Judge, Boise Mayor, Developer and Attorney James H. Richards [otd 05/05]

Judge James Heber Richards was born May 5, 1852 in Mount Vernon, Ohio, about forty miles northeast of Columbus. One of eight siblings, James left home when he was fourteen years old to work on a dairy farm. Over the next few years, he pieced together more schooling and, around 1872, returned to Mount Vernon to teach. He continued there for most of the decade.

James H. Richards. [Illust-State]

Richards then moved to Colorado, where he read law, passed the bar, and ended up practicing in the mining town of Breckenridge. Then the boom there began to fade, so in the summer of 1890, James opened an office in Boise. He was there long enough to be on the city’s Board of Trade, but moved to Payette in late 1891. His first four years in Idaho were extremely busy. He invested in Boise Basin mining properties, helped found a bank in Payette, organized an irrigation project along the Payette River, and became president of a land development company.

Besides all that, when Canyon County was split off from Ada County in the fall of 1892, Richards was one of the commissioners who helped organize the new government.

However, in 1894, Richards was elected judge of the Third Judicial District. Finding the judicial docket hugely backlogged, he moved back to Boise to tackle the job. Handling well over four hundred cases, he managed to clear the calendar before the end of his two-year term.

Judge Richards was a strong supporter of women’s suffrage in Idaho. He and his wife Fannie organized and helped publicize the visit of a prominent women’s rights speaker in 1895. Those efforts succeeded the following year when voters overwhelmingly passed a women’s suffrage amendment [blog, November 3]. However, Richards’ practice had suffered during his time in office, so he refused to run for re-election. It took him three years of intense effort to put his private law affairs back in order.

Then backers persuaded him to run for Boise mayor in 1899, an office he won in a close election. Despite early budget problems, under Richards the city managed to get its facilities into tip-top shape, grade many streets that had been neglected before, and lay many blocks of new sidewalk. The mayor felt the volunteer fire brigade was doing a good job, but suggested that the city had grown enough to need a more professional approach. A paid part-time crew replaced the volunteers a year after he left office [blog, June 2].

Central Fire State, Boise, 1903. Boise Fire Department.

After his term as mayor ended in July 1901, Richards formed a law partnership with education advocate Oliver O. Haga [blog November 19]. James would remain active in that firm, as senior partner, for a quarter century. A couple months after that, the American Mining Congress was formed from parts of the International Mining Congress and Richards was selected as it first president. He held that office for seven or eight years, and then continued to give talks before that body for more than another decade.

Despite his many legal, business, and society activities (he was both a Mason and an Elk), Richards also served a 1905-1906 term in the state legislature. Again, he refused to run for re-election, as he would later turn down strong urgings to be a Republican candidate for governor.

Richards was active in his law firm until about 1926, when he was over seventy years old. He continued to be a popular speaker around the area for another five years or so. James passed away in early 1936 after a short illness.
                                                                                 

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

“Breckenridge,” Rocky Mountain News, Denver (July 13, 1890).

“[James H. Richards News Items],” Idaho Statesman, Boise (June 1890 – January 1936).

Jennifer M. Ross-Nazzal, Winning the West for Women: The Life of Suffragist Emma Smith DeVoe, University of Washington Press, Seattle (2011).

Prospector Files Original Claims for Today’s Hecla Mining Group [otd 05/05]

According to the Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, “The original claims comprising the Hecla group were the Hecla and Katie May lode claims, located by James Toner on May 5, 1885.” The original claim of twenty acres was near Burke, about six miles northeast of Wallace.

Hecla Mine, Burke, Idaho, 1909. University of Idaho.

However, as happened for many claimants, Toner lacked the resources to fully develop the property. The initial prospect dwindled, and Toner eventually sold the rights, which then passed through several owners. Finally, a claimant who saw greater prospects for the plot purchased it. Then those rights became part of the holdings of the Hecla Mining Company, which Amasa Campbell, John Finch, and some other investors organized in October 1891 [blog, April 6].

For the next several years, other valuable investments preoccupied Campbell and Finch. Their co-investors showed little inclination to put a lot of money into development work on the Toner site. Thus, Hecla obtained rather small returns from the claim, which they operated directly or through lease arrangements.

In 1898, Campbell and Finch led a reorganization of Hecla Mining Company. In the process, they also purchased a number of nearby claims. The company soon owned fifteen lode claims spread over about two hundred and fifty acres. The expansion increased the expected production and  reduced the possibility that a promising ore vein might lead outside the areas they owned.At that time, the Hecla was viewed as “still a prospect,” but one that was “more than paying its own way.”

With renewed energy, Hecla poured money into support facilities and underground development. That included a substantial investment in tunnel building and renovation, as well as rental of a mill. During the summer of 1900, the Company began paying its first dividends, an amount that approached $100,000 by the end of the year. That encouraged further investments in development, which built Hecla into one of the major mining operations in the region.

Hecla weathered a nationwide financial panic in 1907 and returned to profitability even before a spurt during World War I. The Idaho Statesman reported (February 18, 1917), “Wallace – The Hecla Mining company paid dividend No. 164 in January of 15 cents per share, amounting to $150,000, making grand total paid by the company $5,455,000. At this rate the Hecla will pay $1,800,000 the current year.”

The company derived most of its income from the production of lead, used for batteries, chemical-resistant sheeting, and (back then) paint. Silver was simply the icing on the cake.

Hecla Mine, Burke, 1910. University of Idaho.

Unfortunately, profits were by no means guaranteed because metals prices tend to fluctuate wildly. (For a number of years, on-going labor-management disputes also hampered profitably.)

In hopes of leveling out their metals revenue, Hecla began expanding into the area of zinc production. Zinc demand also depends upon battery manufacturing. However zinc is mainly used to make corrosion-resistant galvanized steel for roofing, chain-link fence, and other products.

The company struggled through ups and downs in metal prices and the Great Depression, but hung on. It even survived the crisis when the original Hecla claim petered out in 1944.

Today, Hecla Mining Company owns properties all over the West, and in Mexico. The company extracts substantial amounts of silver (it’s the top U. S. producer), lead, zinc, and small quantities of gold.
                                                                                 

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

Corporate History, Hecla Mining Company, Coeur dAlene, Idaho (1991).

"Hecla Mining Company," International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 20, St. James Press, Farmington Hills, Michigan (1998).

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).