Boise River Water Flows into the New York Canal [otd 06/20]

On June 20, 1900, a rude diversion structure turned water from the Boise River into the New York Canal. The diversion, though feeble, culminated nearly twenty years of effort to bring irrigation water to the higher benches paralleling the river.

New York Canal construction. Boise State University.

Individuals and small cooperative groups began diverting irrigation water from the Boise River less than a year after the 1862 gold discoveries in the Boise Basin. With limited resources, ditch developers had to be clever and creative. Whenever possible, they led their channels along old creek beds and other natural depressions. According to Beal & Wells, "by the summer of 1864 all the river bottom land in Boise Valley was under irrigation."

As Idaho's population grew and funds became available, developers tackled larger, more ambitious irrigation projects. Around 1882, investors from the East began considering an extensive project along the Boise.  They had the notion that gold recovered from hydraulic placer sites over on the Snake River might pay much of the construction cost. After that, collecting fees for water delivered to new farms on the Boise Bench would almost be “gravy.”

The placers would have produced mostly “fine gold,” that is, tiny particles that can be finer than flour. Fine-sized gold tends to be of higher purity and there can be a lot of it along a big river like the Snake. However, no economical methods to recover the dusty material existed at that time. Thus, in the end, the placer gold mining notion went nowhere.

Company Engineer Arthur D. Foote laid out plans for a system that could eventually irrigate an estimated half million acres. Foote then spent thousands of dollars to survey a seventy-five mile main canal and an intricate grid of lateral ditches. With an elaborate map drawn from these surveys, planners could start wooing investors.

Work began on the upper end of the canal in 1884. However, very little got done because a recession in the East dried up capital. The startup firm did just enough work – basically, a handful of men chipping away at the rocks – to maintain their water right through 1886. Competing efforts also lagged, and then collapsed.

Not until 1890 did serious work again proceed on the canal. A fresh infusion of capital resulted in about 14 miles of partially finished ditch before that money ran out in late 1892. Then the nationwide Panic of '93 caused yet more delay. When money again became available, in 1896-1898, several competing interests fought over who had rights to what. Some of these cases rose all the way to the Idaho Supreme Court.

Boise River Diversion Dam, 1909.
Canal in foreground. National Archives.

In 1899, various interests finally reached an accommodation in what became the new New York Canal Company. At last, in 1900, they got water through their ditch. However, the amount was a mere trickle compared to Foote's grand original concept. Insufficient flow and uncertain water rights created a snarl of problems.

Finally, water users asked Congress to authorize a larger project to meet their needs. In the end, the U. S. Reclamation Service (later the Bureau of Reclamation) took over the canal and made it part of a larger Payette-Boise Project (Idaho Statesman, September 1, 1905).

The Bureau of Reclamation made two key additions to the project: a permanent Diversion Dam, 7-8 miles upstream from downtown Boise, and a reservoir (now called Lake Lowell) near Nampa. Finally in 1909, substantial amounts of water began flowing through a greatly expanded New York Canal system.
                                                                                 

Reference: [B&W], [French]

“The Beginning of the New York Canal,” Reference Series No. 190, Idaho State Historical Society (March 1972).

Arthur Hart, “Idaho History: The New York Canal was an epic achievement,” The Idaho Statesman, March 14, 2010.

Idaho Chief Justice, Businessman, and Educator James F. Ailshie [otd 06/19]

James Franklin Ailshie, Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, was born June 19, 1868 in Greene County, Tennessee, 50-70 miles east of Knoxville. He attended a "noted preparatory school" through his junior year and then moved to Missouri, where he taught school. After a couple years there, he took a Principal’s job in Washington state. Ailshie then attended Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Waller Hall, Willamette University, 1880.
Salem Public Library Collections.

Ailshie received his B.A. and LL.B. degrees from Willamette in 1891, then moved to Grangeville, Idaho to establish a practice. By that time, the town had substantially outgrown nearby Mount Idaho. In 1892 and again in 1898, Grangeville citizen tried unsuccessfully to capture the county seat designation. (They finally succeeded in 1902.) In addition to his thriving law practice, Ailshie served two terms as a Regent of the University of Idaho, starting in 1893.

