Jewish Businessman and Idaho Governor Moses Alexander [otd 11/13]

Moses Alexander.
Illustrated History photo.

Idaho Governor Moses Alexander was born on November 13, 1853 in Obrigheim, Germany. In 1867, he emigrated to the U. S., where he lived with a sister in New York for a few months.

Moses then moved on to work with a cousin in Chillicothe, Missouri. He proved to have a talent for retail merchandizing, which he put to good use … advancing from clerk to partner at the age of twenty.

In 1891, Alexander moved to Idaho and opened a men’s clothing store in downtown Boise City. His operation prospered and, over the years that followed, Moses established a chain of stores across southern Idaho and in Oregon.

Within a few years he was a recognized leader in the community, having promoted and brought to completion the construction of the first Jewish synagogue in Boise. A rabbi from Salt Lake City officiated at the opening, and the Idaho Statesman reported (August 31, 1896) on “the very impressive ceremony of dedication of the temple Beth Israel.” Fittingly, they also held a bar Mitzvah ceremony for Moses’ son Nathan.

Despite his extensive business operations, Moses took time for public service. In Chillicothe, he had served on the City Council and twice as Mayor. He continued that interest in Boise. He was elected Mayor in 1897, chose to skip a term, and was elected again in 1901. Alexander was an active Mayor. The switch from a volunteer to professional fire department [blog, Jan 28] was made “on his watch,” and he led other civic improvements.

He ran for Idaho governor in 1908 but the nomination process was hotly contested and highly divisive for Idaho Democrats. The Republican nominee won. Health problems that dogged him later in life led him to decline a nomination for the next election.

He felt ready to go in 1914, easily won the Democratic Party nomination, and then out-polled an opponent plagued by scandal in the Republican Party. Moses thus became the first governor of any U. S. state who was also a practicing Jew*. He was reelected in 1916.

A strong temperance supporter, Alexander helped push through a state-level Prohibition law even before the entire country went officially “dry.” Idaho quickly experienced a clear foretaste of the unintended, bad consequences of Prohibition [blog, Oct 28], yet the governor never wavered in his position.

World War I (the “Great War”) provided the other favored cause during Alexander’s time as Governor. Despite – or perhaps because of – his German birth, Moses fervently supported the American war effort. Long before Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, anti-semitism was a powerful political force in Germany. No one has found evidence that this influenced Alexander’s attitude, but it can’t be ruled out.

Alexander’s Boise store, ca. 1925. Library of Congress.

Hampered by health issues, Alexander failed in another run for Governor in 1922. He died in January 1932.

Considerable archival material about Alexander’s career and family background is cataloged in The Moses Alexander Collection at the Idaho State Historical Society.

* Records show that Washington M. Barlett, whose mother was Jewish, served as Governor of California for nine months before his death in September 1887. Bartlett was not active in any religion while in California, and his funeral service was held at the Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco (San Francisco Bulletin, San Francisco, California, September 13, 1887).
                                                                                                                                       

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

"Washington Bartlett," The Governors' Gallery, The California State Library.

Dylan J. McDonald (Ed.), The Moses Alexander Collection, Idaho State Historical Society (2002).

BYU-Idaho Predecessor, Bannock Stake Academy, Has Building Dedicated [otd 11/12]

On November 12, 1888, Mormon pioneers dedicated the school building for the Bannock Stake Academy in Rexburg, Idaho. With this small start, the Academy can justly lay claim to being the first organization in the state that eventually grew into an institution of higher learning. Not the first actual college, however; at least three Idaho schools taught college-level classes before them.

Principal Spori. BYU-I Archives.

The Stake selected Jacob Spori, a highly educated Swiss emigrant, as the first Principal. He and two other instructors ran the Academy initially as an elementary school.

Rexburg had been established by members of the LDS Church, led by Thomas E. Ricks, in January 1883. The town grew quickly, achieving a population of over 800 in early 1884 and burgeoning to over 1,400 by the end of that year. The Bannock Academy was among a host of local schools created by the Mormon church to teach standard academic subjects along with LDS religious doctrine.

Donations from members paid for desks and remodeling the log structure that served as a Ward meeting house. From the dedication onward, tight finances plagued the school. Funding was so scant that Spori covered its first-year debts, and the salaries of the other teachers, out of his own pocket. He resigned after three years for the sake of his family.

The Academy’s survival remained in doubt all through the Nineties under the two succeeding Principals: At one point, the entire staff served without pay for a half year, accepting foodstuffs in lieu of tuition so they could at least eat. A new Principal who came on board in 1899 began to phase out the lower grades, turning the institution into a high school.

Main building, ca. 1905. BYU-I Archives.

To accommodate the expanded curriculum, the Stake first purchased a building in Rexburg, and then arranged for the construction of a more suitable structure on land south of downtown. Workers put the finishing touches on the structure in time for the start of the 1903-04 school year. By then, the Church called the school the “Ricks Academy,” in honor of Thomas E. Ricks, who had died in September 1901.

Later, it became first Ricks Normal College and then just Ricks College. The institution barely survived crisis after crisis. In the early Thirties, the church tried to give the school to the state of Idaho as another junior college. Protesting any added drain on the state’s education budget, legislators spurned the offer.

World War II created yet another crisis. The draft and vital war work severely depleted the pool of potential male students. On top of that, several faculty members were called up. In May 1945, Ricks awarded degrees to its first, and only, all-girl graduating class.

However, after the war, returning veterans quickly changed the class mix and, in fact, caused a major housing crunch. From 1948 to 1957, the school transitioned into a four-year curriculum and then back to two-year status.

For a few years after that, it appeared the school would be moved to Idaho Falls. That crisis passed also, and in June 2000 it gained an assured 4-year status, now operating as Brigham Young University-Idaho. Today, BYU-Idaho is thriving. They have recently completed (mostly) a major new building program.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [Hawley]

David L. Crowder, The Spirit of Ricks: A History of Ricks College, Ricks College Press, Rexburg, Idaho (1997).

Jerry C. Roundy, Ricks College: A Struggle for Survival, Ricks College Press, Rexburg (1976).

Cornerstone Laid for Roman Catholic Cathedral in Boise [otd 11/11]

On Sunday, November 11, 1906, officials laid the cornerstone for a new Roman Catholic cathedral in Boise, to be known as the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

Catholics had gotten off to an early start in Boise City. Two priests – Fathers Toussaint Mesplie and A. Z. Poulin – arrived in the region about the time the Army established Fort Boise in 1863.

