Wallace Creates New Fire Brigade After Destructive Downtown Fire [otd 11/02]

On November 2, 1890, the citizens of Wallace, Idaho convened a public meeting and created a new fire brigade to replace their old fire department. By organizing Wallace Hose Company No. 1, the town hoped to improve their fire protection.

Lead-silver mill at Wallace. [French]

The first cabins had been built in Wallace just six years earlier, after prospectors discovered placer gold in the area. Major finds of lode silver followed and the town mushroomed. Within a few years, rail lines connected Wallace to the outside world [blog, Dec 9]. As usual, almost everything in the town was built with locally-cut lumber – weathered and dry, or fresh and full of pitch.

In late July 1890, a fire began in the Central Hotel, on Sixth Street south of the railroad depot. Strong, hot winds fanned the flames, driving them south and east up the canyon. The fire department tried to contain the damage, but they ran out of water in about ten minutes. Blowing out fire breaks with “Giant powder” (an early form of dynamite) failed to stop the conflagration.

Except for one structure, the blaze consumed everything in the blocks between Fifth Street (to the west) and Sixth. Most of the buildings to the east and southeast of Sixth also went up in flames. The fires stopped only when they reached the ridges to the south and east.

Wallace considered itself fortunate to have only one fatality: A drunk who had passed out in one of the saloons was burned to death. Thirteen saloons, three restaurants, and a liquor wholesaler went up in flames. The fires also destroyed six hotels, a bank, a theater, and four vacant buildings (one of them new).

Other losses included nearly thirty stores and shops (four barbers, two butchers, several dry goods firms, a druggist, a blacksmith, and more), eighteen office structures (many doctors and lawyers, and the newspaper), three livery stables, several warehouses, an ice house, and a saw mill. A meeting hall, the telephone exchange, and the post office were also burned out.

So much aid poured in from the nearby towns that officials turned down, with thanks, an offer of help from Spokane. The Murray Sun reported (July 30, 1890) that town leaders soon passed ordinances requiring that new construction use non-flammable materials in certain key areas. The item also asserted that, "The work of rebuilding will be on a larger scale than before."

Wallace suffered another serious fire in November, 1898, when flames totally destroyed a hotel and the saloon next to it, and badly damaged a second hotel. Still, efforts of the revamped fire brigade at least prevented further damage, aided by the fact that many owners had replaced wood frame structures with brick.

Wallace after the 1910 fire. Library of Congress.

Ironically, an even worse disaster hit Wallace from outside in 1910: Sometimes called “The Big Burn,” a massive forest fire swept over the town and again caused heavy damage [blog, Aug 20].

Continuing production from the rich silver mines allowed the city to rebuild.

The real decline of Wallace came with the depletion of the mines. Today, the town has less than a third of the population it had at the time of the Big Burn. Many of the “new” 1890 brick structures form the heart of the town’s current tourist district.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [French], [Illust-North]

John Galvin, “The Big Burn: Idaho and Montana, August 1910,” Popular Mechanics (July 31, 2007).

History of Wallace, Wallace Chamber of Commerce.

Former Toponis Railway Station Fully Linked to Gooding Brothers [otd 11/01]

Governor and U. S. Senator Gooding.
Library of Congress.

James H. Hawley’s History of Idaho, asserts that Gooding, “the county seat of Gooding County, was founded on November 1, 1907, by Frank R. Gooding, then governor of the State of Idaho.”

The term “founded” somewhat overstates reality, because settlers had already occupied the area for over a quarter century. The 1907 date actually refers to when the Idaho Irrigation Company finalized details of its big land sale in the area (Idaho Statesman, Boise, November 1, 1907).

White stockmen first appeared in the area in the 1870s, running cattle and horses. Then, around the fall of 1882, a settler reportedly built the first house on what would become the town site.

Oregon Short Line tracks entered the area in the summer of 1883. Sixteen miles west of Shoshone and on the river, the spot was a natural to establish a watering station. (Steam locomotives of the time could only go 10-15 miles before they had to refill their tanks.)

The station agent soon built a home there. Within a couple years, the U. S. Postal Service authorized a post office for “Toponis Station” – “toponis” is reportedly a Shoshone Indian word for “black cherry.” In 1886, one John Pointer started the first mercantile store nearby. By the following year, the Toponis post office was well established and the station agent had been named its postmaster.

Frank Gooding [blog, Sept 16] took up sheep ranching in the area in 1888, prospered in that line, and expanded his holdings. He became a leader in the state’s sheep industry and parleyed that into a successful political career: state senator, governor, and finally the United States Senate.

