Murphy and Twin Falls Get Regular Train Service [otd 08/07]

Coincidentally, August 7 marks two different Idaho railroad milestones.

On this day in 1898, the Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railway initiated railroad service to Murphy, Idaho. Colonel William H. Dewey [blog, Aug 1] promoted the line, with construction beginning in September 1896. The venture encountered just one unusual obstacle, but it was a substantial one: They had to bridge the Snake River. Even the economical design chosen – Parker trusses – represented a major expense in the overall budget.

Guffey Bridge, ca. 1898. Directory of Owyhee County.

Right after workers completed the bridge in 1897, the town of Guffey, named for one of Dewey’s partners, sprang up a mile or so downstream from the crossing. Guffey was the railway terminal for a time, and grew to be quite a respectable little town. Shippers transferred their freight to wagons for the long climb into the mountains.

Then crews laid the tracks into Murphy. The transfer point quickly moved there once trains began arriving. At the time, developers had high hopes for the mines around Silver City, but those optimistic notions never panned out.

In fact, the original concept called for the tracks to continue into the town of Dewey, a few miles from Silver City. That would have required the construction of another 25 miles of railway, with an ascent of over 3,800 feet. Needless to say, that line was never completed. By around 1912, all the big mines in the Silver City area had shut down.  Still, shipments of livestock and other agricultural products kept the railway going until 1947.

Today, Murphy – although it is the county seat of Owyhee County – has a population of less than a thousand. Hardly a trace of Guffey remains … but the Guffey Bridge is still in place as a pedestrian crossing.

Citizens of Twin Falls hailed August 7, 1905 as “Railroad Day,” for that was when the first train on the Minidoka and Southwestern Railroad arrived in town. The Milner Dam project, promoted by Ira B. Perrine [blog, May 7] brought irrigation to the plains south of the Snake River Canyon. That, in turn, spurred the formation and growth of Twin Falls.

In late 1904, further promotion by Perrine and others initiated the construction of a branch line to run from Minidoka to Buhl. The promoters also created the town of Burley where the tracks crossed the Snake River [blog, July 19]. As the tracks neared Twin Falls, townspeople planned a gala celebration in anticipation of their arrival. Celebrants rode into town from all over the region for the big day.

Buhl Depot. Twin Falls Public Library.

In fact, a special dispatch to the Idaho Statesman (published August 8, 1905) on the big day said that, “About 350 people came in this morning on the train, and hundreds came from all portions of the surrounding region by team.”

The dispatch writer estimated that “Five thousand people are in Twin Falls tonight celebrating the advent of the Minidoka & Southwestern railroad to the metropolis of the Twin Falls region.”

The railroad’s arrival sparked an even greater surge in the growth of Twin Falls. Within a few weeks, local stockmen began shipping substantial numbers of sheep and cattle from their depot. In less than a decade, the town had a population of about eight thousand. Similar expansion occurred at the terminus of the line in Buhl, which was incorporated in 1908.
                                                                                 

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

“Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railroad (1896-1898),” Reference Series No. 218, Idaho State Historical Society (January 1993).

Jim Gentry, In the Middle and On the Edge, College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls, Idaho (2003).

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

Madison County Farmer, Canal Builder and Probate Judge James A. Berry [otd 08/06]

Idaho pioneer and Probate Judge James Allen Berry was born August 6, 1854 in Bristol, England. His father, foreman at a basketmaking plant, suffered from ill health, so James began working at the age of nine. Sadly, the father died in 1870. Two years later, the widow brought the family to the United States. They settled in Salt Lake City.

James A. Berry. [Hawley]

Berry found work with the Utah Northern Railroad. He married in 1876 and they had three children within four years, but only one of them survived infancy. His first wife died in late 1880 and he remarried two years later. The couple would have much greater success, raising a brood of nearly a dozen sons and daughters.

Some time during that period, James was promoted to a foreman’s position with the railroad. By the summer of 1879, the company, now called the Utah & Northern Railroad, had laid track across eastern Idaho beyond Eagle Rock (today’s Idaho Falls). Berry supposedly took up land near Rexburg the same year the town was established, in 1883. He was not listed among Rexburg’s founders, however.

Barry continued as a railroad foreman for quite some time, possibly until 1890-1892. General Land Office records show that he filed on a 160-acre homestead about three miles northwest of Rexburg in 1890. The following year, he also filed on a 160-acre plot about eight miles northwest of Dubois. It seems not unlikely that he started holding acreage as a “squatter” while he still had a steady job with the railroad.