During their first years, they held services in private homes or available public buildings. Catholics built their first Idaho churches in the mining towns of the Boise Basin. Their initial attempt in Boise City burned to the ground only weeks after it was completed in 1870-71. Services then returned to private dwellings, or sometimes the chapel at the Fort.

As placer mining dwindled in the Boise Basin, so did parishioner contributions. By around the end of 1875, administrative control had reverted to the Archbishop of Oregon. That arrangement lasted ten years, while a handful of dedicated priests struggled to maintain a Catholic presence in Idaho.

St. John’s Cathedral, ca. 1895. Illustrated History.

Finally, in 1885, Bishop Alphonse Joseph Glorieux was appointed to run the diocese. At the time, the Boise City church was little more than a “shanty,” with four small attached rooms. The bishop quickly had a separate multi-room residence built, followed by an enlargement and upgrade of the church itself.  In 1889, he added a hall for meetings and classes. By 1895, Glorieux had further expanded and refurbished the church, making the first St. John’s Cathedral something they could point to with pride.

However, as the city and the Roman Catholic congregation grew, Bishop Glorieux decided they needed a more drastic solution. Businesses had begun to hem them in, limiting their ability to expand. Fortunately, all that development also inflated the value of the church real estate. They were able to sell “at a good figure,” and purchased a full block further from downtown.

When the time came to design a new cathedral, church leaders turned to the firm of Tourtellotte & Hummel, who had also designed the Idaho state capitol. The architectural committee chose a Romanesque style, characterized by a symmetrical layout with large, square towers that convey a sense of mass, round arches, and simple, geometric façade work. The description by the diocese notes that its Romanesque style used “the German cathedral of Mainz as a model.”

The cornerstone ceremony included a special program of music, with full orchestra and a forty-member choir. The Idaho Statesman reported (November 11, 1906) that the church hierarchy would be represented by “the largest gathering of bishops at a similar occasion ever held in the northwest.”

Cathedral, ca 1918. J. H. Hawley photo.

To avoid heavy debt, Bishop Glorieux had the builders proceed in phases as funds became available. Thus, services began in the basement once the walls and roof were completed in 1912. The bishop himself did not live to view the finished structure; he died in August 1917.

As the structure neared completion in 1920, “some the most impressive features” were installed: numerous stained glass windows depicting the life of Christ and other religious motifs. The completed cathedral was dedicated on Easter Sunday 1921. The final form did not, however, include a pair of conical towers flanking the front entrance, as called for in the original concept. (These would have more than doubled the height of the building.)

Today, the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Idaho.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [Hawley]. [Illust-State]

“Cathedral History,” Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Boise.

Alexander Toponce: Freighter, Stockman, Stage Line Operator ... and More [otd 11/10]

Alexander Toponce, energetic immigrant entrepreneur, was born November 10, 1839 in Belfort, France … about thirty miles west of Basel, Switzerland. The family came to the U. S. in June 1846. As a younger son, Alex labored hard on the farm but received no education and had no prospects of any kind. He spurned the family farm at age ten, and headed west at fifteen. Alex recalled, “I found lots of French people in St. Louis.”

For almost a decade, Toponce “whacked bulls” for a freight line, rode express mail, drove a stagecoach, and prospected for gold in Colorado.

Freight Wagon. Reminiscences.

In 1863, Alex sold what little he owned to finance a freight venture. He joined a band of like-minded men (and one woman) for a trip to the Montana gold fields. Alex said, “I had the honor of being elected captain of the train.”

Except for various short trips out of the area, Toponce spent the rest of his life in Idaho, southern Montana, and northern Utah.

Alex did much better prospecting in Montana than he had in Colorado and used the proceeds to go into the freight business full time. Over the next twenty-odd years, his freight line grew to be “one of the largest … in the Northwest.” But that was not enough for him. In 1867, Toponce transacted his first big cattle deal, using the animals to haul freight into Montana and then selling them to local meat markets and stockmen.

He also had contracts to supply meat to the construction crews building the transcontinental railroad. Alex said that on the last day of track-laying he “threw a shovel full of dirt on the ties just to tell about it afterward.” He could not recall what the dignitaries said at the Golden Spike Ceremony, but, he wrote, “I do remember that there was a great abundance of champagne.”

In 1871, Toponce acquired a cattle herd that had been trailed from Texas as far as Denver. Alex completed the drive to land he had leased on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. His ranch supplied the reservation, the gold camps, and any other market where Toponce could make a buck. At various times, he owned cattle in Utah and Nevada, and even drove some into California. He sold the Fort Hall outfit in 1879.

Alexander Toponce. Reminiscences.

Along with his freight line and cattle, Toponce built roads, ran a stagecoach company, and invested in mining properties from near Bellevue to north of Challis. He eased out of the wagon freight business in 1883-1886 as the completion of railroads across Idaho made long hauls unprofitable.

Alex himself did not ease back, however. At various times, he owned a piece of a canal company and grist mill in Utah, and a charcoal kiln in Wyoming. Seeing empty grazing land in Wyoming, he ran a considerable sheep outfit there. In 1892, the railroad shipped “twelve double-decked cars” full of sheep for him.

He also found time to serve a term as mayor of Corinne, supply ties to the railway company, own a butcher shop, and more. In 1914, he sold the rights to a hydropower site he still owned in Idaho. He finally began to slow down a few years later, and took the time to prepared his Reminiscences. His wife arranged publication after his death in May 1923.
                                                                                                                                      

References: “Construction: Pacific States,” Electrical World, Vol. LXIV, McGraw Publishing Company, Inc., New York (July 4 to December 26, 1914).

“Railroad Transfer of Sheep,” The Standard, Ogden, Utah (Nov 11, 1892).

Dan L. Thrapp (ed.), Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln (1991).

Alexander Toponce, Reminiscences of Alexander Toponce, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman (1971).

Boise Mayor, Attorney, and Earthquake Witness Joseph Pence [otd 11/09]

Mayor Pence. CityofBoise.com

On November 9, 1869, Boise Mayor Joseph Thomas Pence was born in Ottuma, Iowa. He graduated from Parsons College (Fairfield, Iowa) in 1892. Pence then taught at another small Iowa college, serving four years as Chair of its Department of Classical Languages.

After studying law for a year at Georgetown University, he transferred to Drake University Law School. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1900.

