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).

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).

Lewiston Newspaper Golden Age distributed Its First Issue [otd 08/02]

On Saturday, August 2, 1862, the Golden Age newspaper released its inaugural issue in Lewiston, Washington Territory. The Age thus has the honor of being the first newspaper published in what would become, seven months later, Idaho Territory.

The publisher was a man named A. S. Gould. We know very little about him beyond the fact that he had previously run a newspaper in Portland. He expected the Lewiston paper to flourish along with the regional gold rush.

Front page, Golden Age.
Timothy Hughes: Rare and Early Newspaper blog.

But a footnote in Bancroft’s History noted that, “Gould, a Republican, had hot times with the secession element which crowded into Idaho from 1862 to 1864.” When Gould raised the American flag on a pole by his office, “21 shots were fired into it by disunion Democrats.”

In fact, Gould found Lewiston to be generally lawless and violent. Thus, it is perhaps understandable that he stayed with the business for less than a year. John H. Scranton ran the paper for a brief period. Little is known about him beyond the fact that he dealt in real estate.

Then, in August 1863, printer and newspaperman Frank Kenyon took over publication. Born in Michigan around 1842, Frank apparently traveled with the family to California in the early 1850s. He then followed the rush into Idaho.

As the only local publisher, Kenyon became the first official Territorial printer. Even in the first session of the new legislature, representatives from southern Idaho tried to move the capital to Boise City. Although they failed, the proposal created a major division between north and south Idaho. Meanwhile, Kenyon began to question how Acting Idaho Governor William B. Daniels was organizing the new Territory’s administrative operations. This disagreement was apparently separate from the capital location dispute.

Then Kenyon sold a half-interest in the Age to Alonzo B. Leland, and the north-south issue turned white-hot. Leland had been editor of a Portland newspaper when gold was first discovered in Idaho. He became a “true believer” in North Idaho’s promise and moved to Lewiston at the first opportunity.

Lewiston, 1862. Nez Perce County Historical Society.

Leland’s advocacy of keeping the capital in Lewiston exacerbated the friction, and cost them the Territorial printing work. Meanwhile, with so many miners drawn to new gold discoveries in southern Idaho, business in Lewiston nosedived. In late 1864, the legislature did move the capital to Boise City.

A few weeks later, the Golden Age suspended publication. Its equipment eventually ended up in Boise City. Two years later, Kenyon started a newspaper in Leesburg. In fact, Kenyon would start, or try to start newspapers at locations all over the West: Deer Lodge, Montana; Corinne, Utah; Bodie, California; and several Nevada towns.

The North Idaho Radiator began publication in Lewiston during the summer of 1865, a few months after the Age gave it up. However, that died within a few months when the publisher moved the whole operation to the flourishing gold country in Montana.

Lewiston was without a newspaper until January 1867, when Seth S. Slater and a partner established the Lewiston Journal. Slater was one of the original founders of Lewiston. That fall, they sold the paper to Alonzo Leland & Son. That lasted five years, and then was bought out and transformed into the Lewiston Signal.

The Signal gave way to the Lewiston Teller after 1876-1878, again with Alonzo Leland part of the ownership. In various incarnations, the Teller lasted until about 1911. Today’s Lewiston Tribune traces its roots back to a short-lived variant that started in 1892.
                                                                                 

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

Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho and Montana 1845-1889, The History Company, Publishers, San Francisco (1890).

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

“Cochran, Daniels and the Golden Age,” Reference Series No. 373, Idaho State Historical Society (July 13, 1966).

“Idaho’s First Newspaper Born 100 Years Ago Today,” Daily Chronicle, Spokane, Washington (August 2, 1962).

Colonel William Dewey: Mining Investor, Road Builder, and Business Developer [otd 08/01]

Prominent Idaho pioneer Colonel William H. Dewey was born August 1, 1823 in Hampden County, Massachusetts (some sources give the birth year as 1822). Raised on a farm, he presumably followed that line until he moved to Idaho, by way of California, in 1863.

