USA > Idaho > The history of Idaho > Part 15
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Shoshone County, situated in the northern portion of the Terri- tory, was the county in which the placer gold mines were discov- ered on the tributaries of the Clearwater River, in the southern por- tion of the county in 1860, by Captain Pierce. Placer gold was dis- covered at three different places, and mining camps were established at each place; namely, Pierce City, Orofino and Elk City. The mines in these camps do not appear to have been extensive, only af- fording employment for a few hundred men and not extra rich.
Among some of the early settlers in these mining camps were Captain Pierce the discoverer, Hon. Standford Capps, Hon. James
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A. Orr, Hon. W. A. Goulder, Hon. W. H. Hudson, Hon. W. F. McMillan. These last five named, we assume, were prominent men in the development of that county, as their names appear on the legislative rolls in the early sessions of the legislatures from that county.
Shoshone County being a mountainous county with but little ag- ricultural land, little was done in the way of agriculture. A large area of land in this county was well covered with fine pine timber. Soon after the placer mines began to fail to produce well in the three small camps mentioned herein, the people nearly all left the county, leaving only a few hundred to keep up and maintain a county government. The valuation of assessable property in this county for several years was less than one hundred thousand dol- lars, and the number of voters less than two hundred.
The people of this county had a hard struggle until 1882, when the richest lead and silver-bearing quartz mines in the United States were discovered in the northern part of the county; and soon after this, the people began to discover the great wealth that lay in the fine belts of timber in that county; and now Shoshone County can truly say that she ships more mineral and timber wealth annually than any other two or three counties in Idaho. Verily, the old adage that the "last shall be first" has come true in the case of Shoshone County. The county seat of this county is now located at Wallace, a nice town situated in the center of the mining dis- trict, and is surrounded by large bodies of fine timber nearby with good railroad facilities.
NEZ PERCE COUNTY.
When this county was reorganized, her boundary lines were de- fined by an act of the Legislature of Idaho, approved February 4th, 1864, and her boundary lines have been changed some since. But that large piece of territory that lay north and west of Nez Perce County, having but few settlers, was, by act of December 22nd, 1864, created as Latah and Kootenai counties but not organized, and attached to Nez Perce for judicial purposes to await the action of the people. Since that time, these counties of Latah and Kootenai have been organized under the act of December 22nd, 1864, of which we will speak later on.
Lewiston, which is situated at the junction of the Clearwater River and the Snake River, was made the county seat of Nez Perce County, and is at the head of navigation for steamboats on the Snake River. Lewiston, being at the head of navigation, was the distributing depot for all of Northern Idaho for many years, which made it a very important place.
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CREATION OF COUNTIES, 1863-70
The Nez Perce Indian Reservation was located in 1855, and is situated within the boundary lines of Nez Perce County. The old Spalding Mission at Lapwai, located in 1836, is situated within the boundary lines of this county. An Indian agency was established at this place in 1860, and a military post, in 1861, which has since been abandoned by the United States Government.
Lewiston has been, and still is, a very important place for the distribution of goods for the interior towns and for the shipment of agricultural products to the seaboard. Lewiston held the capital for two years by virtue of the Governor designating that place for the legislature to meet, the Organic Act of Congress having failed to locate the capital. In 1862, before Idaho was organized, Lewiston shipped out by pack trains most all the supplies that came with the great rush of people, who went to what was called the Salmon River (Florence) and other smaller mining camps.
The buildings at Lewiston consisted mostly of large tents; and the streets were paved with a deep layer of loose sand, which would mingle freely with the frequent lively chinook winds that came up the river with such force that both men and pack mules would have to hunt some kind of a wind-break or else take a serious risk of having their eyesight cut out by the sharp sand. This is no dream. I was there and have had experience in these gentle wind and sand gales; but, long ago, the good enterprising people of that place either subdued or had this sand blown away, and have built a fine town with good streets.
