History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 65

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 65
USA > Montana > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 65
USA > Washington > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 65

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The changes in the judiciary of Idaho had always been frequent. James B. Hays was appointed chief justice in 1886 in place of John I. Morgan; Norman Buck and Case Broderick, appointed in 1884, being his associates, and James H. Hawley United States attorney. In 1888, Hugh W. Weir was chief justice, and John Lee Logan and Charles H. Berry associates, with Hawley still United States attorney. In 1889, Weir was superseded by James H. Beatty of Hailey; and Logan, who was removed on account of ill health, 52 was followed by Willis Sweet of Moscow, who had a few months previously been appointed United States attorney. E. S. Whittier, district attorney of Bing- ham county, was mentioned as successor to Judge Berry, and Fremont Wood of Boise was appointed United States attorney, and John P. Wilson mar- shal. Thus at last Idaho secured courts from among her own citizens. With a change of administration and the election of 1888 in Idaho came a quite gen- eral change of federal58 and territorial officials. Fred- erick T. Dubois, however, was again chosen delegate

52 Judge Logan came to Idaho when the bench and society were shaken to their foundations, and mob law openly advocated. The atmosphere was foul with venality, corruption, and moral weakness. A change occurred as if by magic when Judge Logan ascended the tribune. The people recognized in him a splendid lawyer, a man of firmness and clearness of mind. He conducted and ruled the court; the court did not rule him. He was just and fair, impartial and fearless. The first criminal cases tried before him showed that he was a judge for the people, that he would interpret the law as it should be interpreted, and that he would honestly discharge his duties. Grangeville Free Press.

53 Other federal appointments were Charles S. Kingley, register of the U. S. laud-office, and Joseph Perrault, receiver, Boisé City; H. O. Billings, register of the U. S. land-office, and C. O. Stockslager, receiver, Hailey; Perry J. Anson, register of the U. S. land-office, and W. H. Danielson, re- ceiver, Blackfoot; Francis F. Patterson of the U. S. land-office, and Charles M. Foree, receiver, Lewistou; William J. McClure, register of the U. S. land- office, and Robert E. McFarland, receiver, Conr d'Alene; S. G. Fisher, U. S. Iud. agent at Ross Fork agency (Fort Hall); W. D. Robbins, U. S. Ind. agent, Nez Perce agency; J. M. Needham, U. S. Ind. agent, Lemhi agency, and H. J. Cole, U. S. Ind. agent at Cœur d'Alene agency; W. J. Cunning- ham, U. S. assayer, Boisé City; William A. Kortz, sergeant in charge of U. S. signal-office, Boisé City.

584

MATERIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

to congress. George L. Shoup was appointed gov- ernor, E. J. Curtis remained secretary, Joseph C. Straughn was appointed surveyor-general, Richard Z. Johnson was elected attorney-general of the terri- tory, James H. Wickersham comptroller, Charles Himrod treasurer, and Charles C. Stevenson super- intendent of public instruction. 54

Before Governor Stevenson was relieved of the ex- ecutive office, he issued a proclamation April 2, 1889, recommending that the people elect delegates to a constitutional convention, to meet at Boisé City, July 4th of that year, to frame a constitution for the state of Idaho, although no enabling act had been passed by congress. On the 30th of April Shoup took the oath of office, and assumed the duties of governor on the 1st of May. On the 11th he supplemented Stevenson's proclamation with another, approving the holding of a constitutional convention. Seventy-two delegates were elected, and the convention was in session for thirty-four days. The instrument as framed by them declared the constitution of the United States the supreme law of the land, and aimed to protect and foster the industries and interests of the territory. It forever prohibited bigamy and polygamy. The government of the state was in three departments, legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislature was to consist of 18 senators and 36 assemblymen, and should not be increased to exceed 24 and 60 re- spectively. It should meet biennially, except in spe- cial instances. The executive department was to consist of a governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, attorney-general, and superintendent of public instruction, each to hold

+ The legislative appointments were: Trustees for the care and custody of the capitol building, R. Z. Johnson, C. Himrod, J. H. Wickersham; com- missioners for the improvement of the capitol grounds, C. W. Moore, Peter Sonna, I. L. Tiner, R. Z. Johnson; territorial prison commissioners, Wil- liam Bryon, C. P. Bilderback, J. B. Wright; directors of the insane asylum at Blackfoot, I. N. Coston, O. P. Johnson, N. A. Just; regents of the uni versity of Idaho, George L. Shoup, Isaac H. Bowman, John W. Jones, J. W Reid, Nathan Falk, B. F. Morrison, Willis Sweet, H. B. Blake, Richard Z. Johnson,

585

WAR ON THE MORMONS.

office for two years. The governor, secretary of state, and attorney-general were to constitute a board of pardons.