Dewey turned out to be what the Illustrated History called “a born miner.” A relative late-comer to the Owyhee mining regions, he balked at what he considered exorbitant real estate prices. Thus, in 1864 he and some associates started a new town that became Silver City. The county seat of Owyhee County moved there two years later. A new toll road that Dewey helped build along with Silas Skinner and another partner [blog, May 19] spurred the town’s growth.

Wedding photo, Belle seated with her sisters standing.
Canyon County Historical Society & Museum.

During the heyday of the South Mountain mines, 1871-1875, Dewey, to quote the Owyhee Directory, “owned nearly one-half of that prosperous camp.” In 1875, Dewey, then a widower with a young son, married Belle Hagan. Soon after that, he opened the Black Jack Mine, which developed into a most valuable property.

Dewey suffered a severe setback in 1884-1885. He was first convicted of murder for a shooting affray, but a retrial acquitted him on the grounds of self defense. Winning, however, put him heavily in debt for legal fees. Persistence and his skill as a prospector recouped his fortune, and then some.

Colonel Dewey, Illustrated History.

In 1889, the Colonel began selling off mining properties. He was, of course, approaching 70 years of age and perhaps contemplated a well-deserved retirement. However, Dewey’s overall business activity soon picked up again. In 1896, he helped found the Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railway, which eventually linked Murphy with the Oregon Short Line station in Nampa.

Booneville, located 2-3 miles northwest of Silver City, had been a thriving town in the late 1860s, but then withered away. In the spring of 1896, Dewey purchased the town site and rejuvenated its business and mining operations. That included building the topnotch Hotel Dewey. The Directory asserted that its “appointments and architectural structure are unequaled by any hotel in the state.” The following spring, the town got a post office and the name was changed to “Dewey.”

Dewey also looked further afield. He purchased interests in several  central Idaho mining properties and also organized the Idaho Northern Railway Company. That firm then extended the Murphy-Nampa rail line on into Emmett. Dewey’s railroad projects increased his involvement with the town of Nampa, where he became owner of 2,000 lots through a mortgage purchase deal.

Dewey Palace Hotel.
Canyon County Historical Society & Museum.

The Deweys moved there in about 1900 and the colonel commissioned the construction of the Dewey Palace Hotel. In his description of it, Hiram T. French wrote, “At the time of its erection it seemed to be a structure all out of proportion to the size of the town, for it was a magnificent building.”

When the hotel was completed in 1902, he and Belle moved into an apartment there. Sadly, the colonel had little time to enjoy it. He passed away in May of the following year, after a lifetime of intense effort and incredible accomplishment.

Belle oversaw the Nampa properties for a number of years after his death. Fittingly, a recent redevelopment program in downtown Nampa called the area the Belle District, in honor of Belle (Hagan) Dewey.
                                                                                 

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

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

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

“History of the Belle District,” The Belle District, Nampa, Idaho.

Gooding College President and Methodist Minister Charles Wesley Tenney [otd 07/31]

Charles Wesley Tenney, LL.D., was born in Vancouver, Washington on July 31, 1873. His father, Horace Dewey Tenney from Vermont, pioneered in Washington by way of California in 1863. Horace became a member of the Sons of the American Revolution through his great-grandfather, Josiah, who served three years with the Third Massachusetts Regiment. Charles graduated from Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, in 1898, with a Bachelor’s degree (Ph.B). He immediately enrolled at the Oregon Law School.  

Charles Tenney, 1900-1905*

However, during his time at Willamette, Tenney had also been designated a Deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Thus, after a year at the Law School he was called to teach at the Montana Wesleyan College in Helena, Montana. Charles arrived as Professor of Civics and Economics for the fall semester (Helena Independent, September 14, 1899). After two years, Tenney was placed in full control of the college, although he was not given the top title. Then, in August 1903, Charles was ordained in the ministry, and was thereafter referred to as the President of the College. 

