Versatile Southeast Idaho Architect Frank Paradice [otd 05/04]

Long-time Pocatello architect Frank C. Paradice, Jr., was born May 4, 1879 in Ontario, Canada. Not long after, the family moved to Denver, Colorado. Frank Jr. graduated from high school in Denver and then studied architecture in Chicago at the Armour Institute of Technology. (The Armour was one of two institutes that later merged to form today’s Illinois Institute of Technology.)

Fargo Building, Pocatello, ca 1920.
Bannock County Historical Society.

Frank returned to Denver for hands-on architectural training with a firm there while he also worked for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Paradice spent several years designing depots and other structures in Colorado and New Mexico for various railway companies. After awhile, he opened his own architectural office and branched out into other construction areas: a court house in Alamogordo, summer resort at Cloudcroft, New Mexico, etc.

In 1908, he landed his first contract in Boise. Shortly thereafter, he formed a partnership with Benjamin M. Nisbet, who had worked for the noted Boise architectural firm, Tourtellotte & Hummel. The partners designed numerous building in Boise, as well as structures in Homedale, Parma, Caldwell, Ontario (in Oregon), and other towns in western Idaho.

Empire Building. Real estate image.

Their Boise projects included the Empire Building. The Idaho Statesman said that knowledgeable observers considered the Empire “the handsomest building in the entire northwest.”

At some point, Paradice became friends with then-Governor James Brady [blog, Jun 12], who was from Pocatello. Brady apparently pointed out that Southeast Idaho represented a wide-open field for a young architect. In 1914, Frank ended his partnership with Nisbet and moved to Pocatello. He immediately began tackling important projects there, including the Fargo Building (shown at the top), completed in 1916.

For nearly forty years, Paradice worked on an amazing range of structures: office buildings, schools, commercial laundries, hotels, at least one movie theater, stores (hardware, department, and others), a bank, warehouses, garages, and manufacturing plants. He did not confine his practice to just Pocatello. Frank designed projects in Burley, Blackfoot, and several smaller Idaho towns, as well as a structure in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

Still, as could be expected, Frank’s impact was felt most in Pocatello. He, perhaps more than any other architect, put his stamp on the city. That included many original designs as well as a number of renovations. As just one example, he drew up plans for a new men's dormitory at the Idaho Technical Institute (today’s Idaho State University). The Idaho Statesman in Boise reported (May 28, 1920), “Business men of the city are building the new dormitory and will rent it at a reasonable rate to the institute.”

Also, Pocatello High School was extensively rebuilt in 1939 using an Art-Deco style that Paradice designed. Many of the buildings he had a hand in are still in use. In most cases, subsequent renovations have stayed true to Paradice’s visions, at least for the exteriors.

Brady Memorial Chapel.
Posted by user Chooch72
at WayMarking.com.

One structure, which is on the National Register of Historical Places, highlights the architect’s versatility: the James H. Brady Memorial Chapel in Pocatello’s Mountain View Cemetery.

Frank participated in many social and service organizations in Pocatello and, for a long time, was the only Idaho member of the  American Institute of Architects. Paradice was still handling projects when he died in February 1952.
                                                                                 

References: [Defen]

Arthur Hart, “Idaho history: 1910 was a big building year for Boise,” Idaho Statesman (April 11, 2010).

"Frank H. Paradice, Jr.," Historical Directory of American Architects, American Institute of Architects, online compilation.

Bill Vaughn, Mary Jane Hogan, “Idaho State University Administration Building,” National Register of Historical Places Registration Form (1992).

North Idaho Rancher and Businessman Chester Coburn [otd 05/03]

C. P. Coburn. [Illust-State].

Pioneer businessman and rancher Chester P. Coburn was born May 3, 1832 in central Vermont. He spent three years working in New York before, in 1852, he caught a boat for the route across Nicaragua to California. He apparently barely made expenses in the gold fields, so he began spending more and more time running a store. That led him into stock raising.