The supreme court should consist of three justices, to be elected at large. Five judicial districts were provided, the judges to reside in and be chosen by the electors of their respective districts; and a dis- trict attorney should be elected for each district.

Absolute secrecy of the ballot was guaranteed. Six months' residence was required to become a qualified elector. Religious freedom was guaranteed. Taxes for state purposes should never exceed ten mills on the dollar; when the assessed valuation should have reached $50,000,000, five mills; or $100,000,000, not more than three mills, with greater reduction as the wealth of the state should increase.

The capital was located at Boisé City for 20 years. The insane, blind, deaf, and dumb were provided for. All railroads and express companies were declared common carriers, subject to legislative regulations. Provision was made to prevent inconvenience in changing the business of the territorial to the state courts. In all these matters the Idaho constitution resembled other modern state organic laws, the only thing in which it was singular being in the prohibi- tion of bigamy and polygamy, and in truth this ques- tion had become one of the deepest interest in Idaho.

Governor Shoup gave it as his belief that the pop- ulation of Idaho in 1889 was 113,777, and that of this number 25,000 were adherents of the mormon faith and practices, and although public sentiment to a considerable extent suppressed the visible fact of polyg- amous relations, it was known that plural marriages were contracted, and that the doctrine was taught by the mormon church leaders. It was not so much, he said, that examples of plural marriages could be pointed out that the gentile majority made war upon mor- monism, but because the preachers of the mormon minority taught that all laws enacted for the suppres-

586

MATERIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

sion of polygamy were unconstitutional, on the ground that they were an interference with religious liberty. This was a point, he claimed, most dangerous to good morals; for any association of persons could, under the name of religion, commit any crimes against society with impunity, protected by the constitution of the United States.

To break their power, the legislature of 1884-5 passed a registry law requiring voters to take a 'test oath' of the most rigid nature,55 which kept a large majority of mormon voters away from the polls, only about 1,000 taking the stringent oath, and voting at the election for adopting or rejecting the constitution in which it was incorporated, which was held, according to the governor's proclamation, on the 5th of November. The number of votes polled at the election was 14,184, 12,398 being for and 1,773 against the adoption of the constitution. Upon the presumption that the mormon vote was against the constitution, the vote of the territory was almost unanimous in favor of state government without re- gard to party.

In order to settle a question raised by the mor- mons of the constitutionality of the registry oath, a mormon voter was arrested, charged with conspiracy, and imprisoned. His friends began habeas corpus pro- ceedings, but the court decided that the writ would

få The oath is as follows: 'You do solemnly swear, or affirm, that you are a male citizen of the United States over the age of twenty-one years; that you have actually resided in this territory for four months last past, and in this county thirty days; that you are not a bigamist or polygamist; that you are not a member of any order, organization, or association which teaches, advises, counsels, or encourages its members, devotees, or any other person, to commit the crime of bigamy or polygamy, or any other crime defined by law, as a duty arising or resulting from membership in such order, organiza- tion, or association, or which practises bigamy or polygamy, or plural or celestial marriage, as a doetrinal rite of such organization; that you do not, either publicly or privately, or in any manner whatever, teach, advise, or encourage any person to commit the crime of bigamy or polygamy, or any other crime defined by law, either as a religious duty or otherwise; that you regard the constitution of the United States and the laws thereof and of this territory, as interpreted by the courts, as the supreme law of the land, the teachings of any order, organization, or association to the contrary notwith- standing; and that you have not previously voted at this election; so help you God.'

587

STATEHOOD.

not hold, and the case was taken to the United States supreme court to obtain an opinion which would make valid or invalid the test oath, and that part of the Idaho constitution in which it is incorporated.56 Dele- gate Dubois, who was taking the opinion of congress on the admission of Idaho, was met by the assertion of the mormon leaders that the effort to disfranchise 25,000 of the population would prove a stumbling- block in the way of statehood-an assertion to which he returned the counter-statement that, rather than come in without the anti-mormon clause in the con- stitution, the territory would prefer to remain out of the union.57 Nevertheless, he labored strenuously for it, not on party grounds, for Idaho was so evenly bal- anced in politics at this period that neither party dared claim it, but simply on the merits of her claims to recognition. "Our constitution," said the delegate, " forbids the carrying of any flag in public processions, except the American flag. We want a state for those whose highest allegiance is to the United States, or else we want no state at all." Truly, the times were changed since 1864, when the scum of secession over- ran the territory, and a loyal man dared hardly breathe a sentiment of devotion to the union. But there were complications in the way besides the mor- mon test oath. Unless the state should be admitted by the congress about to meet, it might have to wait for years, because in 1890 a census would be taken, and the apportionment for representation in congress undoubtedly raised to about 200,000. Congress was already so unwieldly that it would not, probably, in- crease the number of representatives, but rather the requirement of population, and it might be very long before Idaho doubled hers. Again, it was said that the democrats in congress would unite in opposition to the admission of Idaho, and Wyoming which was

