First Documented Visit to, and Sketch of, (Renamed) Shoshone Falls [otd 08/15]

On August 15, 1849, a guide led two men from a column of U. S. Army Mounted Rifles to see a great waterfall on the Snake river, three to four miles northeast of today’s Twin Falls, Idaho. They later told their commander that the huge falls compared favorably to Niagara Falls. (The falls are, in fact, about 45 feet higher than Niagara, although not as wide.)

Shoshone Falls, ca. 1868. Library of Congress.

At that time, the feature was known as “Canadian Falls,” a name picked by early trappers or perhaps a priest. Lieutenant Andrew Lindsay and his civilian companion, George Gibbs, decided to call the spot Shoshone Falls, after the Indian tribe that inhabited the region.

Trained in law at Harvard, Gibbs was also a published author and talented artist. He had joined the Army column at Fort Leavenworth, before it embarked on its march to Oregon. During their visit to the Falls, Gibbs drew what is generally believed to be the first recorded image of the feature.

Congress authorized the Regiment of Mounted Rifles in 1846. Although originally intended as a mobile force to protect growing traffic on the Oregon Trail, the Army sent the regiment to fight in the Mexican-American War. The troops served with distinction in Mexico, then returned to their original mission. After the visit to Shoshone Falls, the regiment continued across Idaho and arrived at Oregon City in early October.

Their commander on the expedition was Brevet Colonel William W. Loring. Born in North Carolina in 1815, Loring had seen militia action in Texas and Florida. He joined the Mounted Rifles for the Mexican War, where he lost his left arm to a cannon shot, and was promoted to Major and then to (Brevet) Colonel. He saw further service after the Oregon trek, but resigned to become a general in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, he spent ten years serving with the Egyptian Army. Loring returned to the U. S. in 1879 and died in 1886.

Not much happened at the Falls for over a quarter century. Exhausted emigrants had no time for a long, dry trek over rough country, no matter how spectacular the attraction.

Then, in 1875, newcomer Charles Walgamott visited the falls. A native of Iowa, Walgamott had arrived at the Rock Creek stage station less than a month earlier. When he learned that no one had claimed the land around Shoshone Falls, Charlie took a “squatter’s right” to a plot on the south side.

He ran a tourist sideline from Rock Creek until 1882, when crews for the Oregon Short Line graded a railway bed through the growing town of Shoshone. Walgamott realized that his squatter’s right “was on the wrong side of the river.”

Charlie recruited a partner and secured a proper claim on the north side. They cut a stage road to the Falls from the railway station in Shoshone and built a hut on the bluff near the Falls. Business was slow at first, but finally picked up. Then, Charlie said, “In 1883 we sold our holdings to a syndicate of capitalists.”

Falls, recent. Idaho Tourism photo.

Today, the city of Twin Falls maintains tourist facilities on the south side of the canyon overlooking Shoshone Falls. Even during irrigation season, with minimum flows, the Falls are a sight worth seeing.
                                                                                                                                     

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

Captain Charles Morton, “The Third Regiment of Cavalry,” The Army of the United States, U.S. Army Center of Military History (2002).

Raymond W. Settle, The March of the Mounted Riflemen, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln (1989).

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

Snake River Steamboat Annie Faxon Explodes, Killing Eight [otd 08/14]

On the morning of August 14, 1893, the Snake River steamer Annie Faxon exploded, killing eight people and injuring eleven.

Steamer Annie Faxon. Washington State University archives.

Steamboats plied the waters of the Columbia River on a regular basis after about 1850. The most active stretch lay below the Cascade Rapids, about forty miles upstream from Portland. With the 1860 discovery of gold in Idaho, steamship companies found it profitable to extend their routes up the Snake.

That soon led to the founding of Lewiston, Idaho (then in Washington Territory), which became the major upstream terminus for shipping. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company added the Annie Faxon to its fleet in 1877. At 165 feet in length, the Annie was a mid-sized steamer for the period. Over the next two decades, she carried freight and passengers on the Snake, and sometimes ascended the Clearwater during high water.