 

In 1908, he obtained his Master’s degree from George Washington University, in Washington, D. C. Tenney remained President of the College until 1913, when he became Rural School Inspector for the state of Montana. He held that position into 1917, and then became Superintendent of Schools at Libby, Montana. During the summer of that year, Charles taught classes on rural school organization and leadership at Syracuse University. He also gave summer institute lectures at two schools in South Dakota (Anaconda Standard, April 16, 1917).

In 1918, Tenney was called to the Presidency of Gooding College, located south of Gooding, Idaho. The Methodist Episcopal Church established the College in 1917. The school had moved from temporary quarters into new buildings at the end of November. Before the church assigned Tenney there in September 1918, the school was apparently headed by a Vice President. Charles was formally installed as President on March 21, 1919, in a program that included Idaho Governor D. W. Davis [blog April 23] and former governor and future U. S. Senator Frank R. Gooding. The school offered a Bachelor of Arts degree, being particularly strong in the fine arts.

In 1927, Charles received an LL.D. from Helena’s Intermountain Union College, a predecessor to Rocky Mountain College. Dr. Tenney would see Gooding College through a period of growth, followed by its decline. Unfortunately, the Great Depression crippled the College, as it did many other small schools. By the mid-1930s, Charles had come under pressure to add non-academic classes (“manual arts,” presumably) to the curriculum. He resigned as of the end of the 1934-1935 school year (The Oregonian, April 17, 1935).

Gooding College. National Register of Historic Places

Gooding College folded in 1938, and the property was donated to the state of Idaho in 1941. The buildings housed a tuberculosis hospital for over twenty years after 1946. The main structures were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. More recently, part of the property has been converted to a bed and breakfast.

Dr. Tenney worked at the Institute of Religious Studies on the University of Idaho Campus for about a year. He then spent about four years as an “office employee” for a religious correspondence school, working from Portland, Oregon.

Starting in about September 1940, Charles served as a “supply pastor” in and around the city. The following year, he became the regular pastor at Bennett Chapel, a small Methodist church in East Portland. Tenney finally retired from active ministry in late 1943. He passed away in November 1947.

* Photo courtesy of Alais de Hoogh, great-great granddaughter of Charles Tenney.
                                                                                

References: [Defen]

“Ailment Fatal to Educator,” The Oregonian, Portland (November 30, 1947).

“Educational News – Idaho,” Journal of Education: New England and National, Volume 89, Boston (January 2, 1919).

"Gooding College," National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (1983).

Chief Pocatello Signs "Box Elder" Peace Treaty [otd 07/30]

On July 30, 1863, Shoshone Chief Pocatello signed the Treaty of Box Elder. In return for promises of food and other compensation for the game and land preempted by whites, the Chief agreed to cease his attacks on Oregon Trail travelers and southeast Idaho settlers.

Chief Pocatello sculpture*.
[Portneuf] Valley Pride project.

The man whom whites called "Pocatello" was born in 1815-1825 somewhere in the Grouse Creek area of Utah, 35-40 miles south of Oakley, Idaho. He grew up to become a strong-minded, decisive chief.

The tribe migrated seasonally through Idaho and Utah: north to the Snake, east to the Portneuf and Blackfoot rivers, and then south along the Bear River. Sometimes, they wintered near the Great Salt Lake. They encountered no serous difficulties with the mountain men who shared their territory after about 1825.

Osborne Russell [blog, December 20], for example, lived with the local Indians during the winter of 1840-1841. They passed the time in conversation where “The principal topic which was discussed was the political affairs of the Rocky Mountains: The state of governments among the different tribes, the personal characters of the most distinguished warriors Chiefs, etc.”Russell does not mention either “Pocatello” or “Tondzaosha,” the name the chief actually went by. Evidently Pocatello had not yet attained a leadership position.

