History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 60

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: San Francisco : History Co.
Number of Pages: 880

USA > Idaho > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 60
USA > Montana > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 60
USA > Washington > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 60

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

543

EARLY FARMING.

Among the first to take up farms in Ada county were Thompson and McClellan, who also kept a ferry on Boise River at Boise City. They located their claim May 28, 1863. S. A. Snyder, T. McGrue, L. F. McHenry, Samuel Stewart, the Purvine brothers, and Mooney took up claims the same year. Little was expected from farming by the pioneers; but land that in 1877 was a wilderness of artemisia was soon covered with fields of golden grain; and some of the finest orchards on the Pacific coast sprang up in Ada county. The agent which wrought this change was water.5

1885 two newspapers besides the Statesman, viz .: the Idaho Democrat, started in May 1877 as the semi-weekly Idahoan by A. J. Boyakin, and changed its name in 1879; and the Republican, started in March 1879 by Daniel Bacon. Started and failed, the Boise City News, by Jolin McGonigle in 1870; the Boisé Democrat, by J. C. Boyle & Co., and the Capital Chronicle, by D. C. Schwatka & Co. The latter was purchased by Boyakin and became the Idaho Democrat. In Boisé City was a large public school building, 7 teachers employed; number of children 710. The first protestant church organized in Idaho was the methodist, Nov. 23, 1872, by J. M. Jameson of the Rocky Mountain conference, presiding elder of the Corrinne district. A church edifice was completed, and dedicated on the 25th of April, 1875, the corner- stone having been laid October 4th by Gov. T. W. Bennett. The Ist presby- terian church was dedicated in 1879, and the Ist baptist church about the same time. The catholics rebuilt their house of worship, and the episcopalians erected a house for their congregation. One of the features of Boise City was an equestrian, full-size statue of Washington, in military dress, fashioned out of mountain fir with a common axe, saw, gouge, and chisel. It was placed on a bronze pedestal in one of the public parks. The sculptor, to whom was paid $3,000 by the territorial legislature, was Charles Ostner, born in 1828 at Baden, who, involved in a Hungarian revolt, immigrated to Cal. in 1859, and thence to Idabo in 1862. From the Florence mines, Ostner went to the upper Payette Valley and settled himself upon a farm in 1864, also keeping a ferry. During the winter and at intervals he worked upon his statue, which was completed and set up in 1869 with imposing ceremonies, and speeches by Chief Justice McBride and others. Boise Statesman, Jan. 9, 1869. The govern- ment had a signal station at Boisé City. A board of trade was organized in April 1883, J. A. Pinney president, Nathan Falk secretary, Charles H. Nim- rod treasurer. A fire department was established, also several lodges of masons, odd fellows, good templars, champions of the red cross, turn-vereins, etc., a free library association, territorial law library, and literary and dra- matic club.

5 As early as 1864 a right was granted to William B. Hughes and others, who incorporated as the Vallisco Water Co., to take water out of the Boisé River above Rocky Point, and convey it in a ditch or aqueduct to Boise City and Fort Boise, and down to Snake River. Idaho Laws, 1864, 473-7. In Nov. 1879 W. D. Morris, supt of the North-western Stage Co., began the construc- tion of a canal, to be 8 feet wide at the bottom and 12 at the top, and between five and six miles in length, carrying 3,000 iuches of water, or sufficient to float logs to the saw-mills in the valley, and cord-wood to the farmers along its course, besides furnishing power for mills and factories, and water for irri- gating and reclaiming 20,000 acres of land. The grade of the canal was

544

MATERIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

During the period between 1876 and 1886 extensive orchards were planted in the Boisé Valley, some of which produced from 25,000 to 40,000 bushels of fruit annually, few failures occurring in twelve years. L. F. Cartee at Boisé City had a vineyard in which grew forty varieties of grapes.6