In any case, Berry does not seem to have developed the Dubois land, perhaps because he could not count on a reliable water supply. That area was (and is) sheep country, and there is some possibility that he ran stock there. On the other hand, he quickly upgraded the property near Rexburg. James was described as a “forceful factor” in building the first irrigation canals, and served the Teton Island Irrigation Canal Company as Secretary, Treasurer, and then Director. After about 1904, he returned to the position as Secretary and remained in the job until at least 1920.

Berry was also active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). He was a member of a Quorum of Seventies and the first president of the local Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. In 1905, he was called for a mission back in England. (His passport application stated that he had become a naturalized U. S. citizen in 1887.) In December 1907, it was reported that his wife was in Salt Lake to meet her husband upon his return.

A year after he got back, Berry helped organize a Commercial Club in Driggs, Idaho. He became the Club’s first vice president. Besides his mixed-crop farm, he owned an interest in a Rexburg furniture outlet as well as a general merchandise store. Somewhat further afield, he had a share in the Beet Growers Sugar Company of Rigby.

Early Rexburg. Rexburg Historical Society.

In public office, Berry was a Justice of the Peace for four years and, from 1895 to at least 1910, he was a Notary Public. He also served as a Police Judge. In late 1913, the legislature split off a new county, Madison, from Fremont County. The governor then appointed Berry as Probate Judge for the new county. He held that post by re-election for almost a decade.

Berry and his wife retired to Salt Lake City in 1923 or 1924. James passed away there in the spring of 1927.
                                                                                 

References: [B&W], [Hawley]

“[Berry News Items],” Idaho Statesman, Boise; Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah (February 1895 – November 1913).

Progressive Men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida Counties, Idaho, A. W. Bowen & Co., Chicago (1904).

Boise and Southwest Idaho Automotive Pioneer Harry H. Bryant [otd 08/05]

Boise Ford dealer Harry H. Bryant was born August 5, 1871 on a farm about eight miles northwest of downtown Detroit. The family homestead was just four to five miles north of where automotive pioneer Henry Ford had been born eight years earlier. Harry grew up with two of Henry’s younger brothers, and his older sister Clara was a close friend of Henry’s oldest sister. Henry Ford and Clara Bryant were married in 1888.

H. H. Bryant. [Hawley]

Around 1890, Harry left home to find work. He married the following year and, for the next two decades, tried diverse ventures, first around Detroit and then in Seattle, Washington. But he had little success and apparently hit rock bottom in 1912. Meanwhile, his brother-in-law grew rich and famous, and sister Clara had become the Bryant family matriarch when their mother died.

After the summer of 1913, Harry and his family traveled east to Detroit. For undisclosed reasons, Harry and Henry (and Clara) decided Harry should represent Ford Motor Company in Boise. Boise had joined the car craze in 1901, when a saloon keeper purchased a gasoline-powered Loomis “horseless carriage.” Three years later, men were racing their cars at the fairgrounds. And by early 1909, Ford had hired a “live hustler” to handle Idaho sales.

On December 7, 1913, the Sunday edition of the Idaho Statesman printed a Ford advertisement placed by “H. H. Bryant & Son.” The firm competed aggressively, with heavy advertising, entries in car races, contributions to local causes, and “technical exhibits.”

They prospered and, in October of 1917, took occupancy of a large two-story building – 150 by 122 feet – at Eleventh and Front streets. The ground floor housed sales areas and a complete garage, while the top floor had machinery for light manufacturing. The plant turned out bodies and transport trailers for commercial vehicles. And, in 1920, Harry purchased a fancy home with a big lot on Warm Springs Avenue, where some of the wealthiest Boiseans lived.

Two years after that, he opened the Bryant Commercial Body Company in a plant that covered two acres of land on Fairview Avenue, about a mile from downtown. The facility assembled Ford automobiles from parts that were shipped in and fabricated truck bodies. At the time, it was one of only a handful of Ford assembly plants in the West. Later, they also produced small boats.

Besides his advertisements and other publicity events, in the 1920s Harry availed himself of educational movies produced by the Ford Motor Company. In 1914, Henry had initiated a film department, a first for a manufacturing company. Many productions, of course, had an obvious promotional slant. However, early on, Ford understood that solid content would generate a lot of interest and goodwill. He counted on the film credits and dealer presentations to gain name recognition.