In late 1861, reports circulated about exciting gold discoveries in the Florence Basin of Idaho. Coburn sold his holdings and followed the rush. He again tried his hand in the gold fields but apparently re-learned an old lesson: Selling goods and services to hopeful miners is more profitable and reliable than being one.

Chester soon settled in Lewiston and established a livery stable. He also handled horses for Hill Beachy at the Luna House hotel. He was there in October 1863, when Beachy sensed odd behavior by a man who came into the hotel and bought several tickets for the morning stage to Walla Walla. Coburn then helped Beachy uncover evidence of the murders of packer Lloyd Magruder and four other men [blog, Oct 11].

By the following year, most of the mining excitement had moved south to the Boise Basin and Owyhee Country. Rather than follow that boom, Coburn sold his stables and located a ranch southeast of Lewiston. In 1865, he trailed a herd of 150-180 cattle from Oregon to his property. He soon expanded the operation to include a dairy business and a meat market.

Although the mining excitement had dwindled in the north, farming and stock raising expanded to fill the economic loss. Lewiston maintained its favored position as the head of navigation for north Idaho, and grew steadily. In 1870, Coburn, who was then a Deputy U. S. Marshal, was tasked to perform the decennial census for the area stretching from Elk City to Rathdrum. The paltry expense allowance did not come close to repaying his cost to cover such dangerous country, where there were few roads and no bridges.

By around a year after the census, the school-aged population had outgrown the haphazard quarters they had occupied earlier. At that time, Coburn was serving as school board President. He successfully canvassed property holders and businessmen for a plot of land and the resources to build a new, larger facility.

During the Nez Percé War of 1877, Coburn joined the Lewiston “Home Guard” unit, but they were not called upon for active duty. Although he never ran for office himself, he was very active in North Idaho politics. He traveled to numerous conventions in Boise at substantial personal cost in time and money.

Bridge at Lewiston, completed 1899. [Illust-North].

Around 1890, Coburn claimed land along the Salmon River and ranched there for the next eight years. Then he and his wife retired to a Lewiston home they had owned for thirty years.

In May 1898, when soldiers of the First Idaho Regiment mustered for duty in the Spanish-American War [blog, Mar 14], Coburn presented the Lewiston contingent with a battle flag. Two years later, he was elected as the first Vice President of the Nez Perces County Pioneer Association.

“Regarded as one of Idaho’s most valued citizens,” Coburn passed away in October 1911.
                                                                                 
References: [Illust-North], [Illust-State]

Ninety-One Miners Killed in Sunshine Mine Disaster [otd 05/02]

On the morning of May 2, 1972, workers deep inside Idaho’s Sunshine Mine, 4 to 5 miles southeast of Kellogg, noticed smoke drifting in some of the tunnels. Not much concerned initially, the miners soon encountered thick, choking clouds that burned their eyes and throats. This was the start of a tragedy that profoundly changed the American mining industry.

Silver bars, Coeur d'Alene District. Hecla Mining Company.

The Sunshine Mine traces its “lineage” back to the Yankee Lode, claimed by the Blake Brothers – Dennis and True – in 1884. The brothers told the 1900 U. S. Census taker for Shoshone County that they came to this country from England in 1870. They were farming along Big Creek when they discovered an outcrop of the Yankee Lode. The brothers worked the lode by themselves for about twenty years before leasing it to other interests. Apparently several different operators worked the Yankee as the brothers passed on, True in 1910 and Dennis in 1921. By 1922, the property belonged to the Sunshine Mining Company, which had consolidated it with around fifteen other claims.

The Company’s operations attained only modest success until the discovery of a deep-level silver bonanza in the early 1930s. By 1938, one shaft into the rich find was down past three thousand feet. Over the following decades, miners drilled and blasted deeper into the ridge, extracting fabulous amounts of the metal. In 1972, the Company had over 400 men who worked underground, split into three round-the-clock shifts.