By the early 1890s, the Annie and other members of the fleet had daily, except Sunday, scheduled runs to where the railroad crossed the Snake, about 80 miles downstream from Lewiston. (Not for another five years would the town have direct train service.)

On that fateful Monday, the Annie left Lewiston for her regular morning run to the railway junction. Captain Harry Baughman commanded the steamer. She made a brief stop at a small town about 35 miles down the river. Transfers complete, she continued downstream. All told, the Annie carried a couple dozen passengers and crew.

About 12 miles further along, a man flagged the boat from the south shore. Although accounts are unclear, Captain Baughman probably stopped the engines; it would have been difficult to hear over their pounding and the frothy splash of the stern wheel.

The farmer said he had a load of fruit ready for the steamer. Business was always welcome, so the Captain steered toward the shoreline, the paddlewheel churning to cut across the river’s current. Carefully judging the distance, Baughman rang for the engines to stop. Before the engine room could respond, apparently, the ship’s boiler exploded.

The blast of released steam blew many passengers and crewmen overboard, where they struggled to swim ashore or clung to wreckage until they could be rescued. Almost miraculously, Baughman was unhurt … but flying debris killed another man near him in the pilothouse. Some of the boat’s superstructure was flung into the water and the rest collapsed into the hull.

Annie Faxon after the explosion.
Washington State University archives.

The blast pattern confused inspectors at first as to the cause of the disaster. Newspapers reported (e.g., Morning Olympian, Olympia, Washington, August 29, 1893) that they had “advance[d] the theory that the explosion was caused by a dynamite bomb.” That was perhaps because the assistant engineer asserted that the boiler pressure was about 12% below the allowed rating. That was apparently normal when the boat was going downstream with the current.

However, according to reports, doubts had been raised earlier about the condition of the boiler, which had been running in another ship before it was installed in the Annie. Yet the flaws were not considered serious enough to order it out of service immediately. It was understood that the unit would be replaced at the end of the main transport season.

That came too late for the nineteen injured and dead. Several lawsuits were filed against the OSNC, but they resulted in just small out-of-court settlements. The owners salvaged only the hull of the Annie Faxon; it was used as the substructure of a new steamer.
                                                                                                                                     

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

Phil Dougherty, “The Steamer Annie Faxon Explodes on the Snake River,” Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, Seattle (April 09, 2006).

Darcy Williamson, River Tales of Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho (1997).

Butch Cassidy and Two Gang Members Rob Montpelier Bank [otd 08/13]

On Thursday, August 13, 1896, Montpelier, Idaho sweltered under a blistering afternoon sun. Three riders walked their horses along a street, trailing a pack mare behind them. Had the local jeweler seen them, he might have recognized the three men he’d hired to gather hay on his ranch near the Wyoming border. His wife, who handled the spread while her husband ran his shop, considered them good workers.

Montpelier, ca. 1910.
Source uncertain: Wyoming Tales & Trails.

Founded by Mormon colonists in 1864, Montpelier grew only modestly until the Oregon Short Line railroad built a station there in 1884. The OSL soon added a repair facility and the town became the main supply hub for homesteads and ranches for miles and miles around. It also became a major shipping point for livestock and wool. By 1896, Montpelier had numerous stores, and the only bank in Bear Lake County.

The three riders stopped first at a general store. The storekeeper thought the three might be sheepherders. Finished, the strangers remounted and walked their horses east along the street. The time was after 3:00 p.m. when they stopped in front of the bank and dismounted. Two men standing on the board sidewalk glanced at them, didn’t recognize the riders, and resumed their conversation.

They paid sudden attention when two of the men, now masked with bandanas, accosted them with drawn revolvers. Terse commands urged them inside, where they found three bank employees and several customers. The robbers ordered everyone except the Assistant Cashier to line up facing the wall.

The blond, stocky leader held them at gunpoint while the taller bandit stuffed all the bank’s cash money into a large sack. After raiding the vault, the man tossed loose silver coins into the bag, then dumped a stack of gold coins into a cloth bank bag. Finished, he carried the loot outside and loaded the bags onto his horse and the pack mare.

