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Captain Dent, who was a brother of Mrs. U. S. Grant, the gen- eral's wife, was dispatched from Walla Walla with a command of almost eighty cavalrymen. He crossed the Blue Mountains, passed through Grand Ronde Valley, the Powder River and Burnt River Valleys under the guidance of an old Scotch mountaineer named Craig, who lived among the Nez Perce Indians at Lapwai. Joe Reith was also with the command. When they left the Burnt River Valley and were crossing over the high point between Burnt River and Snake River they came upon the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Van Norman and boys and found that they had been killed by the Indians, who had also taken the girls as prisoners and carried them away. Of course the bodies were buried where they were found, but the Van Norman girls were not rescued until several years later, at the conclusion of the war with the Bannocks and Shoshones in Southern Idaho, when the United States troops were under the command of General Connor. Pressing on Captain Dent's command made careful search for further sign of the im- migrants and soon picked up the boys who had remained on Burnt River, and reached the Owyhee just six weeks after the people had been driven from their train, finding among the survivors Miss Trimble and her little half-sister, whom she had carried from the train and continued to care for. All of the Myers family and a few others, making according to my memory, sixteen survivors of the forty-four souls of the train. These people had been almost without food except rose berries, a few fish and salmon brought to them by Indians who seemed to be located near the mouth of the Boise River. They also found snakes, frogs and mice occa- sionally but were reduced at last to such a condition of starvation that they consumed the body of a man who died of wounds re- ceived in the Indian attack, also of an infant and of a boy of ten years of age, young Otter, who was killed later by Indians some distance from the camp. I saw these people at the camp of Captain Dent at the western base of the Blue Mountains on the Umatilla Reservation on his return with them, and although he had traveled very slowly and carefully, after resting with them about a week at their camp on the Owyhee, a more pitiful sight would be exceedingly difficult to imagine. With the exception of Mrs. Myers and the young boys who had remained on Burnt River there was no one in the party who appeared to have the intelli- gence or mental strength of a child of three years of age. Cap- tain Dent conveyed them to Walla Walla where they were well supplied and cared for until they recovered normal strength. They were then permitted and assisted to proceed on their way to the Willamette Valley.
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The facts herein related of the sufferings of the Otter party of immigrants were the worst and most distressing, taken in all their details, of anything that ever came to the knowledge of the author during his many experiences among the Indians in the early days of Oregon.
Soldier, Idaho, August 30, 1908.
CHAPTER LXXIII.
THE LATE GENERAL LANE.
The first Governor of Oregon Territory, soon after Congress passed the Act creating the Territory of Oregon (which was in August in 1848), General Joseph Lane, who was then fresh from the front in the Mexican War where he rendered gallant service, was appointed by the President of the United States to be Gover- nor of the newly created Territory of Oregon.
He and Joseph Meek, who had been appointed United States Marshal, with a small detachment of troops made the trip over- land via the California route, arriving at San Francisco in Feb- ruary, 1849, where they took a steamer for Astoria near the junc- tion of the Columbia River with the ocean, thence by Indian ca- noes to Oregon City, arriving there on March 2nd, 1849. On the following day he issued his proclamation as Governor, proclaiming the creating and organizing of the Territory of Oregon under the laws of the United States.
General Lane's services as the first Governor of Oregon were great, good, and grand; he rose up to and met every emergency. Soon as he got the Territorial government in operation he turned his attention to the capture of six Indians that led the raid in the Marcus Whitman massacre of November the 29th, 1847. He saw to it that they had a fair trial before court and jury. They were duly convicted and executed in accordance with the testi- mony and law for one of the most horrible crimes that ever was committed. In 1853 the Indians broke out in Southern Oregon. When Governor Lane got the news of this he did not say, "Go, boys, and help the few white settlers subdue them," but he did say, "Come, boys, get ready quick and go with me to help the people out there protect their lives and property and chastize the hostile Indians."
The Governor led them on a forced march to the front, en- gaged the Indians in battle, led the charge, received quite a severe wound early in the engagement, but never flinched nor even let his own men know that he was wounded until after he had gained a victory and compelled an unconditional surrender of the hostile Indians to him. General Lane served two or more terms as dele- gate in Congress from Oregon and it was he who got the bill through Congress that admitted Oregon into the Union as a
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State. General Lane was the first Senator elected from Oregon to the United States Senate.