H. H. Bryant Garage, ca 1982. National Registry.

The release of the Model A Ford in 1927 kept sales hot in Boise, as it did everywhere else. But the Thirties brought the Great Depression. Harry kept the dealership afloat with a loan from Clara in early 1933, but then sold it about a year later. During that same time period, he also shut down the assembly and production plant on Fairview.

In 1935, the Bryants moved north of downtown and leased out the fancy home on Warms Spring Avenue. Harry passed away in May 1938, about four months after the assembly plant had been converted into a sports arena. The historic garage building on Front Street was approved for National Registry listing in 1982, but “renovated” out of existence in 1990.
                                                                                

References: [Hawley]

“[Boise Automotive News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise (October 1901 – May 1938).

Ford R. Bryan, Clara: Mrs.Henry Ford, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan (2013).

“H. H. Bryant Garage,” Tourtellote and Hummel Architecture Thematic Resource, National Register of Historic Places (1982).

David L. Lewis, The Public Image of Henry Ford, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan (1976).

Second Idaho Regiment Brought into Federal Service for World War I [otd 08/05]

On August 5, 1917, the War Department drafted the Second Idaho Regiment (National Guard) into the U.S. Army for duty in World War I, part of perhaps 300,000 guardsmen taken into Federal service at that time.

A year earlier, the government had directed the state to mobilize the Second Idaho to patrol the Mexican border [blog, June 18]. Under that call-up, the troops could not be sent outside the country. The troops had been demobilized when that duty was over.

Idaho Guard troops headed for training camp.
Library of Congress.

In response to a telegram from  Washington on March 25, the Governor mobilized the Second Idaho, and its companies gathered at Boise Barracks. With a declaration of war close at hand, the Secretary of War wanted Guard units called to duty: “This duty to consist for the time being of protecting traffic, [the] means of communication and the transfer of mails within the state. (Idaho Statesman, Boise, March 26, 1917).

Then, in May 1917, Congress authorized the President to begin inducting Guard units into national military service. Nationalized troops could be sent outside the country. The Idaho regiment was not up to its authorized wartime strength, so officials instituted a vigorous recruiting campaign. By the time the draft order arrived on the 5th, the unit actually exceeded the required enrollment.

The regiment consisted of three battalions. The First Battalion was from northern Idaho: Coeur d'Alene, Grangeville, Lewiston, and Sandpoint. The Second came from Boise, Buhl, Twin Falls, and Idaho Falls. The Third represented Caldwell, Nampa, Payette, and Weiser.

About seven weeks after the draft, the regiment traveled to Camp Greene, near Charlotte, North Carolina. There, commanders parceled the Idaho battalions out to various units of the Army’s 41st Division. Then, when the 41st arrived in France, the high command made it a “replacement” division, so individual units were further distributed. These breakups make it somewhat difficult to track exactly where the Idaho companies fought during the war.

Of course, not every Idahoan who saw World War I action enlisted in the Second Idaho. According to Hawley, the Second Idaho enrolled 5,060 men, while another 12 thousand Idahoans served in Regular Army units, the Navy, or the Marines.

One unit history indicates that an Idaho company provided support to the U. S. Marines in their famous Battle of Belleau Wood, in June 1918. However, the first major action for Idaho soldiers was in the Second Battle of the Marne, in late July.  There, Idaho troops suffered their first significant casualties, including the death of Lieutenant John Regan [blog, Feb 6].

In mid-September, Idahoans participated in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. American forces caught the Germans in a staged withdrawal and turned it into a hurried retreat. Reportedly, the advance stopped mainly because the American troops outran their artillery and material support.

American soldiers attack at Meuse-Argonne. U. S. Army.

Idahoans next fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, in which American and French divisions captured the vital railroad hub at Sedan. The battle began in late September and ended only with the Armistice on November 11. This was by far the bloodiest battle experienced by American troops in the War.

An incomplete casualty list for the Great War, published in 1920, gives the names of 348 Idahoans who were lost to battle deaths, sickness, or accidents. Unfortunately, there may be as many as one hundred names missing from that list.
                                                                                 

References: [Hawley]

W. M. Haulsee, F. G. Howe, A. C. Doyle, Soldiers of the Great War, Vol III, Soldiers Record Publishing Association, Washington, D. C. (1920).

