Eastern Idaho Physician and Hospital Builder Edwin Cutler [otd 4/12]

Dr. Cutler. H.T. French photo.

Edwin Cutler, M.D., was born April 12, 1868, in American Fork, Utah, midway between Provo and Salt Lake City. After high school, he attended Brigham Young University and then the University of Utah. He graduated in 1889, and taught school in a number of Utah districts. Over the next decade, he also served at times as a school principal or superintendent.

Cutler moved to Idaho in 1900 to become Principal of the Oneida Stake Academy, in Preston. He spent two years there before pursuing his ambition to become a physician. In 1906, he received his M.D. degree from what H. T. French’s History identified as the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in Chicago. At that time, the College was being integrated into the University of Illinois system.

Edwin first returned with his degree to Preston, where he joined his brother’s practice. After a year there, he moved to Shelley, about ten miles south of Idaho Falls. Founded in 1892, “Shelley Siding” had soon become an important loading point for agricultural products from the surrounding homesteads [blog, Jul 9].

Dr. Cutler quickly discovered that the only hospital in the entire region was a new private facility in Idaho Falls. Two local physicians established that hospital the same year Edwin arrived in Shelley. Once he had settled into his practice, Dr. Cutler set up a similar service in Shelley. He continued the unit even after the Idaho Falls doctors built a 25-bed facility.

As a prototypical “country doctor,” Cutler covered great distances to make house calls. During the earliest years, he traveled by horse-drawn buggy in good weather and via a one-horse sleigh during the winter. In 1909, he bought an automobile, reportedly the first in Shelley. However, he continued to use horse-drawn transport on outlying tracks not suitable for motor vehicles. Local lore asserts that, between the two World Wars, Dr. Cutler delivered three-quarters of the babies born in the Shelley area.

He built that reputation despite suffering a scary event during the fall of 1916. Somehow, Cutler was involved in the explosion of a boiler at his home in Shelley. His injuries persisted for awhile, but in its “State News: Shelley” the Idaho Statesman reported (February 9, 1917) that “Dr. Edwin Cutler … is now recovering rapidly.” However, even then he must have had some lingering effects because late that year he traveled to Salt Lake City for an operation on his arm.

To keep himself current, Dr. Cutler regularly attended medical-education clinics and maintained membership in local, state, and national medical associations. When the LDS Hospital was built in Idaho Falls, Dr. Cutler closed his private institution and joined the executive staff of the new facility. In conjunction with that work, he also acted as local surgeon for the Oregon Short Line (Union Pacific) Railroad.

LDS Hospital, Idaho Falls, ca. 1930.
Bonneville County Historical Society.

Cutler also invested in farmland and was active in civic affairs. He served three years on the village council in Shelley, with a year as its chairman. He also served as a health officer and school trustee, and was an active member of the local Chamber of Commerce. Cutler was a bishop in the Shelley Latter Day Saints church and served in various stake offices. He was also a leader in the local troop of the Boy Scouts of America.

Dr. Cutler apparently remained on call to his patients until at least 1946. He passed away three years later.
                                                                                 

References: [Defen], [French]

“Golden Jubilee Edition, 1884–1934,” Idaho Falls Post-Register (September 10, 1934).

“Largest Family," Alumni Quarterly & Fortnightly News, Vol. 6, No. 10, University of Illinois (February 15, 1921).

Narrow Gauge Railway Tracks Reach Eagle Rock (Idaho Falls) [otd 4/11]

In 1879, the Engineering and Mining Journal contained the following brief item: "Ogden, Utah, April 11 – The Utah & Northern Railway has been completed to Eagle Rock Bridge, Snake River, Idaho, 210 miles north of this point. Regular trains will begin running there April 15th."

Western steam train. Library of Congress.

A decade earlier, the eastern and western legs of the transcontinental railroad had worked their way toward each other. Even then, settlers in Montana began agitating for their own rail service. Years would pass, however, before the region had a direct line to the east.