Pence moved to Boise immediately after graduation and opened a practice there. His experience in educational matters was soon recognized: The governor appointed Joseph as one of the Trustees of the Albion State Normal School. He held that position for over a decade. Throughout that period, his reputation grew, both as a public-spirited citizen and as an intelligent, hardworking, and resourceful attorney.

At one point, he got his name in the newspapers for an usual reason. The Idaho Statesman reported (November 12, 1905) that a slight earthquake had hit Boise the day before. The quake struck in the afternoon, and ground-level pedestrians hardly noticed it. The motion did, however, startle people working on the higher floors of the downtown buildings. Attorney Pence felt his desk lurch and watched a hanging overcoat swing back and forth. The newspaper report went on, “A sectional bookcase full of books was noticed by him to sway fully three or four inches, as did also a hanging electric light globe.”

Pence took an active interest in politics, working diligently for the Democratic Party. Still, only once could supporters persuade him to run for office himself: Boise voters handily elected him as Mayor in 1909. His administration completed or initiated “many excellent public improvements,” although lack of funding slowed the work.

One prime feature included substantial developments at Julia Davis Park. Little had been done since Thomas J. Davis gave the land to the city in 1907 [blog, January 2]. Under Pence, about ten acres of soil was leveled, improved, and seeded as green space. A protective barrier was constructed along the river front. Officials also developed plans for a baseball field, boating pond, water features, and other amenities

Boise, ca. 1918. J. H. Hawley photo.

However, during his term Pence found himself the lead defendant – along with the city council – in a suit brought by a firm that applied for a liquor license. Judging them to be “not suitable” proprietors of such a business, the council had denied the license. In the end, the suit went all the way to the Idaho Supreme Court, which upheld the council’s position.

Reports from the period indicate that his performance pleased most Boiseans, who might well have elected him for another term. Possibly the liquor store litigation reinforced his reluctance to pursue public office; he never ran again. He did stay active in the Democratic Party, serving as a Delegate to the 1916 National Convention that nominated Woodrow Wilson for the U. S. Presidency.

During World War I, Pence held several positions on the Idaho Council of Defense, a “home front” support organization. The Council helped sell war bonds, addressed critical manpower shortages, and advanced “other matters calculated to bring the war to a successful conclusion.”

A few years after the war, the Salt Lake Telegram announced (May 26, 1922) that Pence had formed a partnership with a Salt Lake lawyer. They opened an office in the three-year-old Clift Building in Salt Lake City. (The Clift Building is now on the National Register of Historic Places.) Pence lived in Utah until his death in 1941.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [French], [Hawley]

I. W. Hart (ex officio reporter), “Darby et. al. vs Pence, Mayor, et. al.,” Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Idaho, Bancroft-Whitney Company, San Francisco (1910).

University of Idaho Language Professor and Dean Jay Eldridge [otd 11/08]

Dean Eldridge.
University of Idaho Archives.

University of Idaho Dean of the Faculty Jay Glover Eldridge was born November 8, 1875, in Janesville, Wisconsin (about 60 miles southwest of Milwaukee).

After much moving around the country, the family ended up in New York state where the young man received his early education. He then graduated with highest honors from Yale University in 1896. (He received a Ph.D. from the school ten years later.)

He then studied modern languages at Yale while also serving as a German instructor. After receiving his Master’s degree in 1899, he spent several months in Germany. That trip surely sparked his production of a textbook version of Die Braut von Messina (The Bride of Messina), a famous play – a tragedy – written by German philosopher Friedrich Schiller. Eldridge’s text remained in academic use for over thirty years.

In 1901, he accepted a position as Professor and Chairman of the Modern Languages Department at the University of Idaho. Two years later, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty, the first Dean created at the institution.

Starting in 1905 and continuing for around fifteen years, Eldridge performed the duties normally assigned to a college Registrar. Early on the morning of March 30, 1906, Jay and his family – they lived just off campus – awoke to a great stir. To his horror, he learned that flames were attacking the school’s Administration Building.

Administration Building on fire. University of Idaho Archives.

Eldridge raced to the building, where his office lay on the first floor, but high above a half-buried basement. Finding a ladder, he scrambled up and in. A cherished bookcase took second place to the student records stored in the desk’s file drawers: Those went out the window to safety. Some were reportedly “scorched,” but they remain in University storage to this day.

During World War I, Eldridge served in France with the Young Men’s Christian Association, providing support services for soldiers, sailors, and airman. At the time, military organizations had almost no programs or facilities for off-duty personnel: no R&R (rest and recreation) centers, no PX (post exchange) stores, no canteens, no traveling entertainment. Beginning formally during the Civil War and extending beyond WW-I, the YMCA provided these and other related services.

Their work was not without risk: “Y” volunteers suffered nearly 300 casualties, including 8 killed, and received an impressive collection of American, French, and British medals and awards.

Dr. Eldridge resumed his position at the University after the war. In addition to his teaching and administrative duties, he found time to play an active role in many social and religious activities. Himself selected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society as a junior at Yale, Dean Eldridge helped secure a Society Chapter at the University of Idaho, in 1923. He later served as Chapter President.

An accomplished and experienced singer, Dr. Eldridge acted as President of the Moscow Choral Society in 1930-1931. He also held leadership roles in the regional Presbyterian Church organization.  In 1937, his original hymn composition won a contest sponsored by the national Church.

In 1941, the University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree. He retired from his position as Faculty Dean five years later.

Eldridge was very active in the Masons, and rose to be Grand Master of the Idaho Lodge. He served various roles in the Masons until poor health curtained his activities in 1955. He passed away in August 1962.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [Defen], [Hawley]

Captain Ralph Blanchard, “The History of the YMCA in World War I,” Relevance, The Quarterly Journal of the Great War Society, Stanford, California (Spring 1997).

Rafe Gibbs, Beacon for Mountain and Plain: Story of the University of Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (© The Regents of the University of Idaho, 1962).

“Idaho: 1955,” Proceedings of the Grand Lodge, Vol XXXVI. Part IV (1956).

Medical Pioneer and Tuberculosis Researcher Edwin Guyon [otd 11/07]

On November 7, 1853, physician and medical pioneer Edwin F. Guyon was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. By one account, his father was among the nearly 13 thousand yellow fever deaths (ten percent of the population) in New Orleans during the period 1853-1855. In 1855, his mother relocated the family to California, where she remarried.