Mark A. Shields (ed.), The History of the 116th Engineers, Training Section, U. S. Army (1918).

Richard A. Rinaldi, The US Army in World War I – Orders of Battle, Tiger Lily Publications, Takoma Park, Maryland (2004).

Ag Secretary, Author, and LDS Patriarch Ezra Taft Benson [otd 08/04]

LDS President and public servant Ezra Taft Benson was born August 4, 1899 in Whitney, Idaho (located 20-25 miles west of Bear Lake). He was named for his grandfather, who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1840 and rose to be a member of its Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Growing up on the family farm, Ezra learned the “traditional” agricultural approach, which depended upon draft animals and offered little mechanization.

Sugar beet harvesting in the Mountain West, ca 1915. National Archives

Benson sandwiched a solid education in agricultural subjects around his mission to England in 1921. Thus, upon his return, he completed his degree at Brigham Young University, married, and moved to Ames, Iowa. In 1927, he attained a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from Iowa State University.

Two years after he returned to the family farm, the University of Idaho (UI) Extension Service hired Ezra as their agent for Franklin County. In 1931, the UI promoted him to a statewide position as an agricultural adviser. He travel extensively, helping farmers market their products, with an emphasis on strategies implemented through cooperative organizations. Less than five months after he was appointed, the Idaho Cooperative Council was formed at a meeting in Twin Falls. Its aim was to help individual cooperatives work together for their mutual benefit. A news report said, “Twenty cooperatives of the 68 in the state have joined the organization in its two days of existence  … ”

In 1939, he moved to Washington, D.C. to head the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. While there, he continued his advancement in the LDS: having been a stake president in Boise and then Washington, he was confirmed as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1943. From there, he was called to be President of the church’s European mission, dealing with the devastation left by World War II.

In 1952, President Dwight Eisenhower selected Ezra Taft Benson to be Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. An ardent anti-Communist and anti-Socialist, Benson disagreed with the system of Federal price supports and other farm aid; to him it smacked of what we would call a “slippery slope” to socialism.

Agriculture Secretary Benson.
Life Magazine*

He believed even more strongly, however, in adherence to one’s civic duty. Ezra performed those duties so well that he remained Secretary through all eight years of Eisenhower’s administration. He authored two books on farming while in office, and one later about his experiences in the Cabinet.

Benson also authored three books having to do with church and civic matters. In 1973, he rose to the Presidency of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Twelve years later, Ezra Taft Benson became President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In April 1986, members sustained Benson as President, Seer, and Revelator, confirming his position as ultimate patriarch of the Church.

Ezra took an active role in Scouting, starting as an Assistant Scoutmaster in 1918. Just over thirty years later, in 1949, he became a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America. Over time, he received all three of the highest awards bestowed by that organization as well as the Bronze Wolf award from International Scouting, their highest, very selective honor.

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush presented Benson with the Presidential Citizens Medal. Fourteen American colleges and universities conferred honorary degrees on Ezra Taft. He passed away in May 1994.

* Photo provided online by Time for “Personal non-commercial use only.”
                                                                                 

References: Richard J. Beck, Famous Idahoans, Williams Printing, (© Richard J. Beck, 1989).

Sheri L. Dew, Ezra Taft Benson: a Biography, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City (1989).

“[ET Benson and the Idaho Cooperative Council],” Daily Post, Idaho Falls (February 4 and June 18, 1931).

Track Star, Olympic Athlete, and Coach "Hec" Edmundson [otd 08/03]

Coach, University of Idaho track star, and Olympian Clarence “Hec” Edmundson was born August 3, 1886 in Moscow, Idaho. In 1901, Clarence enrolled in the UI prep school and soon established himself as an outstanding distance runner.

Edmundson wins! University of Idaho archives.

Hec – “Aw Heck!” being his preferred expletive – basically put UI track & field athletics on the map. At most meets, he ran the quarter mile, the half, the mile, and anchored the mile relay. In 1905, Hec led a three-man “team” to the Lewis and Clark Exposition Games, in Portland, Oregon. Amazingly, the tiny squad placed second in the event, with Hec winning two firsts.

