Convicted Murderer and Thief Hanged at Idaho Penitentiary [otd 11/30]

On November 30, 1901, authorities hanged convicted murderer Edward Rice. He was the first individual executed at the Idaho Penitentiary as a state institution and only the second in its history. Rice had been convicted of murdering Matthew Mailley, a Wallace cigar and candy store owner, the previous year.

Wallace, ca 1898. Illustrated History.

The evidence was largely circumstantial, in that there were no direct witnesses. A potential customer had found the store door locked at around 9:30 on a Monday morning in October 1900. Finding Mailley’s thriving business closed at that time of day was unusual, to say the least.

The person then walked around and peered in a window, and spotted Mailley’s body lying near the back. A report in the Idaho Statesman (October 5, 1900) said that authorities then forced the door. Mailley had suffered several blows to the head and then his throat had been cut. The article noted that the store owner “had lived in the Coeur d’Alenes about 15 years and had no known enemies.”

Account books showed an $800 shortfall of cash and checks in the store and on the murdered man’s body. Suspicion soon fell on Edward Rice, a casual laborer who had been around town for awhile. Rice had cadged small loans off numerous locals, some of whom had taken to dunning him for repayment whenever they ran into him. Later on the day of the murder, Rice had not only paid off over $100 of those debts, he had “purchased a hat and pair of trousers.”

Investigators also found two bloodstained handkerchiefs at the crime scene, one of which had apparently been used as a gag. Both bore marks assigned by the Wallace laundry to Rice’s belongings. Unable to explain this evidence, Rice’s lawyer tried to raise doubts about the chain of custody on the items.

At his trial, Rice’s lawyer surely did his best to focus attention on those doubts, and the fact that no witness had placed Rice near the scene of the crime. Available accounts do not report what story they advanced to explain his sudden relative affluence. (Throughout this affair, Rice’s activities suggest that he was, in fact, of substandard intelligence.) The attorney’s presentation clearly did not impress the jury: They “found a verdict in thirteen minutes.”

Naturally, the matter did not end there. The scarcity of direct evidence was emphasized in his appeals, which went all the way to the Idaho Supreme Court. One of the other issues the defense raised was that “popular excitement and prejudice” about the case prevented him from getting a fair trial. The High Court conceded that such sentiment certainly justified a request for a change of venue, but no such request was made.

Old Idaho Penitentiary.
Wikimedia Commons, attribution to Peter Wollheim.

Up until 1899, executions had been carried out at the county level. Then the law was changed to require that all such acts be carried out at the State Penitentiary. The only previous execution at the Penitentiary had been under a Federal order, when Idaho was still a Territory.

Early in 1901, even as his appeals proceeded, Rice somehow obtained a knife and ostensibly tried to commit suicide by cutting his own throat … but failed. One last-ditch appeal called for time to examine of his sanity, but that too failed and the execution proceeded. 
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Illust-North]

“[Appeal Denied, Rice to Hang],” Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise, Idaho (November 30, 1901).

"Executions," Idaho State Historical Society monograph.

"State Versus Rice," The Pacific Reporter, Vol. 66, West Publishing Company, St. Paul (1902).

Grangeville Wins County Seat From Mount Idaho [otd 11/04]

On November 4, 1902, voters decisively favored the transfer of the county seat of Idaho County from Mount Idaho to Grangeville. This result culminated a vigorous decade-long campaign to wrest the seat away from the older town.

Historic Grangeville. City of Grangeville.

Pioneer Loyal P. Brown established Mount Idaho as the first town on the Camas Prairie. He started in 1862 from a waystation on the road to the Florence gold fields [blog, Sept 26]. In 1875, his political maneuvering won the county seat for the town.

Grangeville began with the establishment of Charity Grange No. 15, Patrons of Husbandry, in August 1874. When Loyal P. refused to donate a Mount Idaho plot for a Grange Hall, members asked rancher John Crooks if he would help. He agreed, and donated land about three miles to the north. To finance the hall project, Grange members organized a milling company and built a flour mill.

With the mill ready, they began construction of the Grange Hall, completing it in 1876. Grangers immediately developed the area around it, starting with a small general store and some residences. In the summer of 1877, during the Nez Percés War, locals built a stockade around the hall. Fortunately, they suffered no attacks and the few other existing structures were not damaged.