Ailshie was elected to the Idaho Supreme Court in 1902 and moved to Boise the following year. Reelected to the Court, he served until his resignation in 1914. During four of his years on the Court, he served as Chief Justice and was, at one time, the youngest Chief Justice on any state Supreme Court.

In 1909, Willamette University honored him with a Doctor of Laws degree. James H. Hawley noted in 1920 that "About two-thirds of the [Idaho] constitution was tested in the court during his service on the bench."

While not on the Court, Ailshie was very active in Republican Party politics. In 1898, delegates to the state convention of the Republican Party elected him as convention president. In 1900, 1916, and 1932, he served as delegate to the Republican National Convention. In 1913, he missed election to the U.S. Senate by just four votes in the legislature.

Justice Ailshie.
University of Idaho Special collections.

Ailshie resigned from the Court in 1914 to run for a U. S. Senate seat under the new direct election mode dictated by the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution. He had hoped to resign earlier, but the illness of Justice George Stewart [blog, Feb 26] delayed that. (Stewart died the following September.) After his failed run – which he blamed partly on his inability to campaign – he moved from Boise to Coeur d'Alene and resumed his private practice.

Ailshie was President of the Idaho State Bar Association in 1921-22 and was a long-time member of the their Board of Commissioners. He also served three years on the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association, and over a decade on that organization's General Council.

In the late Twenties and early Thirties, he was a member of the Idaho Law Journal Board of Advisers. During that period, he also served on the state Commission on Uniform State Laws. That Commission advises the legislature on laws that should be revised to be more consistent with the laws in other state.

Besides serving on the University of Idaho Board of Regents, Ailshie taught there at the College of Law, lecturing on "mining law and legal ethics." For a time while practicing law in Coeur d'Alene, he owned a farm-ranch operation near Grangeville. He was also President of the Grangeville Light & Power Company and Director of a bank there.

Ailshie again served on the Supreme Court in 1939-41, and from 1945 until his death in May 1947.
                                                                                 

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

“James Franklin Ailshie: Biographical Sketch,” James Franklin Ailshie Papers 1902-1931, Manuscript Group 9, University of Idaho Special Collections (July 1997).

Ben Ysursa, Idaho Blue Book, 2003-2004, The Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (2003).

Idaho National Guard Mobilized for Mexican Border Duty [otd 06/18]

On June 18, 1916, state authorities mobilized the Idaho National Guard for duty on the Mexican border. The Governor had received instructions from the Secretary of War under the National Defense Act, passed by Congress two weeks earlier.

Pancho Villa, ca 1914.
Library of Congress.

Since about 1910, Mexico had been wracked by fighting between various revolutionary factions. In 1914, a coalition headed by Venustiano Carranza gained the upper hand. Because Carranza promised a constitutional government, eventually, the United States recognized him as President of Mexico in 1915.

However, Carranza’s refusal or inability to propose deep social reforms caused a split with more reformed-minded revolutionaries such as Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa.

As a revolutionary ally of Carranza, Villa’s success and charisma attracted support from the United States, including guns and ammunition. That ended after his split with Carranza. Angered, Villa turned against his erstwhile allies. In early 1916, Villa’s troops killed seventeen Americans working for a mining company in Mexico.

In March, Villa raided the border town of Columbus, New Mexico, about 70 miles west of El Paso, Texas. The garrison reportedly inflicted heavy casualties (60-80 killed) on the revolutionaries. However, 18 Americans – soldiers, militia, and civilians – were killed and many structures burned.

Newspapers all over the country clamored for action against Villa. Less than three months later, Congress passed the National Defense Act. At the time, the Army was badly undermanned to handle all its commitments, so they needed reinforcements from the Guard. Authorization to call up these units had one major string attached: Guard soldiers were not to operate on foreign territory.