Stock-raising was carried on to a considerable ex- tent in Ada county. Fine breeds of cattle were im- ported, and from 500 to 2,000 grazed upon the grassy uplands.7

twenty inches to the mile, and the estimated cost $25,000. Morris died in May 1878. The property fell into the hands of W. Ridenbaugh, who completed the canal, and gave it a width of 20 feet at top, a mile more in length, a depth of four feet of water, which, moving at the rate of 27 lincal inches per second, equalled 6,000 miner's inches of water. A reservoir three miles frein its head covered ten acres, and was used to hold saw-logs, which were floated down the river to the canal. The lands irrigated by this canal yielded 40 bushels of wheat to the acre, and enormous vegetable and root crops. Av- erage crops in Idalio were 30 bushels of wheat, 25 of rye, 55 of oats, 40 of barley, 35 of corn, and 250 of potatoes to the acre. Strahorn's Idaho, 66. Morris became possessed, under the desert-land act, of 17,076 acres of valley land, by paying 25 cents an acre and constructing this canal. The act re- quired the purchaser to pay an additional $1 per acre at the end of three years when the irrigation was furnished. The cost of the whole enterprise probably was some $60,000, the land reclaimed being worth $700,000.

G Cartee was born at Ithaca, N. Y., in 1823, graduated from St John's col- lege at Cincinnati, and came to the Pacific coast in 1849, opening an office at Oregon City in 1850 as surveyor and engineer. In 1863 he went to Idaho, and erected the first saw-mill and quartz-mill at Rocky Bar. He was ap- pointed surveyor-general in 1867, which office he continued to hold for more than 12 years. He was a successful pomologist and stock-raiser. Fruit-trees matured carly, and were remarkably healthy. The orchard of Thomas Davis when 19 years old showed few signs of decay. No irrigation was necessary after the first four or five years. He had 10,000 trees on seventy-five acres. In 1880 the product of Davis' orchard was 40,000 bushels of large fruits and 500 bushels of berries. By large fruits is meant apples, pears, peaches, nec- tarines, apricots, plnms, and prunes. A portion of them was dricd for the winter market, a portion sold fresh in the mines, and another portion made into cider and vinegar.

7 The cost of keeping cattle on the range varied from 50 cents to $1 each per annum, according to the size of the herd. In some of the higher valleys of Idaho winter feeding was followed to a slight extent, which increased the expense. Beef steers sold at from $21 to $24; stock cattle at $12; two-year- olds at $14; three-year-olds at $17; and yearlings $8. At theso prices large fortunes were quickly made in raising stock. Ada county south of Boisé River in ISS3 contained no towns except the railroad station of Kuna. Six miles west of Boisé City was the hamlet of Thurman's Mills, the establishment having a capacity of 50 barrels of flour daily. Aiken's mills, 4 miles west of Boisé City, Morris' mills, opposite the town, Russelville mills, one mile cast, and Clark's mills, two miles cast, were all flouring mills of good capacity. Silver City Avalanche, Feb. 12, ISSI. Star, Middleton, Caldwell, and River- side were on the lower Boisé road; Emmettville, Falk's Store, and Payette- ville on the road to Washoe ferry. Emmettville was the only place of any importance, having a large lumbering interest A bridge was placed across

545

IRRIGATION AND PIONEERS.

I have been thus particular in the description of one county in order to show of what other counties

the Payette River here, and two irrigating ditches opened, which watered about 60 sections of excellent land. Population of Ada county in 1885, 5,500. Total assessed valuation for 1882, $1,734,508. There were 200,000 acres of arable land, most of which was taken up in farms of 320 acres, abont one fourth of which was, in 1885, in actual cultivation.

toFurk

Banner City

Wiser

Indian Cr.

Worth Fork

SILVER M

Rock @ Baro

Muore's Ferry

Pioneer City

Atlanta

ville

Idaho Ci

of BuisenR

Midelle Boise' R

Rocky Bar

BOISE CITYO

North

South

Boise

Cr.

Franklin

SPRING MT.

LITTLE

CAMAS PRAIRIE

Sinker Cr.