After the war, the nearby presence of Camp Howard helped the local economy, but the Army decommissioned that facility in 1881. Despite rather slow growth, by the middle of the decade Grangeville had become an important supply and commercial center for the ranches and farms that spread across the Camas Prairie. In 1886, the town got its own newspaper, the Idaho County Free Press (which is still publishing today.)

By 1892 it was the largest town in Idaho County. (That was also the year when Grangeville’s first two banks opened.) An undercurrent of sentiment to relocate the county seat burst into an active campaign. Although supporters polled a simple majority in the subsequent election, they failed to garner the necessary two-thirds vote. The setback was perhaps a tribute to L. P. Brown, who was still highly respected. But Brown would pass away in 1896.

Grangeville continued to grow. In 1893, voters there overwhelmingly agreed to issue bonds to build a new, larger schoolhouse. The following year, telephone service to Lewiston was initiated, and new businesses continued to open. Meanwhile, Mount Idaho declined.

In 1898, prospectors discovered new gold lodes in the “Buffalo Hump” area, about 30 miles southeast of Grangeville. The subsequent rush caused a “boom” as the town became a major supply point for the mines. Grangeville added another hotel, set up a volunteer fire department, and even attracted a brewery.

Grain elevator. Univ. of Idaho photo.

The election in 1902 gave Grangeville nearly three-quarters of the votes in their favor for the county seat. Thereafter, Grangeville would grow even more substantially, especially with the arrival of the railroad in 1908. Mount Idaho continued its decline to what is now basically a ghost town.

Today, Grangeville is a regional center for farming and forestry operations – the U.S. Forest Service is a significant presence in the area.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [Hawley], [Illust-North]

“Early Idaho County,” Reference Series No. 324, Idaho State Historical Society.

M. Alfreda Elsensohn, Eugene F. Hoy (ed.), Pioneer Days in Idaho County, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (1951).

Newspaper Publisher Ben Read, Lurid Headlines Attract Readers [otd 10/18]

Ben Read. J. H. Hawley photo.

Idaho Falls newspaperman Benjamin Harrison Read was born October 18, 1888 in Palco, located about 25 miles north of Hayes, Kansas. His father, a storekeeper, moved the family to Iowa when Ben was a young man. After high school he attended Grinnell College, graduating in 1910. (Grinnell is about 45 miles east of Des Moines.) After graduation, Ben worked at the Ames Times newspaper.

Within two years, he attained a partnership in the newspaper, which became the Ames Evening Times. He soon assumed management of the paper, which he took from a weekly to a daily in about 1916. Like many newspapers of that day, the company also maintained a lucrative job printing operation.

In 1917, Ben sold the Ames newspaper and moved to Idaho. There, he and his brother Clifford bought a controlling interest in the Idaho Falls Daily Post. The earliest known operators of the Post were brothers Charles and Ernest Sumner in partnership with Henry Gabbe. In 1905, the partners shipped equipment in from Colorado and began publishing the first daily newspaper in Idaho Falls. (Library of Congress records indicate that an Idaho Falls paper of that name began in 1903, but nothing is known of its circulation or management.)

The Post had to compete with two existing weekly newspapers: the Idaho Register and Idaho Falls Times. The presence of a daily did force the Register to go semi-weekly, in 1908. However, it soon became apparent that three newspapers might be too many for the town to support. When the novelty wore off, the Daily Post struggled, going through a succession of owners before the Read’s bought it.

Daily Post offices. Idaho Falls Post Register archives.

Ben and Cliff rejuvenated the paper: They contracted for a dedicated newswire so they could feature the hottest events from around the world, and published full-color Sunday comics. They also packed their pages with sensational stories: notorious (preferably bloody) murders, white slavery, marquee sporting events … whatever would grab attention. On the side, they ran the usual printing operation.

Their competitors merged in 1920 to form the Times-Register, which also went to daily publication. In 1922-1923, Ben served a couple months as private secretary to newly-elected Idaho Governor Charles C. Moore (Idaho Statesman, December 24, 1922). In 1925, the brothers sold the Daily Post to J. Robb Brady, son of former Idaho Governor and U. S. Senator James H. Brady. Ben and Cliff moved to the Los Angeles, California, area. Ben remained in southern California until his death in 1972. Cliff returned to Idaho for a time to run another newspaper.

Robb Brady had originally moved to Idaho to settle the estate of Senator Brady, who died in office from a heart attack. Ironically, a year after purchasing the Post, J. Robb also had a heart attack and died. The manager he hired, E. F. McDermott, arranged a merger with the Times Register, changing the name to the Post-Register. McDermott operated the paper for the next half century. The Post Register is still being published today, six days a week (no issue on Monday).
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Hawley]

Chronicling America: Historic Newspapers, Library of Congress (online).