Nez Perce County may be put down as a fine agricultural, horti- cultural and stock raising country, with a good healthy climate, and settled by an intelligent and thrifty people. The valuation of her assessable property in 1870 was $423,531.25; and the number of votes cast in 1870 for the delegate to Congress was 316. The reader must remember that before the year 1870, the best of the placer mines in Idaho had been worked out, and about two-thirds of her early population had left.
Among some of the early settlers of Nez Perce County were Wil- liam Craig, John Silcott, L. Bacon, George Zeigle, Hill Beachy, Thomas Beall, and many others. Rev. Mr. Spalding was first to locate and settle at Lapwai Mission in 1836; but, on account of In- dian hostilities, left in 1847. Below we give Mr. Thomas Beall's account of the arrival of the first steamer:
"In regard to the first steamer to reach Lewiston, it was the Colonel Wright and not the Okanogan. The latter boat did not ascend the Snake River till 1862.
"The Colonel Wright was the first steamer built above The Dalles,
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and on the evening of the third day of May, 1861, entered the mouth of the Clearwater and proceeded as far as the Nez Perce agency at the mouth of the Lapwai, where she tied up for the night. The next day, May 4, Mr. A. J. Cain, the agent, John Silcott, myself and several others went aboard and started up the river. Our late townsman, S. S. Slater, was one of the passengers, and had a quantity of goods aboard for the mines. We found the rapids so strong above the Big Eddy that we had to put out a cable and it parted and we drifted down into the eddy.
"Captain Len White was in command of the steamer, and our veteran steamboat captain, E. W. Baughman, was mate. Captain White concluded to go back, so we went down to the mouth of Bed- rock Creek and discharged the freight, which consisted of Slater's goods. Our late townsman, Lot Wiggin, was with Slater as clerk. There was no town started until the Wright's second trip. This is a matter of history and we want it correct. Yours,
"THOMAS BEALL."
IDAHO COUNTY.
This county was created by the Washington Territory legislature and re-bounded by the First Idaho legislature. It lays south of Nez Perce and Shoshone counties and extends south to the divide between the waters of the Weiser River on the south, and the waters of the Salmon River on the north, and extended east to the line di- viding Idaho and Montana. A few years later, the county of Lemhi was created out of the eastern portion of Idaho County.
The Salmon River or Florence mines are situated in the south- western portion of this county a few miles north of the Salmon River in a basin in the high mountains. Placer gold was found in large quantities in a few claims, but the best paying claims were worked out in the year 1862. Warrens mining camp was discovered south of Salmon River that Summer in Idaho County, but was neither extensive or very rich. What is called Big Camas Prairie, in the north, is situated in Idaho County, and is among one of the richest bodies of agricultural land in the West. In packing sup- plies from Lewiston to the Salmon or Florence mines in 1862, we had to cross this fine large prairie, which was unsettled at that time. It was covered with a luxuriant growth of bunch grass that was beautiful to see and most excellent feed for our animals ; but, when we left the prairie and started up the rough, narrow trail in the mountains, it was a little tough.
Idaho County may properly be classed as a fine agricultural and stock raising county with a large amount of good timber and a great many large low-grade gold-bearing quartz ledges.
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Among the earliest settlers was the late Hon. L. P. Brown, who settled in 1862 at the place he called Mt. Idaho at the base of the mountain where the Mose Milner trail started up the mountain for the Florence mines. Mr. Brown succeeded in getting the county seat located at his Mt. Idaho town. He built a large hotel there. He kept a good house, and always gave the traveler value received for his money. Mt. Idaho, being away from the center of popula- tion, after many years the county seat was moved to Grangeville, near the center of population. The late Hon. S. S. Fenn was an- other one of the early settlers of Idaho County. These two old pioneers, Messrs. Brown and Fenn, were good, upright and intel- ligent men, who always performed their duty promptly as good citizens, and as worthy officials when holding office. The late Ben Morris and Alonzo Lealand took active parts in Idaho County in its early settlement, as did Captain Ralph Bledsoe and Chris Hig- bee, and all of them performed their parts well.
