Boise Developer and Saloon Owner Madison Smith [otd 03/15]

Madison Smith. H. T. French photo

Boise pioneer Madison C. Smith was born March 15, 1839 in Richmond, Missouri, about 35 miles northeast of Kansas City. The family moved West in 1851, crossing Idaho in a wagon train. Local Indian unrest was rising at that time, but the party had no trouble. They settled in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Unfortunately, Indians killed Madison’s father in 1856, so he had to work the family ranch until his mother remarried.

Madison was out on his own by 1860, and had built up a small stake. In 1864, he and his brother-in-law loaded a mule train with freight for the gold camps near Idaho City. That area was apparently well-supplied when they arrived, so they moved on to profitably sell their goods in Boise City. Although Smith retained some property and a house in Oregon, he made his home in Boise for most of his remaining years.

Smith found odd jobs where he could for awhile, and then settled into working at a popular saloon. Finally, the Idaho Statesman reported (August 14, 1873) that “Jim Lawrence and M. C. Smith will open out, this week, a saloon in the brick building formerly occupied by … a barber shop. … They understand the business, have many friends, and will endeavor to please their patrons.”

They moved into a larger space after six years or so, but the Lawrence & Smith Saloon remained a fixture on Main Street for at least 15-18 years. It appears that Madison went into business by himself around 1890. We do know he bought a lot near downtown a year after that (Idaho Statesman, June 14, 1891).

In 1893, Smith took a minor flyer in politics: He ran for Boise City Tax Collector on the Populist Party ticket led by his nephew, who was running for Mayor. (His brother-in-law, Peter J. Pefley, had been elected mayor in 1887.) Voters crushed the Populist slate and there's no evidence that Smith took any further interest in politics.

Madison, who never married, largely held aloof from the “boom" mentality of many frontier city developers. His conservative approach was surely influenced by a disappointment in 1896-1897. Smith had loaned money to his brother-in-law and sister to invest in a saddlery company. But the firm collapsed (Idaho Statesman, September 6, 1896), and he recovered less than half his investment.

Even so, Madison was comfortable enough in his financial circumstances that he listed himself as “capitalist" in the U. S. Census for 1900. At that point, he still owned at least one saloon, and may have had property in Lewiston, where his brother-in-law had moved.

Union Block, Boise. Library of Congress

Smith closely followed the building boom that gripped Boise in 1902. Various organizations initiated ten major projects that year, including a new Episcopal Cathedral, a high school, and several commercial blocks.

One such project was the so-called “Union Block," on the northeast side of Idaho Street between Seventh and Eight, and one street over from Madison's saloon property on Main. Three years later, Smith sold the saloon and used the proceeds to buy an interest in the Union Block (Idaho Statesman, October 4 and November 29, 1905).

Madison soon moved into an apartment in the Union Block and managed his leased properties from there. He passed away from pneumonia in June 1921, after a year of increasingly poor health.

Today, the Union Block –  still in use –  is on the National Register of Historic Places. Also, according to the Idaho State Historical Society, the Society now owns a fancy hardwood bar that once belong to Smith. He reportedly ordered it from “the Brunswick Company" around 1890, and it continued in use at various locations for about seventy years. The bar is still in use for special events at the main museum.
                                                                                

References: French, [Hawley]

“Boise Building Chronology,” References Series No. 672, Idaho State Historical Society (1983).

Militia Organized Again, Then Becomes the Idaho National Guard [otd 03/14]

In an interesting coincidence, two different March 14 dates are significant for the Idaho National Guard. On March 14, 1889, Edward A. Stevenson, governor of Idaho Territory, sent a letter to the Quartermaster-General of the U. S. Army, stating that the citizens of Boise had organized a company of militia.

Governor Stevenson.
City of Boise photo.

This action followed over a decade during which the Territory had no authorized military force at all. In the early gold rush days, miners had assembled ad hoc companies to fight Indians. These Volunteer troops became somewhat more formalized for the so-called "Snake War" in 1864-1868, but many lasted only a few weeks.

However, during Idaho's final Indians wars of 1877-1879, the Territory had companies of Idaho Volunteer Militia (a "Regiment," but in name only) as well as numerous local militia units. The latter included three from Boise City alone (the "Boise Mounted Rangers," etc.), and at least eight others (the "First Payette Guards" and so forth). All these organizations disbanded when the last groups of Indians had been forced onto reservations. Around 1879, Governor Mason Brayman urged the legislature to create a formal Territorial-wide militia. However, for various reasons, mostly political, nothing was done.

