Boise Banker, Developer, and Geothermal Promoter Christopher W. Moore [otd 11/30]

Boise banker and businessman Christopher Wilkinson Moore was born in Toronto, Canada, on November 30, 1835. His parents, both immigrants from Ireland, tried to make a go of it farming near Toronto and then moved to a place about 35 miles southwest of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That too proved inadequate, so in 1852 the family emigrated to Oregon and claimed a farm about seven miles south of Salem. 

Christopher Moore. [Illust-State]

Moore got his start in business dealing in livestock, and then running freight into Washington Territory and Canada. After gold was discovered in what became Idaho, he and a partner, Benjamin M. DuRell, freighted into the Clearwater gold country.

They ventured into the Boise Valley in 1863, expecting to sell their merchandise and return to the coast. However, they saw the commercial potential of Boise City, located on the Oregon Trail and midway between the gold camps of the Boise Basin and the Owyhee mines.

By the spring of 1865, the partners had outlets in Boise City, Ruby City and Silver City. They soon went beyond merchandise sales. In Boise, they began doing gold assays and acting as an informal bank, making loans and holding gold in a big safe.

Then, in 1867, Moore, DuRell, and three other investors founded the First National Bank of Idaho. (One of the other investors was Territorial Governor David W. Ballard.) DuRell was selected as president, Moore as cashier. It was the first nationally-chartered bank in Idaho, and only the second west of the Mississippi. The firm prospered, and played a significant role in the development of southwestern Idaho. DuRell sold his shares and left the bank after five years. Various reorganizations followed, and Moore became president in January 1889. He would hold that position for the rest of his life.

Moore continued to invest outside his bank job, acquiring considerable farm and ranch property, as well as mine holdings in the Silver City area. Also, in 1870, he and another group of investors incorporated the “Idaho Telegraph Company.” It’s unclear how well that venture fared and it may have been absorbed when the Western Union Telegraph Company ran their own lines through the Territory.

Around 1890, Moore acquired an interest in a company formed to deliver water to customers in Boise. The details of the competition that followed are beyond the scope of this blog. However, in May 1891, the Idaho Statesman reported “a consolidation … between the two great water companies.” The new firm was called the Artesian Hot and Cold Water Company and Moore was the company president.

Their immediate plan was for a grand hotel and health spa supplied with hot water from nearby geothermal wells. The “Natatorium” they built is still a noted Boise landmark. But they also hoped to supply hot water to other businesses, and to homes. That proved to be a “hard sell,” even though the company offered very attractive prices.

C. W. Moore Mansion. [Illust-State]

So Moore had a hot water line extended to his mansion on Warms Springs Avenue. The geothermal heating system that went into operation in February 1892 is believed to be the first such residential unit installed in this country.

Christopher W. Moore passed away in September 1916, but the geothermal network that he and his partners pioneered is still in use today.

The bank he helped found proved to be equally lasting, although its corporate descendant now operates as part of a large bank holding company. First National itself endured a two-month suspension of operations early in the Great Depression, but bounced back stronger than ever.
                                                                                                                                       

References: [Illust-State], [French]

“Boise Natural Hot Water Heating System,” Reference Series No. 500, Idaho State Historical Society, Boise (1977).

Eloise H. Anderson, Frontier Bankers, The Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho (1981).

“[Christopher Moore News],” Idaho World, Idaho City, Idaho Statesman, Boise, Owyhee Avalanche, Silver City, Idaho (March 1865 – September 1916).

Reverend Henry Spalding Establishes Presbyterian Mission at Lapwai [otd 11/29]

Henry Harmon Spalding.
National Park Service.

On November 29, 1836, Henry Harmon Spalding established a Presbyterian mission among the Nez Percés Indians. The initial location was on Lapwai Creek about 10 miles east of today's Lewiston. Two years later Spalding moved the mission to a spot on the Clearwater River near the mouth of Lapwai Creek.