The valuation of assessable property in Idaho County, in the year 1870, was $159,168.75, and the number of votes cast in 1870, was 373.
BOISE COUNTY.
This county was created by act of the Washington legislature at their session held in the Winter of 1862 and 1863. At the First session of the Idaho legislature, an act was passed defining the boundaries of this county, approved February 4th, 1864. This county lies south of Idaho County. Its boundary line extended as far east as the junction of the Bruneau River with the Snake River, and followed down the Snake River to the southwest line of Idaho County. Its boundary lines included, at that time, all of what is now Boise, Ada, Washington and Canyon counties.
Boise County, as it is now constituted, contains all of what is commonly called the Boise Basin, where very rich placer gold mines were discovered in the summer of 1862. These mines created a great excitement all over the Pacific coast. In the Spring of 1863 there was about 20,000 people came to this mining camp, which covered a considerable area of land, which was about fifteen miles square. Mining was the principal business in this county for about seven years. By the year 1870, many of the best mines were pretty well worked out and the people began to leave the mines. Some settled in the small valleys in the county and engaged in farming and stock raising, while many others returned to their old homes in different states.
Boise County may be put down as having a large amount of min- eral land, both placer and gold-bearing quartz; a large quantity of
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good timber ; a large area of good grazing land, and a considerable amount of good agricultural land.
In the sixties, Boise County had a much larger population than any county in the Territory. Several flourishing towns were built up during the Fall of 1863 and the Spring and Summer of 1864 in the Boise Basin mining district, among which were Idaho City, Centerville, Pioneer City and Placerville. Each of these towns was surrounded by rich placer mines, and none of them more than four- teen miles apart.
Idaho City was the largest and had a population of at least five thousand with many business houses with large stocks of goods. From some unknown cause, fire broke out in Idaho City on May 8th, 1865, and consumed most all of the business portion of the town, burning all goods and supplies on hand by the merchants, except what some of them had in fire-proof cellars. The loss from this fire was estimated to be near one million dollars with but little in- surance. This was a heavy loss to many, and a set-back to the busi- ness of the country generally. But as fast as lumber and other ma- terial could be procured, nearly all who had lost their buildings, rebuilt on a larger and more expensive scale.
Not long after the town had been well built up and the people had begun to recover pretty well from their losses from the fire in 1865, another fire broke out in July, 1867, and consumed most of the town, goods, supplies, etc., except what was stored in fire-proof cellars. This was a much harder blow on the business men than the fire of 1865. The loss was about the same, but, by this time, many of the rich mines had been pretty well worked out, and the pros- pect for good business in the future did not look good enough to induce many to rebuild. However, there were a few more substan- tial business houses built of brick, which are still occupied. After the fire of 1867, many of the merchants and other business men left Idaho City. A few of them located in Boise City and the remainder scattered over the country.
There were too many prominent men in Boise County in the early days for us to undertake to give their names. The county seat was located at Idaho City. The valuation of assessable property in Boise County in 1870 was $1,076,595.08 ; and the votes of the county for the same year were 1,557.
OWYHEE COUNTY.
This county was created by act of the First legislature of Idaho, approved February 4th, 1864. This county covered all the territory south of Snake River to the Oregon and Nevada lines, and east to the Goose Creek range of mountains.
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CREATION OF COUNTIES, 1863-70
In 1863, a limited amount of gold placer mines were discovered on Jordan Creek, which paid well with working, but were pretty well worked out in two years. The gold here contained a large per- centage of silver which reduced its value to about eleven dollars per ounce. During the Fall of 1863 and Summer of 1864, some very rich gold and silver quartz discoveries were made on a mountain called War Eagle near where the placer mines were located. Several quartz mills were erected in 1865 and 1866 to work the ore from these quartz ledges, some of which proved to be very rich in silver and gold. From these quartz mines, large quantities of bullion were produced for several years, and a number of them are still pro- ducing well up to this time, 1907.
Owyhee County is noted for her rich quartz mines; her large amount of good grazing lands; and for a limited amount of very excellent agricultural lands.