During the early years of the Oregon Trail emigration, Indians were far more often helpful than hostile to the travelers. They traded amicably for food, horses, guide work, and more. Emigrants did note, sometimes ruefully, that Indians were canny traders.

But then the California gold rush brought hordes of travelers through the region. Also, Mormons began to settle there, pushing the Indians off the land. What started the trouble is impossible to say, and matters little: counter-attack followed attack, atrocity matched atrocity.

By around 1860, the chief had a reputation as a "bad" Indian, and whites blamed him for many attacks he had nothing to do with. Then, on January 29, 1863, Volunteer troops under Colonel Patrick Connor slaughtered several hundred Shoshones at the Battle of Bear River (also called the "Bear River Massacre").

Shoshone Leaders. Utah State Historical Society.

Pocatello's band had no involvement in the Battle. Still, the heavy losses shocked every Shoshone and the pressure that followed forced the chief to sign the Box Elder treaty. Five years later, the Bridger Treaty of 1868 pushed the Shoshones onto the Fort Hall Indian Reservation [blog, June 14].

Indifference, and probably some corruption in the Indian Agency, basically nullified the promises made in those treaties. In 1878, all the broken promises, and other grievances, finally sparked the Bannock War [blog, June 8]. Although some Shoshones fought in that conflict, Pocatello took no part. By then, deeply weary and discouraged, the chief had withdrawn from an active leadership role. He died in 1884.

A final word about the name, which lives on as the city in southeast Idaho. It's origin is completely lost in time. We do know it's not Shoshone-Bannock: Neither language has an "L" sound. Pocatello's daughter asserted that the name had no meaning, implying it was just a nonsense term.

Yet white's called him that even before 1860, and neither trappers nor emigrants were much given to overt creativity. We do know newcomers frequently learned tribal and individual names from outsiders first, and often from enemies. That suggests possible word corruptions from Spanish, French, Nez Perce, Paiute, Piegan, or any of the other language-speakers the Shoshones regularly met. We'll probably never know for sure.

* Sculptor JD Adcox
                                                                                 

References: Brigham D. Madsen, Chief Pocatello: The "White Plume," University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City (1986).

Brigham D. Madsen, The Northern Shoshoni, The Caxton Printers, CaIdwell, Idaho (1980)..

“The Name Pocatello,” Reference Series No. 37, Idaho State Historical Society (May 1966).

“Pocatello’s [Shoshoni] Band,” Reference Series No. 818, Idaho State Historical Society (184).

Osborne Russell, Aubrey L. Haines (ed.), Journal of a Trapper, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln (1965).

John D. Unruh, Jr, The Plains Across, University of Illinois Press, Urbana (1979)..

Newspaperwoman and Women’s Suffrage Advocate Abigail (Scott) Duniway [otd 07/29]

On July 29, 1852, Oregon Pioneer Abigail Jane Scott wrote in her party's journal, "Three miles brought us to Goose Creek; There is grass enough here for a small party of cattle; The water is not very good, being warm and muddy."

“Emigrants Crossing the Plains,” Henry Bryan Hall engraving.
Library of Congress.

Goose Creek was an important watering place on the Oregon Trail, located near where Burley is today. Abigail's father, John Tucker Scott, had assigned her primary responsibility for keeping a daily journal of the trip. She was 18 years old.
Their story supports the point that, by and large, poor families did not emigrate to the western Territories. They either had to already own much of the outfit – wagons, draft animals, and other equipment – or purchase it. The cost of provisions for the long journey added to their initial outlay.

The Scott train reached Idaho in mid-July. Her first impressions were mixed: "We encamped near the Bear River and find good grass; The mosquitoes are troublesome in the extreme; passed four graves."

At "The Cedars," future site of Milner Dam, the Snake River constricts into a cleft half as wide and twice as deep as before. Abigail wrote, "The river here runs through a rocky kanyon. The current is remarkably swift and the water tumbles over the rocks with a roaring noise; ... Huge piles of rock rise up in bold array around me with often a cedar nodding at their tops."