So matters remained until President Grover Cleveland appointed Stevenson as Territorial Governor. The first actual Idaho resident chosen for that position, he had moved to Idaho in 1864, and was familiar with its militia history. Stevenson had, in fact, encouraged the Boiseans to form their company, which they styled the "Governor's Guards."

The state had no particular budget for such an organization, so the governor asked the Quartermaster-General if the Army could, and would, provide suitable uniforms, arms, and ammunition. The General's specific answer was unreported at the time, but he must have been agreeable: The Governor’s Guards were in full operation by early May. The Idaho Statesman reported (July 3, 1889) that “the ladies of Boise” would present them with a “beautiful banner” during a ceremony on the 4th of July.

Idaho soon had militia companies organized in Weiser, Grangeville, Albion, Eagle Rock, and Hailey.

In 1889, Stevenson and his successor called for a constitutional convention, preparatory to asking Congress to make Idaho a state. That document explicitly defined a militia. Then, on another March 14 – in 1891 – a new state governor signed the Act that formally organized the militia, soon to be called the Idaho National Guard. The legislation also provided an appropriation to supplement funds from the federal government for uniforms and equipment.

Within about a year, the Governor found a use for the new organization: He called the Guard out to restore order in the Coeur d’Alene mining districts, where union unrest had escalated into violence.

In 1898, the U.S. President, for the first time, called out the Idaho Guard to meet a national emergency – the Spanish-American War. To bolster the severely undermanned Regular Army, President William McKinley mobilized Guards units from all over the country.

First Idaho in the Philippines, 1899. National Archives.

Under that directive, the Idaho Guard became the First Idaho Regiment, a unit of the U. S. Army Volunteers. The First Idaho landed in the Philippines in early August, and saw most of its action helping check the Filipino insurrection. The regiment returned to the States and demobilized in September 1899.

The Guard structure remained in place, of course. It’s next major call-up was for duty on the Mexican Border in 1916 [blog, June 18]. 
                                                                                

References: [Hawley]

Orlan J. Svingen (Ed.), The History of the Idaho National Guard, Idaho National Guard, Boise (1995).

Idaho State Highway Commission Created to Improve Transportation System [otd 03/13]

On March 13, 1913, the Idaho legislature established the State Highway Commission. They thus joined a nationwide trend to raise highway planning and construction to the state level. Prior to that, roads had been almost exclusively a local concern.

Country "Road." National Archives.

Of course, emigrant wagons cut the first roads across Idaho, starting in the early 1840s. The pioneers naturally did only enough to make the route passable. In 1857-1860, the U. S. Army built the first planned roads in the area: The Lander Cutoff, shortening the distance to old Fort Hall, and the Mullan Road across the Idaho Panhandle [blog, Feb 5].

Aside from those exceptions, private companies built most roads, usually as toll routes. Thus, in 1886, Silas Skinner and his partners completed their toll road into Silver City, Idaho [blog, May 19]. Grants for toll franchises – roads, bridges, and ferries – filled the legislative records throughout the early Territorial period.

Some businesses and individuals opened roads on their own. In 1882, pioneer Charles Walgamott “built” a stagecoach road to carry patrons from the train station at Shoshone to his claim overlooking Shoshone Falls, perhaps the first tourist attraction in Idaho. They replaced the normal wheel tires (the outer metal strap) with a cutting band, and then simply ran their coach back and forth over the route. Charlie averred that the exposed edges “helped make the road, but say, for some time that was the roughest road any mortal ever traveled over.”

The action shifted to more local oversight as towns and counties became organized. Thus, County Commissioners denied a renewal of the franchise for the old toll bridge at Eagle Rock (soon to be Idaho Falls), and declared it a public highway in April, 1889.

Such fragmented control resulted in a patchwork of good to atrocious tracks that might or might not provide an actual transportation "system." The drive for greater state oversight began around 1891 in the heavily-traveled East, and slowly spread. The Idaho Register (Idaho Falls, June 7, 1912) noted that "Since that time about two-thirds of the states of the Union have adopted some form of state aid or state supervision."

Idaho's new state Commission immediately began identifying routes for an integrated array of state highways. One priority was a modern highway to more or less parallel, and replace, the old Oregon Trail route across the state. Another would bridge the central Idaho wilderness to connect Boise to Grangeville and Lewiston.

Construction of some parts of the new system began as soon as funds became available. In 1919, the state moved to consolidate its infrastructure development within a Department of Public Works. The Commission became the Bureau of Highways, reporting to that Department.

Idaho Highway Dept's “cook shack" and first truck, ca. 1920.
Idaho Department of Transportation.