Born in New York state, Henry was in his early thirties when he built the mission. After graduation from Western Reserve College (now part of Case Western Reserve University), he entered a seminary in Cincinnati. Spalding left, however, when he was appointed as a missionary to the Nez Percés.

Eliza (Hart) Spalding, born in Connecticut, was three or four years younger than Henry. The family moved to Oneida County, New York, in 1820. Henry and Eliza met through a mutual acquaintance and corresponded for a year or so before they met. Their common interest in missionary work matured the relationship and they married in 1833.

Three years later, Henry and Eliza traveled west with Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa [blog, Aug 12]. They accompanied an American Fur Company supply column led by Thomas Fitzpatrick, whom Whitman had met the year before. Thus, along the way, the couples attended the 1836 fur trade rendezvous on the Green River, in Wyoming. There, they caused a sensation because, while they were not the first missionaries to attend a rendezvous, they were the first who brought their wives.

The missionaries continued on to the Columbia River, obtained supplies from Fort Vancouver, and then separated. The Whitmans built a mission near today’s Walla Walla, Washington, while the Spaldings established theirs at Lapwai. It was difficult and costly to supply the Lapwai mission, so the settlement developed slowly.

That improved somewhat when, toward the end of 1838, the missionaries opened a blacksmith shop. During the heat of one summer, Spalding turned the natives to digging ditches for irrigation. Thus, the mission is credited with the first irrigated farming in what would become the state of Idaho. Crops grown included potatoes, another first.

Nez Percé Bible. University of Idaho Special Collections.

Spalding also procured a printing press and began publishing materials in the Nez Percés language, including the Bible. When Oregon pioneer Joel Palmer [blog, August 23] visited the mission in 1846, he noted that some Indians had learned to read, and print, well enough to make copies of some Bible passages.

Unfortunately, Henry had strict Puritanical notions of morality: Polygamy (fornication, to him), liquor, and gambling were all equally sinful. His tactless denunciations angered the Indians, and created friction with other missionaries who took a more gradual approach to converting native ways. That was perhaps why Palmer found the mission short of help to handle the work that needed to be done.

The 1847 massacre – ironically, also on November 29 – at the Whitman mission in Washington caused a suspension of both operations. Spalding was on his way to visit the mission when the killings occurred. Henry escaped death only through the intervention of a Roman Catholic priest … a crowning irony since Spalding was vehemently anti-“Papist.”

The Spaldings moved to Oregon, where they settled for a time. Eliza died in 1851 and Henry remarried two years later. He again served as missionary to the Nez Percés after about 1859, and resumed activities at Lapwai in 1862.

After a sojourn in the East around 1870, Spalding returned in 1871 to build a new school among the Nez Percés. He died in August 1874.
                                                                                                                                        

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

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

“Lapwai Mission,” Nez Perce National Historical Park, National Park Service.

Joel Palmer, Journal of Travels over the Rocky Mountains, 1845-1846, reprinted, Reuben Gold Thwaites (ed)., in Early Western Travels, Vol.  XXX, Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland (1906).

“Spalding’s Mission,” Reference Series No. 945, Idaho State Historical Society (January 1993).

“Rufus” Reid and Agnes Just Perpetuate Century Ranch Heritage [otd 11/28]

Robert “Rufus” Reid.
Family Archives.*

On November 28, 1906, twenty-year-old Agnes Just married Robert E. “Rufus” Reid in Blackfoot, Idaho. Agnes was the youngest child and only surviving daughter of Nels and Emma Just.

Born in Denmark in 1847, Nels A. Just was ten years old when his family came to the United States. They had already converted to the LDS Church, and aimed to settle in Utah. The Justs traveled as part of one of the so-called “handcart” companies and arrived at Salt Lake in September 1857.

Emma Thompson was born in England in 1850. Also Mormon converts, the family emigrated to the U. S. in 1854. Both the Thompsons and the Justs joined the ill-fated “Morrisite” splinter group and suffered through its eventual dissolution. By the late 1860s, Nels had worked at various jobs, including running freight into Montana.

