State Authorizes Precursor to Idaho State Historical Society [otd 03/12]

On March 12, 1907, Idaho's government authorized the "Historical Society of Idaho Pioneers" to become a state-supported entity called the "Historical Society of the State of Idaho." The enabling act included a $3,500 appropriation for expenses, and provision of space in the capitol building. The "Pioneers" organization had been created in 1881 to preserve memories of how the Territory was formed. That organization was largely dormant for many years, except for a revival in 1896 under Governor William J. McConnell [blog, September 18.]

Hon. John Hailey.
Hailey, History of Idaho photo.

A couple months after the authorization, administrators appointed John Hailey to be the head librarian, a position he held for the rest of his life. Hailey had been among the first pioneers in 1862, built a considerable stagecoach enterprise, served in the Territorial Council, and acted as delegate to the U.S. Congress [blog, Aug 29].

The creation Act also directed the governor to appoint a Board of Trustees for the Society. Governor Frank Gooding appointed the first, which included: James A. Pinney (progressive former mayor of Boise, blog Sept 29), Dr. Henry L. Talkington (history professor at the Lewiston State Normal School), and Mrs. Leona (Hailey) Cartee. The only daughter of John Hailey, Leona had pushed for formation of the Society, and would later help foster the Boise Public Library.

Three years after the appointment, Hailey published a History of Idaho in part, he wrote, to correct "the many misstatements published about Idaho in early days, and particularly concerning the character and conduct of the good people of those days."

The Idaho Statesman quoted (January 8, 1917) from Hailey’s fifth biennial report: Hailey noted that their historical exhibit had had to move three times and “now occupy five rooms in the old capitol building.” He also said, “We now have these five rooms pretty well filled up and will soon need more room.”

When Hailey died in 1921, Ella Cartee Reed – Leona Cartee's sister-in-law – carried on as Secretary and Librarian. At the time of that transition, former Idaho Governor James H. Hawley [blog, Jan 17] was President of the Board of Trustees.

In his letter of transmittal for the required 1923-1924 biennial report, Hawley argued that the Librarian and her Assistant "should be given a salary commensurate with the importance of their positions and the character of their duties." Hawley held the Board presidency until his death in 1929. To the end, he continued to ask, in vain, for an improvement in those salaries.

Idaho History Center.
Wikipedia photo contributed by Amy Vecchione.

Reed retired in 1931. From then until 1947, perhaps because the position was an underpaid "labor of love," the position changed each time a new Governor took office. In 1939, the title became "state historian."

Also in 1939, the legislature authorized new quarters for the Society's collections, but construction did not start until 1941 … and was then suspended due to World War II. Operations limped along with limited staff until about 1947, when the Society became the custodian of the Idaho State Archives. In 1949-1950, new construction initiatives finally gave the Society desperately needed new space.

After about 1956, the Society began to offer paid memberships to the general public. Up until then, the organization had been funded entirely by legislative appropriation. Today, the ISHS operates programs at eight different locations in Boise and four historical sites around the state. Visitors will find exhibits and the Society's Public Archives and Research Library at the Idaho History Center, in Boise.
                                                                                 

Reference: [Hawley]

"Directors and Secretaries of the Idaho State Historical Society History," Reference Series No. 882, Idaho State Historical Society (1989).

John Hailey, History of Idaho, Syms-York Company, Boise, Idaho (1910).

"Idaho State Historical Society History," Reference Series No. 848, Idaho State Historical Society (1986).

James H. Hawley, Eighth Biennial Report of the Board of Trustees of the State Historical Society of Idaho, Boise (1922).

Act Signed to Create Academy of Idaho, Today’s Idaho State University [otd 03/11]

On March 11, 1901, Governor Frank W. Hunt signed an Act to establish an educational institution in Pocatello. Incorporated in 1889, the town had grown explosively and topped 4,000 citizens in the 1900 census.

The authorization for a school, to be called the “Academy of Idaho,” came with a catch, however. The townspeople had to supply land for the institution. The subsequent dispute almost killed the Academy before it started.

Administration Building, Academy of Idaho, ca. 1912.
H. T. French image.

Heated arguments arose as various factions pushed locations all around the valley. Finally, with the legislature's deadline approaching, they settled on what is now the lower part of the ISU campus. Construction soon began, and the school greeted its first classes in the fall of 1902 [blog, September 22].

The legislature tried to make sure the new school did not compete with the University of Idaho for students. In fact, they hoped the curriculum in Pocatello would encourage some to go on the Moscow. They specified that the curriculum should include “all the branches commonly taught in academies and such various courses as are usually taught in business colleges.”