Another reorganization followed in 1951, and then in 1974 highway-related activities became the responsibility of the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD). Eight years later, the state moved the vehicle licensing office from the Department of Law Enforcement to the ITD, where it became the Division of Motor Vehicles.

The ITD's role is to extend the trend started in 1919: to integrate road, rail, water, and air transport to best serve the needs of people and businesses.
                                                                                

References: [Brit], [French], [Hawley]

Mary Jane Fritzen, Eagle Rock, City of Destiny, Bonneville County Historical Society, Idaho Falls, Idaho (1991).

“Idaho’s Motor Vehicle History,” Idaho Department of Transportation (2006).

Charles S. Walgamott, Six Decades Back, The Caxton Press, Caldwell, Idaho (1936).

State Authorizes Precursor to Idaho State Historical Society [otd 03/12]

On March 12, 1907, Idaho's government authorized the "Historical Society of Idaho Pioneers" to become a state-supported entity called the "Historical Society of the State of Idaho." The enabling act included a $3,500 appropriation for expenses, and provision of space in the capitol building. The "Pioneers" organization had been created in 1881 to preserve memories of how the Territory was formed. That organization was largely dormant for many years, except for a revival in 1896 under Governor William J. McConnell [blog, September 18.]

Hon. John Hailey.
Hailey, History of Idaho photo.

A couple months after the authorization, administrators appointed John Hailey to be the head librarian, a position he held for the rest of his life. Hailey had been among the first pioneers in 1862, built a considerable stagecoach enterprise, served in the Territorial Council, and acted as delegate to the U.S. Congress [blog, Aug 29].

The creation Act also directed the governor to appoint a Board of Trustees for the Society. Governor Frank Gooding appointed the first, which included: James A. Pinney (progressive former mayor of Boise, blog Sept 29), Dr. Henry L. Talkington (history professor at the Lewiston State Normal School), and Mrs. Leona (Hailey) Cartee. The only daughter of John Hailey, Leona had pushed for formation of the Society, and would later help foster the Boise Public Library.

Three years after the appointment, Hailey published a History of Idaho in part, he wrote, to correct "the many misstatements published about Idaho in early days, and particularly concerning the character and conduct of the good people of those days."

The Idaho Statesman quoted (January 8, 1917) from Hailey’s fifth biennial report: Hailey noted that their historical exhibit had had to move three times and “now occupy five rooms in the old capitol building.” He also said, “We now have these five rooms pretty well filled up and will soon need more room.”

When Hailey died in 1921, Ella Cartee Reed – Leona Cartee's sister-in-law – carried on as Secretary and Librarian. At the time of that transition, former Idaho Governor James H. Hawley [blog, Jan 17] was President of the Board of Trustees.

In his letter of transmittal for the required 1923-1924 biennial report, Hawley argued that the Librarian and her Assistant "should be given a salary commensurate with the importance of their positions and the character of their duties." Hawley held the Board presidency until his death in 1929. To the end, he continued to ask, in vain, for an improvement in those salaries.

Idaho History Center.
Wikipedia photo contributed by Amy Vecchione.

Reed retired in 1931. From then until 1947, perhaps because the position was an underpaid "labor of love," the position changed each time a new Governor took office. In 1939, the title became "state historian."

Also in 1939, the legislature authorized new quarters for the Society's collections, but construction did not start until 1941 … and was then suspended due to World War II. Operations limped along with limited staff until about 1947, when the Society became the custodian of the Idaho State Archives. In 1949-1950, new construction initiatives finally gave the Society desperately needed new space.

After about 1956, the Society began to offer paid memberships to the general public. Up until then, the organization had been funded entirely by legislative appropriation. Today, the ISHS operates programs at eight different locations in Boise and four historical sites around the state. Visitors will find exhibits and the Society's Public Archives and Research Library at the Idaho History Center, in Boise.
                                                                                 

Reference: [Hawley]

"Directors and Secretaries of the Idaho State Historical Society History," Reference Series No. 882, Idaho State Historical Society (1989).

John Hailey, History of Idaho, Syms-York Company, Boise, Idaho (1910).

"Idaho State Historical Society History," Reference Series No. 848, Idaho State Historical Society (1986).

James H. Hawley, Eighth Biennial Report of the Board of Trustees of the State Historical Society of Idaho, Boise (1922).

Act Signed to Create Academy of Idaho, Today’s Idaho State University [otd 03/11]

On March 11, 1901, Governor Frank W. Hunt signed an Act to establish an educational institution in Pocatello. Incorporated in 1889, the town had grown explosively and topped 4,000 citizens in the 1900 census.