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

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

William Hathaway, Images of America: Idaho Falls, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC (2006).

Edward Moffitt: Mining Manager and University Regent [otd 08/22]

Wallace businessman Edward H. Moffitt was born August 22, 1845 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, now a part of Pittsburgh. Around 1858, the family moved to Illinois, where Edward grew to young manhood. In January 1864, he joined the Second Illinois Cavalry.

Union Cavalry Chasing Irregulars. Harper’s Weekly Illustration.

Far from the “glamor” of major battles, Edward’s regiment still saw almost continuous marching and much fighting, from northern Florida into western Texas. Long after General Lee surrendered at Appomattox, they chased detached units of the Confederate Army and bands of irregulars. Edward mustered out at San Antonio in January, 1866, and returned home to Illinois.

Moffitt ran a grocery store for two years before heading west to try his hand in the gold fields. He prospected in the Dakotas and Utah, then spent over a decade in the Colorado mines. Then, in late 1879, Edward joined the rush into the lead-silver mines along the Wood River [blog, April 26].

In 1884, however, Moffitt decided the Coeur d’Alene mining districts had greater potential. He located first at Eagle City, on Prichard Creek, where he opened the camp’s first meat market and invested in various mining claims. However, within two years, he became associated with the new town of Murray, located about three miles to the southeast. (Eagle City soon became a ghost town.)

Then, in 1887, Edward recognized even greater potential in the mines around the new town of Wallace, and moved there. Moffitt remained heavily invested in mining properties, but it’s likely he also moved his meat market to Wallace.

At about this time, the consortium led by Amasa Campbell [blog April 6] began investing in Coeur d’Alene mines. Over the next few years, Edward joined several of their ventures. Thus, when the group acquired and re-organized the Coeur d’Alene Hardware Company, Moffitt became the firm’s Secretary-Treasurer. Campbell was Vice-President. An Illustrated History published in 1899 said, “They deal in mining and mill supplies and all kinds of general hardware and have one of the most extensive hardware stores in the west.”

Wallace, ca 1898. Illust-North.

As part of the Campbell consortium, Moffitt also owned shares in the Standard and Hecla mines. In 1899, he became General Manager for their properties throughout the Coeur d’Alene area. Two years later, his duties expanded in an unlikely way. After the timekeeper at the Standard Mine was shot and killed, Edward “gathered a posse and set put in pursuit, eventually capturing the fugitive.” (Convicted and sentenced to hang, the murderer got off with a life sentence upon appeal.)

For a time, Moffitt served as an officer of three or four mining companies, as well as a Director of the First National Bank of Wallace. In 1901, a report in the Idaho Statesman (July 20, 1901) identified him as a Delegate from Wallace to an International Mining Congress, held in Boise.

Moffit was an active member of the Masonic Lodge in Wallace, and served on the school board there for many years. In 1908, he was appointed as a Regent of the University of Idaho, becoming President of the Board in 1911. He retired from hands-on business and service activities a few years after that, and passed away in February 1920.
                                                                                                                                     

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

Gold Prospectors Found Elk City Deep in the Idaho Mountains [otd 08/06]

On August 6, 1861, a band of miners founded the mining town of Elk City, Idaho, about 35 miles east of the present town of Grangeville. Prospectors had first entered the area in the latter part of May. A large party left the Orofino area earlier in the month. Somewhat less than half penetrated the region, having ignored protests from a Nez Perce Indian chief because they had intruded onto reservation land.

Riffle Box for Placer Mining. Library of Congress.

They found gold near the confluence of the American and Red rivers.  Further prospecting discovered more and more “color.”  By mid-June they had slapped together a log cabin to serve as a recorder's office, in which “Captain” L. B. Monson recorded the first claim on June 14, 1861.

Some men returned to Orofino for supplies and the new rush began, somewhat dampened by worries about the Indians. However, as more and more prospectors struck pay dirt, the rush swelled. That finally led to the founding of Elk City.

By the following summer, the town had four to six stores of various kinds, five saloons, and two decent hotels. Because of its location deep in the mountains, heavy winter snow shut down work on almost every claim. By the fall of 1862, a quickly-established Express company had shipped out over $900 thousand in gold dust (over $50 million at today’s prices).

