USA > Idaho > The history of Idaho > Part 14
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Reports of the rich gold mines in Montana not only attracted the attention of mining men in California, Nevada and Utah, who came and traveled over this route, but also many emigrants who came from east of the Missouri River across the plains with their teams. The majority of these emigrants traveled over this road in order to reach the rich gold fields of Montana.
The southeastern portion of Idaho over which this road and travel passed had but very few settlers. The few who were there were either employees of the stage company or engaged in cutting and putting up hay to sell to the company and other travelers. There were a few stations on the road for the benefit of the stage company and local travelers. The ferry across Snake River above Idaho Falls was the most noted place on the route. The owners did a large business which must have been very remunerative. No permanent improvements were made in the way of agriculture for several years; in fact the people did not think the land along this road was of any value for agriculture, and there were too many Indians in the country for any person to undertake to raise stock for fear of having them stolen by the Indians, from whom they had little or no protection.
In 1865, J. M. Taylor and Robert Anderson bought the ferry situated a few miles above what is now the town of Idaho Falls. They built a fine bridge across the Snake River at Idaho Falls,
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SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO
and moved there in the winter of 1865 and 1866. The construc- tion of this bridge by these two energetic men was of great con- venience to the stage company and to the traveling public gen- erally.
In the year 1866, a deal was made between the Ben Holliday Stage Company and Wells, Fargo & Company by which the con- trol and management of all the Holliday stage routes passed over to Wells, Fargo & Company. Soon after this the line from Salt Lake City to Montana was fitted up with improved facilities for the car- rying of passengers, express and fast freight. They had a good business over this route during the Spring, Summer and Fall of 1866; and a few others along the route in Idaho made some money putting up hay and selling meals to travelers, but there was more money made from the receipts of the bridge across Snake River than any other business in that part of the country. The bridge did not consume but produced revenue every day. At the close of the year 1866 nothing of a permanent nature in the way of ag- riculture had been started in that part of the country excepting by a few settlers in Malad Valley, in Oneida County.
CHAPTER XXIX.
MINING IN 1866.
Mining continued to be the principal business in Idaho. Placer mining began in Boise Basin early in the Spring of 1866, the mines generally producing well. More attention was given to pros- pecting and the locating of mineral quartz ledges. Many of these prospects were very good. One quartz mill was built and put in operation at a point four miles west of Placerville, called Quartz- burg. The mill was erected close to the mine, and both mill and mine proved to be a financial success. The rush of people in the Spring to Boise Basin was not so great as in 1864 and 1865, for the reason that many had saved money from their mining opera- tions, sold their claims and returned to their homes to remain. Many of them had taken with them from twenty to seventy-five pounds of gold dust. More people remained through the last Winter in Boise Basin than ever before, and quite a number came down to Boise City to spend the Winter and watch the proceedings of the legislature. Most of the miners did well during the Spring and Fall of 1866. Merchants and other trading establishments could not ask such high prices as the transportation of goods had now become comparatively cheap. Many new stocks were brought in which made lively competition, and some of the merchants suffered heavy losses by fire. The year 1866 was not a prosperous year for but few merchants in Boise Basin. The placer mines, however, produced about the same amount of gold as in 1865.
OWYHEE MINES.
The quartz mines in Owyhee County near Ruby and Silver City, especially on what is known as War Eagle Mountain, produced well. Several quartz mills had been brought in and all seemed to do good work and turned out a large amount of what was called silver bullion, but it contained gold enough to make the value of the bullion worth from two and a half to four dollars an ounce. This bullion was usually run into large bars weighing about one hundred pounds apiece and shipped through Wells, Fargo & Com- pany's Express via Boise City, Umatilla to Portland and on to San Francisco. We hauled the most of this bullion from Boise to Uma- tilla on stages; each bar was put into a strong, leather grip which fitted snug and buckled up tight. We had to have iron bars put the full length of the coaches on the under side of the bed to save
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MINING IN 1866
these bullion bars from breaking through. We have no record of the amount hauled on the stages but it came quite often in lots of from eight hundred to sixteen hundred pounds. One time we hauled twenty-one hundred pounds of this bullion at one load, to- gether with two express messengers, two treasure boxes well filled with gold dust, one hundred and twenty-five pounds of mail and seven passengers from Boise City. This was the best paying load ever taken over the stage road and was taken through without ac- cident and on regular time.