He was great, good, generous, kind and tender hearted, but brave as a lion and never faltered at his duty in defending the rights of the people he represented. He passed from his earthly mission March, 1881, loved and respected by all who knew him. Shortly after his death Mrs. W. J. Plymale of Oregon wrote a tribute to General and Mrs. Lane. It was published in some of the Oregon papers. It is a worthy tribute to the good old couple and we think worthy of a place in our book, so we give it here hoping the author will not be offended at the reproduction:
A TRIBUTE TO GENERAL AND MRS. LANE.
(Written for the fifth annual reunion of the Pioneer Society of Southern Oregon, by Mrs. W. J. Plymale.)
There is no name more intimately associated with the pioneer history of our country than that of General Joseph Lane. He it was that organized the Territorial government of Oregon and for a succession of years represented the struggling interests of our un- developed country in the halls of Congress, meeting and combat- ting the objections urged by older and more favored sections, and at the same time watching with affectionate yearning and anxious solicitude, the progress of the various Indian wars that broke from time to time with ghastly horror over our land, where with others, his well beloved wife kept tireless watch 'round the hearth-stone, braving the dangers of early pioneer life, in her fearless endeavors to lay the foundation in these luxuriant western wilds of our now peaceful and happy homes. All through our pioneer history is delicately interwoven the public acts of this truly great man, but how few of us knew him, in the grander and more exalted charac- ter of his home life. To know him as a friend was a living testimony of the great simplicity of his life; and withal he was generous as he was brave, ready at any time to sacrifice personal comfort to render assistance wherever the necessities of humanity demanded help. His devotion to principle was a part of his very life, but he ever conceded to others the individual right of opinion and accorded them the greater respect the more strongly they maintained them. As the years wore on and he was called to higher stations in public life, the same magnanimity and courtesy, ever marked his intercourse with opposing parties. Those who were once his friends were his life-long friends and during the long months of his last painful illness, which was greatly aggra- vated by wounds received in the Mexican War and by Indians in this valley in the war of 1853, he often spoke of his pioneer
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friends and sent for many of them to visit him. One of the most beautiful and touching characteristics of his life was his unvary- ing devotion to his wife, with whom he lived in the most perfect harmony for over 50 years; and how incomplete his history apart from the grand, true woman who through all those trying and eventful years was the light and inspiration of his life, and who with a spirit of heroism and self-abnegation guarded and guided their mutual interests, through sunshine and shadow keeping a tireless watch over the beloved treasure of home, while the hus- band and father periled his life on the field of battle, or watched our public interests at the then far distant Capital, that it re- quired months of dangerous journeying by sea or land to reach. None but a woman can realize the anxious waiting of those weary years, the proud unflinching devotion to the husband who crowned her life with loving kindness; sustained her through all the trials and vicissitudes while she kept brightly burning the beacon light of home 'round which husband and children were irresistibly drawn by the power of her womanly love and devotion. The grandest tribute that it were possible to receive was accorded her when General Lane was elected to the Senate and many of his friends from the thinly settled country round their home had called to ex- tend their congratulations. He took his wife by the hand and with a tremulous voice modulated to the most touching tenderness and affection said, "Friends, to Polly, my well beloved wife, I owe all the joy, all the success of my life, and I am proud to honor the sex by bearing this testimony to her womanly love and devotion." In all the success of his eventful life, varying from the carnage-covered battle field to a dangerous transit across the continent where dangers were met on every hand-in whatever public or private venture, at no time did the greatness of his char- acter shine so resplendently as when he paid his graceful and well deserved tribute to his loving wife, the honored mother of his children. Some time before Mrs. Lane's death they celebrated their golden wedding amidst the general rejoicing and congrat- ulations of children and grandchildren. Fifty years of married life! Fifty links in the golden chain of time! From youth to old age they had walked life's checkered pathway in perfect harmony, sharing each other's joys and sorrows until their footsteps were slowly approaching the peaceful shore where they soon hoped to rest together beneath the evergreens of time. To how few lives are allotted such a blessed benediction. About a mile below Roseburg on the line of the O. & C. R. R. on the banks of the South Umpqua and in sight of the spot where thirty years be- fore was erected their pioneer cabin stands the mausoleum where
