Civil War Veteran, and Soda Springs Developer George W. Gorton. [otd 03/03]

Cavalry veteran and far-sighted businessman George Washington Gorton was born March 3, 1846 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He traced his lineage back to Samuel Gorton, one of the original (albeit controversial) founders of Rhode Island. His great-grandfather, Thomas Gorton, was a captain in the Rhode Island regiment that fought in the Revolutionary War battles of White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton.

George W. Gorton [Illust-State]

George’s parents moved from Rhode Island to Scranton a year or two before he was born. In the summer of 1863, Gorton, aged seventeen, joined the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment. During George’s early Civil War service, the regiment mainly scouted and raided near the coast to the east and south of Richmond, Virginia.

But then they joined the breakthrough at Petersburg in 1865. The regiment played a significant role in the cavalry pursuit that, on April 9, put troops on the Lynchburg Road west of General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. A regimental history said, “The Eleventh had the honor of opening the attack in the final battle.”

Confederate attacks soon drove the lightly-armed cavalrymen back. However, their delaying action allowed heavy formations of Union infantry to arrive, cutting off the only escape route. Lee’s formal surrender followed a few hours later.

After the war, Gorton drifted west and, in 1870, he was living in Malad City, Idaho. He had a job with the company that operated the famous Oneida Salt Works, which reputedly produced “The purest in the world!” He married in 1877 and moved to Soda Springs and, by 1880, was a supervisor at the salt works.

Gorton had taken an early interest in local politics. Thus during the 1880s, he served on the regional Grand Jury, and at various times as County Commissioner, Treasurer and Assessor. Also, in 1888, he was elected for one term in the Territorial House of Representatives. Late the following year, he was appointed a Deputy U. S. Marshal.

When he left his position with the salt company is not clear, but in 1889 he purchased the inventory and property of a defunct Soda Springs mercantile firm. The business prospered under his management and Gorton was able to broaden his real estate investments. Sadly, in late 1890, a diphtheria epidemic hit the family and four of the couple’s daughters died in a period of two weeks.

George continued his interest in local politics and again served as County Commissioner around 1893-1894.

Multi-Station Shearing Machine. Library of Congress.

Besides Gorton’s Wholesale and Retail Supply Store, and real estate, George also invested in the sheep industry. In the spring of 1896, he and a partner purchased a “sheep shearing machine,” and had it set up on a ranch north of Soda Springs. The system they bought contained twenty-five shearing stations, where the shearers used mechanical cutters powered by a central steam engine.

Before that, there had been a great deal of interest in the technology, which had been in use for many years in Australia. Various prototypes had been demonstrated around the United States, without much success. Gorton’s acquisition was certainly the first purchase of a commercial unit (made in England) in Idaho, and quite likely in this country.

Sadly, Gorton’s health began to deteriorate the following summer. His doctor suggested a “rest cure,” first in Boise and then in San Diego, California. While this “bought some time,” George passed away in San Diego in January 1899. His body was returned to Soda Springs for burial.
                                                                                 

References: [Illust-State] Samuel P. Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, Vol. III, Pennsylvania State Printer, Harrisburg (1870).

Samuel Greene Arnold, History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Applewood Books, Carlisle, Massachusetts (1859).

“[News Items for George W. Gorton],” Blackfoot Register, Blackfoot; Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho; Salt Lake Herald, Utah (July 1868 – January 1899).

Progressive Men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida Counties, Idaho, A. W. Bowen & Co., Chicago (1904).

Hatch Act of 1887 Authorizes Agricultural Experiment Stations [otd 03/02]

On March 2, 1887, the U. S. Congress approved the Hatch Act of 1887, named for William Henry Hatch, U.S. Representative from Missouri and chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture. The Act authorized grants to support agricultural experiment stations in the states. In most cases, such stations would be set up and administered by the "land grant" colleges spurred by the Morrill Act of 1862.

Agricultural experiment plots. Library of Congress.

In Idaho, leaders established an on-campus experiment station at the University of Idaho (UI) even before classes began – although several years passed before they had land for experimental plots. Professors in the new Agricultural Department offered to answer questions from farmers and ranchers across the state. People could even send in samples of insect pests from their fields, and University experts would try to recommend ways to combat the infestations.

However, an early attempt to form "substations" – and thereby qualify for more Hatch grants – failed miserably in the 1890s. Apparently, the University simply didn’t know enough about how to staff the stations with experts suited to local needs.

In 1898, they replaced that effort with a program of traveling institutes, which proved extremely useful, and popular. In little more than a decade, the team of experts and their demonstration paraphernalia required a train of six rail cars to transport them around the state.

The program benefited the presenters as well as the attendees: Traveling faculty observed first-hand those areas and agricultural products that needed more help than they could provide.

After awhile, the university made the extension service a separate adminstrative unit. Before this, the UI President not only ran the University, he was head of the College of Agriculture, which also operated the experiment station. The President recommended (Idaho Statesman, December 28, 1902) that, “the two departments should be divorced and the presidency of the university and agricultural college should not be coupled with the responsibility for the work of the agricultural station.”