Over the years, the store at Toponis Station moved to a structure closer to the railroad depot and changed owners several times. By around 1900-1905, the area had become identified with the Gooding brothers, and people generally referred to the settlement by that name. Finally, organizers filed a townsite plat with Lincoln County at the end of October.

On November 1, 1907, the Statesman carried the headline, “Excursions to Gooding, Ida,” with special fares. An article in the same issue stated that the acreage being offered was “practically the last opening of Carey Act lands in Idaho, and the only tract on a transcontinental line of railroad, it being on the Oregon Short Line.”

The town incorporated under the name of Gooding the following year.

Gooding station photo, ca 1916. Personal Collection.

The area then grew rapidly, aided by the construction of a branch rail line, the Idaho Southern Railroad. The Idaho Southern ran to Jerome from an OSL junction in Gooding. The company went into receivership in 1916 and the Gooding-Jerome tracks became part of the OSL.

In 1909, the University of Idaho established an agricultural extension station in Gooding and two years later the state relocated its School for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind from Boise to Gooding [blog, Dec 4]. By the time Hiram T. French described in it 1914, the village had four hotels as well as “six churches, a creamery, a grain elevator, two banks, two weekly newspapers, and a monthly paper devoted to the wool-growing industry.”

Also by then, the legislature had split Gooding County off from Lincoln County and made the town the county seat.

Livestock raising, dairy, and farming are still the mainstays of the Gooding economy. Although passenger trains no longer stop by, the city notes its location on the main rail line as a big plus for its 80-acre industrial park.
                                                                                                                                      

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

Gooding, Idaho: Gateway to a Good Life, Rural Magic Valley Economic Development Association (2010).

“Idaho Territory: Alturas County,” United States Official Postal Guide, Callaghan & Company, Publishers, Chicago, by authority of the Post Office Department (January 1886).

Flagrant Voter Fraud in Idaho Territory’s First Elections [otd 10/31]

Governor Wallace. [Hawley]

On October 31, 1863, the brand new Territory of Idaho held its first elections. The Territory had been created six months earlier because of all the prospectors who rushed into the region with the discovery of gold [blog, Mar 4].

Less than a week after its creation, President Abraham Lincoln appointed William H. Wallace as the Territory’s first governor.

Born about fifteen miles north of Dayton, Ohio, Wallace took up a law career in Indiana and moved to Iowa in 1837, at the age of twenty-six. He emigrated to Washington Territory in 1853 and became heavily involved in politics there. In 1861, Wallace was elected as Washington’s Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. (Territorial Delegates have no vote on the floor, but can serve on committees and vote on issues at that level.) By then, of course, Pierce had discovered gold in what would become Idaho [blog, Oct 2].

Wallace did not arrive in Idaho until four months after his appointment. Even then, he took his time getting started. But finally, he set the election date. Aside from Montpelier, which everyone thought was part of Utah, Idaho contained the tent city of Lewiston – the Territorial capital – and a host of rough mining camps.

Idaho’s first Capitol, in Lewiston. [Hawley]

Historians Beal and Wells commented, “Idaho did not suffer from any lack of candidates for Delegate to Congress in the first territorial election.”

The list of ten or so included William H. Wallace: A return to Washington D.C. clearly appealed far more than presiding over an undeveloped and, truth be told, dangerous Territory.

With his recent experience as a Delegate, plus the visibility as Governor, Wallace soon distanced the field of Republican candidates. He received the nomination at a convention held in Mount Idaho.

During this period, large numbers of refugees and other discouraged Southerners – almost all of them Democrats – had begun to appear in Idaho. (Grant’s capture of Vicksburg in May 1863 convinced many that the Confederate cause was doomed.) Thus, people rather expected that the Democratic nominee, one John M. Cannady, would win handily.

That turned out to be a misread, for whatever reason. Some newcomers were not yet settled enough to participate in the election, and many had arrived too recently. (The Organic Act for the Territory stipulated that a man had to have been a resident when Congress passed the Act.) Wallace won with about 52 percent of the legitimate voters.

However, the election was marred by the infamous “Laramie Fraud.” Somehow the 50-100 eligible voters at Fort Laramie morphed into around 480 … almost all of whom voted for the Republican ticket. This blatant fabrication was angrily rejected by both political parties.