Still, a couple years after the Golden Spike Ceremony in 1869 [blog, May 10], developers laid plans to extend a branch line north to Montana. To complete such a spur, they incorporated the Utah Northern Railroad Company. Construction began at Brigham City, Utah, in August 1871. Tight finances meant that track-laying progressed slowly. Thus, Utah Northern rails did not cross the Idaho border until May, 1874. To save money, the company laid narrow gauge track (a 36-inch span versus standard gauge at 56-1⁄2 inch). The narrower road bed and bridges substantially reduces construction costs, especially in mountainous terrain.

Unfortunately, by then, the affects of the Panic of 1873 had pushed the poorly-capitalized company to the brink of extinction. They managed only brief spurts of construction over the next four years – laying 10-12 miles of track north from Franklin.

Meanwhile, a change took place at a key location along the railroad’s expected route. At that time, Taylor’s Bridge at Eagle Rock (today’s Idaho Falls) was the only span across the Snake River. Surveys showed that the same location provided the best place for a railroad bridge. “Matt” Taylor and two partners had built the existing toll bridge, suitable for wagon traffic, in 1865 [blog, Dec 10 ].

The railroad would, of course, supplant heavy freight wagon traffic through the area. Taylor decided to get out of the toll business while he could still get a good price. In 1872, he sold his share to the Anderson Brothers – Robert (one of the original bridge partners) and John (generally known as “Jack” or “J.C.”).

The financial woes experienced by the Utah Northern made Taylor’s action somewhat premature. Not until late 1877 did a solution to those problems appear. Promoter Jay Gould, major partner in the Union Pacific Railroad, then took an interest in the project. He and several other UP partners bought control of the venture, and provided a major infusion of new financing. The reorganized company – now called the Utah & Northern Railway – resumed track laying in March 1878.

Eagle Rock Bridges, ca. 1880. Utah State Historical Society.

The rails made it through the Southeast Idaho mountains and out onto the Snake River plain in late 1878. They crossed the Blackfoot River around Christmas and, as noted above, reached Eagle Rock in April 1879. Construction of a railroad bridge began immediately; the first train crossed the span on July 1

The railroad had an immediate impact on settlement in the area. Less than three weeks after that first train crossed, new arrivals settled on land about thirty-three miles north of Eagle Rock. In fact, the Owyhee Avalanche, in Silver City, Idaho, reported (May 10, 1879), “A correspondent of the Salt Lake Tribune says that Blackfoot is deserted and a stampede has taken place in the direction of Eagle Rock … ”

Just over eight years after the rails reached Eagle Rock, the company converted the entire line to standard gauge trackage [blog, July 24].
                                                                                 

References: [B&W], [French]

Barzilla W. Clark, Bonneville County in the Making, Self-published, Idaho Falls, Idaho (1941).

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

"Railway Extension in Idaho," Engineering and Mining Journal, Vol. XXVII, Scientific Publishing Company, New York (April 19, 1879).

Cattle Growers Meet in Shoshone, Discuss Disease and Over-Grazing [otd 04/10]

The April 10, 1886 issue of the Owyhee Avalanche in Silver City, Idaho reported on the Annual Meeting of the Idaho Territorial Stock Growers' Association. The meeting took place in Shoshone. The Association had been organized about three months previously at that same location.

Idaho Hotel, Silver City. Owyhee Directory.

The first documented Idaho stockmen's association began in 1878, when cattlemen held a convention in Silver City to discuss their business. (The Owyhee Cattlemen's Association – still in operation today – dates its founding from this period.) Five years later, the Avalanche reported (July 7, 1883) another Silver City meeting and said that area stockmen were "now busily engaged in drawing up bylaws, rules, etc."

Other areas also saw the need for such concerted efforts. In 1885, the Avalanche reprinted (March 28, 1885) an item from the Shoshone Journal, which said, in part, "The first annual meeting of the Idaho Cattle Growers' Association will be held at Shoshone, on Wednesday, April 1, 1885, and members of all associations of stock growers in Idaho are cordially invited to be present."