Miners figured the money made up for the known risks. The official U. S. minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, or $64 for a forty-hour week. In the mines, even a “common” laborer could make $250 a week. Rock bursts, cave-ins, and equipment mishaps all took their toll … but no one worried about fire: “hard-rock mines don’t burn.”

Flashes in strained electrical gear happened fairly often, and blasting was part of the work. Miners accepted the resulting smoke streams as normal. However, by around 11:40 on the morning of the 2nd, groups of miners in many parts of the mine knew that this was no ordinary, short-lived flare-up. Men hurried out, helping those who were affected. Later, a survivor, in re-living the moment, said, “The smoke was so think … sometimes you actually can’t see your hand in front of your face.”

Unfortunately, within an hour, perhaps half the underground crewmen were already dead or dying.

Around 1 o’clock, teams headed back down and rescued a few men. After that, they found only bodies until two final survivors came up a week later. In the end, 91 miners died from the combination of smoke and carbon monoxide poisoning. Today, not far off the Interstate, visitors can read the names of the victims, posted on the base of a Disaster Memorial statue.

Disaster survivor.
Frame captured from NIOSH video.

To this day, analysts are not entirely sure what caused the fire. Still, changes implemented in the fire’s aftermath – new procedures, better equipment, and greatly expanded training – have measurably improved mine safety. Hopefully, this country will never again have to deal with a calamity as terrible as the Sunshine Mine disaster.

In 2002, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released a video that provides an overview of the disaster. In addition to historic still photos, the video includes on-location reenactments and interviews with over two dozen survivors. Video: You Are My Sunshine.

In March 2022, prior to the 50th anniversary of the Disaster, Idaho declared May 2nd to be “Miners Memorial Day.”
                                                                                 

References: Derek Rance, Dr. K. Warren Geiger, Technical Report on the Sunshine Mine, Behre Dolbear & Company, Inc., Denver, Colorado (2007). Molly Roberts, “May 2 declared Miners Memorial Day, Shoshone News-Press, Idaho (March 18, 2022). Gregg Olsen, The Deep Dark:Disaster and Redemption in America’s Richest Silver Mine, Crown Publishers, New York (2005). Sunshine Mine Fire, United States Mine Rescue Association, Uniontown, Pennsylvania "Sunshine Mining Company," Manuscript Group 275, Special Collections, University of Idaho (1995).

Investor, Political Operative ... and Alleged Smuggler ... Alonzo Cruzen [otd 05/01]

A. R. Cruzen. Family archives.

Boise capitalist Alonzo R. Cruzen was born May 1, 1858 in Oskaloosa, Iowa, about fifty miles southeast of Des Moines.  In 1886, he opened a small town bank in southwest Nebraska and invested in real estate around the state. Starting in 1890, he also “commuted” to Idaho to handle real estate investments in and around Boise.

Cruzen took an active role in Nebraska politics, serving on the Central Committee of the Republican party. In 1889, he became the youngest member of the state House of Representatives and was immediately made chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

In 1901, Cruzen’s political connections won him an appointment as Collector of Customs in San Juan, Puerto Rico. However, in the spring of 1903, a major smuggling scandal hit the news. By that time, goods could move duty-free from the island to the mainland states (and vice-versa). Thus, contraband that had been successfully smuggled into Puerto Rico was “home free.”

The Independent, of New York City, reported (Oct 29, 1903) renewed interest in possible smuggling into Puerto Rico. In the spring, the Grand Jury there had leveled smuggling charges against Cruzen, along with a naval officer and a civilian contractor. However, the United States District Attorney claimed that the accusatory testimony was “corruptly fabricated” and ordered a nolle prosequi (will not prosecute).

The Grand Jury brought new charges in October, and again the DA ordered them quashed. Much evidence indicated that smuggling did take place, even if Cruzen was not directly involved. In any case, Cruzen resigned in December. At some point, the Treasury Department sent a Special Investigator to Puerto Rico to look into the case.