In 1908, Edmundson won one event and placed second in another at the Olympic qualifying trials held at Stanford University. He was not, however, among the 76 athletes selected for the American team that went to the 1908 Olympic Games in London (The Oregonian, Portland, June 9, 1908). Later that year, he organized the first cross country squad for the University of Idaho.

Edmundson was selected for a spot on the team for the 1912 Olympics, held in Stockholm. Hec reached the semi-finals of the 400-meter race, and the finals of the 800-meter. Edmundson was the first Idaho native to compete in the Olympic Games.

After his Olympic experiences, Hec turned to coaching, starting as track coach at the University of Idaho in 1913. After awhile, he also coached the basketball team. Edmondson’s hoopsters specialized in ferocious defense, which led some sports writers to gush that they “vandalized” their opponents. According to tradition, a writer for the student newspaper dubbed the powerful 1917 squad the “vandals” in a season-opening article. Four years later, “Vandals” became the official name for University of Idaho athletic teams.

Coach Edmundson. Seattle Times photo.

In 1919, Hec joined the University of Washington staff, where he started as head trainer as well as the track & field coach. The school’s athletes showed his impact almost immediately. One of his trainees, Augustus “Gus” Pope, won a Bronze Medal for the discus throw in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. (The following year Pope won both the discus and the shot put in the NCAA championships.) In all, seven of his athletes competed in the Olympic Games, and three of them won medals.

Besides a half dozen other individual NCAA track & field champions, Hec coached world record holders in several events. His teams won three Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) titles, twice finished second in the NCAA championships, and three other times finished in the top five.

Two years after he started at UW, Edmundson began coaching basketball there. Washington Husky tradition credits Hec with the invention of “fast break” basketball. Other claims for that honor exist. Most likely, many coaches of that era got frustrated with slow, set-piece basketball, and several … including Hec … invented ways to pick up the pace.

Hec’s squads won the PCC Northern Division ten times, and the conference title three times. He coached more wins (488) and compiled the highest career winning percentage (71.5) of any UW basketball coach. Edmundson passed away in August 1964.

Hec belongs to both the Husky and the Vandal Halls of Fame. The indoor sports venue at the University of Washington is called the “Hec Edmundson Pavilion” – generally referred to as the “Hec Ed” – in his honor.
                                                       

References: Richard J. Beck, Famous Idahoans, Williams Printing, (© Richard J. Beck, 1989).

Jim Dave, W. Thomas Porter, “Hec Edmundson,” The Glory of Washington: The People and Events that Shaped the Husky Athletic Tradition, Sports Publishing, Inc. (2001).

Rafe Gibbs, Beacon for Mountain and Plain: Story of the University of Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (© The Regents of the University of Idaho, 1962).

“Hall of Famers Arrive on Campus: Clarence ‘Hec’ Edmundson,” University of Idaho news release, Moscow (Sept 6, 2007).

Lumber (and Fire) in Pioneer Idaho

A few weeks back, I had to stock up on copies of my book Boise River Gold Country (thank you, Skip Myers). While I was flipping through books to make sure they were okay, one particular image stuck in my mind. (FYI: The book includes over 200 what I call “vintage” photos.) 

Whipsaw. University of Idaho Archives.

The image gives you a whole new perspective on what the pioneers went through. The two men are muscling a “whipsaw” back and forth through a log. (Sometimes they dug a pit to provide a more solid base than the log framework shown in the picture.) I assume these fellas would trade off. Who wants to be the guy on the bottom getting sprayed with sawdust and bark chips?

The earliest solid structures in pioneer Idaho were log cabins. But that’s wasteful of timber and it’s hard to make the structure weather-tight. Even after miners had been around for several years, sawmills were not that common because they needed a reliable source of water power. (Hauling a steam engine into the back country was pretty much out of the question for many, many years.) Also, even when a few mills went into operation, the demand was so great that lumber prices remained high, and men could still make money with a whipsaw.

So when you see an old photo of a cabin, shop, or even just a shed, imagine, if you will, how much sweat and effort went into whipsawing all that lumber. As a matter of fact, many of the early arrivers – Peter Pence, among others (blog Oct. 12) – got their first stake by cutting planks.

Lewiaron, 1862. Nez Pierce County Historical Soc.

All that raw lumber came at some risk. Idaho City suffered a bad fire in 1864, a worse one in 1866, and an even more destructive one in 1867. Other pioneer towns – including Boise City – suffered similar events.
                                                       

References: An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago (1899). honor.