66 H. W. Smith of Ogden went to Washington as the special attorney of Idaho, to argue the case before the supreme court. Portland Oregonian, Dec. 6, 1889.

67 Id., Nov. 27, 1889.

588

MATERIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

also an aspirant for statehood, unless New Mexico should be admitted at the same time. Thus hopes and fears had their turn. Meanwhile, the newspapers, of which there were now thirty-cight in Idaho,58 asserted truthfully that never had there been so many new enterprises inaugurated as in this year of 1889 ; irriga- tion schemes that would cost millions; new mining camps as fast as they could be built and machinery could be 'freighted' to the mines; homestead filings for the year, 861; homestead proofs, 463 ; preemption filings, 841; preëmption proofs, 441; desert filings, 294; desert proofs, 841 ; timber eulture filings, 293 ; timber culture proofs, 5 ; mineral filings, 72; proofs, 62. All these meant so many times 160 acres improved, or about to be. The total amount of land surveyed in Idaho was 8,500,000 acres; of land patented or filed on, 4,500,000 acres; and land in cultivation, surveyed and unsurveyed, 600,000 acres. Idaho contained about 55,000,000 acres, 12,000,000 of which were suitable for agriculture, while nearly as much more could be made so by irrigation. There were 5,000,000 acres of grazing land, 10,000,000 acres of timber, and 8,000,000 aeres of timber land. Idaho had indeed ad- vantages unsurpassed in any quarter of the globe. Railroads, irrigation, and statehood would make this evident. Such was the voice of the Idaho press, and such, by their vote on the constitution, was the voice of the people.

58 Free Press, Grangeville; Star and Mirror, Moscow; Teller, and Stars and Bars, Lewiston; Times and Review, Cœur d'Alene City; Sun, Murray; News, Wardner; Courier, Rathdrum; Messenger, Challis; Citizen, Salubria; Leader, Weiser; Recorder, Salmon City; Keystone, Ketchum; News Miner and Times, Hailey; Press, Bellevue; State Journal, Shoshone; Register, Eagle Rock; News, Blackfoot; Herall and Republican, Pocatello; Enterprise, Malade ('ity; Times, Albion; Independent, Paris; Bulletin, Rocky Bar; Progress, Nampa; Tribune, Caldwell; Statesman and Democrat, Boisé; World, Idaho City; Avalanche, Silver City: Independent, Burke; Free Press, Wallace; Post, Post Falls; Observer, Montpelier; and Mail, Mountain Home. Rept of Gov. Shoup, 1889, 100.

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

CHAPTER I.

NATURAL WEALTH AND SETTLEMENT. 1728-1862.

THE NAME-CONFIGURATION AND CLIMATE-GAME-STOCK-RAISING ADVAN- TAGES-MINERALS AND METALS - CATACOMBS - MAUVAISES TERRES- EARLY EXPLORATIONS-FUR-HUNTERS AND FORTS-MISSIONARIES AND MISSIONS - OVERLAND EXPLORATIONS - RAILROAD SURVEY - WAGON- ROADS-EARLY STEAMBOATS-GOLD DISCOVERIES-THE CATTLE BUSI- NESS-FIRST SETTLERS-NEW COUNTIES OF WASHINGTON.

MONTANA, mountainous or full of mountains,1 is a name, as herein used, no less beautiful than significant. From the summit of its loftiest peak-Mount Hay- den-may be seen within a day's ride of each other the sources of the three great arteries of the terri- tory owned by the United States-the Missouri, the Colorado, and the Columbia. From the springs on either side of the range on whose flanks Montana lies flow the floods that mingle with the North Pa- cific Ocean, the gulf of California, and the gulf of Mexico. The Missouri is 4,600 miles in length, the Columbia over 1,200, and the Colorado a little short of 1,000; yet out of the springs that give them rise the Montanian may drink the same day. Nay, more : there is a spot where, as the rain falls, drops descend- ing together, only an inch asunder perhaps, on strik-

1 Many infer that the word is of Spanish origin, a corruption, perhaps, of montaña, a mountain, but it is purely Latin. It was a natural adoption, and the manner of it is given elsewhere.