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side by side sleep these brave old pioneers. Long we stood in silent meditation by the consecrated spot. And not until the golden shafts of sunset warned us of declining day did we cease to dwell upon the scene, the grand possibilities of life and the certainty of the universal leveler-death. How like a panorama the eventful life of this great man passed before us, and like turning the leaves of some long closed book passed in rapid succession the uneventful pioneer life of this grand and noble woman. The same simplicity that ever characterized their lives marks their last resting place. A plain marble slab at the entrance to the vault on the right bears the incription "Gen. Joseph Lane," with age and dates, and the one on the left, "Polly, wife of Gen. Lane," while a jet outlined cross tells of their hopes of another life; and thus together they rest until the grand awakening of the resurrection morn. Sleep on in your dual greatness, while the ceaseless flow of the ever rest- less river murmurs in mournful monotone, and gentle zephyrs in solemn cadence with the subdued notes of feathered songsters and the busy hum of midsummer insect life chants you a grander funeral dirge than it were possible for humanity to conceive. Sum- mer flowers shall twine in garlands o'er your tomb and winter snows wrap you in their mantles of purity, while above are the blue arched heavens ablaze at morn with the symbol of the glory of the eternal or bedecked with the starry diadems of night and ever and on, shines the sweet pale light of the Star of Bethlehem pointing us to the full fruition of your well-spent lives.
CHAPTER LXXIV.
TIME THE OLD TRAPPING STATION COMMONLY CALLED OLD FORT HALL WAS LOCATED-FIRST U. S. TROOPS.
There seems to be three mistaken ideas about or in connection with this old fort. First, that Captain Nathalian Wyeth was an army officer. He was not. He was the manager of an eastern company that desired to engage in trapping and trading with the Indians for furs.
Second, the Fort Hall that Captain Wyeth built never was oc- cupied as a military post for the United States troops.
Third, the date of location July 4th, is wrong-Captain Wyeth selected the sight July 14th, 1834, and commenced work prepar- ing to build the fort July 15th, 1834. It was named Fort Hall by Captain Wyeth on August 6th, 1834, after the oldest member of the firm that Wyeth represented.
August 6th Captain Wyeth, having got the construction of the fort well under way, left it in charge of Mr. Evans and eleven men to complete and hold. He also left fourteen horses and mules and three cows, and he (Wyeth) with 29 men went on to Van- couver, Oregon. There also appears to be some misunderstand- ing about the time the Rev. Jason Lee preached at Fort H.Il. "July 27th, 1834, we repaired to the grove near the fort about 3:30 p. m. for public worship which is the first we have had since we started. Our men and Captain Mckay's men, French half- breeds and Indians, attended. Gave an exhortation from Ist Cor. 10th and 21st." During the afternoon of the 27th, one of the trappers, a French-Canadian, was accidentally killed. At the re- quest of Captain Mckay, Jason Lee, at 12:00 M. July 28th, at- tended the funeral and performed the funeral services."
The above was taken from the diaries of Captain Wyeth and Rev. Jason Lee. As to the hoisting of the American Flag at or about that time, neither diary mentions anything about it. It must be remembered by the reader at that date (1834) the few American and British that were in the Northwest Territory were occupying this country under and by virtue of what was com- monly called the joint occupation treaty, between the United States and Great Britain, and to have raised the Flag at that time might have caused trouble. In fact I doubt whether either of the two companies had a flag at that time.
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About United States troops :
The first United States troops that came to this Northwest came by water and landed at Vancouver, on the Columbia, in May, 1849.
The second detachment of U. S. troops came overland in the summer of 1849, a whole regiment. Two companies were left off in July near the old Wyeth fort to build a U. S. Government mili- tary post or fort which is commonly called Fort Hall. I presume they had and raised the American Flag, for the United States had acquired full title to the Northwest before that time.
CHAPTER LXXV.
A BRIEF EXPLANATION.