The county seat is at Silver City near the mining camps. The value of assessable property in the year 1870 was $588,881.50; from some unknown cause, this is less than half what it had been reported in former years. We take our figures from the comp- troller's report, but we think there must have been a mistake in his report. The vote cast in that county in 1870 was 575.
ALTURAS COUNTY.
This county was created at the First session of the Territorial legislature, the act being approved February 4th, 1864. Alturas County lies east and south of Boise County, taking in the country north of Snake River from the Bruneau River to Lost River, and as far north as the Sawtooth range of mountains, following said range of mountains to the eastern boundary line of Boise County.
While this county was very large in area, only a small portion of it attracted people to settle there for several reasons: First, a large portion was mountainous; second, there was a considerable amount of lava country, and most of the agricultural lands was arid and required artificial irrigation to produce crops ; and last, but not least, there were roving bands of Indians in this county for many years, who were very annoying to the few settlers there.
Some gold quartz ledges were discovered in the mountainous part of this county near the headwaters of Boise River in the years 1863 and 1864. Two small mining towns were built-Rocky Bar and Atlanta-where a few hundred men located for mining and trading purposes. There was a great deal of development work done on the ledges in these camps, and a few quartz mills and sev- eral arrastres were erected. Quite a quantity of ore, which was worked, paid fairly well, but, owing to the deep snows, long Win-
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ters and expensive transportation, these mining camps could not offer sufficient inducements to capitalists to come in and put up proper machinery to work them, only on a very limited scale.
In later years, this county came to the front in agriculture, stock raising, mining, etc., of which we will speak later on. Alturas County, as first created, may be put down as having a large amount of mineral, timber and fine grazing land; a large amount of good agricultural land, when irrigated; and some worthless lava land, so far as man knows at this time. The county seat was located at Rocky Bar. The assessable property in 1870 was $159,387.97; and the votes cast in 1870 were 248.
ONEIDA COUNTY.
This county was created at the First session of the Idaho legis- lature, the act being approved January 22nd, 1864. Oneida seemed to cover all of what is commonly called Southeastern Idaho, in fact it covered some that was given to Wyoming in 1868. This was a very large county bounded on the west by Alturas and Owyhee counties, on the south by Utah, on the east by the Rocky range, on the north by the jog in the Idaho line.
This county has been divided up several times in late years; but as first created in its wild virgin state, it was not at all inviting to the emigrant, homesteader, capitalist or prospector. It consisted of one vast plain of sagebrush land with a few hills and mountains with timber and numerous small streams and fertile bottom lands, with the great Snake River coming from the east flowing west across the county, and with many wild Indians roving at will over the county. No mines having been discovered in this county in the early days, so but few people were attracted to this county for some years. Finally, the settlers along the northern boundary of Utah began to spread over onto the southern boundary of Oneida County, but it was several years before many people went to that county.
A large Indian reservation was established for the Bannock Indians within the boundary lines of this county in 1866. This tended to retard the settlement and improvement of this county for several years.
The county seat of Oneida county was located at Soda Springs by the act creating the county. This place being far away from the center of settlement, the county seat was later on removed to Malad City in the southern portion of the county.
Oneida County, as first established, may be put down as con- taining a large area of good wild agricultural land, susceptible of easy reclamation; a fine lot of good grazing land for stock; a limited amount of mountainous timber land with some little min-
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eral land carrying gold in placer and quartz in small quantities. The famous soda springs, near the old emigrant road, used to at- tract the attention of all passing emigrants. They were situated in this county, as it was first constituted.
The valuation of assessable property in this county, for the year 1870, was $192,234; and the number of votes cast, 207. It will be seen by this that people were slow in settling in this county ; but later on, it seemed to be very attractive to homeseekers and at this date-1907-with her several subdivisions, supports quite a large population which seems to be prosperous.
We have given a brief description of the seven counties as first organized by the Idaho Territorial legislature, in January, 1864, which seven counties embraced the whole of Idaho, as now con- stituted, prior to 1870. Two more counties were created by the division of two of these original counties, of which we will now speak.