Emma married a soldier in 1865. After his discharge, the couple moved around as her husband found work. According to Bonneville County historian Barzilla Clark, “During the winter of 1866-67, we find her cooking at the stage station at Taylor’s Bridge.” (Taylor's Bridge eventually became today's Idaho Falls.)

From there, they went to Montana where, unfortunately, her husband abandoned her. After the birth of their son, she returned to live with relatives in the Blackfoot area. Divorced, Emma married Nels in 1870. They settled along the Blackfoot River and began raising livestock. Some of these he sold under contract to the Army at Fort Hall. Nels would also figure prominently in later irrigation efforts.

Besides Fred from her first marriage, the couple raised four sons of their own, and then Agnes. Agnes attended Albion Normal School to qualify for a teaching certificate. On one of her trips home, she met “Zeke” Reid (Robert Ezeckiel went by Bob, Zeke, or Rufus at various times), who then worked for her father.

Agnes taught a few years before marrying Rufus in 1906. After the marriage, they moved in with Nels and Emma at the homestead ranch along the Blackfoot River. Nels died in 1912, while Emma lived until 1923.

Rufus and Agnes in 1907. Family Archives.*

Agnes Just Reid became the mother of five sons. Still, raising them and helping run a farm-ranch operation wasn’t enough. She also became a noted Idaho article writer, columnist, and poetess.

After she became well known, The Deseret News profiled her (October 24, 1948). The writer observed, “Mrs. Reid has a knack of telling common things beautifully. Her poetry is not the modeled lacy petal, flowery poetry which is read simply for its phrasing quality and is forgotten because it lacks depth.” Instead, her “pen is strong and forceful … [and leaves] a wealth of pure gold to ponder until the reader, remembering, makes it part of himself.”

The Reid sons in their turn, acquired various portions of the old homestead.

As part of the state’s Centennial celebration, the Idaho State Historical Society prepared a list of “Idaho Century Farms and Ranches.” The specific criteria state that the farm or ranch must have been “owned and operated in Idaho by the same family for at least 100 years, with 40 acres of the original parcel of land maintained as part of the present holding.”

As of 2004, the list contained nearly one hundred ranches established during the Territorial period, along with 175 farms, many of which also raised livestock. Four of the ranches trace their roots back to the original holding established along the Blackfoot by Nels and Emma Just.

* Family archives: Presto Press, Presto Preservation Association. Used with permission.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [French]

Barzilla W. Clark, Bonneville County In The Making, Self-published, Idaho Falls (1941).

Idaho Century Farms and Ranches, Idaho State Historical Society (2004).

Agnes Just Reid, Letters of Long Ago, Fourth Edition, Cedar Creek Press, Boise, Idaho (1997).

Pure Food, Dairy & Oil Commissioner William C. Howie [otd 11/27]

Commissioner Howie.
H. T. French photo.

Attorney William Clarence Howie, Idaho Food, Dairy & Oil Commission President, was born November 27, 1860, in Davis County, Iowa. He graduated from high school in Bloomfield, the county seat, which is located about 15 miles south of Ottumwa. In 1883, William graduated from a Normal School in Bloomfield and moved to Nebraska to teach.

Howie also read at a couple of law offices. The senior partner at his second stay later became a Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court and, later yet, Dean of the Nebraska State Law School. After being admitted to the Nebraska bar, Howie practiced in the state for about eight months.

Howie moved to Idaho in late 1890 and opened a practice in Mountain Home. At that time, Elmore County had been in existence less than two years. Mountain Home became the county seat in February 1891. About that time, the city and county began a growth spurt that lasted over twenty years.

In addition to a thriving legal practice, Howie filled a number of public offices in the area. That included service on the Mountain Home library board as well as the school board. According to the Illustrated History, he “was a prominent factor in the building of the splendid public-school building.”