They soon moved to Oregon and, when Edwin was about twelve, his stepfather went into cattle ranching. As a young man, Guyon became a successful small rancher himself, but also nurtured a desire to become a physician. After schooling at Walla Walla College (now University), he attended the University of Cincinnati. He attained his M.D. there in 1891, spent a year in post-doctoral studies, and then started practicing in Pendleton, Oregon.

Montpelier, ca. 1910. Personal Collection.

In 1896, he moved to Montpelier, Idaho and opened a practice there. Four years later, he took a position with a coal company in Wyoming, where he stayed until 1903. During the period from 1897 through 1903, he also served as a surgeon for the Oregon Short Line Railroad. He then returned to Montpelier.

Aside from his practice, Guyon served as chairman of the Montpelier city council in 1910-1911, and also became involved in statewide medical matters. He served on the state Board of Medical Examiners and authored the Idaho law that prohibited "illegal" (presumably, unlicensed) medical practice. He co-authored a similar law in Oregon.

One of Dr. Guyon’s primary interests was the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. At that time, the disease was “the leading cause of death for all age groups” in the United States. The most common treatment, for those who could afford it, was isolation in a sanitarium, where the patients exercised mildly in the fresh air, rested, and were fed a balanced, nutritious diet.

At the time, the high, dry climate of the Mountain West was viewed as an ideal location for TB sanatariums. Colorado, with its abundant sunshine, became a particular destination of choice. Thus, in 1911, Dr. Guynon traveled to a tuberculosis conference in Denver as an official representative of the Idaho medical community.

President Taft. Library of Congress.

The following year, he was selected as one of just five Idaho representatives at the International Congress on Hygiene and Demography. That meeting was then the preeminent research conference in the area of public health: The New York Times noted that the Congress was meeting “on American soil for the first time in the three-quarters of a century of its existence.” U. S. President William Howard Taft, serving as honorary chairman, delivered the opening address.

As part of its lead, The Times noted that one Dr. Peyton Rous of New York’s Rockefeller Institute had discovered a cancerous agent that “rapidly transmitted the growth of malignant tumors in chickens.” This was one of the earliest reports on the research that won Dr. Rous the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1966.

Guyon served on several national and international physicians’ committees while continuing his practice in Montpelier. His own medical research accomplishments, while more modest, earned him, in historian French’s words, a “state-wide, even national, reputation for his interest and his labors in the direction of checking and stamping out tuberculosis.”

In 1920, the Montpelier school district began requiring physical exams for children entering school that year. Dr. Guyon chaired the committee of physicians who had volunteered to do the exams. Guyon continued to practice in Montpelier until the early Thirties, when he moved to Pocatello. He passed away there in January of 1934.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [French], [Illustrated-State]

Albert Hassell (ed.), Transactions of the Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography (September 23-28, 1912).

“Reveal New Means of Fighting Disease,” The New York Times (September 24, 1912).

“Yellow Fever Deaths in New Orleans, 1817-1905,” New Orleans Public Library (online).

Elections: U. S. President Abraham Lincoln and Lewiston Mayor Ankeny [otd 11/06]

President Lincoln.
National Archives, Matthew Brady.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. In March 1863, while leading the nation through the Civil War, Lincoln signed legislation that created Idaho Territory.

Lincoln profoundly impacted the new Territory throughout his time in office. A week after the Territory was created, he appointed William H. Wallace as the first governor. Wallace was both a political ally and a personal friend of Lincoln’s. He was probably also related to William Smith Wallace, the Lincoln family physician and brother-in-law to Mary (Todd) Lincoln. (Both Wallaces traced their roots to Scottish emigrant families in central and eastern Pennsylvania.)

Lincoln also appointed a Territorial Secretary, three justices for a Territorial court system, and a U. S. Marshal. He selected Sidney Edgerton, another Midwestern attorney, as Chief Justice. The Marshal, Dolphus S. Payne, would be condemned as the perpetrator of the infamous “Laramie Fraud” in the Territory’s first elections later that year [blog, Oct 31].

Almost a year passed before he finally appointed the Territorial Attorney. (Territorial residents voted for a legislature – Representatives and Councilors – but the Federal government controlled everything else.)

When Wallace resigned to become Idaho’s elected Delegate to the U. S. Congress, Lincoln appointed New York politician Caleb Lyon as governor. Intelligent, well-educated, but rather bombastic in speech and manner, Lyon received more derision than respect during his stay in Idaho. Worse by far, however, was simply his status as a Republican appointee. He was thus bound to clash with a legislature dominated by Democrats, many of whom were Southern sympathizers.

Lincoln again impacted Idaho history when, in 1864, he signed legislation that split off Montana Territory [blog, May 26] and gave Idaho something like its present boundaries. Along with that, Lincoln appointed Idaho’s Chief Justice Edgerton to be governor of the new Territory.

Finally, less than two months before his assassination, Lincoln made his last significant Idaho appointment: He selected John McBride [blog, Feb 28] as Chief Justice to replace Sidney Edgerton.

Levi Ankeny. Library of Congress.

On November 6, 1871, voters elected Levi Ankeny mayor of Lewiston. This had two interesting consequences. First, under his administration an important “loose end” was tied up with regard to the Lewiston town site.

According to the Illustrated History of North Idaho, “the government had granted the city a tract of land one square mile in extent at the junction of the Clearwater and Snake rivers, but the land office had as yet failed to act in granting a patent and the matter was held in abeyance.”

That, of course, meant that title to every tract of land within the city could be disputed. Ankeny followed through to insure that the grant was properly executed, “though not without litigation.”

Ankeny was a long-time pioneer in the area. In 1862, Captain Ankeny and some partners operated a steamboat, The Spray, on the Snake. Their steamer, with a purposely shallow draft, could navigate the Clearwater during its late-season low water. The partners sold out at nearly a 100% profit after a year. Later, Ankeny owned a Lewiston general store and ran cattle on land southeast of town.

The second result from the mayoral election was to give Ankeny a taste of success in politics. He later moved to the state of Washington and took up banking. Then, from 1903 to 1909, he represented that state in the U.S. Senate, serving on several important committees. He died in March 1921.
                                                                                                                                      

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

“Levi Ankeny,” Biographical Directory of the United State Congress (online)

Reverend William Judson Boone and the College of Idaho [otd 11/05]

William Judson Boone, D.D., first and long-time president of the College of Idaho, was born November 5, 1860, in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, 15-20 miles southwest of Pittsburg.

After high school, he studied at the College of Wooster (Ohio), from which he received A.B. and M.A. degrees. Study at the Western Theological Seminary (Pittsburgh) further prepared him for the ministry (they awarded him a D.D. degree in 1903). 