Snake

Sandy

Pricer

Malads

Wood

Silver City

Fishing or

Salmon Falls

Great Shoshone Falla

Vattle Falls

Jordan Coto

Catherine or Middle Cr

Lewis

Ruby City

Twin or

BOISÉ AND PAYETTE VALLEYS.

Calvin P. Bodfish, one of the pioneers of Ada county, was a native of Maine, whence he went to Australia in 1853, and thence to Cal. in 1858. He came to Idaho on the discovery of gold, and was one of the first settlers at Boisé City. He was a member of the first Idaho legislature, and was ap- pointed assessor of internal revenue for the government. He died suddenly of apoplexy Nov. 7, 1865, at the age of 43 years. Boise Statesman, Nov. 11, 1865. Jonathan Keeney was born in Missouri. He left his home at an carly age in 1834 to join the fur companies in the Rocky Mountains; returned and married in 1837, and immigrated to Oregon in 1846, going to Idaho with the gold- seekers in 1863. He located himself at Keeney ferry, on Snake River, near the mouth of the Boise, and resided there till about 1878, when he sold the property and retired to a farm on Willow Creek. He was accidentally shot on the 15th of Angust, 1878, at the age of 78 years, by a gun in his own hands. Boisé Statesman, Aug. 24, 1878. J. C. Henley, born in Ohio, came to Idaho in 1862 from Iowa, and settled at Idaho City in 1863. On the organi- zation of the judicial system of the territory he became clerk of the U. S. district court for the 2d district, which office he held until 1865, when he he- came a partner in the law firm of Gilbert & Henley. He was an accomplished German scholar, a republican in politics, and for 4 years a member of the national republican committee. He died August 27, 1872, at Boisé City, aged 36 years, beloved and regretted. J. W. Porter, a native of Kentucky, came to Cal. from Iowa in 1850, served in the federal army in the civil war, and went to Idaho at its close, where he became private secretary to Gov. Ballard, and resided at Boise City until his death, March 29, 1870. HIST. WASH. 35

Oweyhee

Reynolds

Ft. Bolse

Boise

PAYETTE VALLEYPlacerville

"Centre

Malheur

Old Ft. Roise'

Picket Corral

LYON

Buena Vista "6

CEDAR NT.

OWYHEE.MINES

546

MATERIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

are capable, according to their altitude, extent of valley land, and facilities for irrigating bench-land.