Howie also held an appointment as U. S. Commissioner for the district around Mountain Home. Beyond the local activities, Howie served on the committee that determined the location of the state industrial school at St. Anthony.

Beginning in 1904, he served as President of the Idaho Food, Dairy, and Oil Commission (Idaho Statesman, December 13, 1903). This latter position involved major responsibilities. Before strong food and drug laws were in place, adulteration of oils – such as those used to make oleomargarine – with cheaper substitutes was a substantial problem all over the country.

Toward the end of Howie’s five-year term, the commissioners recommended that the duties of the commission be reorganized (Idaho Statesman, November 12, 1908). Dairy-related functions belonged under an agricultural board, while food matters should be included in the duties of the state Board of Health. Those changes were indeed made within a couple years.

Howie invested in several regional irrigation projects as well as various Mountain Home businesses, helping to organize the Stockgrowers State Bank.

Grubber patent drawing, Official Gazette.

Practicing in Mountain Home in the early years of the Twentieth Century, Howie’s name is also linked to a crucial pioneer activity. In 1909, he represented the assignee of a deceased inventor who received a U.S. Patent for a “Sage-Brush Grubbing Machine.” Then and for at least a half century after, developers sought better ways to remove sagebrush to prepare land for agriculture.

The following year, in connection with his Land Commissioner position, he found himself on the wrong side in court.  An indictment named him as part of a conspiracy to commit land fraud. However, the evidence soon showed that Howie himself had acted in good faith. Some jurors apparently still wanted to convict the three other men named in the indictment, but all were ultimately pronounced “not guilty.”

During World War I, Howie served as Secretary of the Home Service committee established in Elmore County by the American Red Cross. He died from an attack of influenza in February 1919.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [French], [Illust-State]

“978,118 Sage-Brush Grubbing Machine,” Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, Vol. CLXI, December 1910, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (1911).

Ella G. Caldwell, “The Work of the Elmore County Red Cross,” Elmore County Idaho, Mountain Home (2010).

“Counties and County Seats,” Reference Series No. 10, Idaho State Historical Society (1991).

Idaho State University President Miles Reed [otd 11/26]

President Reed.
Idaho State University photo.

Miles F. Reed, president of the Academy of Idaho, precursor to Idaho State University, was born November 26, 1872 about 20 miles south of Dubuque, Iowa. Reed’s parents moved to Idaho in 1889 and he attended high school at an academy in Grangeville.

After his graduation in 1892, Reed taught in Idaho’s rural schools for a time. From 1891 to 1897, Miles also served in the Idaho National Guard, rising from a Private to the rank of First Lieutenant. He left the regiment when he enrolled at the University of Idaho, and therefore did not see action in the Philippines the following year.

He graduated in 1901 with a Bachelor of Science degree and immediately found a job at the Lewiston State Normal School. After just a year there, he returned to the University to head their Preparatory School and serve as an instructor in education.

Academy of Idaho, ca. 1910. USGenWeb project photo.

In 1902, the state authorized the formation of the Academy of Idaho in Pocatello [blog, Mar 11]. It’s first president – initially called the Principal – was John W. Faris, who had been Superintendent of Pocatello schools for a time. Like most other Idaho colleges, the Academy had to run a prep school for a number of years. Even so, Faris moved aggressively to enhance the college-level curriculum. He also initiated a summer institute for working teachers along with standard summer classes.

Faris resigned in 1907. His expansionist approach had led to much criticism from those who saw a strictly limited role for the school. The continuing need for preparatory classes played a role in the selection of Miles Reed to replace Faris. (Also in 1907, Reed received a Master’s degree from Columbia University.)

If the board expected a more modest approach from their new president, they were sorely disappointed. Reed knew from first-hand experience that the state desperately needed more qualified pre-college teachers. In short supply to begin with, the meager salaries paid meant that turn-over was a constant problem.