Here, the party experienced a tragedy when the men drove their small band of cattle down to the river for a vital drink. The herd bolted across the river and, sadly, a "worthy young man" drowned in the process of recovering them.

In fact, death was a constant companion of the Oregon Trail pioneers. Just after the train left Idaho, Abigail wrote, "There are two graves near our camp, of a recent date; We have seen several graves every day for the past week but I have beene rather negligent, and consequently took no note of them; Some of our folks are yet quite sick."

Abigail Scott Duniway.
Library of Congress.

In Oregon, Abigail taught school briefly before marrying Benjamin C. Duniway in 1853. When an accident restricted Ben to light work, Abigail supported the family in various ways. Mainly she worked as a writer, lecturer, and editor of the New Northwest newspaper, which she started in 1871. She made the paper a vehicle for advocating women's rights.

Duniway lectured all over the Northwest, including many appearances in Idaho. Also, from about 1886 until 1894, Abigail helped run a livestock ranch in Idaho's Pahsimeroi Valley. Although she deferred to Idaho leaders, she always took a proactive approach in her advocacy of women's rights.

She visited Boise two months after the legislature overwhelmingly passed a resolution to put a women's suffrage amendment on the ballot in 1896. In a public lecture, she praised the men who had passed the measure and asked, “Will you, women of Idaho, sit supinely by, and let your proffered opportunity go by default because of your own apathy, or will you help those men, by becoming your own standard bearers … ?”

Her message helped energize support groups to push the amendment all over Idaho. The measure passed easily that fall [blog, Nov 3].

Duniway was less successful in Oregon, where she lived after 1894. That state finally did grant women the right to vote in 1912. Abigail died in 1915, too early to celebrate passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
                                                                                 

References: [French]

Ellen Druckenbrod, Abigail Scott Duniway & Idaho's Woman Suffrage Movement, Boise Public Library, Boise, Idaho (2005).

Abigail Scott Duniway, Path Breaking, James, Kerns & Abbott Co., Portland, Oregon (1914).

Abigail Jane Scott, "Journal of a Trip to Oregon," Covered Wagon Women, Vol. 5, Kenneth L. Homes, David C. Duniway (eds.), University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln (1997).

Cowboys Drive Cattle Across Idaho into Wyoming and Nevada [otd 07/28]

On July 28, 1876, cowboy cook William Emsley Jackson wrote in his diary, "Three emigrant teams passed us while in camp – are being rushed right along now. Five herds of cattle between here and Georgetown."

Working chuckwagon.

Georgetown, Idaho is located about 12 miles north of Montpelier, in the southeast corner of the state. Jackson's diary emphasizes the point that, by the mid-1870s, stockmen were driving large cattle bands east across Idaho. The drive for which William Emsley Jackson cooked was one of two herds belonging to G. W. Lang and a Mr. Shadley. They had purchased about four thousand head in Oregon and split them into two more-manageable drives.

Idaho had been an importer of live cattle in the early years of the decade, starting with herds from Oregon and California. They also trailed large bands of cheap Texas cattle into the Territory. That continued even as late as 1873.

Yet as early as 1870, a stockman had driven two thousand surplus sheep from Oregon into Montana. In 1874, Oregon drovers trailed hundreds, if not thousands of cattle across Idaho to ranges and markets in Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. By then, or 1875 at the latest, Idaho stockmen also had surpluses. Newspaper reports show they were driving herds to Winnemucca, Nevada for shipment to California.

The Washington and Oregon herds generally followed one of two routes across Idaho. One roughly back-tracked the southern Oregon Trail along that side of the Snake River. The other route crossed the Snake early, veered south of Boise, and turned east towards Fairfield and south of Arco (neither of which existed then). From there, they continued to the ford that crossed the Snake north of Eagle Rock (today's Idaho Falls).