Plaza in San Juan, ca. 1905. Archives of Puerto Rico.

In the end, it does not appear that authorities ever prosecuted anyone. When the Senate passed a resolution asking to see the Special Investigator’s results, President Theodore Roosevelt endorsed the Treasury Secretary’s refusal with the statement that, “I deem it incompatible with the public interest to forward the report.”

In 1904, Cruzen settled permanently in Boise. His firm profited greatly from various real estate dealings in and around the city. In 1907, the company bought a canal system to, in part, supply piped water to many users in Boise. Over time, he also acquired two thousand acres of farmland in the upper Long Valley, centered about six miles south of McCall. He found the area ideal for growing clover, bluegrass and other forage crops. By around 1920, Cruzen had acquired or started a bank in the village about six miles south of his ranch.

As in Nebraska, Cruzen became very active in politics. He led the Idaho delegation to the 1912 Republican Presidential Convention. When Teddy Roosevelt bolted the convention, Cruzen averred that Idaho’s Republicans “would not follow any third party or candidate.”

Roosevelt campaigning in 1912. Library of Congress.

His prediction proved to be accurate. Progressive Party, or “Bull Moose,” candidate Roosevelt ran third behind Wilson and Taft in Idaho. Although Roosevelt and Taft between them received 56 percent of the Idaho vote (the Socialist candidate polled 11.5 percent), the split gave Wilson the win and Idaho’s 4 electoral votes.

Although he remained interested in politics, Cruzen never held public office in Idaho. The investment company still owned irrigation properties in 1927, when Cruzen was 69. In the mid- to late-Thirties, he began selling off properties, including, in 1937, a prime block just west of the state capitol building. He still retained an interest in politics, attending the 1938 Republican National Convention in Chicago.

Cruzen passed away in 1942.
                                                                                 

References: [Brit], [Hawley]

"Porto Rican Collector Out," The New York Times (Dec 24, 1903).

Theodore Roosevelt, "Special Message To the Senate, January 27, 1904," American Presidency Project.

"Roosevelt Camp is Gloomy," The New York Times (June 22, 1912).

"Survey of the World: Porto Rico," The Independent, New York (Oct 29, 1903).

Railroad Touts Plans for Larger Passenger and Freight Terminals in Idaho Falls [otd 04/30]

On April 30, 1909, the Oregon Short Line announced that they would soon begin a substantial upgrade to the railroad facilities in Idaho Falls. This notice followed several years of steadily rising activity at the town.

Train at older Idaho Falls depot, ca. 1905.
Bonneville County Historical Society.

The railroad history of Idaho Falls (then called Eagle Rock) began in 1879, when Utah & Northern Railway tracks arrived in town [blog, Apr 11]. For a time, Eagle Rock was “end of track,” with the usual large, wild tent city. Of course, those throngs moved on with the track-laying. However, new pioneers rode the train into the area and spurred a modest period of growth.

Nor did the freight business over the Eagle Rock toll bridge drop off that much at first. Basically, the wagon freight companies saw no reason to immediately shut down. They simply moved their southern terminus further and further north.

The “tipping point” came more or less when the Utah & Northern established a major station at Dillon in late 1880. After that wagon traffic – and toll revenue – declined sharply.

Fortunately, about then the U&NR decided to build its maintenance and support shops in Eagle Rock. The town’s population rose rapidly after that. With traffic increasing, the railroad also built a rough passenger terminal. However, Eagle Rock suffered a major blow in May, 1886: A huge wind storm wrecked the railroad roundhouse.

By this time, east-west traffic on the Oregon Short Line Railroad had grown substantially. Rather than rebuild in place, the company moved the shops to Pocatello, where they could more easily service both lines. The population of Eagle Rock plummeted immediately.

Long-term, farming and ranching helped soften the blow, and the numbers had almost recovered by 1899. A year later, an independent railway company completed a line north from Idaho Falls to St. Anthony. By then, the OSL had fully absorbed the U&NR. They built a new passenger station, situated near where the spur line tracks met the main OSL rails.

