USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 66
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HENRY E. BOWLES.
Among the fine business establishments that render Oakley an attractive com- mercial center is the well appointed drug store of Henry E. Bowles, who is an alert and energetic young merchant, imbued with the spirit of western progress and enterprise. In his vocabulary there is no such word as fail and his determination and energy are the salient qualities upon which he is building his success. Idaho numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred at Victor on the 18th of October, 1894, his parents being Henry C. and Sarah R. (Clark) Bowles. The father was born at Burkes Garden, Tazewell county, Virginia, in 1849 and there pursued his education, after which he took up the profession of teaching. His father was a slaveholder and the owner of a large plantation and Henry C. Bowles assisted in the development of their farming interests. He was married in his native state and in 1881 removed to the Cache valley of Utah, where he cultivated land for ten years. In 1888 he took up his abode in the Teton basin, where he purchased a quit claim. Later he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres and to his original holdings added from time to time as his financial resources increased until he became the owner of an excellent ranch property of four hundred acres. To this he added all modern equipments and accessories and developed one of the fine ranch properties of this section of the state. He built thereon a beautiful and commodious frame residence and continued upon the place until 1912, when he sold the property and removed to the vicinity of St. Anthony, where his son was conducting a drug store. On the 27th of August, 1918, the store was destroyed by fire and the family then removed to Oakley, purchasing the drug store that had previously been the property of W. O. Plummer. The father, however, is retired from active connection with business, enjoying in well earned rest the fruits of his former toil. His political endorsement is given to the democratic party and his religious faith is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To him and his wife have been born seven children: William A., Margaret E., Viola, Rebecca, Ada, Florence and Henry E.
The last named spent his boyhood days largely in the Teton basin till he had reached the age of eighteen years. Having determined upon a life work, he then entered the North Pacific College School of Pharmacy at Portland, Oregon, and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1913. He entered upon active connection with the drug business at Teton, Idaho, and also clerked in Pocatello, spending the last winter in the employ of H. H. Whittlesly. With the removal of the family to Oakley he became actively interested in the conduct of the store of which he is now the head and which is regarded as the finest drug store in this part of the state. He carries an extensive line of drugs and druggists' sundries and the tasteful arrangement of the store, its fine fixtures and the splendid service rendered the public place it in a well merited position of leadership.
On the 22d day of June, 1916, Mr. Bowles was married to Miss Margaret
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Andregg, a native of Switzerland and a daughter of Peter Andregg, who in the land of the Alps was foreman of a leather factory, doing upholstering work and manufacturing automobile tops. Coming to America, he made his way to Rexburg, Idaho, when his daughter, Mrs. Bowles, was but twelve years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Bowles has been born one son, Clyde.
In his political views Mr. Bowles is a democrat and hy broad reading keeps in close touch with the vital questions and issues of the day. Fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is a wide-awake and alert young business man who though but twenty-six years of age is proving well qualified to conduct along successful lines one of Oakley's leading commercial enter- prises. His friends-and they are many-have no hesitancy in predicting for him a successful future.
WILLIAM P. SHINN.
William P. Shinn, postmaster at Filer, was born in Jo Daviess county, Illinois. about eight miles from Galena, in January, 1855, and is a son of Amos and Mary (Van Dyke) Shinn. The father was a native of New Jersey, while the mother was born at Monmouth, Illinois. The former left his native state when a small hoy in company with his parents, who made their way to Licking county, Ohio, where the grandfather of William P. Shinn devoted his life to the occupation of farming. At a later period Amos Shinn left the old home in Ohio and removed westward to Jo Daviess county, Illinois. There he turned his attention to merchandising, which he followed for a num- ber of years, becoming the first merchant at Warren, Illinois, following the building of the railroad. In the spring of 1869 he removed to Marshall county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in 1873, when he had reached the age of fifty-eight years. In 1874 the mother with her family removed to Adams county, lowa, where she continued to make her home until called to her final rest in 1892, at the age of sixty-two years. In the early days the father had engaged in freighting out of Omaha to Denver and several times crossed the plains, meeting with all of the varied experiences and hardships incident to travel in that manner and at that period. He was in fact acquainted with every phase of pioneer life and he contributed in substan- tial measure to the development of the middle west. His political allegiance was given to the whig party in early life, while subsequently he became a stanch champion of republican principles.