Gold discoveries in easier country in Montana drew many prospectors away from Elk City the next year. However, the Evening Bulletin in San Francisco reprinted (May 29, 1863) a letter that said, in part, “Six ditches have been dug during the last winter in the vicinity of Elk City, and are now furnishing water to the miners.” As could be expected, “The miners are doing much better than before the ditches were completed.”

Also, in 1864 and 1865, determined gold-seekers built mores ditches, and flumes, to begin large-scale hydraulic mining. Thus, the value of metal extracted from the region actually increased. A sawmill built to supply lumber for these flumes did a booming business.

Miners continued to obtain reasonable returns from claims in the region for more than a decade. Then, after 1880, many claims were leased to Chinese miners. Like most of the older mining towns, Elk City’s prosperity rose and fell with the output from the gold fields in the region.

The economy received a “bump” when prospectors discovered gold in the “Buffalo Hump,” region, about 20 miles to the southwest. By the summer of 1899, about five thousand prospectors had poured into that area. Although Grangeville became the major supply point for “the Hump,” Elk City also won a share of the stagecoach and freight traffic. However, significant work at Buffalo Hump ran its course by about 1910.

Elk City at sunset. Elk City tourism.

For a time in the twentieth century, Elk City operated as a center for logging activity. However, that faltered when the U.S. Forest Service imposed more restrictions on timber harvesting in the area.

Today, Elk City survives as a recreation and tourism center, a “gateway” to the Nez Perce National Forest. The Elk City web site offers hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, mountain biking, and ATV riding during the summer, with skiing and snowmobiling in the winter.
                                                                                 

References: [B&W], [Illust-North]

“Buffalo Hump Stage Lines,” Reference Series No. 794, Idaho State Historical Society (1985 ).

M. Alfreda Elsensohn, Eugene F. Hoy (ed.), Pioneer Days in Idaho County, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (1951).

V. D. Hannah, Pioneer Grower of Fine Fruit, Vegetables, and Purebred Livestock [otd 06/15]

Agricultural pioneer Henry Van Dyke Hannah was born June 15, 1842 in Ohio County, Indiana, about 25 miles southwest of Cincinnati, Ohio. After completing a common school education, he spent several sessions at a prep school and then at an early agricultural institute or college.

Henry V. D. Hannah. [Hawley]

After that, he worked on his father’s farm until 1862, when he enlisted in the Second Indiana Light Artillery. Wounded at least once, Hannah carried a Minie ball in his abdomen for the rest of his life. At the end of the war, he returned to farming with his father. However, with the war over, the farm economy entered a severe depression and, for various reasons, southern Indiana was hit particularly hard. So young Hannah headed west.

In late 1872, he was in Idaho looking for acreage, after about three years in Oregon. He started in a valley area northeast of Weiser and would be associated with that town for many years. Even that early, “V. D.” – as he was now commonly known – sought the top of the line in his business. In May, 1873, the Idaho Statesman carried his advertisement to sell fertilized eggs from top-breed chickens he had just imported from the East. A couple months later, he gave the Statesman editor a basket containing the “fattest gooseberries we ever saw.”

That fall, Hannah set up a sales stand in downtown Boise with a wide variety of fruit from his farm: two kinds of apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes … and even some tomatoes. All were judged to be outstanding examples of their kind. Nor did he neglect the animal husbandry side. Besides his purebred chickens, he also advertised top-grade hogs “and a good Boar, for service.”

Over the following years, V. D. added high-grade turkeys and geese to his poultry line, as well as herds of purebred sheep and shorthorn cattle. He also continued to improve his fruit lines. In 1884, the Statesman reported that he had seven varieties of grapes under cultivation on two-year-old vines. When agricultural fairs appeared, Hannah was always among the prize winners, in many different categories.

When a commission was assembled to organize Idaho’s exhibits for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, V. D. handled the agriculture portion. Besides the expected products, he included two new items from his ranch: figs and cotton. The exhibit was a huge success and he was similarly asked for advice five years later for the World’s Fair held in Omaha.

When growers organized the Idaho State Horticultural Society in 1895, V. D. was named a trustee and served on the Legislative Committee. Two years later, the State Board of Agricultural Inspection was created. Although Hannah was not a member of the first Board, he later served as a member.

In 1905, V. D. took on a task similar to his World’s Fair duty – the Lewis and  Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon. By this time, the Hannahs was living near Caldwell.