The Spanish-American War of 1898 had established the position that the government could nationalize Guard units for a declared war. Because the Villa campaign was not part of a declared war, the troops could only "defend the border."

That turned out to be a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” stance for the government. Some units resented being hauled across the country to watch over a stretch of barren desert. This hardly fit the traditional scenario where militiamen were called out to protect their home state from imminent invasion. But other Guard units wanted to march into Mexico and fight.

National Guard troops bivouacked in Nogales. National Archives.

Mobilized units of the Idaho National Guard arrived in Nogales, Arizona in mid-July, joining regiments from many other states. That freed Pershing’s troops to pursue Villa's units deep into Mexico.

For several months, the Idaho regiment drilled and conducted patrols across the rugged border country. They were mustered out of Federal service in late January 1917. (Some Guard units did see live action and had soldiers killed or wounded.)

A fundamental flaw in the militia/national guard concept appeared even that early: What do we do with the demobilized soldiers? A sergeant wrote to the Idaho Statesman (January 2, 1917), “All of us were working or going to school before we left, while now our positions are filled … ”

Business groups made some sincere, but spotty attempts to alleviate their plight. Yet even today there are few good answers to the problem. For the 1917 soldiers, the issue went away a few months later: Guard units were recalled for duty in World War I. Thus, the border duty became a “dress rehearsal.” It toughened the men to field duty and provided officers and men experience in coordinating the regiment's actions as full units.
                                                                                 

References: [Brit], [Hawley]

Cornelius James Brosnan, History of the State of Idaho, Charles Scribner’s sons, New York (1918).

Jerry M. Cooper, The Rise of the National Guard: The Evolution of the American Militia, 1865-1920, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln (2002).

Richard W. Stewart (ed.), American Military History, Vol 1, Center of Military History, U.S. Army, Washiongton, D.C. (2004).

Nez Percés Drub U. S. Army at Battle of White Bird Canyon [otd 06/17]

On June 17, 1877, a column consisting of U. S. Cavalry and a few civilian volunteers engaged Nez Percés warriors in the Battle of White Bird Canyon. This was the opening clash of the Nez Percés War, which ultimately forced a large part of the tribe off their ancestral homeland.

Chief Joseph, ca. 1895.
Illustrated History of North Idaho.

The reservation treaty of 1863 divided the Nez Percés into "treaty" and "non-treaty" factions [blog, June 9]. By the mid-1870's, many land-hungry whites had settled on areas held by non-treaty bands. They demanded that authorities force the Indians to move onto the small reservation in Idaho.

Chief Joseph of the Wallowa bands eloquently argued that the original 1855 treaty was still in force for those bands that had refused to sign the later document. That being the case, the authorities were obligated to remove the intruders. An Army staffer who studied the legal situation agreed, declaring that the newer provisions were "null and void" for the non-treaty bands.

Few whites wanted to hear that, so they declared that a majority had signed the 1863 and it was therefore binding on all. As noted in the earlier blog, that claim was at best specious, if not completely dishonest. Nez Percés leadership was not a democracy. Although family ties and a common language linked the bands, each was autonomous and their chiefs formed a council of equals.

The situation exploded when the Army ignored all that and moved ahead with plans to forcibly relocate the bands. Word reached Fort Lapwai on the 15th that the unrest had turned violent, so a force led by Captain David Perry moved out late that evening. They rode through the night and all the following day, with only brief rest stops, and arrived at White Bird Summit about midnight on the 16th. By then warriors had killed 8 to 10 civilians and burned many outlying buildings. The troopers and volunteers began descending into White Bird Canyon at about 4 o’clock in the morning.

Captain David Perry.
Nez Perce National Historical Park

John McDermott's book Forlorn Hope provides a detailed description of the action. After the first contact, Perry tried to arrange a battle line. Meanwhile, the small band of volunteers charged on horseback around the left. Effective counter-fire repelled their attack, so they gathered on a knoll to anchor the left flank.