Legislators also considered vocational training appropriate, making the new school more or less equivalent to our notion of a two-year community college. John W. Faris, the experienced educator who became the Academy’s first Principal, had more ambitious plans. Still, he did quickly initiate a preparatory curriculum, knowing that many prospective students had limited (or no) access to high school classes.

A few years later, he began what we now call a “continuing education” program, with a particular emphasis on summer classes for pre-college teachers. The Idaho Statesman reported (May 9, 1913) that the sessions were very popular, and reminded prospective attendees that, “ Special attention will be given to those courses of study required for the certification of teachers.”

Encouraged by the response, school officials soon began to harbor aspirations to attain full four-year status. That battle would rage for over thirty-five years. The only immediate result was a slight expansion and a name change - to "Idaho Technical Institute" (ITI) - in 1915. And the legislature made the Institute’s subordinate role crystal clear: The curriculum “shall include two years and not more than two years of college grade and such work below college grade as the conditions of the educational system of the state render desirable.”

As the school expanded, pressure from local boosters continued, but backfired again. In 1927, the legislature made ITI a subordinate division of the University of Idaho. For the next twenty years, the Pocatello school would be the "Southern Branch of the University of Idaho" (UI-SB).

Although it was touch and go at times, the school survived the Great Depression and World War II. The vast influx of G.I. Bill students after the war caused many strains, but helped the UI-SB finally attain its goal. In 1947, the school became Idaho State College, an independent, four-year institution.

Main campus, Idaho State University.

After sixteen years of curriculum and enrollment expansion, they were given university status in 1963.

In August 1986, the school dedicated its Research and Business Park, meant to act as an incubator for new ventures and to provide space for public and private research laboratories.

Today, the university has an enrollment of over 15 thousand students, with three branch locations, and millions of dollars in research and teaching grants.
                                                                                 

References: [French], Hawley]

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

Colonel Judson Spofford: Civil War Veteran, and Idaho Developer [otd 03/10]

Civil War veteran and Idaho developer Judson Spofford was born March 10, 1846 in Derby, Vermont, two or three miles from the Canadian border. The family had a proud military heritage. A great-great-grandfather was a colonel in the Revolutionary War and that man’s son served in the Quartermaster Corp. Another forebear served in the War of 1812. Judson enlisted in the 10th Vermont Regiment in July 1862. The regiment saw minor action initially, and just missed participation at Gettysburg in 1863.

Union infantry in Fredericksburg trenches, 1863.
Library of Congress.

Later, the 10th Vermont fought in many celebrated battles of the Army of the Potomac: The Wilderness, Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg. In July 1864, they also took part in the relatively little-known Battle of Monocacy Junction, 30-40 miles northwest of Washington, D. C. That clash, while technically a Union defeat, kept Confederate troops from hitting the capital before reinforcements could arrive to drive them off.

On March 25, 1865, Private Spofford himself was almost killed by a Minie ball during the Union counter-attack at Fort Stedman, in the Petersburg fortifications. The severity of his wound kept him in hospital when the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered two week later.

After the war, Spofford spent three years in Vermont and then moved to West Virginia. There, he worked for a railroad company for a number of years. He was also active in party politics and, in 1880, President James Garfield appointed him Postmaster in Huntington. He acquired the "Colonel" honorific while in West Virginia –  and certainly he had seen more action and suffered more than most "titular" colonels. Then the lung damage from his wound finally forced him to seek the more healthful climate of Idaho.

Col. Judson Spofford.
J. H. Hawley photo.

Spofford arrived in 1884 and immediately purchased a Boise Valley farm. He then acquired and expanded a herd of purebred dairy cattle. From that, he produced a noted line of high grade butter.

Farming led him into various irrigation canal projects, including improvements to what eventually became today's Riverside Canal. That enterprise sparked Spofford's interest in hydroelectric power, including a plant on the Payette River.

In addition to these projects and various real estate developments, Spofford promoted construction of Boise's Broadway Bridge. This fueled considered expansion of residential areas in "South Boise" – on the southwest side of the Boise River. The colonel also helped initiate a street car line, including a branch that served South Boise.

South Boise streetcar on the Broadway Bridge.
City of Boise.

Not content with all that, Spofford sought opportunities around the state. He invested in valuable mining properties, but competitors thwarted his attempt to build an electric railway to connect Lewiston and Grangeville. In his 1920 History of Idaho, Hawley wrote, "During the past third of a century there has perhaps been no one in Idaho who has been a more consistent supporter of the Gem State than he."