Idaho Building, Lewis & Clark Exposition. Library of Congress.

Nothing out of the ordinary came Hannah’s way until 1917, when he was 75 years old. He was appointed to appraise land being offered as collateral for loans from the state. He gave up that position in November, 1918. But even at his advanced age, he still grew crops and animals. His History of Idaho biography said, “It is like attending a fine stock fair to visit his farm and see the splendid animals and poultry that he has produced.”

He passed away in July 1923, shortly before the Annual Meeting of a regional cattle growers association. They observed a long moment of silence in his honor.
                                                                                 

References: [Hawley]

“[Idaho Hannah News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise (December 1872 – July 1923)..

“[Other Hannah News],” Reveille, Vevay, Indiana; The Standard, Greenburg, Indiana; The Oregonian, Portland (October 1870 – September 1919).

Paul Salstrom, From Pioneering to Persevering: Family Farming in Indiana to 1880, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana (2007).

Judge, Boise Mayor, Developer and Attorney James H. Richards [otd 05/05]

Judge James Heber Richards was born May 5, 1852 in Mount Vernon, Ohio, about forty miles northeast of Columbus. One of eight siblings, James left home when he was fourteen years old to work on a dairy farm. Over the next few years, he pieced together more schooling and, around 1872, returned to Mount Vernon to teach. He continued there for most of the decade.

James H. Richards. [Illust-State]

Richards then moved to Colorado, where he read law, passed the bar, and ended up practicing in the mining town of Breckenridge. Then the boom there began to fade, so in the summer of 1890, James opened an office in Boise. He was there long enough to be on the city’s Board of Trade, but moved to Payette in late 1891. His first four years in Idaho were extremely busy. He invested in Boise Basin mining properties, helped found a bank in Payette, organized an irrigation project along the Payette River, and became president of a land development company.

Besides all that, when Canyon County was split off from Ada County in the fall of 1892, Richards was one of the commissioners who helped organize the new government.

However, in 1894, Richards was elected judge of the Third Judicial District. Finding the judicial docket hugely backlogged, he moved back to Boise to tackle the job. Handling well over four hundred cases, he managed to clear the calendar before the end of his two-year term.

Judge Richards was a strong supporter of women’s suffrage in Idaho. He and his wife Fannie organized and helped publicize the visit of a prominent women’s rights speaker in 1895. Those efforts succeeded the following year when voters overwhelmingly passed a women’s suffrage amendment [blog, November 3]. However, Richards’ practice had suffered during his time in office, so he refused to run for re-election. It took him three years of intense effort to put his private law affairs back in order.

Then backers persuaded him to run for Boise mayor in 1899, an office he won in a close election. Despite early budget problems, under Richards the city managed to get its facilities into tip-top shape, grade many streets that had been neglected before, and lay many blocks of new sidewalk. The mayor felt the volunteer fire brigade was doing a good job, but suggested that the city had grown enough to need a more professional approach. A paid part-time crew replaced the volunteers a year after he left office [blog, June 2].

Central Fire State, Boise, 1903. Boise Fire Department.

After his term as mayor ended in July 1901, Richards formed a law partnership with education advocate Oliver O. Haga [blog November 19]. James would remain active in that firm, as senior partner, for a quarter century. A couple months after that, the American Mining Congress was formed from parts of the International Mining Congress and Richards was selected as it first president. He held that office for seven or eight years, and then continued to give talks before that body for more than another decade.

Despite his many legal, business, and society activities (he was both a Mason and an Elk), Richards also served a 1905-1906 term in the state legislature. Again, he refused to run for re-election, as he would later turn down strong urgings to be a Republican candidate for governor.

Richards was active in his law firm until about 1926, when he was over seventy years old. He continued to be a popular speaker around the area for another five years or so. James passed away in early 1936 after a short illness.
                                                                                 

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

“Breckenridge,” Rocky Mountain News, Denver (July 13, 1890).

“[James H. Richards News Items],” Idaho Statesman, Boise (June 1890 – January 1936).

Jennifer M. Ross-Nazzal, Winning the West for Women: The Life of Suffragist Emma Smith DeVoe, University of Washington Press, Seattle (2011).

Idaho Territory Fends Off One Last Partition Attempt [otd 02/29]

On February 29, 1888, Congressional Delegate Fred T. Dubois sent the following telegram to Milton Kelly: “House committee on territories to-day reported unanimously against any division of Idaho. This ends the fight.”