William P. Shinn spent his boyhood days at Warren, Illinois, where he remained to the age of fourteen years and then accompanied his parents to Marshall county, Iowa. In that locality he grew to manhood and was closely associated with farming interests through the assistance which he rendered his father in the development and improve- ment of the fields at the old home place. Later he clerked in a general store at Carbon, Iowa, and afterward he engaged in business on his own account for a decade. He was likewise postmaster there for a number of years and in 1886 he entered the railway mail service, making the run between Kansas City, Missouri, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, for a period of four years. In 1890 he established a drug store at Corning, Iowa, in connection with his brother, and while thus engaged he went to Alaska, eventually, how- ever, returning to Iowa, where he continued in the drug business until 1898. In that year he was elected to the office of county treasurer for a four years' term and accept- ably filled the position, discharging his duties with marked promptness and fidelity. Following his retirement from office he became cashier of the First National Bank of Prescott, Iowa, and during that period he still continued in the drug business, while his association with the bank covered two years.
The year 1905 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Shinn in Idaho, at which time he made _ his way to Shoshone, driving from that point to Twin Falls. He then entered land south of Filer, in Twin Falls county, his place of one hundred and twenty acres adjoin- Ing the town site. In September of that year he removed to his farm and began its development and improvement. Since then he has bought and sold several farms and he has also been an important factor in the upbuilding of the town of Filer. He became a member of the town site company and put forth earnest and effective effort to pro- mote the new town. In 1915 he was appointed postmaster and is still occupying that position, giving to the public excellent service in this connection.
In 1873 Mr. Shinn was united in marriage to Miss Eloise Morris, a native of On-
WILLIAM P. SHINN
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tario, Canada, and they have three children: Benoni H., Darwin A. and Juneau H. Mr. Shinn has always given his political allegiance to the democratic party and is a faithful follower of its teachings. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Wood- men of America, the Knights of Pythias and the Masons and his life exemplifies the beneficent teachings of these different organizations. His experiences have been broad and varied as he has gone from one point to another and since coming to Twin Falls county he has proven a valuable factor in the upbuilding and development of this district.
HENRY A. VERNON.
Henry A. Vernon, president of the Continental Investment Company of Boise and also superintendent of the quarries of the Boise Stone Company, has been identified with Idaho's interests since 1898, in which year he removed to this state from Kansas City, Missouri. He was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, June 21, 1869, and is the only living son of Enoch S. and Catherine (Gier) Vernon. The father was born near Zanesville, Ohio, and was a representative of an old Quaker family. He took up the occupation of farming as a life work, but at the time of the Civil war patriotism was his paramount characteristic and he joined the boys in blue, doing active duty at the front with the Union army. He married Catherine Gier. in 1867, and they became residents of the northwest soon after the Civil war. The father passed away in Boise in 1915, while the mother is still living.