ROCKY BAR AND ATLANTA.
There was considerable stir among the people about the quartz mines in and around Rocky Bar and Atlanta. A number of loca- tions were made and quite an amount of work done. Two or three small quartz mills were put up and several arastras, but we can- not say very much money was taken out. Several ledges showed ore of high garde but it was very expensive to get supplies, the roads were bad, tolls high, and the snow did not leave the camps until late in the Spring and came again early in the Fall.
LEMHI COUNTY.
Some prospecting was done in what is now Lemhi and Custer counties. Locations for placer mining were made on the Salmon River and its tributaries, also a few locations of quartz ledges, but no large amount of money was taken out.
NORTH IDAHO.
A few men still remained at the placer mining camps of Oro Fino, Pierce City and Elk City, in Shoshone County. These miners took out some placer gold and located a few quartz ledges. A few men also remained at Warrens and Florence in Idaho County. They took out some placer gold, and several quartz ledges were located around Warrens. Mining in Idaho in 1866 was generally success- ful. From what we know of the amount of money taken from the mines, and from information we consider correct, we feel safe in stating that the amount taken, as a whole, was greater than any previous year, and we estimate the mines in Idaho produced in the year 1866 about twelve million dollars.
CHAPTER XXX.
FARMING, STOCK RAISING AND FREIGHTING IN SOUTHERN IDAHO IN 1866.
By this time quite a number of the people had made up their minds that Southern Idaho was a good place to live. A large num- ber of locations were made on agricultural land in Boise and Pay- ette valleys, also on the Weiser and other places. Several small ditches were taken out for irrigating and quite an amount of grain and vegetables raised. Hay was put up to supply the demand. Several orchards were set out and Boise and Payette valleys began to look homelike. The farmers had a hard time for some years, building houses, fencing their fields, making stables, corrals, sheds, etc., and grubbing out sage brush and plowing the land. The most of the seed for the new land was packed or hauled from Eastern Oregon, which made it very expensive. It was very expensive get- ting water and building ditches. The crops were light, and last, but not least of the annoyances to the farmers, were the grass- hoppers, which would come and sweep the fields clean after all the farmers' hard work. But the farmers persevered, and in a few years had very comfortable homes.
This year freights were greatly reduced. Ox teams, mule teams and horse teams were plentiful on the road between Boise and Umatilla, so the hauling of freight was reduced in the Summer and Fall to five and six cents per pound. The supplies were likewise re- duced in price. A few cattle and horses were raised and every- thing seemed to go along nicely in Southern Idaho.
LAW, ORDER AND GOOD CONDUCT OF THE PEOPLE IN 1866.
The people of Southern Idaho were progressive, industrious and possessed good moral habits. Several churches were erected and services were well attended. Almost every one seemed to be inter- ested in securing good schools for the children.
The laws, both civil and criminal, were good for the preservation of life and property, giving justice to all. The executive offices and courts were filled with honorable, competent men, who enforced the laws strictly. Our young Territory was fortunate in having but few drones, vagabonds, tramps or professional grafters, the population consisting mostly of energetic, enterprising people, who had come from different States in the Union. At that time it was not only an expensive trip to come to Idaho but it was, also, a danger-
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STOCK RAISING IN 1866
ous journey as the Indians were constantly on the warpath. So few people tried to come who were not energetic and enterprising.
The people of 1866 seemed to settle down and be more contented than during previous years. In fact, before this few had thought of remaining permanently in Idaho. Nearly all business had been connected directly or indirectly with mining, and the majority of people had thought only of making money and then returning to their old homes, wherever they might be.
Many who were fortunate did return, but others found it im- possible to arrange business matters so they could go and stayed on year after year until at last Idaho became home. They realized, after a few years, that the climate of Idaho could not be surpassed and that it was one of the choice spots made by the Supreme Being -why should they not stay?
CHAPTER XXXI.
PROGRESS AND DOINGS OF THE PEOPLE OF IDAHO TERRITORY IN A GENERAL WAY IN THE YEARS 1867-1870 INCLUSIVE.