Rev. Boone. College of Idaho photo.

In 1887, Boone took up the Presbyterian ministry in Caldwell, Idaho. Three years later, the Wood River Presbytery founded the private College of Idaho there. Classes began in October 1891 [blog, Oct 7]. Two years later, Boone left his church ministry to assume the presidency of the College, a position he held for the rest of his life.

Initially, Boone taught Latin, Greek, and the natural sciences. Besides his duties as president and professor, Boone was also the school’s chief publicist and recruiter. Enrollment increased steadily, and by about 1907, the College needed larger facilities. Boone then had to become the school’s main fund-raiser, a job he disliked. Still, he was very effective and by 1911 the College had three new buildings on land that they still occupy. At about the same time, they could also afford professors for all the natural sciences.

However, Dr. Boone’s special expertise, and love, was botany … and he never gave that up. To enrich his teaching, he led students on numerous field expeditions. In the process, he essentially “wrote the book” on the flora of southwest Idaho. His personal garden included a wide variety of plants, including flowers – the “President Boone” rose is named for him.

Dr. Boone passed away in July, 1936. However, his enthusiasm for natural science put a special stamp on the school he founded and led for so long: A liberal arts college with a strong conviction that a fully-educated person must know something about science and its processes.

The school still takes that mission, with its special flavor, very seriously. The core curricula for most smaller liberal arts colleges require just one “hard science” class. Moreover, a substantial minority allows students to fill that requirement with a watered-down, “science survey” class.  (A few schools allow students to avoid the subjects altogether.)

College of Idaho requires 7 credit-hours of science, generally meaning that one of the two classes must include a lab. Oddly enough, the College also requires two courses in the “Fine Arts” – music, painting, dance, drama, etc. Most liberal arts schools require only one for their non-majors.

Activities Center, College of Idaho.

Without apology, the school sees itself as “uncompromisingly Christian,” but welcomes all denominations and leads by strictly voluntary example. Given its small size and community environment, many young people meet their spouses there. Students affectionately referred to the school as “Dr. Boone’s marriage mill.”

As usual for most private liberal arts colleges, College of Idaho has always struggled with finances, yet they have survived. Like any college, success is measured by the achievements of its graduates – and those are outstanding. For example, H. Corwin Hinshaw, a 1923 graduate, later earned a Ph.D. from UC-Berkeley and pioneered the use of streptomycin to treat tuberculosis.

Today, many graduates have jobs before they leave school and most (98%) are employed within six months after graduation. Moreover, their scholars enjoy a 75% acceptance rate for postgraduate work at many fine institutions.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [French], [Hawley]

Louie W. Attebery, The College of Idaho, 1891-1991: A Centennial History. © The College of Idaho, Caldwell (1991).

Herbert Harry Hayman, That Man Boone: Frontiersman of Idaho, College of Idaho, Caldwell (1948).

Boise Mayor, Merchant, and Prominent Mason Charles Himrod [otd 11/04]

Mayor Himrod. H. T. French.

Boise merchant and Mayor Charles Himrod was born November 4, 1842, in Burdett, New York, about 55 miles southwest of Syracuse. After completing basic country schooling, he became clerk in a general merchandise store. After eight years of that, he traveled in 1864 with a government-organized emigrant party on the Oregon Trail. The train reached Boise City at the end of September.

Charles decided to settle in the new town and found a job in the dry-goods and general merchandise store owned by Cyrus Jacobs. Jacobs had moved first to Oregon around 1852. After prospectors discovered gold in the Boise Basin, Jacobs headed there with a pack train. Instead of going on, however, he set up a tent store near Fort Boise and helped found Boise City nearby.

By August 1864, he had built a home – the first one made of brick – and was advertising his new permanent store in the Idaho Statesman. Jacobs must have been pleased to find an experienced clerk and bookkeeper in Himrod to help run the store. Himrod remained with that firm for around twelve years, before spending two or three years with another mercantile operation.

He did try to branch out in 1872, serving as business manager and Secretary for a new newspaper called the Idaho Standard (Idaho Statesman, May 2, 1872). That venture soon failed, however.

During the same period, Himrod also served in a number of public offices. He was Mayor of Boise City from 1869 through 1872, part of the time with a concurrent position as Ada County Treasurer (1870-1871). In 1872, “Charley” also served a term in the House of Representatives for Idaho Territory. He was very active in the state Democratic Party structure.

For a few years after about 1878, Himrod ran his own general store. He also returned to public office as the Mayor of Boise City in 1879, and had another stint as Ada County Treasurer.

Then, in 1882, he teamed up with Thomas J. Davis [blog, January 2] to open a dry goods and grocery store, styled “Davis & Himrod.” Like Cyrus Jacobs, Tom Davis was one of the original founders of Boise City. By this time, he owned extensive fruit orchards in the Boise Valley. The initial advertisement in the Idaho Statesman (July 6, 1882) said, “We deal extensively in dried and canned fruits, of our own raising, and better than any of the California or Oregon fruits.”

Main Street, Boise, ca 1912. H. T. French.

Davis & Himrod remained in business through most of the decade. In 1885 and again in 1889, Charley served terms as Treasurer for Idaho Territory. The partnership was dissolved “by mutual consent” after seven years (Idaho Statesman, March 28, 1889), but Himrod continue in the dry good business for another two years or so.

He then liquidated his stock to focus on a new electric trolley project. Later, he acted as an independent business agent, and also went into banking.

During the first decade of the new century, he served four years as a Commissioner for Ada County. Himrod also served for many years as a Director for the Boise School District.

Almost from his arrival in Idaho, Charley took an active part in the Masonic Lodge. For many years he served as Grand Secretary for the state Lodge, and was elected Grand Master in 1879. Starting in 1889, Himrod held the position of Grand Treasurer for the Idaho Lodge for over a quarter century. When Charley died in January 1920, the Lodge played a major role in his memorial and burial service.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [French], [Hawley]

Charles Himrod Papers, MS 512, Idaho State Historical Society, Boise (1985).

“Cyrus Jacobs: December 22 or 23, 1831 – June 28, 1900,” Reference Series No. 580, Idaho State Historical Society (1981).

Idaho Supreme Court Justice Sullivan … and Women's Suffrage [otd 11/03]

Justice Sullivan. Illustrated History.