Oddly enough, the perpetrator – Federal Marshal Dolphus S. Payne – apparently did it to further a personal agenda; he had no particular interest in helping Wallace. Born in New York, Payne had moved to Oregon in the late 1850s before being appointed to the Idaho position. He was strongly pro-Union and aimed the fraud at a candidate for the Territorial Council. The candidate was an outspoken Secessionist, and heavily favored to win. Payne only included votes for Wallace to make the returns look legitimate

No one thought Wallace had any involvement, so opponents did not challenge his election. On the other hand, he received no encouragement two years later when he expressed a desire for a second term. Payne moved to California, opened a successful law practice, and was elected to a judgeship in Santa Clara County.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [B&W], [Hawley]

“Laramie Fraud,” Reference Series No. 154, Idaho State Historical Society.

“William Henson Wallace (1811-1879),” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, online.

Idaho Pathway to Montana, Critic and Modernist Poet Ezra Pound [otd 10/30]

On October 30, 1864, successful miners founded what they called “Crabtown,” after one of the “Four Georgians” who had discovered gold in Montana’s “Last Chance Gulch.” The town grew rapidly, and residents soon selected the more appealing name of "Helena." This continued growth in Montana played a key role in the development of eastern Idaho: All those thousands of miners needed supplies.

Early freight wagons. Library of Congress.

The best early route left the well-traveled Oregon Trail near Fort Hall and headed north. By 1864, a steady stream of freight wagon trains rumbled across East Idaho.

The rush to Montana began in July 1862, when prospectors found gold on Grasshopper Creek. Then they discovered even better fields in Alder Gulch, where Virginia City sprang into being. When that area grew over-crowded, the “Georgians” sought better prospects, which led them to Last Chance Gulch.

Prospector and freight traffic through East Idaho had surged right after the Grasshopper Creek discoveries. Customers soon backed up at ferries crossing the Snake River. One of those was the "Eagle Rock Ferry," located a few miles upstream from today's Idaho Falls.

Soon, James Madison "Matt" Taylor and some partners bought the ferry, and, in 1865, opened a toll bridge. That span became the center of the first settlement north of the Mormon colonies near the Utah border. Various records called the town "Taylor's Bridge" or "Eagle Rock" until it officially changed to Idaho Falls [blog, Dec 10].

Finally, in the period from about 1878 to 1881, the Utah & Northern Railway laid track across East Idaho and into Montana [blog, Apr 11]. The coming of the railroad immediately spurred settlement up and down the east side of Idaho.

On October 30, 1885, internationally renowned poet Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho. The family moved to the East when he was a two-year-old infant. Even so, scholars contend that stories he heard about natural resource exploitation – mining, timber, and the land itself – in Idaho and elsewhere colored his life-long views on these issues. (Pound himself supported that contention.)

Ezra Pound.
Poetry Foundation
www.poetryfoundation.org

Ezra received his college education to a Master’s degree level in New York and Pennsylvania. He had a brief stint as a college professor, but his growing “Bohemian” behavior ended that career. He moved to Europe in 1908.

His poetry and articles on literary topics brought considerable fame. Later, he also worked as an editor. By example and through direct advice, Pound exerted a profound influence on the major literary trends during the period between the World Wars. Pound biographer A. David Moody notes that he offered early encouragement to T. S. Eliot, and helped him get his work published. He provided similar help to James Joyce and a host of other writers of the period.

Having spent years in London and then three in Paris, he moved to Italy in 1924. He lived there for the next 20 years, except for a brief sojourn back in the U.S.

During World War II, Pound made a series of anti-American radio broadcasts. Arrested for treason at the end of the war but judged “mentally unfit for trial,” he spent the years until 1958 in a mental hospital. Still, his literary production continued then, and until about 1960. He died in 1972.

Despite the problems in his later years, Pound is considered a towering figure in the literary landscape of the Twentieth Century.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Brit], [B&W]

Dana Dugan, “Uncovering Ezra Pound’s Roots,” Idaho Mountain Express and Guide, Ketchum, Idaho (March 2, 2007).

Michael P. Malone, Richard B. Roeder, and William L. Lang, Montana: A History of Two Centuries, Revised Edition, University of Washington Press, Seattle (1991).

A. David Moody, Ezra Pound, Poet: The Young Genius 1885–1920, Oxford University Press (2007).

Frontier Lawman, Rancher, and Business Leader Ed Winn [otd 10/29]

Sheriff Ed Winn.
Bonneville County Historical Society.

Frontier marshal, sheriff, and businessman Ed F. Winn was born October 29, 1857, about 35 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Having learned the carpenter’s trade, Winn found work as a young man with the Union Pacific railroad. Around 1878, he joined Utah & Northern Railway crews as they laid track and built stations north across eastern Idaho.