Jackson joined the drive in May. Unfortunately, he lost the booklet he started with, so his actual day-to-day observations don't resume until the latter part of June. The herd was then 20-25 miles west of today's Twin Falls. On July 8th, the drive reached the Raft River, where they camped.

Cattle on the move, National Park Service.

Six days later, they crossed the Portneuf River. Jackson wrote, "Two emigrant wagons passed us before we got out of camp." He then described the area and concluded, "it is a beautiful country, though I should judge it is too wet and owing to the altitude, too cold for a farming country. I understand this to be the Indian reservation. There are thousands of acres of good hay land in this valley that never saw a sickle."

After passing Georgetown on the 28th, the Lang-Shadley herd went on by Montpelier. Jackson said, "The principal occupation of the people of this region is stock raising."

A later observation confirmed that Idaho cattle were also being trailed east. Out on the Laramie Plain in Wyoming, Jackson wrote, "We pass a herd of about 500 cattle from Marsh Valley, Idaho. Their destination was Laramie."

A few months later, the Idaho Statesman announced (February 24, 1877), that stockman Edward Pinkham was planning a cattle drive from his ranch near the mouth of the Payette River. He intended to "start as early as the grass will permit, and probably drive as far as the Laramie valley."

Late that year, the Statesman (December 11, 1877) noted that, "Mr. Pinkham sold out his band at fair prices." However, Pinkham felt he might have done better had he grazed the herd over the winter so they could regain the weight lost on the drive.
                                                                                 

References: William Emsley Jackson, J. Orin Oliphant (ed.), William Emsley Jackson's Diary..., Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, Washington (1984).

David L. Shirk, Martin F. Schimdt (ed.), The Cattle Drives of David Shirk, Champoeg Press, Portland, Oregon (1956).

J. Orin Oliphant, On the Cattle Ranges of the Oregon Country, University of Washington Press, Seattle (1968).

Methodist Minister Performs First Religious Service in Idaho [otd 07/27]

Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 1840.
Illustration for Harper’s Magazine,
November 1892.

On July 27, 1834, Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth was working at his new Fort Hall site [blog, July 14]. In his Journal he recorded that a Frenchman named "Kanseau" had been killed during a horse race.

Kanseau worked for the Hudson's Bay Company and, Wyeth wrote, "his comrades erected a decent tomb for him. Service for him was performed by the Canadians in the Catholic form, by Mr. Lee in the Protestant form, and by the Indians in their form, as he had Indian family. He at least was well buried."

The Catholic form was surely the ad hoc performance one might expect from a rough band of men who had been away from civilization for years. However, the Reverend Jason Lee would have performed the official Methodist funerary rites, so Lee is credited with conducting the first European-style religious services held in Idaho.

Lee was born in 1803 near the tiny village of Stanstead, which now straddles the Canadian border. At the time, the area was considered part of Vermont, so Lee was born a U. S. citizen. Thrown upon his own resources at the age of thirteen, he spent several years as a logger.

In 1826, Lee attended a revival meeting, had a “conversion experience,” and joined the Methodist church. Some time in the next year or two he felt "the call" to a more active role. For that, he needed more education, so he enrolled at the Wesleyan Academy, a Methodist prep school. After a year there, he taught for awhile, did some lay preaching, and applied for a missionary position in Canada.

Then a sequence that was apparently equal parts religious fervor and well-meaning humbug captured the imagination of church leaders. The scheme is too convoluted to give the details here. In sum, zealous churchmen learned of a fruitless meeting between an Indian delegation and William Clark, now essentially Indian Agent for the West. These evangelists transformed the Indians’ confused inquiry into an eloquent, heart-felt plea for religious enlightenment.

As a result, the church felt a need to send missionaries to carry the white man's religion to the "benighted savages" of the Oregon Country. (That designation encompassed all of our Pacific Northwest, plus a goodly chunk of today's British Columbia).

Rev. Jason Lee.
Oregon Historical Society.