Henry A. Vernon of this review was largely reared in Burlington, Iowa, where he acquired his education. In 1888, when nineteen years of age, he went to Denver, Colorado, where he learned the carpenter's trade, there remaining until 1896. He afterward spent two years in Kansas City, where he engaged in the contracting business, and in 1898 he came to Boise. Here he resumed business as a contractor and builder and followed that line for several years. In 1913, however, he became one of the organizers of the Boise Stone Company and is one of its heavy stock- holders. Since the organization he has been superintendent of its quarries and is thus at the head of one of the leading industries of the kind in the northwest and the only one in Idaho. The company ships a high grade of cut stone all over the Pacific states and as far east as New York city. Their works or finishing plant is located east of Boise, about one mile on the Warm Springs road, while the quarries are about a mile and a half distant from the finishing plant, which rests at the base of the first foothill and is on a spur of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, so that the cut stone can be loaded onto flat cars and shipped to any point in the United States. The quarries are situated over and beyond the first foothills in the mountains and the stone there quarried is loaded onto flat cars in large, irregular chunks, some of them of many tons weight, and is hauled on these cars to the finishing plant over a steel rail tramway which hugs the surface in its course over hill and dale, the flat cars being attached to an immense steel wire cable that is given its progressive motion through electric power. This gigantic steel cable puts the heavily laden flat cars up and over the intervening hills and the grip which the cars have on it prevent them from attaining the speed which their momentum would naturally give them in going down the inclines of the tramway, some of which are very steep. In the quarries the gigantic pieces of stone are handled by electric derricks, while at the works they are handled by a portable overhead trolley crane of ponderous size and wonderful power, all operated by electricity. The great chunks of stone are sawed into the desired sizes, much as big logs are sawed in a lumber plant. The sawed stone blocks then have their rough margins pared off by steel knives which shave off all the roughness, the knives paring off the sides and dressing them down with far greater accuracy than one could peel an apple with a keen bladed knife. The product of the Boise Stone Company is an extra high quality of building stone. It is hard and possesses great powers of endurance, being said by some to be even superior to the famous Bedford stone of Indiana. While the management of this important interest makes heavy demands upon the time and efforts of Mr. Vernon, he is also the president of the Continental Invest- ment Company, which he organized in 1918, its object being to promote mining' interests in Idaho. Its offices are located in the Sonna block and the business is being developed along substantial lines.
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In Denver, Colorado, in 1896, Mr. Vernon was married to Miss Mary Doherty, a native of Nova Scotia, and they have become the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters: Harry S., who served with the United States forces during the war and is now in the Pennsylvania Military College at Chester, Penn- sylvania; Margaret Vernon, who is a graduate of the Boise high school and of the Boston Finishing School at Mount Idaho; Dorothy, who is a high school pupil; and Paul.
Mr. Vernon belongs to several fraternal orders, including the Masons, the Elks and the Woodmen of the World. In politics he is a republican but has never been a candidate for office. He finds his chief recreation in hunting and fishing and enjoys wrestling and sporting contests. He is the owner of a fine bird dog which is his companion on his hunting trips. Business activity, however, has been the dominant force in his life, bringing him to a position of leadership in industrial circles in the northwest.
A. F. ISHAM, M. D.
No history of Caldwell and the surrounding country would be complete without extended reference to Dr. A. F. Isham, who came to the west at the time of the earliest development of this region and has been connected with many interests which have been a most potent force in further progress and improvement, while at the same time he has followed his profession. Opportunity has ever been to him a call to action, and the chances for developing and improving this section have received from him hearty support. The story of his activity is largely the record of the unfolding of Caldwell's history.
Dr. Isham was born as Williston, seven miles from the city of Burlington, Vermont, February 10, 1858, his birthplace being the old homestead which his generation of John Isham, who came to America in 1620, and his lineage can be traced back to the Ishams of Isham Castle, England. Among the early represen- tatives of the name in America were those who became pioneer residents of the state of Vermont. His grandfather fought in the War of 1812. His father, great-grandfather secured from the Indians. He is a descendant in the seventh Franklin H. Isham, wedded Mary Smith, who was horn at Alexander Bay, New York, June 24, 1825, and she was a representative of the same family as Joseph Smith, founder of the Salt Lake colony at Salt Lake City. Her grandfather and uncle took an active part in the Revolutionary war, fighting under Colonel Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga.