The blond robber waited inside until his partner completed the loading. He warned them not to make a fuss for at least ten minutes, then strolled out to mount up himself. The bandits turned their horses toward the edge of town.

The Cashier hurried to tell the deputy sheriff as soon as the hoofbeats subsided. However, the deputy was mostly a process server and owned neither gun nor horse. Still, willing to try, he grabbed a “penny-farthing” – a bicycle with giant front wheel and tiny rear – and gave chase. He soon gave up, but did find that the crooks had galloped east, towards the Wyoming border.

Butch Cassidy. Utah Historical Society.

The bandits had planned well. They apparently used the haying job as a cover while they traced the best escape route and located a spot to hide a quick change of horses. Fortunately, the third bandit, who held the horses ready, had not worn a mask. Outside on the street, that might have attracted unwanted attention. The Assistant Cashier got a good look at him.

That man turned out to be Bob Meeks, a member of Butch Cassidy’s notorious “Wild Bunch.” He was the only one caught and convicted for the robbery. The blond leader was surely Butch himself

For some reason, there seems to be no authoritative answer as to how much the bandits got away with. Reports vary widely, from as little as $5 thousand, to around $16 thousand, to over $50 thousand. A figure of about $7 thousand is most generally accepted. Whatever the amount, none of the money was ever recovered.
                                                                                 

References: [Brit], [Illust-State]

Richard M. Patterson, Butch Cassidy: A Biography, University of Nebraska Press (1998).

J. Patrick Wilde, Treasured Tidbits of Time, © J. P. Wilde, Montpelier, Idaho (1977).

Actress Marjorie Reynolds: From Silent Films to Made-For-TV (otd 08/12)

Long-time movie and TV star Marjorie (Goodspeed) Reynolds was born August 12, 1917 in Buhl, Idaho. Her parents were Harry W. and Grace Goodspeed, both from Maine. Her father received his M.D. degree from the Medical School of Maine (Bowdoin College) in 1897. Dr. Goodspeed practiced in Maine, New York City, and Chicago before settling in Buhl around 1909. 

Marjorie Reynolds.
Publicity Headshot.

In 1922, the family moved to Los Angeles. Later, studio publicists offered some fanciful stories about how they relocated, but these can be discounted. In any case, her mother enrolled Marjorie in dance classes at an academy that specifically trained students for roles on the stage or in movies. During the following two years, she appeared as a “waif” or dancer in at least four productions.

After that, she was inactive for several years. She danced in a stage play in 1929 but did not appear again until 1933, when she had three roles that involved dancing. For these, she was billed as Marjorie Moore. One, the silent film Wine, Women, and Song, also included her first small acting part. Her career was securely launched in 1935-1937, with roles in seven productions.

Sadly, her mother died in January 1937. However, later that year, she married John Wesley “Jack” Reynolds, a casting director. He helped get her first (small) speaking role, in the thriller Murder in Greenwich Village, now using the name Majorie Reynolds. Over the next five years, Majorie appeared in at least fourteen low-budget westerns, interspersed with musicals, standard dramas, and thrillers. She was the female lead for many of them, and received quite favorable reviews.

In 1942, she landed what many consider her highest accomplishment: The love interest in Holiday Inn, with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. She got to dance with Fred Astaire, whom she found “wonderful to work with.” Moreover,  Crosby sang the renowned “White Christmas” for her. She received rave reviews for her performance and many predicted it would make her a superstar.

Like many performers, Majorie made time during the war years to deliver shows to service audiences, including a trip to bases in the Aleutian Islands. (She would reprise that role during the Korean War.) Although she took time out to have a baby girl in November 1946, she performed in at least seventeen feature files (starring in most) by the end of 1952. Unfortunately, Marjorie and Jack Reynolds divorced in the spring of 1952. She would remarry about a year later.