During these four years in Idaho, no very great amount of new developments were made. The population decreased considerable owing mainly to the working out of many of the rich placer mines in Boise Basin.
The reader must bear in mind, mining for any kind of mineral differs from agricultural pursuits not only in the kind of labor and machinery used, but every ton of placer ground well worked is gone forever, so far as getting any more gold from it is concerned. The same with gold or silver quartz; neither placer ground nor quartz reproduces after having had the precious metals once ex- tracted; not so with agricultural lands, which, with proper care and good cultivation, reproduce each year so far as the memory of man runneth. The number of men engaged in placer mining in these years gradually decreased in most all of the placer min- ing camps in Idaho.
A few new discoveries of placer ground were made, which at- tracted some attention, on what is known as Loon Creek and other streams in Lemhi County; but none of them proved to be very rich or extensive, and but few men remained in these new camps.
A few of the mining men turned their attention to prospecting for gold and silver-bearing quartz ledges, and quite a large num- ber of locations were made in the different counties, which included Boise, Owyhee, Alturas and Lemhi counties. Many of them had considerable development work done on them, but few of them, except in Owyhee County, had machinery put on them for work- ing the ore, so the quartz mining industry in Idaho for these four years did not amount to much except in Owyhee County, where several quartz mills were in operation and the returns from the ore worked were very good, in fact some of the ore was very rich.
Farming, upon the whole, increased considerable in the Territory in these four years. Some new locations were made in each county, and quite an amount of new improvement made by the farmers in the way of digging irrigating ditches, making fences, clearing up and cultivating new land, building new houses, barns, etc.
Owing to the increased amount of agricultural products raised and the decreased demand on account of loss of population in mining camps, the price of agricultural products came down so low
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PROGRESS MADE IN 1867-70
that it was very discouraging to farmers, who still had to pay high prices for their groceries and other necessary goods, including farming implements, high rate of taxes, etc. Under this state of affairs, upon the whole, the farmers could not, as a rule, be con- sidered prosperous during these four years. A few of them, who had set out fruit trees early, began to get considerable fruit which commanded a very good price. More attention was paid to the education of the children in these years than before. Quite a number of school houses were built in different parts of the Terri- tory, and public schools were maintained for several months in each year. Stock raising, cattle and horses increased to a considerable extent in these four years, and the market price for beef, horses, and mules kept up at good figures.
The same old slow and expensive mode of transportation of freight and passengers by freight teams and stages still remained, though the rate on both freight and passengers was greatly re- duced from the prices charged in former years.
The Union and Central Pacific Railroads having been completed and a connection of their roads in May, 1869, having been made, it enabled our merchants to ship their goods from either the East or from San Francisco to Kelton on the Central Pacific Railroad, which place was only two hundred and forty miles distant from Boise City, which was about forty miles less than Umatilla on the Columbia River, from where most all of our goods had been freighted before this change.
The connecting of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, which stretched across the great American plains, set many peo- ple in Idaho almost wild to visit their old homes in the Eastern States and many of them went; and, like many who now go annu- ally from the Eastern States to Europe with well-filled purses and return a few months later minus the contents, not only decreasing their wealth but lessening the circulating medium of their country by spending and leaving large amounts so far away that it sel- dom, if ever, gets back to where it was taken from; so with many of our people in 1869 and 1870, myself not an exception. Of
course, we all had a good time, but our circulating medium was so much reduced that it was painfully felt in our business. We had spent it too far away from our homes for it to get back to per- form its service in the channels of trade soon, if ever. But we all lived over it, and a few of us are still here.
But few improvements were made in the different towns in Idaho during these four years. Some of the placer mining towns even went back, notably in the Boise Basin. Mining towns re-
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THE HISTORY OF IDAHO
duce or decay as the mines fail. Towns in the agricultural dis- tricts held their own, with a few improvement in some of them.
Congress did, at the earnest solicitation of our delegate, Hon. E. D. Holbrook, make an appropriation to build a United States assay office and a penitentiary at or near Boise City. These build- ings were both in course of construction, and were completed in the year 1871.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE TERRITORY OF IDAHO.
This legislature convened at Boise City on December 7th, 1868, and adjourned January 14, 1869.