Judge Kelly. Illust-State photo.

Milton Kelly was the operator-editor of the Idaho Statesman, published in Boise. He was born near Syracuse, New York, in 1818. He became a lawyer in 1845 and practiced for many years in Wisconsin. Kelly moved to Placerville, Idaho in 1863. He then represented Boise County in the first Idaho Territorial legislature.

In April 1865, President Lincoln appointed him an Associate Justice for the Territorial Supreme Court. Six years later, he moved to Boise City and bought the Statesman.

Kelly actually showed remarkable restraint when he inserted the telegram text in the next day’s issue. His brief editorial about it did advise the partition supporters to “help build up Idaho instead of trying to tear it to pieces.”

As noted in several of my blog articles, many residents of North Idaho did not want to be part of Idaho Territory. That became especially true in Lewiston after the south “stole” the capital away to Boise City in 1864. The northerners hoped to become part of Washington, or perhaps a totally new territory.

The partition notion also had another root. The Republican-dominated U. S. Congress made Nevada a state in October 1864, even though its population fell well below the preferred minimum for statehood. (As a state, the region offered a Representative and two Senators who were “safely” Republican.)

To “bulk itself up,” in 1866 and 1868 the new state added major chunks of Utah and Arizona territories. Anti-Mormonism bolstered the Utah acquisition. And clearly the mining camps in the wedge that became southern Nevada benefited from being part of a state rather than a weak Arizona Territory.

Emboldened, starting around 1869 Nevada officials tried to carve a chunk out of southern Idaho. Thus, in January of 1870, Nevada Senator William Stewart introduce a bill to add all of Idaho south of the Snake River to his state. News moved slowly in those days. (Boise had to wait five years before it had a telegraph link to the outside.) Even so, nine days after the bill was introduced, protesters held a mass meeting in Idaho City to denounce it.

The bill hung around the halls of Congress for some time, but apparently died in committee, finally. Attempts to give the Panhandle to Washington, in 1874 and 1882, also failed. Backers of these ploys were simply no match for the political savvy of the Idaho leaders and their allies in Congress. Although the partitionists seemed to be close to their goal at times, the Territory remained intact.

Delegate Fred Dubois.
Library of Congress.

The Nevada annexation scheme surfaced yet again in 1886. By that time, miners had exhausted the best silver lodes in Nevada, and the state’s population was plummeting. (It lost almost a quarter of its people between 1880 and 1890). Adding the growing population of southern Idaho could offset the decline.

Led by Idaho’s shrewd and politically astute Delegate, Fred T. Dubois [blog, May 29], the Territory and its allies fought back in Washington, D. C. Internally, they made concessions to North Idaho – guaranteeing a university there [blog, Oct 3], and so on. This eroded northern support for partition. Shortly after Dubois sent his triumphant telegram, Idaho began to prepare for statehood.
                                                                                 

References: [B&W], [Illust-State]

“Constitutional Convention and Ratification,” Reference Series No. 476, Idaho State Historical Society.

“Good News from Washington,” Idaho Statesman, Boise (March 1, 1888).

Idaho Falls Businessman and Booster Frank C. Bowman [otd 01/20]

Idaho Falls businessman and civic leader Frank C. Bowman was born January 20, 1870 in Morgan County, Utah, fifteen to twenty miles southeast of Ogden. Frank started farm work at an early age, but around 1881 the family moved to Salt Lake City.

Two years later, Frank took a job as a “cash boy” at a large dry goods and millinery store. (The cash boy ran money received from a customer by a salesman to the main – often the only – cashier and returned with the proper change.) Starting with that as a base, young Frank advanced in the mercantile world, mostly in Salt Lake but also in Denver and St. Louis.

Then, in 1902, Bowman moved to Idaho Falls to manage the accounting department of the Consolidated Wagon and Machine Company. Created by the merger of two pioneer wagon, machine and implements companies, it became one of the largest of its kind in the Mountain West.

Idaho Falls, ca. 1909. Library of Congress.

Bowman took an immediate interest in his new home town. In 1905, he was elected to the Idaho Falls City Council, where he became known as an advocate for many civic improvements. He would serve on the Council again in 1911.

He resigned his accounting position in the spring of 1907 and became the local agent for a national insurance firm. And his other activities took off. That year, he was probably a founding member of the Chamber of Commerce and definitely a Charter Member of the Idaho Falls Elks lodge, established in early 1908. He was also a member of the Masonic Order, serving as Master of the Idaho Falls Lodge and, in 1911, being elected Grand Master for the state.