Spofford remained vigorous and active well into his eighties. At one point, he even traveled back east to the Monocacy battlefield to consult with a historian writing an account of the battle. He returned in 1936 to take part in a parade of Grand Army of the Republic veterans in Washington, D. C. He was then the last known Union Army survivor of the Battle of Monocacy Junction. The colonel passed away about a year later at the veterans’ hospital in Boise. Spofford was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
                                                                                 

References: [Hawley]

Marc Leepson, Desperate Engagement, Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, New York (2007).

Original South Boise Neighborhood Plan, City of Boise (2003).

"Pioneer-Dixie Ditch Company," Reference Series No. 509, Idaho State Historical Society (1996).

Glenn H. Worthington, Fighting for Time, Press of Day Printing Company, Baltimore, Maryland (1932).

Rigby and Fremont County Physician Ray Fisher [otd 03/09]

Prominent Fremont County physician Ray Homer Fisher, M. D., was born March 9, 1883 in Oxford, Idaho. At the time, Oxford was an important commercial and shipping center. One of Ray’s older brothers was George Howard Fisher, first Commissioner of the Idaho Industrial Accident Board [blog, December 5]. Their father was  William F. “Billy” Fisher, a famous rider for the Pony Express. When the Express disbanded in late 1861, Billy settled in northern Utah, where George was born. He moved to Oxford five years before Ray was born.

Dr. Fisher. Family Archives.

Ray attended public schools in Oxford until he was sixteen year old. He then entered the prep school at the Utah Agricultural College (now Utah State University). His college major was chemistry, but he was also active in debate and public speaking. Fisher graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1904. After a year as a school principal in Fremont County and a brief stint as chemist for a sugar company, Ray landed a job at the University of Colorado. While he taught chemistry and toxicology, he also pursued a medical degree, gaining his M. D. in 1909.

Fisher performed fill-in work in northern Utah and eastern Idaho before establishing a practice in Rigby. Almost immediately, he was appointed Health Officer for Fremont County, spending two years in that position. A few years later, after Jefferson County was split off from Fremont County, he served two years as Health Officer for the new county. From 1915 to 1919, Fisher was a member of the Idaho Board of Medical Examiners. Along with that he was Medical Examiner for the Jefferson County enlistment office during World War I. All that and his regular practice was apparently not quite enough, however: Fisher also held a position as Divisional Assistant Surgeon for the Oregon Short Line railroad for ten years.

Professionally, Fisher held memberships in the American Medical Association, the Idaho State Medical Association and several regional medical societies. At one meeting of the state Association, he spoke on “Differential Diagnosis of Appendicitis and Typhoid.” Between 1916 and 1920, the doctor took three “sabbaticals” to pursue further education as an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist.

Besides his practice and medical studies, Fisher invested in several local businesses, including a bank and a pharmacy. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While he never held high office in the church, he served in several capacities, with a particular interest in education. Fisher also played an active role in Democratic Party politics, although he never ran for office himself. For a time, he chaired the Democratic Central Committee for Jefferson County.

Rigby, ca 1919. [Hawley]

Early on, Fisher had developed an interest in history. Thus, he often presented historical talks to various social groups. Later, he took a special interest in the story of the Pony Express, building on a memoir produced by his father. As it happened, William Fisher was in Rigby when he died in late 1919, then the body was returned to Oxford for burial. Ray’s mother lived in Rigby until her death three year after her husband.

Fisher remained in Rigby until 1927, when he moved his family to Oakland, California. (His oldest brother had moved there earlier, apparently during World War I.) He maintained his practice there until about two years before his death in April 1952.
                                                                                 

References: [French], [Hawley]

Ray H. Fisher, “The Dry Creek Massacre,” The Pony Express magazine, Placerville, California (January 1950).

“[Ray H. Fisher News],” Idaho Falls Times, Idaho Statesman, Ogden Standard-Examiner (July 1914 – February 1922).

Indian Leader, Teacher, and Idaho Senator Joseph Garry [otd 03/08]

Joseph Garry in
traditional Indian regalia.
Beal and Wells photo.

Prominent American Indian leader Joseph Richard Garry was born March 8, 1910 near Plummer, Idaho. (Plummer is about 25 miles south of Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene.) Of largely Kalispel and Coeur d’Alene Indian blood, Garry traced Flathead Indian heritage through his mother. For a variety of reasons, he was generally identified with the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

He was also a great-grandson of Chief Spokane, for whom that city was named, and sometimes appeared there in interpretative demonstrations of Indian ways and dress.