The arrangement puzzled, and annoyed, citizens. The new depot was too far from the old one, which continued to be used for freight … and that made a lot of extra work for patrons as well as railroad personnel. Moreover, the new depot was too small to handle freight business as well as passenger service. In fact, a local newspaper, the Idaho Register, asserted (November 9, 1900) that if a fire broke out in the new structure, “not a person in town would throw a bucket of water on it.”

In any case, crews soon began extending the rails all the way to West Yellowstone, Montana, gateway to Yellowstone Park. Even before the tracks reached “West” in 1909, the Short Line had leased the property; they would later also take over the company. The OSL (rightly) foresaw a major increase in traffic and, as noted above, decided to upgrade several of its Idaho Falls facilities.

Idaho Falls depot, after 1911. Bonneville County Historical Society.

The cornerstone of the project was a new, larger passenger depot. The company also expanded their freight terminal and added trackage to let through traffic bypass the downtown area. They also built a new roundhouse, sized to handle the larger locomotives that were becoming more common.

Although traffic declined after the 1920s, the passenger depot remained in use until 1964. At that point, the company built a new depot at a different location and demolished the old structure. Passenger train service to Idaho Falls ended seven years later.
                                                                                 

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

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

Thornton Waite, Union Pacific: Montana Division, Brueggenjohann/Reese and Thornton Waite Publishers, Idaho Falls (1998).

Angry Union Men Blow Up Wardner Mill, Kill One Non-Union Worker [otd 04/29]

On April 29, 1899, a train packed with perhaps a thousand angry union members rumbled along the tracks leading from Burke and Wallace into the Kellogg-Wardner area. They were headed for the concentrator mill of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan (BH&S) Mining Company in Wardner, Idaho.

Wardner mine before bombing, ca 1899.
Washington State Archives.

Near Wallace, they had loaded up with "giant powder" (an early form of dynamite). The act of violence they planned arose from years of labor-management confrontation, which had reached a “critical mass” in the previous few months.

Few “good guys” appeared in this tragic opera. The companies generally extracted substantial returns from their properties, while paying the miners as little as possible for their dangerous and debilitating labor. For years, many refused to recognize the miners’ union as a legitimate bargaining unit. Plus, they routinely placed spies in the union ranks.

The unions countered with informers of their own. Some were men who understood and sympathized with the workers’ plight. More were persuaded by bribes, or compelled by threats and bullying. In fact, some radical union leaders considered violence and intimidation their preferred weapons … strikes were too slow and ineffective. Union members routinely taunted, threatened, and – when opportunity arose – beat up replacement workers.

On this crucial day in 1899, the union “army” had targeted the Wardner mill because the BH&S still adamantly refused to recognize the union, and persistently suppressed internal union activity. When the union men reached their destination, explosives experts set the charges while the rest stood ready to quell any resistance. In a brief scuffle, a Bunker employee was fatally wounded.

At one point, a small group of union men had become separated from the main body. These may have been a scouting party, or just some men who had gone off on their own – stories varied. When the bands stumbled into one another in the dark, they exchanged volleys of gunfire before the mistake could be sorted out. One union man in the smaller group died instantly in the hail of bullets

After the blasts, the union force ran the train back to Burke, groups of men dispersing along the way.

Wardner mine after 1899 bombing. Washington State Archives.

Alarmed by the flagrant show of force, Governor Frank Steunenberg called in Federal troops to impose martial law. A substantial number of union men were imprisoned in an open-air stockade, dubbed the "bull pen."

In the proceedings that followed, state authorities removed the county commissioners and sheriff from office for gross dereliction of duty. Evidence showed that they had ample warning that the union was planning a violent, illegal demonstration ... and did nothing about it.