She had her first minor role in a TV series in 1949 and that picked up as time went on. Thus, her main focus from 1953 to 1958 was as the long-suffering but resourceful wife on the TV show The Life of Riley, with William Bendix. She found her role somewhat repetitious, but loved the rapport with the cast and crew. 

Bendix & Reynolds. Studio Publicity.

Majorie made only two feature films (in 1959 and 1962) after Riley ended, but found plenty of work in various TV series and commercials.  Her last screen credit, in 1978, was for the three-part miniseries, Pearl. The story dramatizes “ordinary” peacetime life in Honolulu during the few days that ended with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was noted as “one of the ten most watched” programs when it aired in November. Overall, she appeared in over 60 movies as well as countless TV commercials and series episodes.

After Marjorie retired from movies and TV, she filled her days as a hospital volunteer. Also, her second husband became ill in 1984 and she nursed him as best she could until he died in the spring of 1985. After that, she spent more time with her daughter, who also worked in the film industry. In 1997, she passed out while walking her dog, was taken to a hospital for observation, but died that evening, on February 1.

A consummate professional, Majorie was well-like by everyone she worked with in movies and TV, cast or crew. And over those years, she shared the cast with many major stars: Vivien Leigh, Bob Hope, Roy Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Mario Lanza, Shirley Temple, Robert Mitchum and on and on.

Many wondered why she never became a superstar herself, despite her good looks, outstanding ability as a dancer, and versatility as an actress. One wonders if she might have been too versatile … tackling an amazing range of comedic and dramatic roles. In westerns, she might be a standard heroine to be rescued, a determined ranch or mine owner, or even a dancehall girl. As a wife and (or) mother, she had roles as faithful, doting, jealous, manipulative, cheating … or even unwed (quite racy when she did that back in 1938). Other roles included models, detectives, nosy reporters, a princess, a refugee, and more. That is, her fans never quite knew what to expect … which may have counted against her.
                                                                                 

References:  Colin Briggs, “Marjorie Reynolds: Benevolent Beauty,” Classic Images, Muscatine Journal Division, Muscatine, Iowa (2010).

Gary Brumburgh, “Biography: Marjorie Reynolds,” Internet Movie Database, imdb.com.

Dick Vosburgh, “Obituary: Marjorie Reynolds,” The Independent, London (February 15, 1997).

Presbyterian Missionary and Preacher’s Wife Narcissa Whitman [otd 08/12]

Narcissa Whitman.
Oregon Historical Society.

On August 12, 1836, Narcissa Prentiss Whitman wrote in her journal, “The hills are so steep and rocky that husband thought it best to lighten the wagon as much as possible and take nothing but the wheels.”

“Husband” referred to the Reverend Marcus Whitman, to whom she had been married less than six months. Narcissa’s calm chronicles of the dangers and difficulties of their trip rather “set the standard” for pioneer wives on the Oregon Trail.

Born in New York state, Narcissa felt the tug of a religious call as a pre-teen. She thought about becoming a missionary for many years, but found no way to further that dream. Then, in 1834 she heard a minister speaking about the need for missionaries in the Oregon Country. The catch was, Narcissa, at 28 years old, was still not married … and the Presbyterians would probably not send out an unmarried missionary.

In February 1835, she became engaged to Marcus Whitman, a physician with an interest in becoming a medical missionary. Neither party ever mentions any courtship, and some historians speculate that they had an “arrangement” in case church authorities decided single women were not welcome as missionaries.

Almost immediately after the engagement, Dr. Whitman left on a trip to the Pacific Northwest. He returned to the East in December and two months later he and Narcissa married.

They immediately headed west to join up with the Reverend Henry Harmon Spalding, Spalding’s wife, and some other missionaries. Narcissa and Spalding’s wife, Eliza, become the first white women to cross the Continental Divide, traveling on to attend the mountain man rendezvous on the Green River.

They entered Idaho in late July and stopped at Old Fort Hall. They visited the fort’s garden, but the plants were doing very poorly. They talked to the factor, who said that “his own did extremely well until the 8th of June, when the frost of one night completely prostrated it. It has since came up again, but does not look as well as it did before. This is their first attempt at cultivating.”