The announcement identified George L. Shoup, Lemhi cattleman and later U.S. Senator from Idaho [blog, Apr 1], as the Association's President. Members were directed to submit their brand information so “a full and complete brand book” could be issued. At that time, brands had to be registered with the Recorder of the stockman’s county of residence. However, no mechanism existed to consolidate the county records into one reference.

Participants at the 1885 Annual Meeting apparently concluded that growers needed a more broadly-based organization. Thus, early the following year, the Avalanche reported (January 23, 1886) that stockmen had formed a new organization: "The association was organized under the name of 'Idaho Territorial Stock Growers' Association,' about sixty five of the heaviest stock raisers having been admitted to membership."

The new Association largely adopted the by-laws of the previous organization, which were "copied (with a few exceptions) word for word." Members selected Thomas Sparks, American Falls cattleman, as president. George Shoup was a member of the Executive Committee. The article concluded, "The purposes for which the territorial association was formed are good, and will strike the mind of all stock men as just the thing long desired."

Having completed their organizational business, the Association then held the Annual Meeting that the newspaper reported on April 10th. The Avalanche noted that, "it was well attended by stock men from Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah, and also from the various stock owners in the counties of this territory."

Among other business, the Association passed several resolutions. One urged Congress to redress "the want of quarantine laws against importing diseased cattle into this territory."

Western cattle roundup, 1887-1892. Library of Congress.

Another deplored overgrazing and stated: "Resolved, That the members of this association will not work at the round-ups with men who recklessly place cattle or other stock upon ranges already fully occupied, and when the rights of range tenure have been previously fully recognized."

Unfortunately, competition for land – including that from "tramp" stockmen, who used the range and moved on without paying taxes – thwarted their good intentions. Two years later, the Avalanche observed (May 26, 1888) that the poor state of grazing in Owyhee County was because “the ranges have all been, and are now overstocked.” In fact, they went on, the too-large herds “have worn it [the range] out, in fact, killed it.

Mother Nature, in the form of deadly winter weather, soon taught a lesson from which some never recovered.
                                                                                 

References: Mike Hanley, with Ellis Lucia, Owyhee Trails, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (1973).

Adelaide Hawes, Valley of Tall Grass, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (1950).

Americans and British-Canadian Fur Trappers Meet Along Portneuf River [otd 04/09]

Peter Skene Ogden.
Oregon Historical Society.

On April 9, 1826, Peter Skene Ogden, for whom the Ogden River is named, wrote in his journal, "About 10 a.m. we were surprised by the arrival of a party of Americans and some of our deserters of last year, 28 in all."

Ogden led the Snake Brigade, a band of trappers and support personnel working for the British-Canadian Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) [blog, Jan 1]. The column had left Fort Nez Perces (near later Walla Walla, Washington) in November 1825 to trap first in eastern Oregon. They entered Idaho in mid-February and trapped the Boise River, then the lower Wood River area.

On March 12, Ogden wrote, “We are now encamped within 100 yards [of] where the Pacific Fur Company traders lost a man by the upsetting of one of their canoes.”

That incident [blog, Oct 28] occurred in 1811, and Ogden's reference to it places the party about fifteen miles west of today’s Burley, on the north side of the Snake River Canyon. They soon crossed the river, scouted the Raft River and continued on to American Falls. The Brigade reached the lower part of the Portneuf River at the beginning of April. Ogden knew this country well: “a finer country for beaver never seen.”

On Ogden’s first venture into the area, in 1825, the Brigade had trapped many watersheds in southeast Idaho, including the Blackfoot and Bear rivers, along with the Portneuf. However, they had also encountered trapper parties working for American firms based in St. Louis, Missouri.  The men Ogden referred to as “deserters” had succumbed to the temptation of the vastly better fur prices offered by the Americans.