Nearly three years ago the author had finished writing a brief history of the early settling of Idaho Territory up to the time she was admitted into the Union of States in 1890, and which he had expected to have had published long since, but owing to circum- stances over which he had no control he has been unable to have it published. But as the facts remain the same now as when it was written, and arrangements having been made at last for its publication, it is thought best to give a brief review of the progress made by the people of Idaho since statehood, which must include the time from 1890 to 1909.
I shall not attempt to give a detailed statement of the many im- provements and changes made since that time, but shall endeavor to give to the reader a general synopsis of the present status and condition of the country, the business, the people and the future prospects. What follows this is to be published in the same book with the History of Idaho Territory, so that the reader may have an insight into the present as well as the early history of Idaho.
It is with much reluctance that I attempt to write anything about affairs of Idaho since statehood, from the fact that the State has had a State Commissioner of Immigration since the year 1900 who has been engaged in gathering statistics and publishing a report biennially. Certainly I have no desire to intrude on the ground he has so ably covered, but as this volume may fall into the hands of some who have not read the Commissioner's reports, what follows may be of some interest to those seeking some information about the present status and resources of Idaho, so I have ventured to give a very brief synopsis of the present condition in 1909.
CHAPTER LXXVI.
GOVERNMENT OF STATE-LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, JUDICIAL, FED- ERAL AND COUNTY OFFICERS.
Under the Constitution of Idaho, the government of the State consists of three co-ordinate branches, the Legislative, Executive and Judicial. The Legislative consists of one Senator from each county. Representatives are apportioned according to population. Both Senators and Representatives are elected for two years by counties. They meet biennially at the capitol in January of odd' numbered years, and hold session for sixty days, draw mileage for the distance traveled and per diem for sixty days' service at five dollars, and no longer time unless called into extraordinary ses- sion by the Executive.
The executive officers consist of a Governor, who is elected by the voters of the State every two years; also other State officers are elected at the same time and for the same term, consist- ing of a Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Superinten- dent of Public Instruction, State Treasurer, State Auditor and State Mine Inspector.
The Judicial consists of three Supreme Judges, one of whom is elected every two years for a term of six years. In addition to the Supreme Court Judges, we have eight District Judges who are elected for four years, and one clerk of the District Court in each county who is ex-officio auditor and recorder of the county. They are also elected for four years. All other county and precinct officers are elected for two years by the counties and precincts.
CREATION OF NEW STATE DEPARTMENTS.
In addition to the above, our State legislature created by legis- lative enactment the following: Commissioner of Immigration, Labor and Statistics; State Engineer; Commissioner of Insurance and Examiner of Accounts; State Bank Examiner; State Game Warden; Horticultural, Food, Dairy and Bee Inspector; State Chemist; State Veterinary Surgeon; State Land Register and Land Commissioner; a Board of three Trustees for each of the two insane asylums; a Board of three Trustees for the State In- dustrial school; State Board of Horticultural Inspectors for fruit and orchards; a State Sanitary Board for livestock; a Board of Medical Examiners; a Board of Dental Examiners and a Board of Pharmacy.
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The duty of these last three boards is to examine applicants to practice in their respective professions.
Officers of all of these departments created by legislative act are appointed by the Executive.
There has also been created by legislative act a State Histori- cal Society, with a governing Board of three Trustees appointed by the Governor, and a Librarian appointed by the Board of Trustees.
All of these constitutional State officers and most of the officers created by legislative acts are supplied with a sufficient number of clerks to keep the business of the different departments of the State well up to date. They all appear to have adopted good sys- tems.
PRESENT OFFICIALS-CONGRESSIONAL AND STATE.
U. S. Senators-W. B. Heyburn of Wallace; W. E. Borah of Boise.
U. S. Representative-T. R. Hamer of St. Anthony. State officials :
Governor-James H. Brady of Pocatello.
Lieutenant Governor-Lewis H. Sweetser of Burley.
Secretary of State-Robert Lansdon of Weiser.
Attorney General-D. C. McDougall of Malad.
State Auditor-S. D. Taylor of Bonners Ferry.
State Treasurer-C. A. Hastings of Lewiston.
Supt. of Public Instruction-Miss S. Belle Chamberlain of Boise.
Inspector of Mines-F. Cushing Moore of Wallace. Supreme Judges :
Chief Justice-Isaac N. Sullivan of Hailey.