( 589 )

590

NATURAL WEALTH AND SETTLEMENT.

ing the ground part company, one wending its long, adventurous way to the Atlantic, while the other bravely strikes out for the Pacific. These rivers, with their great and numerous branches, are to the land what the arteries and veins are to the animal organism, and whose action is controlled by the heart; hence this spot may be aptly termed the heart of the continent. From New Orleans to the falls of the Missouri there is no obstacle to navigation. Wonderful river!

Could we stand on Mount Hayden, we should see at first nothing but a chaos of mountains, whose con- fused features are softened by vast undulating masses of forest; then would come out of the chaos stretches of grassy plains, a glint of a lake here and there, dark cañons made by the many streams converging to form the monarch river, rocky pinnacles shooting up out of interminable forests, and rising above all, a silvery ridge of eternal snow, which imparts to the range its earliest name of Shining Mountains. The view, awe-inspiring and bewildering, teaches us little; we must come down from our lofty eminence before we can particularize, or realize that mountains, lakes, forests, and river-courses are not all of Montana, or that, impressive as the panorama may be, greater wonders await us in detail.

The real Montana with which I have to deal con- sists of a number of basins among these mountains, in which respect it is not unlike Idaho. Commencing at the westernmost of the series, lying between the Bitterroot and Rocky ranges, this one is drained by the Missoula and Flathead rivers, and contains the beautiful Flathead Lake, which lies at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in latitude 48°. From the lake south for fifty miles is a gently undulating country, with wood, grass, and water in abundance, and a good soil. The small valley of the Jocko, which is reached by crossing a range of hills, is a garden of fertility and natural loveliness. But true to the character of this montane region, another and a higher range must be

591

HELLGATE AND BITTERROOT.

crossed before we can get a glimpse of the grander and not less lovely Hellgate2 Valley, furnished also with good grass and abundance of fine timber. Branch- ing off to the south is the valley of the Bitterroot, another fertile and picturesque region. The Hellgate and Bitterroot valleys are separated from Idaho on the west by the Bitterroot range, on the lofty peaks of which the snow lies from year to year. These mountains have a general trend south-east and north- west, and cover an area of seventy-five miles front west to east, forming that great mass of high, rough mineral country so often referred to in my description of Idaho, and which is covered with forest.

Passing out of the Bitterroot and Hellgate val- leys to the east, we travel through the pass which gives its name to the latter. This cañon is forty miles in length, cutting through a range less lofty than those on the west. Through it flows the Hellgate River, receiving in its course several streams, the largest of which is the Big Blackfoot, which heads in the Rocky Mountains, near Lewis and Clarke's pass of 1806. At the eastern end of this cañon is Deer Lodge Valley, watered by the Deer Lodge River, rising in the Rocky Mountains south and east of this pass, and becoming the Hellgate River where it turns abruptly to the west after receiving the waters of the Little Blackfoot, and which still farther on becomes the Missoula. Other smaller streams and valleys of a similar character go to make up the north-western basin, which is about 250 miles long by an average width of 75 miles. It is the best timbered portion of Montana, being drained toward the north-west, and open to the warm, moisture-laden winds of the Pacific, which find an opening here extending to the Rocky Mountains.

2 The name of Hellgate Rond was given to a circular prairie at the mouth of a cañon, the passage of which was so dangerous, from Indian ambush, to the fur-hunters and trappers, that in their nomenclature they could find no word so expressive as Hellgate. Virginia and Helena Post, Oct. 14, 1866; White's Or., 289.

592

NATURAL WEALTH AND SETTLEMENT.

The north-east portion of Montana,3 bounded by the Rocky Mountains on the west, the divide be- tween the Missouri and the river system of the Brit- ish possessions on the north, and by a broken chain of mountains on the south, is drained toward the east by the Missouri River, and is a country essen- tially different from the grassy and well-wooded re- gions west of the great range. It constitutes a basin about 400 miles in length and 150 in breadth, the western portion being broken occasionally by moun- tain spurs, or short, isolated upheavals, such as the Little Rockies, the Bear Paw Mountains, or the Three Buttes, and taken up in the eastern portion partly by the Bad Lands. Its general elevation is much less than that of the basin just described,4 yet its fertility is in general not equal to the higher re- gion west of the Rocky Mountains. There is a belt of grass-land from ten to twenty miles in width, ex- tending along at the foot of the mountains for a hun- dred and fifty miles, backed by a belt of forest on the slopes of the higher foothills. The lower plains are for some distance along the Missouri a succession of ( ay terraces, entirely sterile, or covered with a scanty growth of grass of inferior nutritive quality. Through this clay the rivers have worn canons several hundred feet in depth, at the bottom of which they have made themselves narrow valleys of fertile soil washed down

$ In Ingersoll's Knocking around the Rockies, 192-202, there are some bits of description touching Montana's physical features worth reading, though taken together, no very clear notion of the country could be obtained from the book.