Hiram E. Talbot was born at Richmond, Va, Sept. 22, 1809, immigrated to Cal. in 1839, thence to Oregon, and again to Idaho in 1863, practising medicine in each of these commonwealths. He died Nov. 17, 1865, at the age of 56 years, leaving several sons and daughters. His obsequies were the most im- posing known in Boisé City at that time. H. C. Crane, another physician of Boisé City's early days, was fatally stabbed by a nephew of the same name, in a fit of temporary insanity, in the autumn of 1868. John Lemp, a native of Germany, immigrated to Louisville, Ky, in 1852, at the age of 14 years. On the discovery of the Colorado mines he went to Denver and erected a brewery, but being caught by the rush to Idaho in 1863, went thither, and established a brewery at Boisé City in 1864. He made money, and married in 1866. In 1874-5 was elected mayor. James A. Pinney came to Cal. in 1850 at the age of 15, and went to Oregon in 1853, following the gold-hunters to Idaho in 1862, engaging in packing goods from Lewiston to the mines, and making money enough to set up as a merchant at Idaho City the following year, where he also served as postmaster. He was burned out in the great fires of 1865 and 1867, but recovered his hold upon fortune, and removed to Boisé in 1870, where be carried on a large stationery and book business. I. N. Coston, a native of Tompkins county, New York, was liberally educated and studied law. He immigrated to Idaho in 1862, and mined at Idaho City for two years, when he settled as a farmer in Boisé Valley. He was elected to the legislature in 1870 and 1872 as councilman from Ada county, and was president of that body in the latter year. He was again elected in 1876. He was a good representative. Silver City Avalanche, Dec. 30, 1876. Albert H. Robie was a native Genesee co., N. Y. He came to the Pacific coast as a member of Governor Stevens' exploring expedition, as I have noted in the previous part of this volume. After the Indian war of 1835-6 he was placed in charge of the Indians about The Dalles. In 1860, when the Nez Percé mines were discovered, he erected a saw-mill at Lewiston, removing thence to Idaho City, and again to Boisé City, where he was ever foremost in useful undertakings. He owned a large herd of cattle, which was grazcd near Steen Mountain, in Oregon. When the Bannack war of 1878 broke out he was at his stock rancho and narrowly escaped with his life. Joining in the pursuit of the Indians, who had destroyed his herd, he fell a victim to an illness brought on by fatigue and exposure, and died July 26, 1878, at his home on Dry Creek, Boisé Valley, aged 46 years, leaving a wife and 5 chil- dren. Boisé Statesman, July 27, 1878. D. N. Hyde of Scattle, Washington, was a pioneer of Boisé City. Joseph Branstetter, one of the discoverers of Boise basin, was a resident of this county. He was born in Berry co., Mo., April 17, 1842; immigrated to Walla Walla in 1860, and followed the mining rush to Idaho two years later. In 1870 he married Laura Marlette of Wis- consin. Branstetter's Discovery of Boisé Basin is a manuscript narrative of an expedition which resulted fortunately to many. John B. Pierce, a pioneer of Boisé Valley, born in Cumberland co., Ky, in 1827, removed with his parents to IlI. in 1830. His opportunities for education were limited, but being a good observer and a student of public affairs, acquired by reading considerable knowledge of politics and law. He removed to Mo. in 1844, and crossed the plains in 1850 to Oregon, settling the following spring in Siskiyou co., Cal., where he was engaged in mining, packing, lumbering, and other business of the country. In 1860 he was a member of the central committee of the county which supported John C. Breckenridge for president. In 1862 he prospected through castern Or. and Wash., engaging in mining in Boisé basin among the earliest pioneers of that region. He assisted in organ- izing the democratic party in Idaho, and was nominated for the assembly at the first election, but was beaten. Ho joincd with H. C. Street and J. H. Bowman in purchasing the Boise News from its republican owners, and con-

547

ALTURAS COUNTY.

With this in view, a brief mention of the others will convey all the information requisite to an understand- ing of the early condition of the territory.

Alturas county, named by some admirer of the Spanish word, signifying heights, or mountains,8 had little valley land, and that was upon the margins of its numerous mountain streams.9

verting it into the Idaho World, for the support of democracy. He was offered the nomination for delegate to congress in 1864, but declined. He was several times elected to the legislature from Boisé aud Owyhee and Ada counties, and served as chairman of the special code committee of the lower house in 1874, his popularity being attributable to his opposition to every kind of jobhery in politics, of which there has been much in Idaho in his own party. He was a prosperous farmer in Boisé Valley; was twice mar- ried, 2 of his sons having families of their own.