When they continued, they were still dragging one wagon along. Then, as noted above, they decided to dismantle the wagon and use the wheels to assemble a cart. Whitman had to discard her favorite trunk. She wrote, “If I were to make the journey again I would make quite different preparations.”

Three Island Crossing. Re-enactment, Glenns Ferry Tourism.

The very next day they encountered an obstacle that became notorious in Oregon Trail diaries: the Three Island Crossing, near today’s Glenns Ferry.

Some trains found this Crossing of the Snake so dangerous they chose the more arid and difficult route south of the river instead. Narcissa wrote, “Husband had considerable difficulty in crossing the cart. Both cart and mules were turned upside down in the river and entangled in the harness. The mules would have been drowned but for a desperate struggle to get them ashore.”

Despite these and other trials, the missionaries made it safely to the Columbia. The Spaldings opened a mission at Lapwai among the Nez Percés [blog, Nov 29], while the Whitmans built theirs at Waiilatpu, west of today’s Walla Walla. Unfortunately, it ended badly for Marcus and Narcissa. In November, 1847, they were murdered by the Indians they had traveled across a continent to help.
                                                                                 

References: [B&W], [Brit]

Julie Roy Jeffrey, Converting the West: A Biography of Narcissa Whitman, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman (1994).

Narcissa Whitman, “Narcissa Whitman Journal,” published in Myron Eells, Marcus Whitman, Pathfinder and Patriot, Alice Harriman Company, Seattle (1909).

“History and Culture,” Whitman Mission National Historic Site, National Park Service (2004).

Idaho Falls Medical Pioneer Clifford M. Cline, M.D. [otd 08/11]

Idaho Falls physician Clifford M. Cline, M.D., was born August 11, 1884 in a rural area sixty miles or so north of Des Moines, Iowa. Accounts of his early life are a bit skimpy. However, in 1900 he was living west of Des Moines with his mother and stepfather, a physician. Years later, Dr. Cline said that browsing his stepfather’s medical library inspired him to pursue that career. He proved to be an outstanding scholar. In 1902 – aged 18 – he was listed among the anatomy faculty of the University of Iowa (officially the “State University of Iowa”). 

C. M. Cline. Family Archive.

From there, Cline moved to the Northwestern University School of Medicine, attaining his M.D. degree in 1905. He then won an internship to a well-respected teaching hospital in Chicago. Married in late 1906, he and his wife moved to Idaho Falls early the following year. “C.M” – as he was almost universally identified in the news – quickly teamed with another physician to operate one of the first hospitals in Idaho Falls.

Already a highly skilled surgeon, Cline continued to travel east during most summers to learn new techniques. However, sorrow visited the Cline household in the summer of 1909, when an infant son died at the age of six months.

In January 1911, the Idaho governor appointed Dr. Cline to the state Board of Medical Examiners. (He would be appointed to the Board again sixteen years later.) In 1912, he briefly moved his practice to Boise, and the couple’s daughter was born there. However, the family was back in Idaho Falls by early 1913. C.M. then made the first of several trips overseas. Leaving Idaho Falls in June 1914, he attended medical conferences in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, then spent until August visiting hospitals in London, Paris, Berne, and Berlin.

All that study was put to good use in 1915, when he and another doctor opened a new hospital, known as the “General Hospital.” This was the first structure built specifically as a hospital in Idaho Falls.
 

General Hospital. Bonneville County Historical Society.

Besides operation of the hospital, C.M. had other business interests in the city. He further expanded those in 1919, when he and a partner worked with a local contractor to erect the Colonial Theater. Said to have the largest and finest stage in the Mountain West, the venue hosted all kinds of theatrical and musical performances. He sold his investment after several years, and it was later adapted for motion pictures.

The General Hospital ceased operation in 1923, when the Mormon Church spearheaded construction of a larger facility, initially known as the “L.D.S. Hospital.” Dr. Cline served on the medical staff as well as the executive board for that hospital.