Associate Justice-George H. Stewart of Boise.
Associate Justice-James F. Ailshie of Grangeville. District Judges :
First District-W. W. Woods of Wallace.
Second District-E. C. Steele of Moscow.
Third District-Fremont Wood of Boise.
Fourth District-E. A. Walters of Shoshone.
Fifth District-Alfred Budge of Paris.
Sixth District-J. M. Stevens of Blackfoot.
Seventh District-E. L. Bryan of Caldwell.
Eighth District-Robert E. Dunn of Coeur d'Alene. Federal officers:
Judge U. S. District Court-F. S. Dietrich of Pocatello.
U. S. Attorney-C. H. Lingenfelter of Lewiston.
U. S. Marshal-S. L. Hodgin of Boise.
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GOVERNMENT OF STATE
The county officers consist of a Board of three commissioners, a sheriff, a treasurer who is ex-officio public administrator, a probate judge, a county superintendent of public schools, a county asses- sor who is ex-officio tax collector, a surveyor, a prosecuting attorney.
Precinct officers are two justices of the peace and one constable for each precinct.
All of the officers, Federal, Congressional, State and county, as a rule are competent and attend strictly to the business of their respective offices and are very obliging to the public.
CHAPTER LXXVII.
STATE LANDS-SOLD OR LEASED-FOREST RESERVES-CIVIL AND CRIM- INAL LAWS-LAWYERS AND DOCTORS-HEALTH AND CLIMATE-
INCREASE IN POPULATION SINCE STATEHOOD-IN-
CREASE IN TAXABLE PROPERTY SINCE STATEHOOD.
The State has a large amount of land given by Congress, of which we have spoken before. The State Land Board has control of these lands. They sometimes sell off some and some are leased. Before any can be sold, it must be appraised. The appraisement must not be less than ten dollars per acre. It is often very much more. Then it is advertised and sold to the highest bidder, but cannot be sold for less than its appraised value.
Purchasers of these lands usually have nine years in which to pay for it-one-tenth cash annd one-tenth each year, with interest at six per cent per annum, to be paid yearly on all deferred pay- ments.
Leases are usually charged for according to the value of the use of the land, and are not made for a term longer than five years.
FOREST RESERVES.
Most of the mountainous country and hills and some small valleys in Idaho have been marked out as forest reserves, and are managed and controlled by the United States Forestry Bureau through local agents appointed for that purpose. Stock is al- lowed to run on these reserves, by paying a small fee for grazing thereon.
Whether the setting aside of these lands as forest reserves is for the best interest of the government and the people, is a matter on which there are different opinions. Under acts of Congress, the 16th and 36th sections in each township in the State were given to the State for school purposes. These reserves cover a large area of the State. I presume as long as they are held as forest reserves, the State will be deprived of her share for school purposes, which amounts to a few hundred thousand acres.
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW.
We have plenty of civil and criminal laws on our statutes, but the greatest trouble is that only a very limited number of copies of these laws have been published and many know but little about them. We think that our criminal laws, at least, should be pub-
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lished in a separate volume and distributed in every home within the State.
LAWYERS AND PHYSICIANS.
We have a good supply of each of a high grade. They will compare very favorably with men in the profession in any of the older States.
HEALTH AND CLIMATE.
People as a rule have good health all over the State. As for climate, the air is good and pure in all parts of Idaho. In the valleys and lowlands, the weather gets a little warm in Sum- mer. The Winters are mild in the valleys. In the mountains, it is cool and pleasant in the Summer and Fall and cold in the Winter and early Spring, with usually plenty of snow in the high alti- tudes. This snow melts in the Spring and runs in streams down to the agricultural districts, where it is used by the farmers for irrigating their crops.
The altitude in the agricultural districts ranges from 750 to 5,500 feet above sea level. In the mountains, it is from 5,000 to 9,000 feet above.
INCREASE IN POPULATION SINCE STATEHOOD.
Idaho was admitted into the Union of States on July 3rd, 1890. The United States census taken in that year shows Idaho's popu- lation to have been 84,385. We have no means of knowing with any degree of certainty just what it is now in 1909, but from the best information we have, we estimate the population at this time at not less than 300,000, with a considerable increase daily from other States.
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