After a common school education, Joe graduated from the preparatory school at Gonzaga. Over the years, he pieced together money enough for several years of college education, but was never able to complete a degree. In the early Thirties, he apparently survived by hunting, fishing, and working at various farms and ranches. Then, for four years after 1936, he held an administrative position with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Garry enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1942 and served in Europe for three years. (Some accounts suggest he was a Marine, but enlistment and service records do not bear this out.) Recalled for the Korean War, he served there a year and emerged as a sergeant.

Before and after his stint in Korea, Garry taught school in Plummer and twice served on the School Board there. In 1956, voters in Benawah County elected Joseph to the Idaho House of Representatives, the first Native American to be elected to that body. With that service as a base, Garry made a run for the U. S. Senate in 1960, but was defeated in the Democratic Party primary. Six years later, he was elected to the Idaho state Senate, becoming the first Native American to join that august group.

Joseph Garry,
legislator and spokesman.
Beal & Wells photo.

However, Garry made his most important mark as a spokesman for his tribe and for the general Indian community. He began taking an active role in 1948, during a crucial period when the U. S. government sought, in the name of ending “paternalism,” to do away with the various tribal governments.

One of several who spoke for his people, Garry insisted that those organizations should be retained: Through those leaders, Indians controlled their own destinies, and the lands which were both their heritage and the only source of economic hope for the future.

Garry served 25 years on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribal Council (thirteen as its chairman), and also six years as President of the National Congress of American Indians. In 1957, while he served in the Idaho House, Garry was honored nationally as the “Outstanding Indian” for that year. The Spokeman-Review (Spokane, July 23, 1957) noted that Joseph was “the first Northwest Indian to be chosen for the honor.”

Through these avenues and an extensive speaking schedule, Garry and others successfully protected the integrity of tribal lands and helped improve economic conditions on the reservations. But times changed, and other voices arose to lead the Tribes; Garry was no longer their spokesperson when he died at the end of 1975 after a long illness.

Still, a statement from the National Congress upon his death noted that Garry "was responsible for the Indians holding on to their land base, and he invented tribal government, as we know it."
                                                                                 

References: [B&W]

John Fahey, Saving the Reservation: Joe Garry and the Battle to be Indian, University of Washington Press, Seattle (October 2001).

Frederick E. Hoxie (Ed.), Encyclopedia of North American Indians, Houghton Muffin, NY (1996).

Legislature Authorizes Albion State Normal School [otd 03/07]

On March 7, 1893 the Idaho legislature passed a law to create Albion State Normal School, as they had authorized the Lewiston State Normal School earlier in the year [blog, Jan 6]. The Act required that land be donated as a site for the school (the offer had already been tendered) but did not appropriate any funds for construction.

Administration building, ca 1910. H. T. French photo.

Nonetheless, the school began classes in September 1894, using a structure built by volunteers. The 1895 legislature authorized issuance of construction bonds and a new administration building was completed the following year.

School enrollment grew steadily and, in 1901, the legislature provided funding for construction of a men’s dormitory. Officials called it Miller Hall, after Josiah Miller, who had donated the original plot of land. They added a women’s dormitory four years later. Over the next ten to fifteen years, Albion Normal acquired additional land and built more facilities.

When the school first opened, officials had to face the reality that Idaho’s rudimentary school system produced few students qualified for a standard curriculum. Thus, the institution not only had to provide a considerable array of high school classes, they even had to dip down to the seventh and eighth grade for some candidates.

That remained true even as late as 1914. Still, Hiram T. French wrote, “As fast as it is practical all studies properly belonging to the common school system are being eliminated, it being the aim finally to require a high school diploma for entrance.”

Cost cutters made a number of attempts to eliminate the institution or move it into Burley. In an odd turn, one attempt failed because of foresighted (but flawed) planning in its passage. The bill, originated by the state Senate, included (Idaho Statesman, June 2, 1922) a tax levy, “to provide funds for starting the new buildings at Burley.” The Idaho Supreme Court overturned the Act on a technicality: revenue bills must be originated in the House of Representatives.

In any case, the need for teachers was so great that the school thrived in the 1920s. Although enrollment fell early in the Great Depression, it recovered to peak in 1939.

Albion State Normal School, 1922. Albion Valley Historical Society.