Ed followed the rails as far as Dillon, Montana. He then returned to Eagle Rock (today’s Idaho Falls) to help with construction of railroad shops there. Probably foreseeing the growth that the shops would bring to the town, Winn quit the railroad and went into the saloon business. His ability to enforce a level of frontier “decorum” in his establishment soon attracted notice. In the early 1880s, authorities appointed him a Deputy Sheriff of Oneida County, which then comprised almost all of Eastern Idaho.

In short order, he became recognized as a man of “grit” and “chilly nerve.” His effective law enforcement efforts drew the attention of U. S. Marshal Fred T. Dubois, who made him a Deputy Marshal. Whether that appointment continued when Dubois focused on politics after 1886 is unclear, but Winn held his sheriff’s job into at least 1900.

Winn survived a number of shootouts, including several that were fatal to his opponents. In one scrape, a man named Swigart opened fire on Winn without warning, missed, but received two serious wounds in return. Ed told the Blackfoot Register (November 3, 1883) that “if he had had his own gun instead of a strange one, he would have killed Swigart."

Nor was he averse to engaging in hand-to-hand scraps. Describing his impact on the criminal element, the Illustrated History said, “He brought many to trial, many fled the country and in time Oneida county came to be a law-abiding place, and as such was gradually taken possession of by law-abiding people.”

For a number of years, Winn owned a cattle ranch, from which he supplied local butcher shops. Around 1888, he opened a grocery store near the downtown area. At one time Winn owned twenty-two acres of prime real estate, much of which he developed into businesses and homes. In several cases, he managed the design and construction himself.

Early Idaho Falls. Bonneville County Historical Society.

After a disastrous fire in 1885, the town organized a formal fire brigade and appointed Winn as its first Fire Chief. He held that position until 1902, when the fire station was moved and a new chief was appointed.

About a year before that, Ed had been appointed Idaho Falls postmaster, a position he held until 1908. (Rumors apparently suggested there were some irregularities in his management of the office, but nothing came of that.)

Winn and a partner turned up in the legal news in 1913 when records showed that their drug store had no pharmacist registered with the state. They were acquitted, however, because investigation showed that a clerk they had hired lied about being a registered pharmacist. Winn retired from an active role in the store the following year due to illness.

Poor health would plague Ed for the rest of his life. Still, despite those problems,Winn returned to law enforcement in 1918 when he was elected as a Constable for Idaho Falls. He continued in that office for over a decade.

Ed Frances Winn died in February 1935. His obituary lauded the colorful and effective role he had played in Eastern Idaho history.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Illust-State]

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

“[Ed F. Winn News],” Idaho Falls Times, Post-Register, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot Register, Blackfoot, Idaho; Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah (November 1883 – February 1935)..

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

Volstead Act (Prohibition) Causes Turmoil in Idaho, Death at Caldron Linn [otd 10/28]

On October 28, 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act to provide a framework for the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Prohibition, as it has always been known, did not ban the consumption of alcoholic beverages, per se. What it did was to ban the manufacture, transport, or delivery of beverages containing more than 0.5% alcohol – except for specific research and development uses.

Illegal brewery busted. National Archives.

Unfortunately, Prohibition became a prime example of good intentions gone awry – and a classic case of unintended consequences. Illegal sources and channels quickly moved to fill the void created by the almost total elimination of an entire industry. There’s no need to recount the entire story here: rampant corruption and violent gang wars. Even members of “respectable” society became lawbreakers.

Before Prohibition was repealed in 1933, a dramatic case occurred in Idaho. (Idaho was generally spared the worst of the crime and violence that plagued the big cities and more populous states.) In February of 1923, the Idaho Statesman revealed that “the Feds” had indicted several high level Ada County and Boise officials, including the county sheriff and the Boise police chief, for conspiring to produce and sell moonshine whiskey.

Nearly a half dozen other men were charged, including a well-known Boise physician and a local rancher. (Presumably the rancher provided an out-of-the way location for their illegal still.) In the end, six conspirators were found guilty on each of six different counts – the police chief was exonerated. It is impossible to know how many other illegal operations were never caught.

In his journal for October 28, 1811, Wilson Price Hunt wrote, “Our journey was less fortunate on the 28th; for after passing through several rapids, we came to the entrance of a narrow gorge.  Mr. Crook's canoe capsized, one of his companions drowned, and we lost a great deal of merchandise.”

Caldron Linn.

As noted for the October 5th blog, the Hunt party represented the Pacific Fur Company, which was founded by fur trade magnate John Jacob Astor and several British-Canadian partners. Their expedition had entered Idaho just over three week earlier. They then left their horses at Fort Henry, near today’s St. Anthony, and took to the Snake River in dugout canoes.