A Fellow  of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Cline was a member of the American Medical Association and the Idaho State Medical Society. Also, in 1921, he helped organize the Idaho Falls Medical Society and became its first president. As a sideline, he chaired the funding-raising committee for the local chapter of the American Red Cross.

C.M. participated in the Commercial Club, the Elks, and the Idaho Falls school board. He also helped found the Idaho Falls Rotary Club and served as its president for a time. Even all that wasn’t enough to fill his life: He was reportedly an ardent sports fan and a fine gourmet cook.

Dr. Cline  was also a frequent traveler. Besides in-country trips to conferences and educational venues, Dr. Cline took has wife and daughter to Europe in the summer of 1927. Ten years later, he and his second wife traveled to South American, where a group of doctors toured a wide variety of clinics and hospitals. (His first wife died in 1934; he remarried two years later).
 

Boeing 247. Smithsonian Air & Space.

C.M. also kept up with the times outside his profession. Scheduled airline passenger service came to Idaho Falls in 1934, in the form of a innovative ten-passenger Boeing aircraft. That fall, he and his daughter boarded a flight destined for San Francisco. That familiarity served Dr. Cline well a few months later, when he flew to Moscow in response to a medical emergency.

Although he apparently cut back his travel after his second wife died in 1952, he stayed active in his profession until right near the end. Dr. Clifford M. Cline passed away on September 13, 1962, after a career that spanned over a half century.

                                                                                 

References: [Hawley]

Bulletin of Northwestern University, 1905-1906, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (1906). Catalogue, State University of Iowa [University of Iowa], Iowa City, Iowa (1903).

“[C. M. Cline News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise, Post-Register, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Winona Daily News, Minnesota; Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah (July 1909 – March 1952).

Harold S Forbush and Contributors, The Idaho Falls LDS Hospital, Ricks College Press, Rexburg, Idaho (1987).

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

Cassia County Attorney and Idaho Chief Justice T. Bailey Lee [otd 08/10]

Thomas Bailey Lee, Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, was born about twenty miles southwest of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on August 10, 1873. He attended law school after graduating from the University of North Carolina but chose not to practice at that time. Instead, he found a position as a prep school Latin teacher in Asheville. In 1898, he took up the practice of law in Butte, Montana.

Burley, ca 1918. J. H. Hawley photo.

In 1905, Lee moved to the new town of Burley [blog, July 19], becoming the first lawyer there. He also secured a position as a Director of the Burley Town Site Company. He spent two years as the City Attorney for Burley, and also served four terms as Prosecuting Attorney for Cassia County.

For six years, T. Bailey served as District Court Judge for the region encompassing Cassia and surrounding areas. Then, in October 1926, Lee was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Idaho Supreme Court. A month later, he won election to continue in that position. At that point, Bailey moved his family to Boise.  He rose to the position of Chief Justice in 1931.

His most recent biography, in Defenbach, makes the point that, “Three of his ancestors were Revolutionary soldiers, two of them with the rank of captain.”

In 1931, Judge Lee’s Congressman wrote a letter to the Bureau of Pensions. A family Bible, now “two hundred and nineteen years old,” had been submitted as verification to allow the widow of Captain John Dickey to continue receiving his Revolutionary War pension. That document now reposed in the National Archives.

T. Bailey Lee. Family Archives.

Since the relevant pages had been torn out, the Judge wanted the bulk of the Bible back, as a family memento. This request was refused, so Lee wrote a personal note to the Director of the Veteran’s Bureau. Addressed to “My Dear General,” Lee commented, “I am presuming to write you direct upon a purely personal matter, as the only methods I understand are those of a soldier and lawyer. God save me from civilian bureaucrats!”

T. Bailey had personally seen the Bible, “dumped in an old box.” Someone had filed the torn out pages, “and tossed the wrecked volume into the scrap heap.” As such, he went on, “it’s mere junk … and is about as valuable to Uncle Sam as … an empty bottle of Lydia Pinkham's.”