Thus, Reed expanded the summer institute Faris had begun and took action to further address the critical teacher shortage. In this latter aim, he incurred the enmity of officials at Albion State Normal School. Reed also wanted to make the Academy a full-fledged college, able to offer bachelor’s degrees. That campaign led only to a new name: the Idaho Technical Institute (ITI).

Although supporters had failed in their bid to be designated a “college,” they had escaped the limited expectations implied by the “Academy” label. Students and citizens in Pocatello responded with “the biggest celebration in the history of the city.” (Reported in the Idaho Statesman, March 18, 1915.) There was also a program of speeches, which culminated with the “presentation of a gold watch to President Miles F. Reed in appreciation of the fight he made for the school.”

Reed Gym. ISU photo.

In 1904, while working at the University, Reed served as President of the Idaho State Teachers’ Association. A year after he moved to the Pocatello school, he became Chairman of the Educational Council of Idaho.

Reed died of a heart attack in November 1918. His dream of full college status for the Academy/Institute was not realized until 1947. It received university status in 1963. Today, Reed Gymnasium, a sports pavilion and student recreation center, commemorates his role in the history of ISU.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [French]

Diane Olson, Idaho State University: A Centennial Chronicle, Idaho State University, Pocatello (2000).

Tough Talk and Action Versus Snake War Violence [otd 11/25]

Governor Lyon. Library of Congress.

The Owyhee Avalanche newspaper (Silver City, Idaho) for November 25, 1865 reported some “good talk” (their expression) by the Territorial Governor about the on-going Indian unrest.

Paraphrasing Governor Caleb Lyon [blog, Nov 14] the article said, [He] “says he will either fight or feed them, and for this purpose has requested, with all hopes of success, two regiments of cavalry. He says he does not expect to reduce them to a state of peace, except by offering them the terms of peace or death; and if they will not quietly accept the one, the other will be forced upon them.”

Preliminaries to what the newspapers called the “Snake War” had simmered and flared ever since the 1862 gold rush into the Boise Basin. In an attempt to counter the violence, in July 1863 the Army built Fort Boise, which sparked the growth of Boise City [blog, July 4]. That provided some protection along the Oregon Trail, but did little to quell raids on isolated ranches.

The conflict grew worse the following year, which spurred the formation of various ad hoc civilian volunteer companies. A fight in July 1864 resulted in the death of rancher Michael Jordan, a member of the party that originally discovered gold in the area [blog, May 18]. The Idaho Statesman in Boise reported (August 23, 1864) on “the probability of an extensive Indian war.”

In early 1865, the volume of complaints rose even more with the increased traffic along the freight and passenger routes between northern California and the Silver City area. In July, the Army established Camp Lyon, about 17 miles northwest of Silver City. However, commanders assigned too few troops to stop the depredations. Thus, the Idaho Statesman reported (October 12, 1865) that the operator of “The Chico Stage Route” had lost many horse and much of his hay supply to Indian raids. The losses were so bad “that it will be an impossibility for him to run his line of stages this winter.”

Two week later, the Statesman reported that a “Mr. Cox” had been shot and killed by Indians just twenty miles or so from Camp Lyon.

Finally, with the end of the Civil War in the East, the Army was prepared to respond to Governor Lyon’s request. The same November 25th issue of the Avalanche reported, “two Companies of Regulars, lately from the East, have been ordered from Walla Walla to” Camp Lyon. However, even these Regular Army troops did not do that well initially, including a repulse at the Battle of Three Forks (in Oregon) [blog, May 27].

General George Crook, ca 1875.
Library of Congress.

Frustrated at the lack of progress, in late 1866 the Army assigned the job to Lieutenant Colonel George Crook. Crook had gained valuable Indian fighting experience in northern California and the Pacific Northwest before distinguishing himself in the Civil War. He went on to even greater fame as an Indian fighter after leaving Idaho and Oregon.