At a crucial turn, a shot killed one of Perry’s buglers and the other lost his bugle. Then a ferocious Nez Percés counter-attack sent the volunteers fleeing from the field. With no bugler, Perry could not wheel his troops to meet the sudden assault from his exposed flank. His line collapsed into a confused retreat. Perhaps only some desperate stands by small, isolated groups saved the cavalry from total annihilation.

Once north of White Bird Hill, the cavalrymen made a fighting retreat across the prairie. Nez Percés warriors finally broke off the action when a column of armed civilians rode out to help the retreating force. The survivors reached Grangeville between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning.

The Indians scored a decisive victory, despite being heavily outnumbered (60-70 warriors versus over 100 whites) and fighting with inferior weapons. The Army suffered thirty-four dead (to none for the Indians), and were driven headlong from the battlefield.

In the end, of course, the outnumbered and outgunned Indians were forced to flee Idaho. The tribe's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to escape into Canada is now legendary.
                                                                                 

References: [Illust-North]

“Battle of White Bird,” Reference Series No. 440, Idaho State Historical Society (June 1967).

Jerome A. Greene, Nez Perce Summer, 1877: The U.S. Army and the Nee-Me-Poos Crisis, Montana Historical Society Press: Helena (2000).

John Dishon McDermott, Forlorn Hope: The Nez Perce Victory at White Bird Canyon, Caxton Press, Caldwell, Idaho (2003).

Distinguished Federal Judge and Legal Educator Ray McNichols [otd 06/16]

Judge McNichols.
Photo courtesy of
University of Idaho College of Law.

Federal District Judge Raymond C. McNichols was born June 16, 1914 in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. The family moved to Lewiston at some point, and Ray later graduated from the University of Idaho. During and after World War II, he served as an aviator in the U.S. Navy.

After leaving the service, McNichols attended the University of Idaho College of Law, graduating with his LL.B degree in 1950. He then opened a law practice with a partner in Orofino.

In 1954, Ray “threw his hat in the ring” for the Democratic nomination to run for Idaho’s U. S. Senate seat. He later withdrew (Idaho Falls Post-Register, May 30, 1954) from the race so as not to “dilute” the Democratic vote. (The Republican won the seat anyway.)

In 1960, McNichols served as Vice Chairman of the Idaho delegation to the Democratic Presidential Convention (Idaho Falls Post-Register, March 14, 1960). That convention selected John F. Kennedy as the party nominee. Several months after Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon Johnson appointed McNichols as a Federal Judge for the District of Idaho. During 17 years of full-time judicial service, McNichols presided over some 2,000 cases, achieving "legendary" status on the Federal bench.

In late 1976, a three-judge panel that included McNichols declared one provision of the original Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to be unconstitutional. They ruled (Idaho State Journal, Pocatello, January 2, 1977) that a clause authorizing inspections of a business site without a search warrant violated the Fourth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. The U. S. Supreme Court later affirmed that decision. Thus, except in cases involving “closely regulated” industries, an OSHA inspector must obtain the owner’s consent or have a judge issue a search warrant.

During that same period, McNichols presided over a case brought by computer disk maker CalComp against International Business Machines (IBM). CalComp was a so-called “plug-compatible manufacturer” (PCM), which built computer peripherals for IBM personal computers. CalComp insisted that IBM had engaged in illegal monopolistic behavior, causing great harm to their company. The suit was filed in late 1973 and three years of discovery followed.

The actual trial began in mid-November 1976 and CalComp’s presentation ran into February. As soon as they finished, IBM countered with a motion for a directed verdict against CalComp, supporting it with a substantial legal brief. Judge McNichols weighed the evidence and then ruled in their favor, taking the case out of the hands of the jury. CalComp appealed, but a three-judge panel affirmed McNichols’ decision.

In 1981, McNichols chose "Senior" judicial status. After that he handled cases only part-time, but remained active in legal affairs for the rest of his life. In 1984, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America presented McNichols with the Outstanding Federal Trial Judge Award.

University of Idaho Law Library.

