old home near Springfield, Illi- nois, in 1873, when seventy-two years of age. The father when eighty-five years of age visited his son Truman in Idaho, enjoying the trip immensely.

It was in 1862 that Truman C. Catlin made his way to the northwest. He trav- eled by river boat, the Shreveport, from St. Louis to Fort Benton, where he and his companions bought ponies and thence rode to Walla Walla, Washington. They met Captain John A. Mullen at Fort Benton with his command and proceeded with him to Walla Walla. The distance from St. Louis to Fort Benton was thirty-two hundred miles. The other boat running between these points on the Missouri river at that time was called the Emily and the two boats were commanded by brothers, John and Charles LaBarge, who piloted the boats on the six weeks' trip between the two points. They stopped when and where they liked and during Mr. Catlin's voyage on the Shreveport they shot deer, antelope and buffalo. The first buffalo killed was swim- ming the river in front of their boat and they fired over a hundred shots before he was

TRUMAN C. CATLIN

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killed and during the time came very nearly breaking the paddles of the boat. A small boat was then lowered, a rope attached to the huffalo and he was hauled on board. Some Indians were on the ship at the time and the captain told his passen- gers he would allow them to see the Indians eat buffalo, so he accordingly gave the red men permission to partake of the meat. One old buck advanced, cut off some pieces of meat and threw them to the squaws, who devoured them raw. Their only encounter with the Indians on the river was when the red men attempted to board the rowboats at Fort Pierre in the Dakotas in an effort to get to the Shreveport. The crew, however, were successful in beating them off. Mr. Catlin says there were no houses along the river between Fort Benton and Sioux City, Iowa. In the fall of 1863, twenty-one people of the same party that were on the boat with Mr. Catlin re- turned on the same boat and all were killed by the Indians save one woman, Fannie Kelly, who was afterward rescued from the Indians by the government.

Mr. Catlin spent. the winter at Walla Walla and in the spring of 1863 came to Idaho. He worked at mining in the Boise basin for six dollars a day or seven dollars a night. In June of that year he went to Silver City but remained only a short time and on returning to the Boise basin located on Eagle Island, which at that time was called Illinois Island, and later the name was changed by the government to Eagle Island. There he preempted one hundred and sixty acres before it had been surveyed by the government. In 1863 Mr. Catlin and his companions made the trip from Idaho City to Silver City, procuring a dugout at the place where Boise now stands and, loading it upon their wagon, hauled it across country through sagebrush to a point on the Snake river, afterward known as Silver City ferry, where they launched their boat and crossed the river, theirs being the first team that crossed by that route. Mr. Catlin and his party went to Eldorado, Oregon, just about the time the Indians killed Scott and his wife at Burnt River, Oregon. This trip concluded Mr. Catlin's mining ventures.

In the fall of 1863, associated with J. C. Wilson of Texas and G. W. Paul of Erie, Pennsylvania, Mr. Catlin took a contract to furnish one hundred thousand shingles to the government for the fort at Boise. After this contract was filled he moved to the ranch on Eagle Island, where he now resides and where he has since acquired land until his property there now consists of five hundred acres. He also owned one hun- dred and sixty acres one mile east of Middleton, which he recently sold for thirty-five thousand dollars. For forty-five years he has been engaged in the cattle business, which he began in a small way. He and his partner, Frank C. Robertson, together with Ely Montgomery and Jake Stover, in 1876 drove the first herd of cattle eastward from the west. They drove one thousand head to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they ranged them for two years and then sold the stock. In 1879 they took eighteen hun- dred head to Cheyenne, where they sold the beef cattle and drove the remainder to northern Nebraska to range on the Niobrara river. This was an exceedingly hard winter and they lost many cattle and also had serious trouble with the Indians, who killed not only their cattle but several of their men. In 1879, Mr. Catlin, J. H. McCarty and Frank C. Robertson purchased nearly all the cattle on Camas Prairie and drove them to Cheyenne, Wyoming. In 1880-1 they drove their cattle east and in 1882 cleaned up everything they had there and drove their cattle to a range in Montana. Mr. Mc- Carty, who was president of the First National Bank of Boise, was one of the partners in the firm, the others being Mr. Robertson, who had charge of the drives, and Mr. Catlin, who had charge of the business in this section. They ranged cattle in Mon- tana until 1886-7, when on account of heavy snows they lost nearly every head. In 1917 Mr. Catlin sold nearly all of his cattle interests, then amounting to about thirty- five hundred head, because of the fact that nearly all of his cowboys entered the army. He is not engaged in the live stock business at the present time save that he owns a few horses. His attention is now being given to diversified farming and dairying and he has about sixty head of fine Jersey and Holstein milk cows. He brought into the valley the first reaper and derrick fork and at all times he has been in the vanguard among those whose progressive measures have led to the substantial development and improvement of the district. In the spring of 1863 potatoes which he bought for seed cost him twenty cents a pound and barley eleven cents. The first house which he built was of logs, ten by twelve feet. and it accommodated three people. Today he has one of the most beautiful places in the state. His fine home is situated in a grove of trees surrounded by a clearing of pasture land, while not far distant tower the mountains. Everything about his place Is modern and convenient. There are two fine artesian wells and water is conveyed to all of the buildings. The Boise river

Vol. 11-10

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divides and makes of his land, which is but a portion of the area, an island. When Mr. Catlin first located on this island, the Boise river was teeming with salmon trout. The implements which were used in farming in those days were mostly crude and homemade. Mr. Catlin made a spear out of an old iron and their forks were made of willow branches. The only real tools that they had were an inch auger, an ax and a drawing knife. He purchased a wagon, two yoke of cattle, a span of mules and his seed on time payments, the contract being that he was to pay for them the following year. In the spring when he was breaking the sod, the two men from whom he had bought the outfit came out to where he was plowing and after following him around for a short time inquired if he expected to raise anything on that soil. He replied that he would raise a fine crop, which he did. His first crop of potatoes was the best that he has ever raised and he sold them for from eight to twelve cents per pound, while his two acres of corn averaged fifty-two bushels per acre and after being ground were sold at from eighteen to nineteen dollars a sack. He not only paid every cent of his indebtedness but had a balance left after disposing of his crop. While seated in a chair made in 1867, the legs of which were all made from the root of a tree and the seat of cottonwood, Mr. Catlin related a little experience which he had in pioneer times, saying: "We at one time made a dugout from the trunk of a tree and put in it nineteen pigs with their legs tied and attempted to cross the Boise river in high water. This was in 1869. A Frenchman, Billy Dee, took the stern of the boat while I took the bow, and when the boat was cast loose and swung with the stream, the pigs all rolled to one side and the boat turned over, spilling the pigs and the Frenchman. However, I clung to the boat, which turned bottom up and landed me high and dry on top of it. Most of the pigs were drowned. Dee swam for his life and finally made the boat and I pulled him on top. The boat then caught on a snag and it took the neighbors to rescue us!"

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 17

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1024

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1024