Boise Basin: Rivals Claims and Future Litigation, No Place for Families

On June 23, 1863, correspondent Hal wrote yet another letter to The Oregonian, as he had done on the 7th and the 21st. He said, “The singular energy displayed by the miners in this part of the country, in the matter of taking up and recording claims, is one of the wonders of the age. The same amount of enterprise applied to the working of the claims would assuredly make a fortune for all concerned.”

In fact, he said, some ground had been claimed several times. To explain, he went on, “In all the districts of these mines, a man may hold a hill claim, a gulch claim, a bar claim, and a creek claim. The size of claims varies in different districts; but in any one of them a miner may take up enough ground to make a small farm.”

However, the miner had to work the claim at least once a week, or someone else could “jump” it. In theory, he could forestall this by recording the claim and posting a certificate at the claim itself. But a newcomer comes along and “thinks there is a flaw in the manner of taking up a claim; and he at once jumps the claim, and goes through the same routine of claiming, recording and posting.”

Then both of them might rush off to investigate the latest so-called bonanza, leaving the ground deserted and the certificate exposed to wind and weather. Obviously this could happen multiple times. Eventually, who owned what would have to be settled in court.

Hal then briefly listed travel distances to the new Owyhee mines, and said, “There is nothing definite in regard to the extent of the discoveries, and there are many conflicting stories about their richness.”

Hal closed with some observations on the “Prospect for Families Coming to Boise.” In his opinion, “This is no place at present for respectable women.”

He then offered contrasting images in graphic detail. On one side of the street he had seen a hard-working, “honest woman,” who was “clothed in garments of mean quality, faded and tattered.” At the same time, a woman of another sort passed. She was “bespangled with jewelry, and flounced to the waist in garments of great cost.”

Yet respectable women still came. He went on, “Coming in from a prospecting tour by an unfrequented trail, I met a man and his wife who were bound for Bannock. Both were afoot, and their baggage was packed on a single pony.”

Miner and Wife. Colorado State Historical Society.

Apparently everything they owned – little as it was – was on the pony. After a brief conversation, the two struggled on. Hal said he had been “penetrated to the heart with a sentiment of respect for womankind, of which I had no consciousness before. For there can be nothing more affecting than a wife’s devotion to a man in poverty and hardship.”

References: “Letter from Boise Mines,” The Oregonian, Portland (July 9, 1863).
Merle W. Wells, Gold Camps & Silver Cities: Nineteenth Century Mining in Central and Southern Idaho, 2nd Edition,  Bulletin 22, Idaho Department of Lands, Bureau of Mines and Geology, Moscow, Idaho (1983).

Accounts of Owyhee Discoveries Reach Boise Basin, Set Off Crazed Rush

Correspondent “Hal” wrote another letter from Placerville to The Oregonian on June 21, 1863. (He had written earlier, on June 7th.)  He said, “Several individuals came in, a week or two ago, from the Owyhee; reporting that they belonged to a party of men who had been prospecting on the tributaries of that stream for several weeks.”

Hal, of course, was referring to the prospectors who had found gold on Jordan Creek, in the Owyhee Mountains, on May 18. The reaction was, he swore, “a kind of special insanity.” As a result, “Twenty-five hundred men have distractedly rushed off … with packs on their backs, afoot; with packs on horses, a-horseback; with their picks, shovels and pans, and a very limited supply of grub."

The problem, as he saw it, was that the news of good, but not spectacular, returns “rapidly grew to the dimensions of six bits to two dollars to [the] pan.” Consequently, “Boise stock came down like the mercury of a thermometer when placed in refrigerator, and owners of five thousand dollar claims looked as if they would like to take about half that money – voting themselves as the unluckiest of men because they could not go to Owyhee.”

Jordan Creek, Owyhee Mountains

Fortunately, the madness soon passed: “lasting about forty-eight hours, and then subsiding.” Now, he went on, “Many think that a beggarly six dollars a day is better than rushing off to the new diggings.”

Hal then turned back to matter in the Boise mines. He said, “There are many gold and silver-bearing lodes of quartz in this vicinity, of unsurpassed richness.”

His words reinforced the news that the Basin did indeed contain important lode mines along with its rich placer diggings. He continued, “Over in the forks of Boise veins have been discovered, fully equalling the lodes at Washoe.”

Here, Hal refers to finds along tributaries of the South Boise, mentioned earlier on May 5 and May 9. “Washoe” was how accounts of the day referred to Nevada’s fabulous “Comstock Lode,” perhaps the most famous silver mining site in the West, if not the world. While the South Boise mines never approached the Comstock in richness, they would prove to be very good indeed.

In Placerville, Hal said, “Provisions are none too plenty, and many articles are not to be had. Prices range high for everything but flour and bacon, which are at living rates.”

He expressed mixed feelings about the mining season itself: “The immigrants for the present year will find extensive and unoccupied gold discoveries awaiting their arrival. … Yet I do not anticipate any great increase of the gold product until the coming year; as the water to work the mines will become scarce as the season advances.”

References: [Brit]
“Letter from Boise Mines,” The Oregonian, Portland (July 8, 1863).