Dr. Isham came to ldaho from Vermont, stopping, however, for six months while en route at Rock Springs and Green River City, Wyoming, in the fall of 1883 to do surgical work there. When he arrived in Idaho, Caldwell was a tent town, even the postoffice being a tent. The first hotel was moved into the town on rollers from a point about five miles distant. Shoshone was at that time the terminus of the passenger service on the Oregon Short Line Railroad and Dr. Isham completed his journey to Caldwell on a construction train. He immediately assumed the duties of surgeon for the Oregon Short Line Railroad, in which capacity he continued to serve for fourteen years. He was the first resident physician in Caldwell and at present is the fifth oldest in the state. He has now retired from active practice although he is sometimes persuaded to serve a few old-time friends who are loath to give up his professional aid. He was graduated from the Uni- versity of Vermont on the 26th of June, 1882, and throughout the entire period of his professional career maintained the keenest interest in the science of medicine and kept abreast with the onward trend of professional thought and investigation. During a visit to his old home in Vermont the university from which he had grad- uated conferred upon him the honor of the vice presidency of the college alumni of the medical department for the year 1917-18. It was during this trip east that Dr. Isham's mother died when within two days of the ninety-second anniversary of her birth and she was buried on her birthday. Her husband had died at the age of sixty-four years and from that time Dr. Isham was the support of his mother, maintaining her in comfort in gratitude for her kindness and helpfulness to him in obtaining his education.
While Dr. Isham was for many years a leading and largely patronized physician
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and surgeon of his section of Idaho, he did not confine his efforts entirely to prac- tice but became identified with business progress along various lines. He was the first president of the First National Bank of Emmett, Idaho, which office he filled for five years, and for ten years was vice president of the Peoples Bank of Cam- bridge, Idaho, which he assisted in organizing. The Doctor still remains one of the stockholders of that institution. He was also director of the First Bank of Vale, Oregon, and was on the building committee which erected the first fine hotel at Vale. For five years he was connected with the directorate of the First National Bank of Caldwell and is still one of its stockholders. He founded the Idaho Milling & Feed Company, of which he is sole proprietor, and in this connection conducts a general milling business, operating the plant on the old plan of grinding the grist on shares. He has five hundred farmers as his patrons and turns out about eight carloads of the product per year. He has made judicious investment in farm lands and is now the owner of five excellent farms, which he rents, together with considerable improved city property. In all business transactions he has displayed notably sound judgment and keen sagacity, which have enabled him to avoid the unwarranted risks and failures into which unrestricted progressiveness is so fre- quently led.
On the 28th of June, 1885, Dr. Isham was married to Miss Lida M. Johnson, who was horn March 23, 1864, and 'was one of the first native white children of Boise valley. Her father, Peter Johnson, was captain, of one hundred teams of settlers that came from Missouri to Idaho and Oregon in the early days. To Dr. and Mrs. Isham have been born four children: Mary; Elsie, the wife of Alex Alexander and the mother of a son, Albert; Helen, the wife of Henry Quast, who is engaged in the shoe business in Caldwell, and they have one son, Henry, Jr .; and Alberta, who is with the Idaho Power Company of Boise.
Dr. Isham is a well known representative of fraternal interests, in which he is very active. He has been master of the blue lodge in Masonry and has been a member of Boise Chapter, R. A. M., the Knights Templar Commandery and the Mystic Shrine for nineteen years. He has held every office in the local organiza- tion of Odd Fellows and is at present grand high priest of the Grand Encampment. There was a time when Dr. Isham knew every man who came to Caldwell and he is perhaps the best informed man on the early history of the city now living in the state. When he arrived here there were no irrigation systems and he recalls that when driving to Boise in the spring of 1884 there was but very few houses between the two points, the country having the appearance of an undeveloped desert. He was a member of the Caldwell Building & Loan Association for seven years, during which time they built one hundred and seventeen houses, thus con- tributing much to the growth and benefit of the city. He served as mayor of Caldwell in 1900, was president of the city council in 1902 and has been a member of the council for three terms. He also served on the school board for two years. He has had charge of many Fourth of July celebrations and other public events in the city and no project for the benefit and welfare of Caldwell has sought his aid in vain and on many occasions he has been a leading spirit in such activities. He has recently been a heavy contributor to all war charities and a supporter of the Liberty loan drives, doing everything in his power throughout the period of the war to maintain the strength of the government and the support of the soldiers in the field. He was also a government four minute speaker.
WILLIAM McMILLAN."