8 Though the miners prefer the more figurative interpretation of 'heavenly' heights.

Big Camas prairie was the chief body of agricultural land in this county, with an area of 14,000 square miles. It occupied a region 80 miles in length by from eighteen to twenty-five in breadth, and has an elevation of 4,000 fcet. The Snake River lava-field appeared destined forever to be a waste; but the sage-plains west of Wood River proved capable of redemption, while the foot-hills and benches of the mountains in which the mines were situated afforded extensive cattle-ranges. For many years Camas prairie was thought only fit for a hay-field, and used as such. The summers were warm and pleasant, but there was a heavy snowfall in winter. Later settlers raised wheat, barley, corn, oats, vegetables, and melons successfully, the oat crop requiring no irrigation. The valley of Wood River, for a distance of fifty miles in length and from one to two in breadth, was a favorite location for farmers. The population of Alturas in 1883 was 9,000, and its assessed valuation, real aud personal, $2,871,365. The number of children attending school 1,000. Esmeralda was the county seat when the county was organ- ized, but Rocky Bar succeeded to the honor in 1864. Idaho Laws, 1864, 429. In consequence of the discovery of the Wood River mines in the suminer of 1879, Hailey was chosen for county seat by popular vote, in ISS1. Bellevue was the first town built in the Wood River mining region, being located and settled in 1880, and chartered in 1882-3. Its newspaper, the Chronicle, was owned by C. & J. Foster. Ketchum was next located, 16 miles above Belle- vne, also in 1880, and Galena City, 26 miles farther north, in what was after- ward Custer county, in the same year. Jacobsville and Marshall competed with other places for the dignity of being considered urban, but have re- mained only camps. Hailey, located in the spring of 1881, four miles north of Bellevue, then a thriving town of 400 inhabitants, having 83 school children and 2 churches, drew to itself most of the trade and population ou account of being nearer to the principal mines. H. Z. Burkhart, with a machine, made a kiln of 80,000 brick in 1882. The court-house, hotel, school-house, railroad depot, and other buildings were constructed of brick. Line was plentiful and cheap. A newspaper, the Wood River News, was started at Bellvue in the spring of 1881 by Clay, Allen, and George, and sold to Frank O. Harding, who removed it to Hailey, changing the title to Wood River Miner. Two other newspapers, the Chronicle and Times, are published in this county. Methodist, presbyterian, episcopal, congregational, independent, and cath- olic churches have been organized, but church edifices were as numerous as the societies in 1883. A good theatre was erected, Some warm springs in Croy Gulch were fitted up as a place of resort. The growth of Hailey resem-

548

MATERIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

Dear Lake county, the small south-east corner of the territory, previous to 1872 was supposed to be- long to Utah. It was first settled by a colony of Mormons under C. C. Rich, and was called Rich county. The establishment of the boundary of Idaho

Shoshonear

BEDS

Blackfoot PK.

Blackfoot

Danilson Spring

Fort Hall

Caribou's

Gray's Z.

. Mit.Pisgah

Old Fort Hull

FORT HALL

6Swan Lake

· Pocatells

Blackfoot

GREÅT

Snake

Belle Marsh

Port

Neut.

Soda Springs

Goose Cr

Bonanza Bar

· Oneida

Arimuo

Georgetown]

ALBION

Nine Mile"

Gentile Valley

Mantueller

Valord

Village~Casser Creek

St.John

Oakley

Brown ngton

MALAD CITY

Chftou

Charlesn

Almo

· Beerhervi le

Cherry Creek

Fish

o Bridge

W'Estouo

o City of Rocks

Franklin

SOUTH-EASTERN IDAHO.

by survey threw the greater and better portion of Rich county into Idaho, together with its industrious and thrifty population, and it was considered as a part of Oneidla county until its separate organization in January 1875. The first settlers were, like most of the Mormons, agriculturists. But their earlier ef- forts at farming were failures, owing to frost and grasshoppers, which together took the greater part of their crops for several years. The altitude of Bear Lake Valley is 6,666 feet, from which elevation eanie the frosts. The grasshoppers were a periodical

bles that of Idaho City in 1863-5. The rapid settlement of Wood River and Camas prairie was after 1880. Many of the iucomers wero from Norway, and do not fear the snows of winter. There were fifty families in ISSI where there were not a dozen the year before. Fifty homesteads were taken up in 188] by an agent of the German colony of Aurora, Marion co., Oregon. They were all agriculturists, and will make a garden of the eultivablo parts of Alturas county.

SNAKE RIVER

River

Port Neuf Station

Swamp

American Falls.

INDIAN

Suda Cr Ê Tule Lake

RESERVATION

River

Goose Cr.

Bear

Benzin toh

Little Malad

! Swan Lake

Divide

Mink Creen/PARIS?