With that change, and what they learned from the institute program, the University reactivated the substation system in 1906. The first of the new stations, near Caldwell, soon settled into long-term studies of irrigation techniques and tests of crop varieties suitable to Idaho’s climate and soil.

Administrators remained flexible, however; in 1914 H. T. French described a station near Gooding that no longer existed when Hawley published his History in 1920.

Potato cellar, Aberdeen Experiment Station, 1932. UI archives.

Guided by experience and changing conditions, administrators developed a policy whereby each station was designed to address specific regional farm and ranch issues. Thus, the Sandpoint Station, established in 1912, focused on crops that would grow well in the cooler, wetter climate of North Idaho. That same year, the Aberdeen Station began testing potatoes, grains, forage crops, and other plants suitable for irrigated or dry farming in that area.

The Stations also tied into truly international efforts. Hawley noted that “United States Consuls and special agents” of the U. S. Department of Agriculture had been instructed to search the world for plant varieties suited to Idaho’s high altitude and arid climate. He wrote that, “Farming is being reduced to a science and crop failures will soon become a thing of the past.”

Today, the University of Idaho maintains twelve research and extension centers spotted across the state, along with the main campus Center. Their work encompasses all areas related to farming and ranching: water use, soil conservation, animal and plant breeding, pest and disease control, animal care, and even food safety and innovation.
                                                                                 

References: [French], [Hawley]

Keith C. Petersen, The Crested Hill: An Illustrated History of the University of Idaho, University of Idaho Press, Moscow (1987).

University of Idaho Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station Home.

President Ulysses S. Grant Creates Yellowstone National Park [otd 03/01]

Geyser cone, Fire Hole Basin, 1871.
W. H. Jackson photo, Library of Congress.

On March 1, 1872, President U. S. Grant signed the bill that authorized creation of Yellowstone National Park.

As far back as 1825, American fur trappers had become familiar with the geothermal wonders of this area. It has been established, however, that "Colter's Hell" – a geothermal area first reported by Mountain Man John Colter – was east of the future Park.

In August of 1836, Mountain Man Osborne Russell [blog, Dec 20] trapped many streams feeding into Yellowstone Lake and the river. His Journal records a graphic impression of the geothermal features: “We fell into a broken tract of country which seemed to be all on fire at some distance below the surface.”

To cross one stretch, they followed an elk trail, where “Our horses sounded like travelling on a plank platform covering an imense [sic] cavity in the earth whilst the hot water and steam were spouting and hissing around us in all directions.”

One horse’s hind hoof broke through and released a jet of steam, but they otherwise crossed safely. Russell said, “The whole place was covered with a crust of Limestone of a dazzling whiteness formed by the overflowing of the boiling water.”

In 1871, Dr. Ferdinand Hayden made an extensive survey of the region. He urged William H. Clagett, Delegate to Congress from Montana Territory, to find a way to preserve the area’s wonders for future generations. Clagett, later President of Idaho’s Constitutional Convention, introduced legislation to establish Yellowstone National Park – generally considered the first national park in the world.

Stagecoach and hot springs in Yellowstone.
Photo credited at PBS.org to Milwaukee Public Museum.

Creation of the Park had an immediate impact in eastern Idaho. Within a year, a wagon road led into the western portions of the designated park area. Soon, excursion parties began shuttling into the Park, entering from Idaho or from central Montana to the north

After 1880, railroad companies began major advertising campaigns to lure tourists to the Park. Easterners could take the Northern Pacific into Montana, or ride a Union Pacific branch line to Eagle Rock (today's Idaho Falls) or the Market Lake station a few miles further north. From there, they would stage into what became the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. Excursion coaches then took them through the Park.

West Point graduate Hiram M. Chittenden (he retired as a Brigadier General) made a significant, but perhaps less-known contribution to the Park. The Army Corps of Engineers assigned him to duty there in 1891-1892 and again in 1899-1905. During those times, he oversaw construction of the road layout that is largely still in use today. His crews also laid deep beds of crushed stone to replace the old rutted dirt tracks.

UP Yellowstone Route tourist decal, ca. 1930.

Early in the Twentieth Century, the railroad extended its tracks first to Ashton, Idaho and then, in 1909, all the way to West Yellowstone. The Union Pacific, parent company for the branch line, advertised its Park excursions all over the country. The Trenton, New Jersey, Evening Times carried (May 25, 1910) a typical blurb: “A vacation outing you will never forget. Yellowstone National Park is the wonder region of America. … direct to Yellowstone Station, at the very edge of the park … ”

As automobiles grew in popularity, rail traffic declined and the lines were eventually discontinued.

Today, a substantial portion of tourists traveling the Interstates through Idaho, and stopping at its motels, list Yellowstone National Park as their destination.
                                                                                 

References: [B&W], [Brit], [Hawley]

Rae Ellen Moore, Just West of Yellowstone, Great Blue Graphics, Laclede, Idaho (© 1987, Rae Ellen Moore).

Osborne Russell, Aubrey L. Haines (Ed.), Journal of a Trapper, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln (1965).

West Yellowstone History, West Yellowstone Tourism Business Improvement District (2010).