The names of the members were as follows:
MEMBERS OF THE COHNCIL.
G. W. Paul .Ada County
V. S. Anderson Alturas County
W. M. Vance. Boise County
B. G. Allen Boise County
A. J. Boomer. Boise County
C. C. Dudley . Boise County
S. P. C. Howard Idaho County
J. S. Taylor Nez Perce County
F. E. Ensign. . Owyhee County
J. M. Taylor . Oneida County
B. F. Yantes Shoshone County .
President, J. S. Taylor.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Thos. H. Gallaway Ada County
J. B. Wright. Ada County
Thos. B. Hart Ada County
Meredith Kelly Alturas County
Louis Linbeck Alturas County
W. S. Harley
Boise County
U. Marx
Boise County
Thos. Fay.
Boise County
S. T. Hussman
Boise County
D. M. McGrew
Boise County
D. B. Moody .
Boise County
S. Goodnaugh
Boise County
Hayden Bailey
Boise County
E. T. Beatty
Idaho County .Idaho County
E. Mulkey
G. W. Bell Nez Perce County
V. S. Zeigle. Nez Perce County
Patrick Campbell .Owyhee County
Seth Catlin Owyhee County
His-10
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THE HISTORY OF IDAHO
P. S. Quinn. Owyhee County
F. M. Shoemaker Oneida County
W. A. Goulder Shoshone County
Speaker, E. T. Beatty.
It will be observed that it has been two years since the meeting of the Fourth or last session of the Territorial legislature. No doubt but the people felt grateful to the Congress of the United States for the change made in the law, from annual to bi-annual elections and meetings of the legislature, for several reasons. First: It stopped much expense and annoyance holding annual elections. Second: It gave the people time to find out and test the laws already enacted. Third: It at least stopped the extra pay given to members and attaches for one year out of every two, which was a saving of about fourteen thousand dollars to the tax- payers every other year.
The Comptroller's report, dated December 1, 1868, shows:
Jan. 1, 1868, balance in the treasury. $ 6,053.50 Dec. 1, 1868, receipts for past three quarters 37,579.38
Making total receipts $ 43,632.88
Dec. 1, 1868, disbursements of Treasurer $ 35,454.94
Balance left in treasury . .$ 8,177.94
Dec. 1, 1868, total indebtedness to this date, including outstanding bonds, warrants, and interest. $113,102.18 Less cash in the treasury 8,177.94
Dec. 1, 1868, debt, less amount in treasury . .$104,924.24 Unpaid taxes for 1868 were $25,000; valuation of all assessa- ble property for the year 1868, as shown by reports, was $4,621,- 980.49; Territorial tax was one per cent.
Official vote for delegate to Congress in 1866. .6.564
Official vote for delegate to Congress in 1868. .5,634
Decrease in two years 930
Estimated number of white population 25,000
Estimated number of Chinamen 1,500
It would seem that after waiting two years, the people concluded that they did not want so much legislation as had been given them annually heretofore, so they elected a new set of men all around to legislate for them this time, save and except one member of the House of the Fourth session, who was sent to the Council of the Fifth session.
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FIFTH SESSION OF LEGISLATURE
The members of this Fifth session did not prove to be such ex- perts at making laws as some of their annual predecessors had been. They succeeded, however, in enacting laws and resolutions enough to cover one hundred and sixty-two pages. Some of them were good, wholesome laws, and others were not so good.
They did not fail to draw the extra pay from the Territorial treasury, which for members and attaches amounted to thirteen thousand nineteen dollars and twenty-five cents ($13,019.25) ; and, for other incidental expenses, one thousand four hundred two dol- lars and sixteen cents ($1,402.16), making a total of $14,421.41. This was all extra over and above what the United States Govern- ment paid them. The amount paid them by the United States Gov- ernment was supposed to be in full for all services rendered by them, but they seemed to think their services were worth more money.