Again the Administrator refused his request … for the good of all researchers, not just the family, they said. In his letter to Lee’s Congressman, the Administrator said, “To insure added protection to the Bible in question it was securely wrapped and tied in kraft paper, given the file number of the claim from which it was removed, and locked in a cabinet free from dust. It is now reposing in a steel vault.”

So the Judge “lost,” but perhaps he accomplished something more important: He rescued a potentially-valuable historical document from oblivion.

Through 1932, judges campaigned for election to the Idaho Supreme Court as partisan candidates. That year Judge Lee ran on the Republican ticket. Although Bailey did better than most other Republican candidates, he lost his seat during the Democratic landslide behind Roosevelt on the national ticket. He returned to Burley after the end of his term, and finally moved his family back in late summer (Idaho Statesman, Boise, August 23, 1933).

Lee would again serve as a District Judge in 1942-1946. He passed away in March 1948.
                                                                                 

References:[Blue],  [Defen], [Hawley]

“Letters Concerning the Family Bible,“ Captain John Dickey Revolutionary War File, U. S. National Archives (1931-1932).

Ben Ysursa, Idaho Blue Book, 2003-2004, The Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (2003).

Rancher, Businessman, and Party Leader Robert Coulter [otd 08/09]

Robert Coulter.
Family portrait photo.

Political operator, state Representative and agricultural pioneer Robert Coulter was born August 9, 1875 in Richmond, Kentucky, about eighty-five miles southeast of Louisville. In 1892, he moved to Oregon, where he worked at various jobs, including insurance and real estate, ranching, and boiler room operations. He married in 1901, in Portland, and moved to Washington County, Idaho the following year.

He first ran a dairy operation near Cascade (later county seat of Valley county). Coulter sold that after five years to go into general farming and stock raising. He also helped organize an irrigation company to water land midway between Payette and Weiser on the Oregon side of the Snake River.

Rather than the usual gravity flow, they used an electrically-powered pumping station to lift water from the Snake River. The results transformed sagebrush plains and dry-farmed grain fields into productive fruit and vegetable farms. Within a year, the project inspired five imitators.

When boosters formed the Washington County Fair Association, Coulter became one of its first Directors. In 1909, Robert spearheaded formation of a partnership to deal in real estate and mortgage loans. According to H. T. French, in 1914 the firm was “known for one of the largest real estate and loan companies in the county.”

Soon after he arrived in Idaho, he began taking a very active role in Democratic Party politics. For a number of years, he lived near Weiser and served as Secretary of the party Central Committee for Washington County. In the early 1920s, he moved his family back to Cascade.

For quite a long time, Coulter did not seek political office himself, working diligently for other candidates at all levels. In 1922, however, he ran successfully for the state House of Representatives. He would be re-elected for a total of six consecutive terms, running unopposed in at least one of those elections.

In 1931, Governor C. Ben Ross appointed Coulter to be Director of the Bureau of Budget. In that position, Coulter led the preparation of the budget to be presented to the legislature. He was also, ex officio, a member of another board charged with recommending construction of needed public buildings.

Senator Borah, 1937. Library of Congress.

Defenbach’s History of Idaho, published in 1933, characterized him as “one of the most forceful figures in Democratic politics at this time.” He served as Chairman of the Idaho Democratic Party for the first time in 1934-1935. Asked about party prospects, he incautiously predicted that they could defeat popular Republican Senator William E. Borah [blog, June 29] the next time he ran for re-election. Borah won handily.

For most of Coulter’s career in the House, Democrats were the minority party, yet he proved to be a very effective floor leader. When the party attained a majority in 1933, he was elected Speaker of the House. Coulter then apparently did not run for re-election, but filled the position of state Land Commissioner in 1933-1935. He would hold that office again in 1941-1947.

In 1935-1937, Coulter chaired the State Liquor Commission. Some time during this period, he moved to Boise. He served again as Chairman of the Idaho Democratic Party in 1940-1941 and 1942-1943. He ran again for that position in 1952, but was soundly defeated.