To the man tasked with selecting a leader, Lee – sturdy and vigorous from his hard work outdoors – seemed the only possible candidate. But neither Lee nor, apparently, anyone else in the church had the slightest notion of how to organize an expedition into the wilds of the Oregon Country. 

Enter Nathaniel Wyeth, preparing for his second trading venture into the area. His extant letters give no indication as to why he agreed to shepherd the missionary party west, although some imaginative and plausible ideas have been advanced. Wyeth might have simply decided that the presence of American missionaries would encourage emigration from the States. That, in turn, would help him break the British-Canadian monopoly in the Oregon Country.

Wyeth's second venture failed as miserably as the first. However, if he did foresee the Methodist party as an opening wedge, he was indeed correct. Jason Lee turned out to be a better settlement builder than missionary, although he founded quite a number of missions. He proved far more effective at helping to organize a new, American government for what became Oregon Territory.
                                                                                 

References: [B&W], [French]

Malcom Clark, Eden Seekers: The Settlement of Oregon, 1818-1862, Houghton Mifflin Company (1981).

Nathaniel J. Wyeth, Don Johnson (ed.), The Journals of Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth's Expeditions to the Oregon Country 1831-1836, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, Washington (1984).

Construction Manager, Entrepreneur, and Prolific Bridge Builder James H. Forbes [otd 07/27]

Pioneer Idaho bridge builder James Hunter Forbes was born July 27, 1862 near Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents were both Scottish emigrants. With only a common school education, James began his working life as a farm laborer. However, after 1884, he spent about three years as a stonemason at various locations in Kansas.

James H. Forbes. [French]

Next, he found a job with a firm that specialized in bridge building. After perhaps ten years of that, Forbes went into business for himself, both directly and as a subcontractor. His first major job in Idaho came in 1902. He handled a subcontract to build a bridge across the Boise River to Eagle Island, about 10 miles downriver from Boise City.

Forbes followed the Eagle bridge job with a direct contract to build a dam and headgates for the Canyon Canal on the Payette River. He also then fulfilled another subcontract to build a wooden wagon bridge across the Payette River at Emmett. Besides some follow-up on that project, he won a contract to install a sewage system for the city. The city also granted him the franchise for an electric light plant. Forbes held his interest in the plant for about eighteen months before selling it.

With so much work coming his way, Forbes moved to Caldwell. He also began to specialize more in building bridges. Perhaps his largest early contract, beginning in 1905 or 1906, called for putting up bridges for the interurban railway, running from Boise out to beyond Caldwell. In January 1907, the Idaho Statesman reported that Forbes had “just completed the erection of the steel bridge over the Boise River near Caldwell. Besides this bridge, 30 pile bridges and three on concrete piers have been built.”

Forbes had a preference for steel truss bridges and his expertise with that design as well as other types won him many contracts as the low bidder. In 1910, he erected two bridges over the Payette River, one near New Plymouth and another about 8 miles down-river from Emmett. That same year, he built a Boise River bridge about 5 miles  southeast of downtown. The stated purpose of the bridge was to allow cattle and sheep drives to cross the river without going through the city itself.

Besides his construction work, Forbes served one term on the Caldwell City Council and briefly held a vice presidency in a Caldwell bank. But he focused mainly on bridges, even handling at least one contract in eastern Oregon. In 1929, when he was over 66 years old, he landed a contract for five bridges on the highway between Jerome and the Intercounty Bridge (now the Perrine Bridge).

In 1931, Forbes opened the Homedale Feed and Commission Company as a sideline. However, five years passed before he shut down the construction outfit and sold off its specialized equipment. He then began selling real estate, using the Homedale store as a base. James kept working after his wife died in 1938. He did sell off the feed company the following year.

Midvale Bridge, Weiser River, built by Forbes. Library of Congress.

On June 5, 1947, Forbes placed an ad as selling agent for a prime 80-acre farm with a “modern six room house” and a “new barn.” He died ten days later from injuries suffered in a car accident. He was just six weeks short of his 85th birthday.