Previously unfettered by competition, HBC prices amounted to economic servitude: minimal allowances for furs received, inflated prices for anything their “employees” wanted or needed. Trappers and camp keepers did well to break even. The Company didn’t mind carrying their debts on the books because profits more than covered any losses if the debtor was killed, died, or fled the country.

Soon though, the Company would be forced to increase what they paid to attract the men back. (They could afford to do so and still make a profit because their bases were much closer to beaver country, and supplied in part by cheaper ship transport.) Considering all that, Ogden was not pleased to encounter more American intruders at his Portneuf River campsite.

Jim Bridger. National Park Service.

The Americans represented the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the HBC's only serious competitor at that time. Thomas Fitzpatrick and James "Jim" Bridger led the Americans. Their two bands had joined forces after a swarm of Blackfeet raiders attacked them. Although the whites had "won" the encounter, losing three horses for six Indians killed, they could not easily hunt for beaver with so many hostiles around.

After some trading, the parties separated, each hoping to find beaver country they could have to themselves. The Canadians doubled back over their Idaho route as they returned to Oregon. Considering the competition and some unseasonably-bad weather, Ogden concluded that matters could have been worse: “Had we not been obliged to kill our horses for food, the success of our expedition would have yielded handsome profits.”

Intense competition between the Americans and the HBC continued for another decade.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [B&W]

J. Cecil Alter, Jim Bridger, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman (1962).

"Jim Bridger in Idaho," Reference Series No. 245, Idaho State Historical Society (1972).

John English (Ed.), Dictionary of Canadian Biography, University of Toronto (© 2000).

Peter Skene Ogden, T. C. Elliott (ed.), "Peter Skene Ogden's Journal – Snake Expeditions," Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society (1910).

Physician, Drug Store Owner, and Rancher John Plumer [otd 04/08]

Dr. John J. Plumer, a pioneer physician in De Lamar and then Hailey, Idaho, was born April 8, 1860 in Edina, a rural corner of Missouri about 150 miles northwest of St. Louis. John received his pre-college education in a small town in Iowa, about fifty miles north of Edina. He then attended Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio. (After multiple mergers, the institution became today’s College of Medicine of The Ohio State University.) John received an M.D. degree in 1882.

For a couple years, Dr. Plumer practiced medicine near where he grew up in Iowa. He then moved to Dodge City, Kansas. John arrived in the famous “Queen of the Cowtowns” at a time when its wild history was almost over. In fact, the cattle drives ended in 1886, leaving behind a sleepy little farm town. After a few years there, the doctor moved on to Baker City, Oregon.

Delamar Mine, ca. 1895. Owyhee Directory.

Around 1890, Dr. Plumer became physician and surgeon for the De Lamar Mining Company. He practiced in De Lamar, Idaho, about five miles west of Silver City. The first mines had been located in this area in the mid- to late-1880s. In 1891, the De Lamar Mining Company, incorporated in London, England, consolidated about forty properties under their control. For many years, the company operated some of the most productive mines in the region.

The company allowed Plumer to carry on a private practice, and he soon served "many patrons" in the area. He was also proprietor of the only drug store in De Lamar. In 1897, John married a young lady whose family lived in Boise County (they were married in Idaho City.)

Three years later, Plumer ran successfully for the office of Idaho state Treasurer and the couple moved to Boise. He served one term, from 1900 through 1902. Even so, in the summer of 1901 Plumer and a partner bought out a medical practice in Hailey. Then the partner handled the practice full time while Plumer finished out the rest of his term.

Main Street, Hailey, ca 1905.
Hailey Historic Preservation Commission.

Dr. Plumer’s practice in Hailey flourished and he soon attained the means to invest in "several fine ranches in Blaine County," and "a beautiful home." He also had other financial investments, and became an officer – President, then just a director – of the Idaho State Bank of Hailey.