Two years later, he retired from the chairmanship of the Ada County Democratic Central Committee. He called that  “the last office I shall hold in the party.”

Coulter lived to be almost one hundred years of age, passing away in August 1974.
                                                                                

References: [Defen], [French]

Robert Coulter Collection, MS 415, Idaho State Historical Society.

“[Robert Coulter News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise; Post-Register, Idaho Falls; The Express, San Antonio, Texas (May 1912 – June 1961).

Bartleson-Bidwell Emigrant Party Enters Idaho, Headed for California [otd 08/08]

John Bidwell, 1840.
Meriam Library, Chico State University.

On August 8, 1841, the group generally referred to as the Bartelson-Bidwell emigrant party entered what would one day become the state of Idaho. By most accounts, John Bidwell had been the driving force behind this first larger movement of settlers to the West.

John was born in 1819, in New York state. Later, the family moved west as far as Ohio. John himself continued further west, and 1840 found him teaching school in Missouri. Unhappy with his prospects there, Bidwell listened with great interest to stories of California told by Frenchman Antoine Robidoux.

Many years later, Bidwell wrote, “His description of California was in the superlative degree favorable, so much so that I resolved if possible to see that wonderful land.”

As a result, sixty-nine emigrants headed west in May 1941. The “captain” of the train was one John Bartleson, who had campaigned for the position and refused to go unless he got it. Bidwell apparently didn’t care, he just wanted to get on with it.

In his account, Bidwell wrote, “Our ignorance of the route was complete. We knew that California lay west, and that was the extent of our knowledge.”

Fortunately, they learned that a party including Roman Catholic Father Pierre-Jean de Smet [blog, Jan 31] was also starting west. Their guide was experienced Mountain Man Thomas “Broken Hand” Fitzpatrick. Since larger parties were generally safer, de Smet and Fitzpatrick let the Missouri group join them.

Bidwell said the presence of the “old mountaineer” was particularly important when the train’s “easily excited” people first encountered Indians. Without Fizpatrick’s experience and knowledge, Bidwell felt, “the result would certainly have been disastrous.”

Father de Smet. Library of Congress.

The travelers followed what would become the primary route of the Oregon Trail in southeast Idaho. By the time they reached Soda Springs, only sixty-four emigrants remained: one had accidentally shot and killed himself, one stopped along the way, and three turned back.

Fitzpatrick and de Smet planned to head north from Soda Springs, following a path that would take them to Fort Hall. Although the emigrants had only crude maps to go by, they were sure the Fort Hall route would not get them to California. They did know from missionary reports that the more northerly track would take them to Oregon.

Thus, half the party decided to visit the fort and take the known trail to Oregon. They were the largest emigrant party to cross Idaho to that time. A “freelance” Methodist preacher had joined the column somewhere in northeastern Kansas. He gave an account of the trek across Idaho. Fort Hall impressed him greatly, and he observed that it was “in a handsome part of the country.” The party had abandoned their wagons before reaching the fort. Yet even with just a pack train, the preacher wrote, “it is very dangerous traveling up and down the rocky hills.”

The other thirty-two pioneers, including Bidwell, held to their original goal. Fitzpatrick could offer only second- or third-hand information about how they might get to California.

The Bidwell group turned south along the Bear River, having sent four men to Fort Hall to learn what they could. Bidwell wrote, “We were now thrown entirely upon our own resources. All the country beyond was to us a veritable terra incognita.”

Despite their profound ignorance, they did win through to California, although they almost starved along the way. Bidwell later played a prominent role in California history.
                                                                                 

References: [B&W]

John Bidwell, “The First Emigrant Train to California,” Century Magazine, New York (1890).

David L. Bigler, “Bartelson-Bidwell Party” Utah History Encyclopedia, Utah History to Go.

“Site Report - Cache Valley (1822-1884),” Reference Series No. 610, Idaho State Historical Society (December 1981).

Joseph Williams, Narrative of a Tour from the State of Indiana to the Oregon Territory in the Years 1841-2, Edward Eberstadt, New York (1921).

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).