By then, however, the Albion and Lewiston schools were out of step with the times. Most states had abandoned the two-year Normal School track in favor of a four-year teachers’ college approach. Idaho had two of just five Normal schools remaining in the entire country.

In 1943, Idaho reluctantly granted the Normals four-year status, the last state to make the move. Both schools began “acting the part,” and the legislature went along in 1947. Albion Normal became the Southern Idaho College of Education (SICE, with NICE in Lewiston).

After a dip during World War II, the postwar influx of G.I. Bill students provided several years of surging enrollment for the newly-name SICE. However, the old arguments against having so many four-year schools soon arose again. With three other four-year schools turning out teachers, the state could dispense with one.

In May 1951, SICE – once Albion State Normal School – held its final commencement exercise. The school had made an indispensable contribution to Idaho education, but it was doomed by its relatively isolated location.
                                                                                 

References: [French], [Hawley]

"Albion State Normal School: Historical Sketch," Idaho State University Manuscript Collection (online).

Keith C. Petersen, Educating in the American West: One Hundred Years at Lewis-Clark State College, 1893-1993, Confluence Press, Lewiston, Idaho (© Lewis-Clark State College, 1993).

Canal Company Executive, County Commissioner, and Farmer Arthur Goody [otd 03/06]

Commissioner Goody.
J. H. Hawley photo.

Prominent farmer and Jefferson County Commissioner Arthur James Goody was born March 6, 1871 in Cache County, Utah, 10-15 miles northwest of Logan.

His father, Arthur Joseph, had come to the United States from England in 1863, when he was in his early teens. The parents – Mormon converts – followed a year later and settled on land north of the Great Salt Lake. By 1870, Arthur Joseph had married and moved to the area where Arthur James was born.

In 1883, the family took up a homestead a mile or so east of Lewisville, Idaho. Lewisville, located 12-14 miles north of Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls), was one of several towns founded after the Utah & Northern Railroad laid tracks through Eastern Idaho in 1879. Arthur James worked on the family farm until he was twenty-two years old. (Although not “technically” correct, newspaper accounts of the time commonly referred to Arthur Joseph as “Sr.” and the son as “Jr.”)

Then, in 1893, Arthur Jr. married and built a home in Lewisville. He also bought some unimproved farm land a mile south of town. With improvements to that tract, and purchase of additional acreage, Arthur soon developed a highly successful mixed-crop farm operation of his own.

Arthur participated heavily in local civic affairs, including eight years as a Jefferson County Commissioner. He also served sixteen years as a school trustee. Arthur spent four years on the Lewisville town board and, after the village incorporated in 1904, served a term as mayor.

Arthur took an active interest in various irrigation projects. That included working with his father on some of the precursors to the Great Feeder Canal, which went into operation in 1895 [blog, June 22]. Later, he served on the Board of Directors of the Little Feeder Canal Company (Idaho Register, May 23, 1902). Four years after that, he represented Lewisville at a national Irrigation Congress held in Boise (Idaho Statesman, July 22, 1906).

In the spring of 1909, Arthur Sr. moved to Idaho Falls. (His wife had died three years earlier.) Not long after, Arthur Jr. bought his father’s ranch property and thereafter ran both operations. Under the title “Crops Fine at Lewisville,” the Idaho Falls Times reported (November 7, 1911) a remarkably productive year for his farms. On his original property, Arthur raised wheat, oats, alfalfa, sugar beets, apples, and raspberries. On the other, he raised more hay, grain, and sugar beets, as well as potatoes, plumes, prunes, and currants.

Headgates, Great Feeder Canal.

Early in the Twentieth Century, farmers had begun to form cooperatives under various titles like “Farmers’ Society of Equity.” They hoped to present a united front in dealing with banks, shippers, and farm product buyers. The Idaho Falls Times reported (January 21, 1913) an organizational meeting in Lewisville, at which Arthur was selected as President of the local chapter. He was associated with the group when it became the Intermountain Farmers Equity.

Besides his farm interests, Arthur held stock in a regional mercantile company. By 1920, he was President of the Great Feeder Canal Company, a position he held for many years. He passed away in September 1943. In 1990, the original Goody homestead qualified as an Idaho Century Farm, being still owned by a descendant of Arthur Joseph Goody.
                                                                                    
References: [Hawley]

Louis J. Clements, Centennial Farm Families, Upper Snake River Valley Historical Society, Rexburg, Idaho (March 1991).

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

John L. Powell (Ed.), “Great Feeder Canal Company,” Records Collection, MSS 31, Arthur Porter Special Collections, BYU-Idaho (January 23, 2002).