Unfortunately, the bank failed in August 1910. Plumer and several other officers were subsequently arrested on charges stemming from irregularities in the bank’s affairs. The doctor posted bond and later testimony showed that he had had nothing to do with the irregularities, so his charges were dropped. Two other officers did spend time in the penitentiary.

The H. T. French biography noted that, as a young man, John had been "an expert in trap shooting ... winning numerous prizes." After moving to Idaho, he began to win prizes in Pacific Northwest shooting contests. Having become owner of considerable ranch property in Idaho, each year he planned "a vacation to engage in bird hunting."

People in Hailey knew Plumer as a genial man with a fine bedside manner: a classic old-fashioned country/small town doctor. Famously, he used to say, “It isn’t the potatoes that are bad for you – it’s what you put on them. And it isn’t the whiskey that’ll kill you – its what you mix with it.”

Plumer passed away in October 1934 after suffering a long illness. Today, his home is on a walking tour sponsored by the Hailey Historic Preservation Commission.
                                                                                                                  

References: [French], [Illust-State]

"Deaths," Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 103, No. 19 (November 10, 1934).

“Dr. J. J. Plumer Home,” Historic Old Hailey, Blaine County Historical Museum, Hailey, Idaho (2007).

A Historical, Descriptive and Commercial Directory of Owyhee County, Idaho, Owyhee Avalanche Press (January 1898).

“[Plumer News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho (July 1901 – October 1934).]

School Superintendent and Probate Judge Thomas Jeffreys [otd 04/07]

Judge Jeffreys. Illustrated History.

Thomas M. Jeffreys, Probate Judge and Washington County Superintendent of Public Instruction, was born April 7, 1852 in Yamhill County, Oregon. The family had moved there from Missouri in 1845. Three years later, after the U. S. and Great Britain resolved the status of the “Oregon Country” [blog, June 15], Congress created Oregon Territory.

Attracted by opportunities in Idaho, his father Woodson took up land along the Weiser River in 1864. Woodson soon persuaded his brother Solomon to follow him, and they partnered in a cattle company [blog, Feb 11]. However, because the area had no schools, Woodson left his family in Oregon for awhile. Thomas, for one, had apparently proven to be an apt student.

That is perhaps why pioneers built the first school in the Weiser area soon after Thomas and the rest of the family arrived. Thomas worked as a farm and ranch hand for awhile, and then the parents sent him off to the University of Kentucky. He graduated from their "law and commercial departments" in 1876, when he was twenty-four.

Back in the Weiser area, Thomas taught school for a number of years. His abilities impressed the community and, when the legislature created Washington County in 1879, Thomas was elected as the first Superintendent of Public Schools. Moreover, when the chosen country Treasurer failed to provide the necessary bond, the remaining commissioners appointed Thomas to also fill that position.

For some reason, Jeffreys found it difficult to settle into a steady job. Besides teaching, he worked as a cowboy, farm hand, drug store clerk, and bookkeeper. In 1884 and 1885, he acted as Weiser City Agent for a sewing machine company.

Then, under Democratic President Grover Cleveland, in 1885, he secured an appointment as Weiser City postmaster. That job lasted only a year, however. After that, he tried his hand at investing in mining ventures. Initials assays from one property showed considerable promise for silver, but it does not appear to have developed into a major operation. In 1889, Jeffreys acquired some land and began his own farm-ranch operation up the Weiser River near Salubria.

Thomas had also developed an interest in public service. In 1881, voters elected him as Washington County Representative in the Territorial legislature. He also served the County for several more terms as Superintendent of Public Instruction. By dint of hard work (more on that in a moment), Thomas became an excellent speaker. Organizers selected him to give a speech for the 1890 Fourth of July celebration. The Idaho Statesman described the resulting oration as “masterly.”

Early Weiser City. Weiser Musuem.

In 1896, voters elected him as Probate Judge. In fact, his political ambitions kept him in public office for years. Judge Frank Harris [blog, Jun 28] had occasion to join Thomas on the election trail … and discovered that Jeffreys “lacked confidence in himself.” He never spoke extemporaneously, Harris wrote. Instead, Thomas carried carefully-prepared remarks which he would “read with great force and eloquence, to the utmost displeasure of his fellow campaigners who had to endure it every evening during the campaign.”