In 1910, Bowman founded his own insurance and loan business. But even that wasn’t enough. He had also apparently invested widely in the agricultural sector. Thus, in March of that year, he was identified as Secretary of the Bingham County Wool Growers Association. He was also associated with the “Dry Farming Congress.” Along with that, he was an officer of the Conant Valley Land and Live Stock Company.

In 1911, Bowman helped organize the Bingham County Grazing Corporation. He also acted as Secretary for the Idaho Honey-Producers’ Association and as Secretary-Treasurer of the Idaho Irrigation District. All of that still wasn’t enough, apparently, because he served as Secretary for the Bonneville County Fair Association.

In 1912, Bowman chaired the organizing committee of the Idaho Falls Interurban Electric Railway Company. Along with everything else, Bowman was President of the Chamber of Commerce in 1916-1917. That was enough for awhile, but in late 1917, he chaired the Executive Committee for a Joint Conference of Agricultural, Livestock, and Irrigation Societies, held in Idaho Falls.

Frank Bowman. [French]

Finally, in the spring of 1919, the Idaho Falls newspaper noted that Bowman had sold off his business interests and planned to take a “needed” vacation. He purchased a new business quite soon, but it was several months before he began advertising the South Side Garage, which offered a service station, machine shop, and repair facilities.

Then, in the spring of 1922, Bowman again sold off his Idaho Falls business, and he and his wife moved to Portland, Oregon. There, Frank soon established himself as a manager for automotive-related firms. He apparently tried retirement in the Thirties, but soon went back into management.

After Bowman’s wife died, in the summer of 1946, he finally retired for good. He then returned to live in Idaho Falls, where his son Earl managed a furniture store. He passed away in November of 1960.
                                                                                 

References: [French]

“[Bowman News],” Times-Register, Idaho Falls; Idaho Statesman, Boise; Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah (April 1901 – November 1960).

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

Army Scout, Yellowstone Park Protector and Ashton Postmaster Felix Burgess [otd 01/06]

Army scout and Fremont County postmaster Felix Burgess was born January 6, 1847 in Reading, Pennsylvania. His father, an immigrant from northern France, moved the family from Reading to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1856. After a brief time there, they moved on to Sauk Rapids, a town about 60 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

Scout Burgess. [French]

For reasons he never explained, Felix ran away from home when he was about ten years old. He was taken in by an Army captain at Fort Ripley, about 40 miles north of the family home. Thus, Burgess began his long career as an Army scout in the Dakota Indian War of 1862. Captured by a band of Indians, he was rescued just before he could be tortured to death. Despite the close call, he continue as a scout in northern Minnesota and in the Dakotas for about five years.

Burgess was next transferred to Fort Vancouver, in Washington Territory. He almost certainly took part in the Snake War, in western Idaho and eastern Oregon when Lieutenant Colonel George Crook was placed in charge [blog, November 25]. He then followed Crook to Arizona to battle Apache Indians.

He had a brief peaceful period in 1874, scouting for the geographical survey team led by Lieutenant George M. Wheeler. But for the next fifteen years or so, he would take part in conflicts with Indian tribes in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Finally, in the summer of 1891, Burgess joined the Army contingent in charge at Yellowstone National Park [blog, March 1]. His main job was to track down poachers, who by this time were having a severe impact on the Park’s elk and buffalo herds. Thus, in 1893, he was featured in a watercolor created by Frederic Remington used as the basis for an illustration for the article “Policing Yellowstone,” published in Harper’s Weekly.

The following year, in March, Felix Burgess made a contribution to the Park’s future that echoes down to the present day. He caught a notorious poacher literally “red handed.” Coincidentally, a staff writer for the magazine Forest and Stream was visiting the Park just then.

Burgess Finding a Ford. Frederic Remington

The resulting publicity sparked legislation that made poaching in the Park a Federal crime. Before that, the Army could only confiscate the poacher’s gear (a legally questionable practice, actually) and expel them from the Park. Penalties under the new law included up to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine (over $29,000 in today’s values).

Besides his Army duties, Burgess also served two years as a Deputy U. S. Marshall for the district of Wyoming. He stayed with the Army until 1899 when, now over fifty years old, he decided it was time to settle down (he had married in 1892). He first tried farming on land northwest of St. Anthony, Idaho, but quickly found that that was not for him. He then opened a store along the main stage route about six miles northeast of St. Anthony.