ADA COUNTY.
This county was created by an act of the Second session of the Territorial legislature, which was approved December 22nd, 1864. The territory included in Ada County was all taken from Boise County and covered all of what is now Ada, Washington and Can- yon counties. The two counties last named were created from por- tions of Ada at a later date than we are now writing of. The county seat of Ada County was located at Boise City by the act creating the county.
At the same session of the legislature, an act was passed and approved December 7th, 1864, to permanently locate the capital of Idaho Territory at Boise, on and after December 24th, 1864. There was some dissatisfaction about the removal of the capital, which was then at Lewiston by order of the Governor, which re- sulted in some litigation, so that the archives of the capital did not arrive at Boise City until October, 1865, after which time all was quiet.
It was supposed that, as soon as the capital was located at Boise City, the town would boom ahead rapidly; but, not so; most of the people who came preferred to take a chance in the mines in Boise Basin or at Silver City, and but few settled on ranches until they had tried their luck in the mining camps. Most all who did settle on farming land in this country in those days were unable to put their land in proper condition to produce good crops for several years.
Everything the farmers needed was very expensive. Even their seed grain had to be brought from Oregon. None of them could
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afford to hire help, but often had to leave their homes and go to some mining camp and work for wages to get money to buy pro- visions and clothing for themselves and families; so improvements in the country and in the town were slow for several years, but some progress was made each year.
Range for stock was good in this county, and all who had stock did well; but most of them sold out their stock of cattle and sheep to butchers in the mining camps, got the cash and left.
THE LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL CITY OF IDAHO.
A United States military post had been established near where Boise City was located about July 6th, 1863, a day or two before the Capital City was laid out.
Boise City was located at what might be called the junction of cross-roads of two great thoroughfares-wagon and stage roads- one leading from the Oregon and Washington Territory country through Boise City to Salt Lake and from there east; the other road leading from the rich Boise Basin mining district via Boise City and on to the rich mining district at Silver City in Owyhee County, thence south into Nevada.
This certainly was a very favorable location, coupled with a large area of excellent agricultural land in the Boise, Payette, Weiser and Snake River valleys easy of reclamation, to say noth- ing of the hundreds of thousands of acres of sagebrush table lands that have since proved to be fine agricultural land when culti- vated and irrigated. It would seem that with all these advantages the county and city should have improved rapidly, but not so; the people were poor, county and Territorial governments were rather expensive, taxes high, and the progress was slow for a number of years.
Ada County, as first created, had a large amount of good agri- cultural, horticultural and grazing lands easy of reclamation, and a small amount of mineral and timber lands. The assessable prop- erty in 1870 was $918,141.00; and the vote for delegate in 1870 was 852.
Among the first settlers of Boise City and Ada County were Thomas and Frank Davis, Cyrus Jacobs, Crawford Slocum & Co., Durell & Moore, Dr. Ephriam Smith, H. C. Riggs, Jas. D. Agnew, Peter Sonna, Robert Willson, H. J. G. Maxon, Seth Bixby, A. G. Redway, and James S. Reynolds.
LEMHI COUNTY.
This county was created out of the southeastern portion of Idaho County by act of the Territorial legislature passed at its Fifth
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session, approved January 9th, 1869. The county seat was located by the act at Salmon City, where it still remains.
It is said that in the year 1854 a small colony of Mormons set- tled in the Lemhi Valley about twenty miles from where Salmon City is located. They built a small stockade or fort for protection against the Indians. It is said that they constructed a ditch for irrigating, and carried on farming to some extent for two seasons, but they were annoyed so much by the Indians, who became so hostile that it was not safe for them to remain longer, and they all left in 1857 and returned to Utah from whence they had come.
So this part of the country was abandoned by the whites until the year 1866, when white men again invaded it, prospecting for placer gold mines, which they found on the Salmon River and its tributaries, also several good gold-bearing quartz ledges. Since that time, the country has been occupied by white people with but little interference from Indians.
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