The act making this appropriation for extra pay to members and attaches of the legislature was passed at the First session of the Territorial legislature, and approved January 13, 1864 (see pages 527 and 528, First Territorial Session Laws). At the time this act was passed, it included extra pay for the Governor and the three Judges at the rate of $2,500 per annum each, and the Territorial Secretary an extra $1,500 per annum-all to come out of the Ter- ritorial treasury. At the Third session, so much of the act of Jan- uary 13, 1864, was repealed as applied to giving extra compensa- tion to the three Judges, the Governor, and the Secretary-approved January 9, 1866 (see page 106, Third Session Laws). But on January 12, 1866, an act was approved restoring the extra pay of the Governor and the Secretary (see page 145, Third Session Laws). At the Fourth session, an act was passed cutting the extra pay of the Governor and the Secretary off.
Now comes the Fifth session and passed an act restoring the ex- tra pay of $2,500 each to the three Judges and to the Governor, and giving the Secretary $1,000 extra annually, and made this extra pay to commence on December 7, 1868, while the act was not ap- proved until January 14, 1869. This legislation took eleven thou- sand dollars annually from the Territorial treasury, and adding to this the extra pay of the members, attaches and incidentals, which made a total of $14,421.41, we have the sum of $25,421.41 legis- lated out of the Territorial Treasury for one year to pay officials and a few incidentals, for which the United States Government was paying a compensation fixed by the laws of Congress, and all of this to come from a few taxpayers whose property was assessed at a valuation of less than five million dollars for the year 1868, as
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THE HISTORY OF IDAHO
shown by the comptroller's report on page 11. The whole amount was $4,621,980.49.
This Fifth session passed a new revenue act repealing all former revenue acts. This is quite a lengthy act covering about fifty pages, in which provisions are made for taxing most all kinds of property and businesses that are carried on in the country. Upon the whole, it was an improvement on our former revenue laws. They reduced the levy for Territorial purposes from ten to eight mills on the dollar.
Among the several acts passed at this session was an act appro- priating twenty-five hundred dollars for Charles Ostner, in consid- eration of his having presented, as a gift to the people of Idaho Territory, an equestrian statue of George Washington carved out of Idaho wood, by the said Ostner, at the expense of many months of hard labor.
They also passed an act appropriating nineteen hundred four dollars and thirty-seven cents to pay S. R. Howlett for the care and removal of the Territorial records from Lewiston to Boise City in 1865 and for his services in taking care of them seven months.
They appropriated money to pay for the publishing of the laws passed at this session; passed several acts for the relief of individ- uals, which did not relieve the people; passed an act creating the county of Lemhi, and locating the county seat at Salmon City. This act also appointed George L. Shoup, Benjamin S. Heath and E. H. Tuttle a board of county commissioners. It provided that Lemhi County should pay to Idaho County $700.00 as her share of the indebtedness of Idaho County. This act was approved January 15, 1869 (see pages 119 and 120, Fifth Session Laws).
While this legislature made a few good laws, it is a question whether the good legislation they enacted was a fair compensation for the increased debt they placed on the few struggling taxpayers.
While the members of this Fifth session were most all new mem- bers, they did not fail to look out for themselves; and, also, for the financial well-being of other Territorial and county officers, with but little apparent regard for those who had to pay the bills.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CLASSIFICATION OF LAND IN IDAHO-CREATION OF COUNTIES-GEN-
ERAL REVIEW OF MEN AND COUNTIES FROM 1863 TO 1870.
To attempt to give a correct classification of the different kinds of land in Idaho would be a very difficult task, but it may be put down as approximately correct, as follows:
Area 84,600 square miles, equal to 54,144,000 acres, classified as follows:
ACRES.
Agricultural, reclaimed and susceptible of reclamation. . 18,000,000 Low mountain, hills, and grazing land. . 15,000,000
Mountain, timber and mineral land. . 18,000,000
Lakes, lava and rivers. 3,144,000
Total . 54,144,000
Prior to the passage of the act of Congress creating Idaho Terri- tory, on March 3rd, 1863, the legislature of Washington Territory had created four counties situated in a portion of the territory in- cluded in Idaho, namely, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Idaho and Boise counties. The three last named had been organized and had their respective county governments in operation with a full corps of county officers. In order to make the boundary lines of these coun- ties more definite, the Idaho legislature at its First session passed acts creating three more new counties in addition to the four named above; also defined the boundary lines of the first four. These last three created were Owyhee, Alturas and Oneida counties. These seven counties included all of the territory that Idaho had when she became a State, but some of them were cut up and made into more counties before statehood.
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