The authorization for a school, to be called the “Academy of Idaho,” came with a catch, however. The townspeople had to supply land for the institution. The subsequent dispute almost killed the Academy before it started.

Administration Building, Academy of Idaho, ca. 1912.
H. T. French image.

Heated arguments arose as various factions pushed locations all around the valley. Finally, with the legislature's deadline approaching, they settled on what is now the lower part of the ISU campus. Construction soon began, and the school greeted its first classes in the fall of 1902 [blog, September 22].

The legislature tried to make sure the new school did not compete with the University of Idaho for students. In fact, they hoped the curriculum in Pocatello would encourage some to go on the Moscow. They specified that the curriculum should include “all the branches commonly taught in academies and such various courses as are usually taught in business colleges.”

Legislators also considered vocational training appropriate, making the new school more or less equivalent to our notion of a two-year community college. John W. Faris, the experienced educator who became the Academy’s first Principal, had more ambitious plans. Still, he did quickly initiate a preparatory curriculum, knowing that many prospective students had limited (or no) access to high school classes.

A few years later, he began what we now call a “continuing education” program, with a particular emphasis on summer classes for pre-college teachers. The Idaho Statesman reported (May 9, 1913) that the sessions were very popular, and reminded prospective attendees that, “ Special attention will be given to those courses of study required for the certification of teachers.”

Encouraged by the response, school officials soon began to harbor aspirations to attain full four-year status. That battle would rage for over thirty-five years. The only immediate result was a slight expansion and a name change - to "Idaho Technical Institute" (ITI) - in 1915. And the legislature made the Institute’s subordinate role crystal clear: The curriculum “shall include two years and not more than two years of college grade and such work below college grade as the conditions of the educational system of the state render desirable.”

As the school expanded, pressure from local boosters continued, but backfired again. In 1927, the legislature made ITI a subordinate division of the University of Idaho. For the next twenty years, the Pocatello school would be the "Southern Branch of the University of Idaho" (UI-SB).

Although it was touch and go at times, the school survived the Great Depression and World War II. The vast influx of G.I. Bill students after the war caused many strains, but helped the UI-SB finally attain its goal. In 1947, the school became Idaho State College, an independent, four-year institution.

Main campus, Idaho State University.

After sixteen years of curriculum and enrollment expansion, they were given university status in 1963.

In August 1986, the school dedicated its Research and Business Park, meant to act as an incubator for new ventures and to provide space for public and private research laboratories.

Today, the university has an enrollment of over 15 thousand students, with three branch locations, and millions of dollars in research and teaching grants.
                                                                                 

References: [French], Hawley]

Diane Olson, Idaho State University: A Centennial Chronicle, Idaho State University (2000).

Colonel Judson Spofford: Civil War Veteran, and Idaho Developer [otd 03/10]

Civil War veteran and Idaho developer Judson Spofford was born March 10, 1846 in Derby, Vermont, two or three miles from the Canadian border. The family had a proud military heritage. A great-great-grandfather was a colonel in the Revolutionary War and that man’s son served in the Quartermaster Corp. Another forebear served in the War of 1812. Judson enlisted in the 10th Vermont Regiment in July 1862. The regiment saw minor action initially, and just missed participation at Gettysburg in 1863.

Union infantry in Fredericksburg trenches, 1863.
Library of Congress.

Later, the 10th Vermont fought in many celebrated battles of the Army of the Potomac: The Wilderness, Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg. In July 1864, they also took part in the relatively little-known Battle of Monocacy Junction, 30-40 miles northwest of Washington, D. C. That clash, while technically a Union defeat, kept Confederate troops from hitting the capital before reinforcements could arrive to drive them off.

On March 25, 1865, Private Spofford himself was almost killed by a Minie ball during the Union counter-attack at Fort Stedman, in the Petersburg fortifications. The severity of his wound kept him in hospital when the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered two week later.

After the war, Spofford spent three years in Vermont and then moved to West Virginia. There, he worked for a railroad company for a number of years. He was also active in party politics and, in 1880, President James Garfield appointed him Postmaster in Huntington. He acquired the "Colonel" honorific while in West Virginia –  and certainly he had seen more action and suffered more than most "titular" colonels. Then the lung damage from his wound finally forced him to seek the more healthful climate of Idaho.

Col. Judson Spofford.
J. H. Hawley photo.

Spofford arrived in 1884 and immediately purchased a Boise Valley farm. He then acquired and expanded a herd of purebred dairy cattle. From that, he produced a noted line of high grade butter.

Farming led him into various irrigation canal projects, including improvements to what eventually became today's Riverside Canal. That enterprise sparked Spofford's interest in hydroelectric power, including a plant on the Payette River.