Even the intelligent and determined Crook found no instant solution to the Indians’ guerrilla tactics in country they knew intimately. Still, 18 months of unrelenting pressure and attrition finally forced the tribes – Bannock, Shoshone, and Northern Paiutes – to accept confinement on reservations. These impositions, by the way, delayed a final reckoning for less than a decade.
                                                                                 

References: [B&W]

Gregory Michno, The Deadliest War in the West: The Snake Conflict, 1864-1868, Caxton Press, Caldwell, Idaho (2007).

“The Snake War,” Reference Series No. 236, Idaho State Historical Society.

Nampa Businessman, Investor, Novelist, and World Traveler Fred G. Mock [otd 11/24]

Idaho pioneer, author, and world traveler Fred G. Mock was born November 24, 1861 on a farm in Cumberland County, Illinois, about sixty miles south of Champagne. Fred left home when he was twelve or thirteen years old. He never explained why.

For the next fifteen years or so, Mock “knocked around” Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Colorado. He took work where he could find it, but also made time to complete a sixty-day course at a business school. 

Fred G. Mock. [Hawley]

He arrived in Boise a few months after Idaho became a state. Mock again found work were he could for awhile. Then he and a partner opened a real estate and title business in Nampa … and soon bought the Nampa Leader newspaper. Three or four year later, they reorganized their holdings, after which Mock was identified solely with the Leader.

In late 1894, Fred married Mennah Nettleton, who became an active partner in everything Fred set out to do. In fact, the two proved to have a knack for investing in successful companies and properties. Mock sold the Leader in the spring of 1899 to focus on the couple’s investment endeavors. Mennah birthed a child in January 1901, but their son lived only a few hours.

In 1903, Mock and a half dozen partners established the Bank of Nampa, with Fred as president. He continued in that position for about four years.

Fred also found time for other activities. He served several years as Treasurer for the city of Nampa and three terms as a Deputy Assessor for Canyon County. He was active in various business and social clubs, especially the Masons. Mock was the first Grand Master for the Lodge in Nampa and also served as Grand Master for all of Idaho.

Beyond all that, in 1905 Mock published a novel, Blue Eye, which was favorably reviewed in the New York Times. He also wrote the lyrics for a popular song that debuted on the New York stage.

The Mocks lived in Portland, Oregon for several years after Fred stepped down as president of the Bank of Nampa in 1907. When they returned to Nampa, the couple began a series of automobile trips all along the Pacific Coast. Fred also wrote another novel, A Romance of the Sawtooth, published in 1917. Produced by the Syms-York Company [blog, July 6], it is believed to be the first novel published in Idaho.

Some time after a 1922 motor trip that covered western Canada, the Mocks decided to broaden their horizons. They began to travel internationally by cruise ship. Some trips we know mostly from Fred’s later interviews and lectures, while others made headlines.

Liner Empress of Scotland ca 1920. Archives, Canadian Pacific Line

Thus, in 1926, they left New York City, with considerable fanfare, on a world tour aboard the luxury liner Empress of Scotland. The ship headed east to Mediterranean stops, India, and the Far East. They returned to New York after visits to Hawaii, the West Coast, Panama, and Havana.

Yet even with all their travel, Fred was occasionally lured into other duties. He served several years as president of a Nampa building and loan association and, in 1928, was the Nampa coordinator for national “Forestry Week.”

Fred’s wife Mennah died the summer of 1929, and that may have interrupted his touring some. However, in May 1932 he married again and the couple departed on a world tour the following December. They probably cut back on their world traveling in the mid- to late-Thirties when the tensions leading to World War II rose.

Fred continued to give talks – live and on radio – about his travels when he was well over eighty years old. He passed away in October 1956.
                                                                                                                                     

References:  [French], [Hawley]

Jann G. Marson, Jr., “Platen Press Printing in Idaho,” Idaho Center for the Book Newsletter, Boise State University (April 2000).

“[Fred Mock News Items],” Idaho Statesman, Boise; The Oregonian, Portland (June 1891 – October 1956).