" The following table shows the relative positions and climatic peculiari- tics of these two natural divisions of Montana: Feet.

Summit of Bitterroot range, near the pass. . 5,089

Junetion of the Missoula and St Regis de Borgia rivers. 2,897

Bitterroot Valley, at Fort Owen. 3,284

Big Blackfoot River, near mouth of Salmon Trout Fork 3,966

4,768

Decr Lodge, at Deer Lodge City

Prickly Pear Valley, near Helena. 4,000

Mullan's Pass of the Rocky Mountains 6,283 Lewis and Clarke's Pass 6,519

Forks of Sun River . 4,114

Fort Benton, Missouri River. 2,780

Fort Union, mouth of Yellowstone 2,022

593

BASINS OF MONTANA.

from the mountains, supporting some cottonwood timber and grass. Higher, toward the south, about the heads of the tributaries of the Missouri, there is a region of good agricultural and grazing lands lying on both sides of the Little Belt and Snow Mountains. The scenery of the upper Missouri also presents, for a hundred or more miles, commencing below the mouth of the Jefferson fork, a panorama of grandeur and startling effects, the Gate of the Mountains, a cañon five miles in length and a thousand feet deep, being one of the finest river passes in the world in point of beauty.

South of the vast region of the main Missouri are three separate basins; the first drained to the east by the Jefferson fork of that river, and by its branches, the Bighole" and Beaverhead, the latter heading in Horse Prairie, called Shoshone Cove by Lewis and Clarke, who at this place abandoned canoe travel, and purchased horses of the Indians for their journey over the mountains. They were fortunate in their choice of routes, this pass being the lowest in the Rocky range, and very gentle of ascent and descent. The Beaverhead-Bighole basin is about 150 miles by 100 in extent, containing eight valleys of considerable di- mensions, all having more or less arable land, with grass and water.

East of this section lies another basin, drained by the Madison and Gallatin forks of the Missouri, and having an extent of 150 miles north and south, and 80 east and west. In it are five valleys, containing altogether a greater amount of agricultural land than the last named.

Last is the Yellowstone basin. It contains eight principal valleys, and is 400 miles long and 150 miles wide. The Yellowstone River is navigable for a dis-

5 This valley was formerly called by the French Canadian trappers, Le Grand Trou, which literally means big hole, from which the river took its name. The mountain men used this word frequently in reference to these ele- vated basins, as Jackson's Hole, Pierre's Hole, etc. McClure gives a differ- ent origin in his Three Thousand Miles, 309, but he is misinformed.

HIST. WASH .- 38

594

NATURAL WEALTH AND SETTLEMENT.

tance of 340 miles; there is a large amount of agri- cultural and grazing lands along its course, and be- tween it and the Missouri, with which it makes a junction on the eastern boundary of Montana: About the head of this river, named by early voyageurs from the sulphur tint of the rocks which constitute

Boundary Pass

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Spakene

Yukima Pass

Flathead LACuile Burg

Mt. Rainier Sichest

-Pass

Culotte Panu

Lit. Prickly

Fort Beuton

Calunbin

Deer Lodge Puta

Helena

R. C

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Diy Dole

Mackenzie Past

ROGUE R.

Fork Iu

Fort Boise

Rogue

Peak

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„Ft.Crook

Fort Bidwell

Mt. Shasta

SWEETWATER

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Fort Reading

Great

Fort Bridger

Nulfo Punng 1

Humboldt

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Beckwourth Puss

Truckee E'

Spanish Peak Hennesa Pana

Johnson Fiss

GENERAL VIEW OF MOUNTAIN PASSES.

its banks in many places, cluster a world of the world's wonders. The finger-marks of the great planet-making forces are oftener visible here than elsewhere. Hundreds of ages ago about these moun- tain peaks rolled an arctic sea, the wild winds sweep- ing over it, driving the glittering icebergs hither and thither. When the mountains were lifted out of the depths by volcanic forces they bore aloft immense glaciers, which lay for centuries in their folds and crevices, and slid and ground their way down the wrinkled slopes, tracing their history in indelible characters upon the rocks, while they gave rise and direction to the rivers, which in their turn have

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History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 65

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