The state of Idaho’s first Chief Justice, Isaac Newton Sullivan, was born on November 3, 1848, in Iowa, midway between Waterloo and Dubuque. After high school he studied at a college in Michigan and then in a judge's law office in Iowa. He was admitted to the bar of Iowa in 1879 and moved to Hailey, Idaho two years later.

Besides his law practice, Sullivan invested in a number of valuable mining claims as well as farm and ranch land around Hailey. His success in law and business led to his election in 1890 to one of the three positions on the Supreme Court of the just-created state of Idaho. The new state’s constitution called for the justices to serve staggered six-year terms, one being up for re-election every two years.

As a startup mechanism, they “cast lots” to determine who would serve a full term, who four years, and who only two. Sullivan “drew the short straw” for the shortest term. However, by another constitutional provision, the justice with the shortest time remaining on his term was designated as the Chief Justice – so Sullivan ascended to that office. As such, he administered the oath of office to the state’s first governor, George L. Shoup [blog, April 1]. (The number of justices would later increase to 5, and the Chief Justice is now selected by majority vote of the justices.)

After his short two-year term, Sullivan was immediately re-elected to the Court. Even his switch from traditional Republican to Silver Republican for the 1898 election did not hinder yet another re-election.

Naturally, those early Justices made many important decisions and set many legal precedents for the State. Few decisions were more historic than one rendered in December 1896. During that year’s election, a women’s suffrage amendment had passed handily, with almost a two-to-one margin. However, many balloters had ignored the amendment measure, so the “for” votes (12,126) were not a majority of the total votes cast (29,697). Thus, the election board disallowed its passage.

In the subsequent court challenge, the Supreme Court ruled that the board had erred in its ruling. Sullivan, who was not then Chief Justice, joined in the unanimous decision that sustained the amendment’s passage.

Susan B. Anthony, abt 1890-1910.
Library of Congress.

That judgement became a highlight of the 1897 national women’s suffrage convention in Des Moines, Iowa. Susan B. Anthony first declared that courts nationwide had always “put the narrowest possible construction” on the election laws, and most would have surely supported the Board's annulment.

Then she went on, “The Judges of Idaho did themselves the honor to make a decision in direct opposition to judicial precedent and prejudice. The Idaho victory is a great credit not only to the majority of men who voted for the amendment, but to the three Judges who made this broad and just decision.”

Sullivan served over a quarter century on the Idaho Supreme Court, He retired in 1916, at the age of 68, after losing his re-election bid. Sullivan maintained a residence in Hailey until 1914 or 1915, when he and his wife moved permanently to Boise. He continued his law practice there for the rest of his life. In 1936, on the occasion of his 88th birthday, a news report said, “He still walks daily from his home to the downtown office he shares with his son.”

Isaac Newton Sullivan passed away in January 1938.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [Hawley], [illust-State]

Susan B. Anthony, Ida H. Harper (eds.), The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol IV: 1883-1900, The Hollenbeck Press, Indianapolis (© Susan B. Anthony, 1902).

“[Isaac Sullivan News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise; Poster Register, Idaho Falls, Idaho (November 1890 – November 1936).

Wallace Creates New Fire Brigade After Destructive Downtown Fire [otd 11/02]

On November 2, 1890, the citizens of Wallace, Idaho convened a public meeting and created a new fire brigade to replace their old fire department. By organizing Wallace Hose Company No. 1, the town hoped to improve their fire protection.

Lead-silver mill at Wallace. [French]

The first cabins had been built in Wallace just six years earlier, after prospectors discovered placer gold in the area. Major finds of lode silver followed and the town mushroomed. Within a few years, rail lines connected Wallace to the outside world [blog, Dec 9]. As usual, almost everything in the town was built with locally-cut lumber – weathered and dry, or fresh and full of pitch.

In late July 1890, a fire began in the Central Hotel, on Sixth Street south of the railroad depot. Strong, hot winds fanned the flames, driving them south and east up the canyon. The fire department tried to contain the damage, but they ran out of water in about ten minutes. Blowing out fire breaks with “Giant powder” (an early form of dynamite) failed to stop the conflagration.

Except for one structure, the blaze consumed everything in the blocks between Fifth Street (to the west) and Sixth. Most of the buildings to the east and southeast of Sixth also went up in flames. The fires stopped only when they reached the ridges to the south and east.

Wallace considered itself fortunate to have only one fatality: A drunk who had passed out in one of the saloons was burned to death. Thirteen saloons, three restaurants, and a liquor wholesaler went up in flames. The fires also destroyed six hotels, a bank, a theater, and four vacant buildings (one of them new).

Other losses included nearly thirty stores and shops (four barbers, two butchers, several dry goods firms, a druggist, a blacksmith, and more), eighteen office structures (many doctors and lawyers, and the newspaper), three livery stables, several warehouses, an ice house, and a saw mill. A meeting hall, the telephone exchange, and the post office were also burned out.

So much aid poured in from the nearby towns that officials turned down, with thanks, an offer of help from Spokane. The Murray Sun reported (July 30, 1890) that town leaders soon passed ordinances requiring that new construction use non-flammable materials in certain key areas. The item also asserted that, "The work of rebuilding will be on a larger scale than before."

Wallace suffered another serious fire in November, 1898, when flames totally destroyed a hotel and the saloon next to it, and badly damaged a second hotel. Still, efforts of the revamped fire brigade at least prevented further damage, aided by the fact that many owners had replaced wood frame structures with brick.

Wallace after the 1910 fire. Library of Congress.

Ironically, an even worse disaster hit Wallace from outside in 1910: Sometimes called “The Big Burn,” a massive forest fire swept over the town and again caused heavy damage [blog, Aug 20].

Continuing production from the rich silver mines allowed the city to rebuild.

The real decline of Wallace came with the depletion of the mines. Today, the town has less than a third of the population it had at the time of the Big Burn. Many of the “new” 1890 brick structures form the heart of the town’s current tourist district.
                                                                                                                                      

References: [French], [Illust-North]

John Galvin, “The Big Burn: Idaho and Montana, August 1910,” Popular Mechanics (July 31, 2007).

History of Wallace, Wallace Chamber of Commerce.

Former Toponis Railway Station Fully Linked to Gooding Brothers [otd 11/01]

Governor and U. S. Senator Gooding.
Library of Congress.

James H. Hawley’s History of Idaho, asserts that Gooding, “the county seat of Gooding County, was founded on November 1, 1907, by Frank R. Gooding, then governor of the State of Idaho.”