In addition to these projects and various real estate developments, Spofford promoted construction of Boise's Broadway Bridge. This fueled considered expansion of residential areas in "South Boise" – on the southwest side of the Boise River. The colonel also helped initiate a street car line, including a branch that served South Boise.

South Boise streetcar on the Broadway Bridge.
City of Boise.

Not content with all that, Spofford sought opportunities around the state. He invested in valuable mining properties, but competitors thwarted his attempt to build an electric railway to connect Lewiston and Grangeville. In his 1920 History of Idaho, Hawley wrote, "During the past third of a century there has perhaps been no one in Idaho who has been a more consistent supporter of the Gem State than he."

Spofford remained vigorous and active well into his eighties. At one point, he even traveled back east to the Monocacy battlefield to consult with a historian writing an account of the battle. He returned in 1936 to take part in a parade of Grand Army of the Republic veterans in Washington, D. C. He was then the last known Union Army survivor of the Battle of Monocacy Junction. The colonel passed away about a year later at the veterans’ hospital in Boise. Spofford was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
                                                                                 

References: [Hawley]

Marc Leepson, Desperate Engagement, Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, New York (2007).

Original South Boise Neighborhood Plan, City of Boise (2003).

"Pioneer-Dixie Ditch Company," Reference Series No. 509, Idaho State Historical Society (1996).

Glenn H. Worthington, Fighting for Time, Press of Day Printing Company, Baltimore, Maryland (1932).

Rigby and Fremont County Physician Ray Fisher [otd 03/09]

Prominent Fremont County physician Ray Homer Fisher, M. D., was born March 9, 1883 in Oxford, Idaho. At the time, Oxford was an important commercial and shipping center. One of Ray’s older brothers was George Howard Fisher, first Commissioner of the Idaho Industrial Accident Board [blog, December 5]. Their father was  William F. “Billy” Fisher, a famous rider for the Pony Express. When the Express disbanded in late 1861, Billy settled in northern Utah, where George was born. He moved to Oxford five years before Ray was born.

Dr. Fisher. Family Archives.

Ray attended public schools in Oxford until he was sixteen year old. He then entered the prep school at the Utah Agricultural College (now Utah State University). His college major was chemistry, but he was also active in debate and public speaking. Fisher graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1904. After a year as a school principal in Fremont County and a brief stint as chemist for a sugar company, Ray landed a job at the University of Colorado. While he taught chemistry and toxicology, he also pursued a medical degree, gaining his M. D. in 1909.

Fisher performed fill-in work in northern Utah and eastern Idaho before establishing a practice in Rigby. Almost immediately, he was appointed Health Officer for Fremont County, spending two years in that position. A few years later, after Jefferson County was split off from Fremont County, he served two years as Health Officer for the new county. From 1915 to 1919, Fisher was a member of the Idaho Board of Medical Examiners. Along with that he was Medical Examiner for the Jefferson County enlistment office during World War I. All that and his regular practice was apparently not quite enough, however: Fisher also held a position as Divisional Assistant Surgeon for the Oregon Short Line railroad for ten years.

Professionally, Fisher held memberships in the American Medical Association, the Idaho State Medical Association and several regional medical societies. At one meeting of the state Association, he spoke on “Differential Diagnosis of Appendicitis and Typhoid.” Between 1916 and 1920, the doctor took three “sabbaticals” to pursue further education as an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist.

Besides his practice and medical studies, Fisher invested in several local businesses, including a bank and a pharmacy. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While he never held high office in the church, he served in several capacities, with a particular interest in education. Fisher also played an active role in Democratic Party politics, although he never ran for office himself. For a time, he chaired the Democratic Central Committee for Jefferson County.

Rigby, ca 1919. [Hawley]

Early on, Fisher had developed an interest in history. Thus, he often presented historical talks to various social groups. Later, he took a special interest in the story of the Pony Express, building on a memoir produced by his father. As it happened, William Fisher was in Rigby when he died in late 1919, then the body was returned to Oxford for burial. Ray’s mother lived in Rigby until her death three year after her husband.

Fisher remained in Rigby until 1927, when he moved his family to Oakland, California. (His oldest brother had moved there earlier, apparently during World War I.) He maintained his practice there until about two years before his death in April 1952.
                                                                                 

References: [French], [Hawley]

Ray H. Fisher, “The Dry Creek Massacre,” The Pony Express magazine, Placerville, California (January 1950).

“[Ray H. Fisher News],” Idaho Falls Times, Idaho Statesman, Ogden Standard-Examiner (July 1914 – February 1922).