William McMillan, of Burley, thoroughly understanding every phase of flour manufacture, is therefore well qualified to fill the important position of manager of the Burley Flour Mills. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, January 6, 1885, a son of William and Agnes (Newton) McMillan. His boyhood days were passed in his native state and there he pursued his education in the public schools. Start- ing out in the business world, he was employed by the Oregon Short Line Railroad in connection with the freight department, remaining with that corporation for twelve years.
On the 10th of August, 1911, Mr. McMillan became connected with the Husler Flour Mills and was associated with that firm until May 15, 1917, as bookkeeper.
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He then came to Burley, Idaho, where he was appointed manager of the Burley Flour Mills. His previous experience well qualified him to take up the duties of this position. He thoroughly understands every phase of the work, so that he is able to direct the labors of those employed under him. The mill is yet one of the new industries of the town and is continually growing. The enterprise now con- ducted under the name of the Burley Flour Mills was originally the Burley Mill & Elevator Company and in 1911 was purchased by the Colorado Mill & Elevator Company of Denver, Colorado. At the Burley establishment they employ twenty people throughout the year and their pay roll amounts to fifty thousand dollars. The business had its beginning in a warehouse. In 1911 an elevator was built and in 1917 the mill was erected. It is one of the modern mills of this section of the country, with a daily capacity of four hundred barrels. The mill is so constructed that the capacity can be doubled on short notice. The flour manu- factured is of splendid quality and finds a ready sale on the market. Their brand, Sunny Valley, is well known throughout Idaho and southern states. They also operate elevators at Declo, Cotterel, Idahome, Churchill and Oakley, having a total storage capacity of two hundred and fifty thousand bushels. Mr. McMillan has been connected with the Colorado Mill & Elevator Company since 1911 and hecame manager of the Burley plant in 1917.
In June, 1908, Mr. McMillan was married to Miss Gertrude Crane, of Salt Lake City, Utah, and a daughter of John T. and Eliza (Brown) Crane. They now have two daughters, Lucile and Margaret. In his political views Mr. McMillan is a republican and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but does not seek nor desire office. His attention is concentrated upon his business affairs and his industry and persistency of purpose are the basic elements that are bringing to him success in his business career.
JOHN BLYTH.
The home ranch of John Blyth is situated on the border line between Utah and Idaho, while his postoffice is at Yost, Utah. This does not include the extent of his property holdings, however, for he is the owner of three excellent ranch properties, together with a fine hotel property at Burley. All this he has acquired through his individual effort, for he started out in life empty-handed and is truly a self-made man, his prosperity coming to him as the direct outcome and reward of earnest, persistent labor. Mr. Blyth is of Scotch birth, the place of his nativity being Redden in the county of Roxburgh, Scotland. He was born April 21, 1853, a son of John and Mary Ann (Smith) Blyth. He became a sheep herder in his native country. In 1880, when a young man of about twenty-seven years, he determined to try his fortune in the new world and arrived on this side of the Atlantic on the 1st of March. He at once made his way across the country to Oakley, Idaho. He had come to the United States to enter the employ of Messrs. Scott and Welsh, for whom he herded sheep out of Oakley for a year. Later he was employed as a sheep herder by Charles Parks on Cassia creek and continued with him for four years. He was afterward with Rees Howell, of Kelton, Utah, and they formed a' partnership in sheep raising that was continued for two years. Later Mr. Blyth began operating independently and has become recognized as one of the prominent sheepmen of the state, running as high as eighteen thousand head. At the present time, however, he maintains but two small bands, for his labors in the interim have brought to him substantial prosperity and he does not care to hind himself quite so tightly to his business as he did in former years. He purchased his ranch and homestead from a squatter, securing two hundred and forty acres of land, and to his place he has added all modern equipments and improvements and now has one of the excellent ranch properties of this section of the state. During the year 1915 he purchased the National Hotel of Burley, has huilt an addition thereto and now has a fine hotel and bank building, the hotel- containing eighty-two rooms. He also has a ranch near Standrod, on the boundary line between Idaho and Utah, and another tract of land southwest of his present home, comprising one hundred and sixty acres. Thus he has acquired three excellent ranch properties and his hotel property and has won a place among the capitalists of this section of the state.
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