Despite some problems with earlier rapids and falls, they had escaped serious trouble until the fatality at the dangerous constriction that came to be called Caldron Linn. Located near today's Murtaugh, the Caldron features some of the most dangerous water on the Snake east of Hells Canyon.

They tried to portage around the whitewater, but lost a canoe and more supplies. Hunt sent men downstream to try to find a better place to return to the river. Oddly enough, the scouts apparently did not find Shoshone Falls, which are higher than Niagara Falls [blog, Aug 15] and could have been fatal had they floated into them unawares.

Yet even without that knowledge, the scouts' report convinced Hunt that the canyon was too dangerous to attempt. He wrote, “Its bed is no more than sixty to ninety feet wide, it is full of rapids, and its course is broken by falls ten to forty feet high.  Except at two spots where I went down to get water, the banks are precipitous everywhere.”

The Astorians basically walked out of Idaho and on to the Columbia River.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Brit]

Arthur Hart, “Boise moonshine operation busted in 1923,” Idaho Statesman, October 31, 2006.

Wilson Price Hunt, Hoyt C. Franchère (ed. and translator), Overland diary of Wilson Price Hunt, translated from the original French Nouvelles Annales des Voyages (Paris, 1821), Ashland Oregon Book Society (1973).

Washington Irving, Astoria, or Anecdotes of an enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains, G. P. Putnam and Son, New York (1868). Author’s revised edition.

Livestock Brand Laws, Rustling, and Modern Brand Inspection [otd 10/27]

On October 27, 1883, the Owyhee Avalanche said, “In as much as it is currently reported around the county, that there are horse, cattle and other thieves infesting our borders, we would recommend to the various horse and cattle men in this territory as well as the states of Oregon and Nevada, the propriety of having their brands and ear-marks advertised.

"It will aid the owners of horses and cattle in finding their animals, and have a tendency to discourage people from driving horses and cattle away that do not belong to them, for the reason, that the property will be known by all stock men. If the owner should belong to the Idaho Stock Growers' Association the stock would be taken from the thieves, and they prosecuted.”

Barbed triangle, Dan Murphy;
Diamond, Wilkins Company;
Spade, Arthur Pence.
Valley of Tall Grass.

Two years later, stockmen acknowledged the widespread nature of the problem by organizing an association for the entire Territory [blog, Apr 10]. This item appeared in the Shoshone Journal and was reprinted in the Avalanche: “The first annual meeting of the Idaho Cattle Growers’ Association will be held at Shoshone … and members of all associations of stock growers in Idaho are cordially invited to be present. All stockmen desiring to become members are requested to be present or send their names to the secretary, or hand them to any member of the executive committee.

"A record is being made of horse and cattle brands in every district in the territory, and a full and complete brand book will be issued. It is important that every stock grower should file his brand at once with the association.”

Three years after that, the Avalanche reprinted an article from the Cassia County Times: “Now that the rodeos are about at hand we would request every stock man in the county to furnish Mr. F. C. Ramsey, stock inspector for this county, with a list of their marks and brands. Outside parties have had a habit of claiming everything on the range unclaimed by parties present at the rodeo, and if Mr. Ramsey has your marks and brands he will probably save a large number from being driven away.”

As attested by other posts, stock theft – generally cattle or horses – was an on-going concern during Idaho’s pioneer period. As just one example, the Idaho Statesman gleaned (November 1, 1889) information about “Cattle Stealing” from the Idaho County Free Press in Grangeville. The item stated that, “Cattle and horse thieves are becoming bold in some sections of our Territory, as reports which reach us would indicate.”

The lower Salmon River area had been hard hit because stolen stock could be quickly driven into rugged terrain. One gang of rustlers had been so confident, they stole one band, sold it in Walla Walla, and came right back for another haul. Luckily, that proved to be an over-reach, and they were caught before they could escape into Washington. 

As noted before, the problem continues to this day [blog, May 24]. Today, brand inspection is the responsibility of the Idaho State Police, and covers cattle, horses, mules, and asses. Individuals must involve a Brand Inspector whenever stock ownership changes hands, animals are leaving the state, or animals are going to slaughter.

The Idaho Brand Inspector web page says, “Not obtaining a brand inspection when required by the Idaho brand laws is considered an infraction for the first offense and a misdemeanor for the second offense, punishable by a fine not to exceed $300 and or six months in jail.”
                                                                                                                                     

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

“Cattle Growers’ Association,” Owyhee Avalanche, Silver City, Idaho (March 28, 1885).

“Stockmen Should Supply Brand Lists,” Owyhee Avalanche,  Silver City, Idaho (June 2, 1888).