The term “founded” somewhat overstates reality, because settlers had already occupied the area for over a quarter century. The 1907 date actually refers to when the Idaho Irrigation Company finalized details of its big land sale in the area (Idaho Statesman, Boise, November 1, 1907).

White stockmen first appeared in the area in the 1870s, running cattle and horses. Then, around the fall of 1882, a settler reportedly built the first house on what would become the town site.

Oregon Short Line tracks entered the area in the summer of 1883. Sixteen miles west of Shoshone and on the river, the spot was a natural to establish a watering station. (Steam locomotives of the time could only go 10-15 miles before they had to refill their tanks.)

The station agent soon built a home there. Within a couple years, the U. S. Postal Service authorized a post office for “Toponis Station” – “toponis” is reportedly a Shoshone Indian word for “black cherry.” In 1886, one John Pointer started the first mercantile store nearby. By the following year, the Toponis post office was well established and the station agent had been named its postmaster.

Frank Gooding [blog, Sept 16] took up sheep ranching in the area in 1888, prospered in that line, and expanded his holdings. He became a leader in the state’s sheep industry and parleyed that into a successful political career: state senator, governor, and finally the United States Senate.

Over the years, the store at Toponis Station moved to a structure closer to the railroad depot and changed owners several times. By around 1900-1905, the area had become identified with the Gooding brothers, and people generally referred to the settlement by that name. Finally, organizers filed a townsite plat with Lincoln County at the end of October.

On November 1, 1907, the Statesman carried the headline, “Excursions to Gooding, Ida,” with special fares. An article in the same issue stated that the acreage being offered was “practically the last opening of Carey Act lands in Idaho, and the only tract on a transcontinental line of railroad, it being on the Oregon Short Line.”

The town incorporated under the name of Gooding the following year.

Gooding station photo, ca 1916. Personal Collection.

The area then grew rapidly, aided by the construction of a branch rail line, the Idaho Southern Railroad. The Idaho Southern ran to Jerome from an OSL junction in Gooding. The company went into receivership in 1916 and the Gooding-Jerome tracks became part of the OSL.

In 1909, the University of Idaho established an agricultural extension station in Gooding and two years later the state relocated its School for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind from Boise to Gooding [blog, Dec 4]. By the time Hiram T. French described in it 1914, the village had four hotels as well as “six churches, a creamery, a grain elevator, two banks, two weekly newspapers, and a monthly paper devoted to the wool-growing industry.”

Also by then, the legislature had split Gooding County off from Lincoln County and made the town the county seat.

Livestock raising, dairy, and farming are still the mainstays of the Gooding economy. Although passenger trains no longer stop by, the city notes its location on the main rail line as a big plus for its 80-acre industrial park.
                                                                                                                                      

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

Gooding, Idaho: Gateway to a Good Life, Rural Magic Valley Economic Development Association (2010).

“Idaho Territory: Alturas County,” United States Official Postal Guide, Callaghan & Company, Publishers, Chicago, by authority of the Post Office Department (January 1886).

Flagrant Voter Fraud in Idaho Territory’s First Elections [otd 10/31]

Governor Wallace. [Hawley]

On October 31, 1863, the brand new Territory of Idaho held its first elections. The Territory had been created six months earlier because of all the prospectors who rushed into the region with the discovery of gold [blog, Mar 4].

Less than a week after its creation, President Abraham Lincoln appointed William H. Wallace as the Territory’s first governor.

Born about fifteen miles north of Dayton, Ohio, Wallace took up a law career in Indiana and moved to Iowa in 1837, at the age of twenty-six. He emigrated to Washington Territory in 1853 and became heavily involved in politics there. In 1861, Wallace was elected as Washington’s Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. (Territorial Delegates have no vote on the floor, but can serve on committees and vote on issues at that level.) By then, of course, Pierce had discovered gold in what would become Idaho [blog, Oct 2].

Wallace did not arrive in Idaho until four months after his appointment. Even then, he took his time getting started. But finally, he set the election date. Aside from Montpelier, which everyone thought was part of Utah, Idaho contained the tent city of Lewiston – the Territorial capital – and a host of rough mining camps.

Idaho’s first Capitol, in Lewiston. [Hawley]

Historians Beal and Wells commented, “Idaho did not suffer from any lack of candidates for Delegate to Congress in the first territorial election.”

The list of ten or so included William H. Wallace: A return to Washington D.C. clearly appealed far more than presiding over an undeveloped and, truth be told, dangerous Territory.

With his recent experience as a Delegate, plus the visibility as Governor, Wallace soon distanced the field of Republican candidates. He received the nomination at a convention held in Mount Idaho.

During this period, large numbers of refugees and other discouraged Southerners – almost all of them Democrats – had begun to appear in Idaho. (Grant’s capture of Vicksburg in May 1863 convinced many that the Confederate cause was doomed.) Thus, people rather expected that the Democratic nominee, one John M. Cannady, would win handily.

That turned out to be a misread, for whatever reason. Some newcomers were not yet settled enough to participate in the election, and many had arrived too recently. (The Organic Act for the Territory stipulated that a man had to have been a resident when Congress passed the Act.) Wallace won with about 52 percent of the legitimate voters.

However, the election was marred by the infamous “Laramie Fraud.” Somehow the 50-100 eligible voters at Fort Laramie morphed into around 480 … almost all of whom voted for the Republican ticket. This blatant fabrication was angrily rejected by both political parties.

Oddly enough, the perpetrator – Federal Marshal Dolphus S. Payne – apparently did it to further a personal agenda; he had no particular interest in helping Wallace. Born in New York, Payne had moved to Oregon in the late 1850s before being appointed to the Idaho position. He was strongly pro-Union and aimed the fraud at a candidate for the Territorial Council. The candidate was an outspoken Secessionist, and heavily favored to win. Payne only included votes for Wallace to make the returns look legitimate

No one thought Wallace had any involvement, so opponents did not challenge his election. On the other hand, he received no encouragement two years later when he expressed a desire for a second term. Payne moved to California, opened a successful law practice, and was elected to a judgeship in Santa Clara County.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [B&W], [Hawley]

“Laramie Fraud,” Reference Series No. 154, Idaho State Historical Society.

“William Henson Wallace (1811-1879),” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, online.

Idaho Pathway to Montana, Critic and Modernist Poet Ezra Pound [otd 10/30]

On October 30, 1864, successful miners founded what they called “Crabtown,” after one of the “Four Georgians” who had discovered gold in Montana’s “Last Chance Gulch.” The town grew rapidly, and residents soon selected the more appealing name of "Helena." This continued growth in Montana played a key role in the development of eastern Idaho: All those thousands of miners needed supplies.