In addition to his legal activities, Judge McNichols taught classes for a time at the University of Idaho College of Law. After his death from a heart attack in December 1985, numerous prominent leaders – former governors, senators, and legal professionals – offered tributes to McNichols' judicial skills, wit, and "gentlemanliness."

He is honored at the University by the "Judge Ray C. McNichols Memorial Fund" and the "Raymond C. McNichols Moot Court Competition."

In moot court competitions, students prepare legal briefs and argue hypothetical appeals cases, often before real judges. This is training for appellate arguments, which involve arguing specific points of law after a trial verdict has been made. Unlike a trial, there is no presentation of testimony or other evidence and decisions are made by judges, rather than a jury.
                                                                                 

References: Bruce H. Bruemmer, Kevin D. Corbitt, “Historical Note,” California Computer Products, Inc., and Century Data Systems, Inc., vs. International Business Machines Corporation Records, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (December 1996).

“District Judge Ray C. McNichols,” U.S. Courts, District of Idaho.

“Idaho Federal Judge Ray McNichols Dies,” Spokane Chronicle (Dec 26, 1985).

Robert L. Knox, “New Developments in the Law on Monopoly: The Impact of the IBM West Coast Cases,” Vol. 14, Golden Gate University Law Review, San Francisco, California (1984).

“Raymond Clyne McNichols,” Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, Federal Judicial Center.

V. D. Hannah, Pioneer Grower of Fine Fruit, Vegetables, and Purebred Livestock [otd 06/15]

Agricultural pioneer Henry Van Dyke Hannah was born June 15, 1842 in Ohio County, Indiana, about 25 miles southwest of Cincinnati, Ohio. After completing a common school education, he spent several sessions at a prep school and then at an early agricultural institute or college.

Henry V. D. Hannah. [Hawley]

After that, he worked on his father’s farm until 1862, when he enlisted in the Second Indiana Light Artillery. Wounded at least once, Hannah carried a Minie ball in his abdomen for the rest of his life. At the end of the war, he returned to farming with his father. However, with the war over, the farm economy entered a severe depression and, for various reasons, southern Indiana was hit particularly hard. So young Hannah headed west.

In late 1872, he was in Idaho looking for acreage, after about three years in Oregon. He started in a valley area northeast of Weiser and would be associated with that town for many years. Even that early, “V. D.” – as he was now commonly known – sought the top of the line in his business. In May, 1873, the Idaho Statesman carried his advertisement to sell fertilized eggs from top-breed chickens he had just imported from the East. A couple months later, he gave the Statesman editor a basket containing the “fattest gooseberries we ever saw.”

That fall, Hannah set up a sales stand in downtown Boise with a wide variety of fruit from his farm: two kinds of apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes … and even some tomatoes. All were judged to be outstanding examples of their kind. Nor did he neglect the animal husbandry side. Besides his purebred chickens, he also advertised top-grade hogs “and a good Boar, for service.”

Over the following years, V. D. added high-grade turkeys and geese to his poultry line, as well as herds of purebred sheep and shorthorn cattle. He also continued to improve his fruit lines. In 1884, the Statesman reported that he had seven varieties of grapes under cultivation on two-year-old vines. When agricultural fairs appeared, Hannah was always among the prize winners, in many different categories.

When a commission was assembled to organize Idaho’s exhibits for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, V. D. handled the agriculture portion. Besides the expected products, he included two new items from his ranch: figs and cotton. The exhibit was a huge success and he was similarly asked for advice five years later for the World’s Fair held in Omaha.

When growers organized the Idaho State Horticultural Society in 1895, V. D. was named a trustee and served on the Legislative Committee. Two years later, the State Board of Agricultural Inspection was created. Although Hannah was not a member of the first Board, he later served as a member.

In 1905, V. D. took on a task similar to his World’s Fair duty – the Lewis and  Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon. By this time, the Hannahs was living near Caldwell.

Idaho Building, Lewis & Clark Exposition. Library of Congress.