Prosecutors secured a second degree murder conviction against the secretary of the Burke union for the killing of the Bunker employee. He was not, apparently, directly involved in the murder. The state based his conviction on the established legal principle that a willing, knowledgeable participant in a crime that leads to murder bears equal responsibility. (The state Supreme Court upheld the decision, but -- the State having made its point -- he was pardoned and released two years later.)

The violence did not end there: In 1905, a union assassin murdered retired Governor Steunenberg with a bomb at his front gate [blog, Dec 30].
                                                                                 
References: [B&W], [Hawley], [lllust-North]

Sportsman and Idaho Dentistry Pioneer Edward Maberly [otd 04/28]

Boise dentist Edward H. Maberly was born April 28, 1853 in England. Apparently his father and part of the family lived for a time in Illinois before 1855-1860. However, Edward did not arrive in the U. S. until about 1869. At that point the family lived in Mount Carroll, a northwest Illinois village near the Iowa border. His father, older brother, and Edward engaged in carriage painting and construction. They all moved to Ellsworth, Kansas, in 1878 – missing the earlier wild times when the town was known as the “Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas."

In the early to mid-1880s, Edward left his father’s carriage business. Then, at some point, he met the daughter of a dentist who had a practice in south-central Nebraska. Liking the prospects better than his old trade, he turned to dentistry after marrying in 1889. Within two years, Maberly was serving as a “circuit dentist,” on a route that took him to towns in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming.

Fully-equipped dental “operatory,” 1900. RitterDental.com

In 1894, Maberly graduated from a dental college located in Kansas City and practiced briefly in Nebraska.  He moved to Boise in 1895. According to the H. T. French History, "Soon after Dr. Maberly opened his offices in Boise, he saw the need of organization among the dentists of the state, and he got into correspondence with the dentists all over the state with the idea of uniting them in some manner, the first dental society in the state being the result of his efforts."

The Idaho State Dental Society – now Association – organized on a temporary basis in 1896. In June 1897, members adopted a Constitution and Bylaws, and established four standing committees. They also selected Maberly to be the first Secretary. After two years in that position, he became President of the organization.

In addition to his practice, Maberly served as Secretary of Idaho's first State Board of Dental Examiners, starting in 1899. The law that created the Board gave practicing dentists three months to register their names and business locations. New dentists had to appear before the Board to have their credentials assessed. In 1904, Maberly served on the Idaho State Conference Committee for the Fourth International Dental Congress, held in St. Louis, Missouri.

Maberly Elk photo. Recreation magazine, 1898.

An "ardent sportsman," Maberly helped organize a state-wide sportmen's organization. Through that body, he urged the passage of laws for wiser fish and game management. He sent a photograph of elk in the Teton foothills to Recreation magazine, with the statement that the herd numbered "some 1,500" and had just been shooed away from stacks of hay in the valley.

He went on, "We rarely see so large a band of elk now; yet there are enough left to stock a vast territory if properly protected and judiciously hunted."

Maberly served several terms as President of the Intermountain Gun Club. He won many awards at shooting contests in Boise and around the Northwest, remaining competitive well into his sixties. In 1919, Edward and his wife acquired a place in Corvallis, Oregon, two of their children being enrolled in college there. Dr. Maberly closed his practice about a year later, but still spent much time in Boise.

On September 1, 1921, Edward was in Buhl, serving as judge for a field trial of hunting dogs – “work” he loved. The first trial had been completed when, according witnesses, he literally dropped dead of a heart attack.
                                                                                 

References: [Brit], [French]

E. H. Maberly, "Elk in the Teton Foot Hills," Recreation, Vol. VIII. No. 2, G. 0. Shields, Publisher, New York (February 1898).

R. Ottolengui (ed), “Idaho State Dental Society,” Items of Interest: A Monthly Magazine of Dental Art, Science and Literature, Vol. 19, Consolidated Dental Manufacturing Company, New York (1897).

Transactions on the Fourth International Dental Congress, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.A. August 29 to September 3, 1904, S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia (1905).