In early 1905, Felix was appointed postmaster for an office in Squirrel, a tiny settlement about twenty miles northeast of St. Anthony. However, in late 1906, the railroad built a station that quickly became the village of Ashton. Within about a year, Burgess opened a hotel in the new town. Then, in December 1909, he was appointed postmaster for Ashton, a position he held until the spring of 1915.

Burgess operated a grocery store in Ashton until November 1919. He then sold that and he and his wife moved to Ocean Beach, a coastal suburb of San Diego, California. Felix passed away there in January 1921.
                                                                           

References: [French]

“[Felix Burgess News],” Daily Pioneer, Deadwood, South Dakota; Teton Peak-Chronicle, St. Anthony, Idaho; Idaho Statesman, Boise; San Diego Union, San Diego, California (July 1878 – January 1921).

Collections, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (retrieved, December 2018).

Glade Lyon, Ashton, Idaho: The Centennial History, 1906-2006, Waking Lion Press, West Valley, Utah (2006).

Catherine McNicol Stock, Robert D. Johnston (eds.), The Countryside in the Age of the Modern State, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York (2001).

Idaho Governor and Boise Developer John M. Haines [otd 01/01]

Idaho governor, and Boise developer and mayor, John Michener Haines was born January 1, 1863 on a farm east of Des Moines, Iowa. He received a solid education to about the age of twenty, including several years at Penn College (now William Penn University), located about 30 miles south of the family farm.

Governor John M. Haines. [French]

After a couple years as a bank clerk in Nebraska, Haines joined Walter E. Pierce [blog, January 9] and another partner to successfully develop real estate in southwest Kansas. However, the economy went sour there and, in late 1890, the partners moved to Boise. They were soon recognized as “the leading real-estate men of Idaho.”

Haines had been active in Republican Party politics in Kansas and continued that activity in Idaho. For a while after January 1898, he served on the Boise city council and was elected mayor for a term starting in the spring of 1905.

During his time in office, the mayor managed a number of improvements for the city. Both the police and fire departments were enlarged and reorganized to improve their efficiencies. Officials also planned to pave more streets, or at least surface them with a better grade of crushed gravel.
Early in his term, the city received the bequest for a “Julia Davis Park” from her husband Thomas [blog, tomorrow]. Haines strongly supported the creation of a park, but funding was rejected in a special bond election. Although Haines received the Republican nomination for re-election as mayor “by acclamation,” he was defeated in a close vote.

Still, Haines remained active in politics and took office as Idaho Governor in January 1913. (He was the first to take the oath of office in the brand new capitol building). His messages to the legislature emphasized a methodical, “business-like” approach to government. He also sought action on a number of “social” issues, such as minimum ages for marriage, a one-year residency requirement for divorce, and so on.

In the political arena, the governor asked for many reforms, including the non-partisan election of judges, extension of terms for state officials from two to four years, and more. He also reminded legislators that they must make provision for the direct election of U. S. Senators (required by passage of the 17th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution).

Idaho Capitol Building, ca 1914. [Hawley]

Results from the legislature were mixed, but they did approve three of the governor’s most important suggestions: a Public Utilities Commission, State Board of Education, and Workmen’s Compensation Board. They also voted for non-partisan election of Supreme Court and District judges.

Feeling there was still work to be done, Haines ran hard for a second term. And, until late in the election cycle, he seemed a shoo-in.

Then an investigation uncovered a major embezzlement of funds by the state Treasurer and his deputy. The Treasurer was, and is, a separate elective office. More importantly, the governor – by law – had no control over operations in the Treasury Department. Still, as soon as the miscreant resigned, Haines, as allowed by law, appointed an acting Treasurer. The new man was in place even before the courts had sent the two embezzlers off to state prison.

The legal complexities of the situation apparently escaped most voters. Haines was decisively defeated by Democrat Moses Alexander [blog November 13], even though every other Republican candidate won in the state-level elections.

John M. Haines died from complications of Bright’s Disease, a kidney disorder, in the summer of 1917. He had proved to be a capable and effective public official, but seems to have lacked the “charisma” for long-term success in politics.
                                                                                 

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

“[Haines News Items],” Idaho Statesman, Boise (November 1890 – June 1917).

Robert C. Sims, Hope A. Benedict (eds.), Idaho's Governors: Historical Essays on Their Administrations, Boise State University (1992).