A survey in 1981-1982 found around 25 steel truss bridges – still standing and many of them still in use – built in Idaho by Forbes. Two in Washington County – including the Midvale Bridge – were considered “most notable” in the submission for Historic Registry inclusion.
                                                                                

References: [French], [Hawley]

“[James Forbes News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise; Caldwell Tribune, Caldwell, Idaho; Billings Gazette, Billings, Montana (June 1900 – June 1947).

Kenneth C. Reid, Metal Truss Bridges of Idaho, National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, Boise, Idaho (August 10, 2000).

Reynolds Distributes First Issue of The Idaho Statesman, in Boise [otd 07/26]

Statesman inaugural issue.

On Tuesday, July 26, 1864, the first issue of the Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, a small four-column publication, came off the presses in Boise City. The newspaper debuted that day because of some enthusiastic, and practical, advocacy by a team of Boise businessmen.

Statesman founder James S. Reynolds told an 1870 Census taker he had been born in New York State, in 1830. However, the Illustrated History of the State of Idaho had information that he was born in Maine, and had worked “in the lumber camps of the Pine Tree State.” In any case, he later made his way to Oregon by way of California. At The Dalles, he met two brothers, Thomas and Richard Reynolds (who bore no relation to James). These young men owned a printing outfit and knew how to use it.

At that time, the Boise Basin gold fields were booming. The men compared notes and decided that a newspaper in Idaho City could be a money-making venture. So off they went, getting as far as Boise City on July 15, 1864. There, they stopped at the Riggs & Agnew store to ask about the best way to get their heavy load to their destination.

Henry C. Riggs and James D. Agnew, two of the founders of Boise City, grew very excited when they learned what the threesome intended. They quickly gathered a group of fellow businessmen to propose that the Reynolds site their newspaper in their small hamlet on the Boise River. They surely must have also pointed out that Idaho City already had three established newspapers.

Just eleven days later that first issue hit the streets. The publication included generally standard fare: news of the Civil War, Territorial political conventions, many advertisements, and so on. It also contained a slam at the editor of a rival newspaper, the Boise News in Idaho City. The brief item described him as “a large sized brick.”

They had only been able to find a two-room log cabin to house their venture, but made do. James Reynolds served as editor, giving the paper a Republican, abolitionist, and pro-Union bent. Oddly enough, the Reynolds brothers, from Missouri, and many of the paper's backers and readers held Southern sympathies.

Statesman building, 1866. Idaho Statesman archives.

Still, the partners managed to work together and the newspaper became a resounding success. Early subscriptions ran $1 for a week, $3 for a month, or $20 for a year. However, when they had details of “a great battle” in the war, they would immediately publish an “extra” for individual sale. As a bonus, they would “send a man on a fleet horse” into the gold country “where they sold for from fifty cents to a dollar.”

About two years after that first issue, the Reynolds brothers sold their share to James and moved back to Missouri. In 1869, Reynolds tried to sell the paper, but the deal fell through. Three years later, he finally found a buyer, former judge Milton Kelly.

Kelly changed the paper to a daily in 1888, which has been its main schedule ever since. A year later, he sold the Statesman to a group led by livestock dealer Calvin Cobb. Cobb operated the paper until his death in 1928. Under his leadership, the newspaper became less and less partisan, but still held its generally-acknowledged position as the "lead" newspaper for the state of Idaho.

The Statesman remained under local ownership until 1963, when it became part of a large newspaper holding company.
                                                                                 

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

Rocky Barker, “It's the Statesman's 145th anniversary! From Lincoln to Obama, we have been there,” The Idaho Statesman, Boise (July 26, 2009).

“James S. Reynolds, ca. 1830-September 14, 1897,” Reference Series No. 593, Idaho State Historical Society (1981).

Idaho Statesman, Official Web Site.