Early freight wagons. Library of Congress.

The best early route left the well-traveled Oregon Trail near Fort Hall and headed north. By 1864, a steady stream of freight wagon trains rumbled across East Idaho.

The rush to Montana began in July 1862, when prospectors found gold on Grasshopper Creek. Then they discovered even better fields in Alder Gulch, where Virginia City sprang into being. When that area grew over-crowded, the “Georgians” sought better prospects, which led them to Last Chance Gulch.

Prospector and freight traffic through East Idaho had surged right after the Grasshopper Creek discoveries. Customers soon backed up at ferries crossing the Snake River. One of those was the "Eagle Rock Ferry," located a few miles upstream from today's Idaho Falls.

Soon, James Madison "Matt" Taylor and some partners bought the ferry, and, in 1865, opened a toll bridge. That span became the center of the first settlement north of the Mormon colonies near the Utah border. Various records called the town "Taylor's Bridge" or "Eagle Rock" until it officially changed to Idaho Falls [blog, Dec 10].

Finally, in the period from about 1878 to 1881, the Utah & Northern Railway laid track across East Idaho and into Montana [blog, Apr 11]. The coming of the railroad immediately spurred settlement up and down the east side of Idaho.

On October 30, 1885, internationally renowned poet Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho. The family moved to the East when he was a two-year-old infant. Even so, scholars contend that stories he heard about natural resource exploitation – mining, timber, and the land itself – in Idaho and elsewhere colored his life-long views on these issues. (Pound himself supported that contention.)

Ezra Pound.
Poetry Foundation
www.poetryfoundation.org

Ezra received his college education to a Master’s degree level in New York and Pennsylvania. He had a brief stint as a college professor, but his growing “Bohemian” behavior ended that career. He moved to Europe in 1908.

His poetry and articles on literary topics brought considerable fame. Later, he also worked as an editor. By example and through direct advice, Pound exerted a profound influence on the major literary trends during the period between the World Wars. Pound biographer A. David Moody notes that he offered early encouragement to T. S. Eliot, and helped him get his work published. He provided similar help to James Joyce and a host of other writers of the period.

Having spent years in London and then three in Paris, he moved to Italy in 1924. He lived there for the next 20 years, except for a brief sojourn back in the U.S.

During World War II, Pound made a series of anti-American radio broadcasts. Arrested for treason at the end of the war but judged “mentally unfit for trial,” he spent the years until 1958 in a mental hospital. Still, his literary production continued then, and until about 1960. He died in 1972.

Despite the problems in his later years, Pound is considered a towering figure in the literary landscape of the Twentieth Century.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Brit], [B&W]

Dana Dugan, “Uncovering Ezra Pound’s Roots,” Idaho Mountain Express and Guide, Ketchum, Idaho (March 2, 2007).

Michael P. Malone, Richard B. Roeder, and William L. Lang, Montana: A History of Two Centuries, Revised Edition, University of Washington Press, Seattle (1991).

A. David Moody, Ezra Pound, Poet: The Young Genius 1885–1920, Oxford University Press (2007).

Frontier Lawman, Rancher, and Business Leader Ed Winn [otd 10/29]

Sheriff Ed Winn.
Bonneville County Historical Society.

Frontier marshal, sheriff, and businessman Ed F. Winn was born October 29, 1857, about 35 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Having learned the carpenter’s trade, Winn found work as a young man with the Union Pacific railroad. Around 1878, he joined Utah & Northern Railway crews as they laid track and built stations north across eastern Idaho.

Ed followed the rails as far as Dillon, Montana. He then returned to Eagle Rock (today’s Idaho Falls) to help with construction of railroad shops there. Probably foreseeing the growth that the shops would bring to the town, Winn quit the railroad and went into the saloon business. His ability to enforce a level of frontier “decorum” in his establishment soon attracted notice. In the early 1880s, authorities appointed him a Deputy Sheriff of Oneida County, which then comprised almost all of Eastern Idaho.

In short order, he became recognized as a man of “grit” and “chilly nerve.” His effective law enforcement efforts drew the attention of U. S. Marshal Fred T. Dubois, who made him a Deputy Marshal. Whether that appointment continued when Dubois focused on politics after 1886 is unclear, but Winn held his sheriff’s job into at least 1900.

Winn survived a number of shootouts, including several that were fatal to his opponents. In one scrape, a man named Swigart opened fire on Winn without warning, missed, but received two serious wounds in return. Ed told the Blackfoot Register (November 3, 1883) that “if he had had his own gun instead of a strange one, he would have killed Swigart."

Nor was he averse to engaging in hand-to-hand scraps. Describing his impact on the criminal element, the Illustrated History said, “He brought many to trial, many fled the country and in time Oneida county came to be a law-abiding place, and as such was gradually taken possession of by law-abiding people.”

For a number of years, Winn owned a cattle ranch, from which he supplied local butcher shops. Around 1888, he opened a grocery store near the downtown area. At one time Winn owned twenty-two acres of prime real estate, much of which he developed into businesses and homes. In several cases, he managed the design and construction himself.

Early Idaho Falls. Bonneville County Historical Society.

After a disastrous fire in 1885, the town organized a formal fire brigade and appointed Winn as its first Fire Chief. He held that position until 1902, when the fire station was moved and a new chief was appointed.

About a year before that, Ed had been appointed Idaho Falls postmaster, a position he held until 1908. (Rumors apparently suggested there were some irregularities in his management of the office, but nothing came of that.)

Winn and a partner turned up in the legal news in 1913 when records showed that their drug store had no pharmacist registered with the state. They were acquitted, however, because investigation showed that a clerk they had hired lied about being a registered pharmacist. Winn retired from an active role in the store the following year due to illness.

Poor health would plague Ed for the rest of his life. Still, despite those problems,Winn returned to law enforcement in 1918 when he was elected as a Constable for Idaho Falls. He continued in that office for over a decade.

Ed Frances Winn died in February 1935. His obituary lauded the colorful and effective role he had played in Eastern Idaho history.
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Illust-State]

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

“[Ed F. Winn News],” Idaho Falls Times, Post-Register, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot Register, Blackfoot, Idaho; Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah (November 1883 – February 1935)..

William Hathaway, Images of America: Idaho Falls, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC (2006).