But voters must have liked the speech; they kept re-electing him as Probate Judge. Jeffreys also remained very active in Democratic Party operations at the county level. In August, 1911, the Judge was busy handing out fines for violations of Idaho’s food sanitation laws. He died, however, less than three months later. (His wife had passed away in April.)
                                                                                                                     

References: [Brit], [French], [Hawley], [Illust-State]

Frank Harris, "History of Washington County and Adams County," Weiser Signal (Newspaper series, 1940s).

Investor and Mining Millionaire Amasa Campbell [otd 04/06]

Amasa Campbell. Illustrated History.

Mining investor and executive Amasa B. Campbell was born April 6, 1845 in Salem, Ohio, about twenty miles southwest of Youngstown. In 1862, he took a clerk’s job at a firm engaged in grain and wool commission trading. After five years there, he worked two or three years in the west for the Union Pacific Railway.

During this period, Amasa developed an interest in Western mining prospects. For over a decade after 1871, he followed the industry in Utah, Colorado and Idaho. Biographers most often associated his name with activities in Utah, although no specific properties were identified.

It appears that his efforts provided him a solid hands-on knowledge of the business, but generated no substantial income. Accounts strongly suggest that Amasa decided – correctly – that the real money flowed to those on the investment and development side of the mining business.

He therefore returned east in 1882, and took up financial activities in Youngstown. Over the course of about five years, Campbell studied and learned the ins-and-outs of the investment business while cultivating a circle of potential investors. During this period he and another Youngstown businessman, John A. Finch, led the formation of a syndicate of capitalists who were ready to purchase and operate likely mining properties.

With that foundation, Campbell and Finch relocated to North Idaho in 1887 and began investing in the Coeur d'Alene mining district. They started with the Gem mine, located about four miles northeast of Wallace. The partners also developed the Standard Mine, further up the canyon and, in 1891, organized the Hecla Mining Company, which is still in operation today.

Gem, Idaho mine, 1899. University of Idaho Special Collections.

After marrying a Youngstown lady in 1890, Amasa established a home in Wallace. From there, he could oversee his investments in the region and search for other promising ventures. Thus, in 1893, the partners invested successfully in Slocan District mines in southeastern British Columbia.

Amasa’s wife Grace delivered their only child, a daughter, in May 1892. Not long after that, striking union miners fired on replacement workers at the Frisco Mine [blog, July 11], about a half mile from the Gem. Perhaps influenced by growing union discontent, Amasa moved his family to Spokane in 1898. Finch apparently moved there about the same time.

Amasa remained heavily involved in his Idaho properties and was such a fixture there that the governor offered him a position on the University of Idaho Board of Regents. Campbell declined, fearing he could not give that job the attention it deserved.

Campbell owned mines in British Columbia, timber tracts in western Washington, and shares of many businesses in  Spokane. And his Idaho interests were not confined to the Coeur d’Alene lead-silver districts. The Idaho Statesman quoted (January 22, 1902) the Grangeville Free Press, which said the Finch & Campbell gold mine located about forty miles southeast of Grangeville “is remarkable for the ore tonnage that has been exposed.”

When a railroad began an extension toward Salmon, in Lemhi County, it attracted much attention from mining interests. The Statesman noted (July 15, 1909) that “Among these are Finch & Campbell, the well-known Coeur d’Alene operators.”

The Spokane mansion he had built in 1898 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is now a museum open to the public. Campbell died in February 1912.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Illust-State]

Hugh W. Johnston, "Amasa B. Campbell Papers, 1905-1922," Archives Manuscript 38, Eastern Washington State Historical Society, Spokane (1987).

Nelson Wayne Durham, History of the City of Spokane and Spokane County Washington, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago (1912).