Nothing out of the ordinary came Hannah’s way until 1917, when he was 75 years old. He was appointed to appraise land being offered as collateral for loans from the state. He gave up that position in November, 1918. But even at his advanced age, he still grew crops and animals. His History of Idaho biography said, “It is like attending a fine stock fair to visit his farm and see the splendid animals and poultry that he has produced.”

He passed away in July 1923, shortly before the Annual Meeting of a regional cattle growers association. They observed a long moment of silence in his honor.
                                                                                 

References: [Hawley]

“[Idaho Hannah News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise (December 1872 – July 1923)..

“[Other Hannah News],” Reveille, Vevay, Indiana; The Standard, Greenburg, Indiana; The Oregonian, Portland (October 1870 – September 1919).

Paul Salstrom, From Pioneering to Persevering: Family Farming in Indiana to 1880, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana (2007).

Oregon Treaty of 1846 Largely Settles U. S.-Canadian Border [otd 06/15]

President Polk. Library of Congress.

On June 15, 1846, the United States and Great Britain reached an agreement that settled almost all the remaining disputes about the border between the U. S. and Canada. This treaty, arranged under President James K. Polk, meant that the future states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and some of Montana were indeed part of the United States.

The U. S.-Canadian boundary had been established as far west as the Continental Divide by the "joint occupancy" treaty of 1818 [blog, October 20]. That had left the area west of the Divide between latitude 42º N and 54º 40' N "in limbo." People commonly referred to that region as the “Oregon Country,” and some in the U. S. wanted all of it. (Note that "we" usually say "Americans" in cases like this ... but citizens of Canada are also "Americans," so I've tried to be very specific.)

Russian claims to the area complicated matters until they reached accommodations with the other two countries in 1824-1825. The Russians finally abandoned Fort Ross in northern California (Spanish-claimed territory) in 1841.

In the U. S., the issue boiled over during the 1844 presidential elections. The Democratic Party platform took an aggressive expansionist stance. Platform provisions demanded the annexation of Texas and laid claim to the entire Oregon Country. Their candidate, James K. Polk, eagerly ran on that platform. The Whigs equivocated and their candidate, Henry Clay, could not seem to make up his mind.

Southern expansionists supported the Texas annexation, partly because that would add another slave state to the Union. Northerners wanted the Oregon Country because it was seen as our “due” and would add several non-slave states. Claims and counter-claims muddled the Oregon issue in the minds of voters, whereas the Texas situation was clear-cut.

Disputed Pacific Northwest region.
Slightly modified Oregon Country map from Wikipedia Commons,
original creator not specifically identified.

Polk won the election by a close margin in the popular vote: less than 40 thousand out of over 2.6 million cast. Outgoing President John Tyler, a Whig, moved quickly to "steal his thunder." With Tyler’s urging, Congress passed a joint resolution to annex Texas. Texans then voted for a matching Ordinance of Annexation. Thus, statehood for Texas became a non-issue for the new administration.

With Texas relegated to "old news," rhetoric on the Oregon Question heated up. The inflammatory slogan, "Fifty-four Forty or Fight," espoused the position that the U. S. should demand the maximum concession on the Canadian border dispute.

However, as Texas statehood moved toward reality, it became clear that war with Mexico would almost certainly result. At the time, chaos gripped Mexican leadership, with the ministerial “lineup” changing almost monthly. The only constant, it seemed, was popular anger over the loss of Texas. Officials who made concessions to the U. S. would be driven from office. So, barring some major change in Polk’s position, Mexican leaders almost had to go to war … even though many knew Mexico would probably lose.

At the same time, American representatives in London warned that annoyed British officials were now considering preparations for war. Polk and his colleagues realized they were in no position to fight two foreign wars, especially when one of the opponents was the greatest power on Earth.

Thus, “cooler heads prevailed” and the new treaty ended the dispute with Great Britain just over a month after Congress declared war on Mexico.
                                                                                 

References: [Brit]

Walter T. K. Nugent, Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion, Alfred A. Knopf, New York (2008).

Samuel Eliot Morison, The Oxford History of the American People, Oxford University Press (1965).