Battle

Samaring

Chadville Creek

LAVA

Ross Fork

549

BOISÉ COUNTY.

plague. But by making hay and raising stock the settlers prospered, and little by little overcame the worst of their difficulties.10

The early history of Boisé county has already been given in a previous chapter. Its principal wealth long continued to be mines.11 The upper Payette

10 The valley of Bear Lake, called Mormon Valley, a fertile plain 15 miles wide and 25 miles long, had a population, in 1SS5, of 4,000. By irrigating, large crops of wheat, oats, and barley, the finest potatoes in abundance, and the largest hay crop in the territory were raised, while herds of cattle and sheep covered the hillsides. The lumbering interest in this county was of importance, pine and spruce being the prevailing timber on the moun- tains. The manufacture of cheese was introduced, the product in 1883 being 200,000 pounds. By cooperation the Mormon population carried on their enterprises with good results. It was by cooperation that they made the cheese factory profitable, its capacity being 900 pounds daily. There was the Paris Cooperative Institution, composed of 200 shareholders, with a capital of $25,000. It conducted a general merchandise store, boot and shoe factory, barness factory, tin-shop, and tailoring establishment, besides a planing-lathe and shingle-inill. Members were not permitted to hold more than $100 worth of stock, lest the few should be benefited to the exclusion of the many. Since its establishment in 1874, in 10 ycars it paid $27,000 in dividends, besides expending 20,000 annually for labor. In ISS2, 2,S70 pairs of boots and shoes were manufactured, 900 pieces of leather tanned, $6,000 worth of planed lum- ber and shingles sold, and 35,000 pounds of cheese made, besides the business of the other establishments. While the results thus obtained furnished no wonder-provoking figures like mining, they secured contentment and steady prosperity, which mining too often docs not. There were several villages in Bear Lake county, namely, Paris, the county seat, Fish Haven, Ovid, Liberty, Montpelier (formerly Brigham), Preston, St Charles, Bennington, and Georgetown. The Oregon Short Line railroad was laid out on the cast side of the lake, through Montpelier, Bennington, and Georgetown. The assessed valuation of Bear Lake county in ISS2 was $230,940.

11 The mining ditch constructed by J. Marion Moore and J. C. Smith in 1863 was the beginning of Ben Willson's enterprises before mentioned. He bought out Smith, and subsequently purchased Moore's half. Moore was shot in a mining war over the possession of the Golden Chariot mine, near Silver City, Owyhee, in 1868. Samuel Lockhart, another owner, was also shot. Moore was greatly regretted by the pioneers of Idaho, who regarded him as the most indefatigable of them all in everything pertaining to the development of the territory, and as a true man. Capitol Chronicle, Oct. 20, 1869. He was buried with honors in the masonic cemetery at Idaho City, near the creek which bears his name. Idaho World, April 8, ISGS. Willson, an Englishman by birth, came to Cal. at the age of 15, and was thoroughly Americanized. He went to Idaho and Boise basin in the spring of 1863, and did more real work than almost any other man in the county. In 1863 he built a toll-road, and ran a stage line between Pioneer City and Centreville. He built a saw-mill, in company with Parkinson and Warriner, at Idaho City, and also engaged in merchandising with James Powelson. At the same time he bought mining ground and constructed ditches, being the first to in- troduce hydraulic mining, using at first duck hose with a common nozzle, but finally iron pipe, 15 inches diameter at the lower end, and the giant nozzle. Thus Willson became owner of 100 miles of ditclics, a mill for sawing lum- ber, several shops for repairing tools, and a 200-acre farm on Clear Creek, ad- joining the town of Pioneer, besides being a partner in the Mammoth quartz mine. He was a member of the bar, and served in the legislative council,

550

MATERIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

Valley proved the choicest farming region in Boisé county.12

In Cassia county were found a good soil and climate, but the valleys were small and elevated. Upper Goose Creek had the choicest body of farming land in the county. Raft River Valley, thirty miles long by ten wide, contains fine meadow-lands. A settle- ment was made at the head of the valley, called the Cove. With irrigation the sage-lands produce well. Like Bear Lake county, Cassia raised wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes for market, in abundance, and grazed large herds. It had mines, though not much prospected; also one grist-mill and three saw-mills.13

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History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 60

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902 Publication date: 1890 Publisher: San Francisco : History Co. Number of Pages: 880

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: San Francisco : History Co.
Number of Pages: 880