Eagle Rock Ferry Across the Snake Opens for Business

On June 20, 1863, a new ferry north of today’s Idaho Falls carried its first load of wagons and stock across the Snake River. The ferry had been built by William Hickman and Harry Rickard. Hickman took the lead on construction while Rickard scouted the best route to reach their crossing from the south. (Records also give the name as “Rickards,” “Rickets,” “Rickett,” and other variations.)

In the summer of 1862, prospectors discovered gold along Grasshopper Creek, about twenty miles west of today’s Dillon, Montana (then part of Idaho Territory, of course). That set off a rush into the area, and Bannack City was founded on the creek. Because the camp was east of the Continental Divide, newcomers generally came from that side, rather than from the Pacific Coast. One of the best routes for supplies, and newcomers, departed the Oregon Trail near Soda Springs and headed north.

The following spring, even richer discoveries in Alder Gulch strengthened the rush. At some point, the wagons – many with freight, plus some emigrants – had to cross the Snake River. By May 1863, Jacob Meeks and John P. Gibson had established a ferry near the mouth of the Blackfoot River.

Trains could also use Flathead Crossing, a ford about forty miles further up the river. But high water virtually closed the ford, and even moderate flow made it unsafe.

We know very little about Rickard or Hickman beyond their involvement with the ferry. They appear to have been freighters themselves, and saw opportunity at the spot. They began building their vessel and rig near the ford in late May. Eagles nesting on a lava rock island downstream from the crossing provided a name: Eagle Rock Ferry.

Rope Ferry Illustration. National Archives.

By the time the ferry was ready, some 230 emigrants and freighters had backed up at the crossing. About two hundred of them made it across when the ferry opened on the 20th.

Rickard and Hickman operated the ferry for about a year. They then sold out to freighter James Madison “Matt” Taylor and two partners who had formed the Oneida Road, Bridge, and Ferry Company. That company received a legal franchise for both the ferry and a bridge when the Territorial Legislature met in December 1864.

The following summer, the company built a toll bridge where the river narrowed, about nine miles below the ferry crossing. Later, pioneer writers called the settlement that grew up there Taylor’s Bridge or Eagle Rock. After Taylor sold his share to a partner in 1872, the Eagle Rock name prevailed. That was formally changed to Idaho Falls in 1891.

References: [Illust-State]
Barzilla W. Clark, Bonneville County in the Making, Self-published, Idaho Falls, Idaho (1941).
“Eagle Rock Ferry,” Reference Series No. 71, Idaho State Historical Society (1982).

War News: Union Army About to Attack in Tennessee, Lee Invades the North

The New York Herald published many dispatches for June 18, 1863 collected from various war zones. One from Murfreesboro, Tennessee said, “General Bragg has undoubtedly received reinforcements of three brigades, viz: Bates’, Clayton’s and Churchill’s. … Bragg now has eighteen brigades of infantry and cavalry. There are indications that, in cooperation with Buckner at Knoxville, he is about to assume the offensive, and invade Kentucky, striking at about Monticello or Carthage, in East Tennessee."

Confederate General Braxton Bragg did receive reinforcements at this time, but it is by no means clear he seriously intended to invade Kentucky. Meanwhile, he and Union General William Rosecrans had been basically “shadow-boxing” since the Battle of Stones River, near Murfreesboro, which had ended on January 2nd.

The U. S. Army high command, and President Lincoln, had been urging Rosecrans to go on the offensive to keep Bragg from releasing units that might help relieve General Grant’s siege of Vicksburg. Rosecrans had chosen to firm up his supply base, and to train and strengthen his army. That was especially true for his cavalry arm, which was badly outnumbered by the Confederates.

The dispatch published in the Herald went on, “Buckner has a large force, and is speedily organizing for offensive operations.”

General William Rosecrans.
Library of Congress.

Ironically, while these dispatches suggested that Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland would soon find itself on the defensive, the general had decided his army was ready to move. Less than a week later, Rosecrans began an advance that would, at small cost, virtually eliminate Confederate forces from central Tennessee. This despite continued heavy rain that severely hampered offensive movement.

Another dispatch on June 18th, published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, offered much more ominous news: “There is now no doubt that Lee has a large army, with about one-third of it occupying the country in the vicinity of Winchester and Martinsburg. The loss of Winchester laid open the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania to invasion, and justifies the promptest measures to increase our army.”

The presence of these Confederate troops did indeed open Pennsylvania to invasion and, little over three weeks later, resulted in the bloody Battle of Gettysburg.

References: “Important from Tennessee,” New York Herald, New York city (June 19, 1863).
William Mathias Lamers, The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge (1999)
“Telegraphic News: Rebels Evacuated Chambersburg,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio (June 18, 1863).

Florence Miners Doing Well and Feeling Optimistic

On June 13, 1863, The Oregonian reported that, “We were permitted yesterday to read a letter from Florence, written by an entirely reliable gentleman there, who says that the prospects of the miners in that vicinity are highly encouraging and even brilliant.”

With so many prospectors drawn out of the area by other rushes, those who remained around Florence could take their time searching. They continued to find good to excellent gold placers for the rest of the season. The item went on, “Wages were high; men would not work for less than $150 per month, and there was a spirit of confidence in the mining resources of the region far beyond what has heretofore been entertained.”

However, although the writer might have been “reliable,” his judgement of the region’s potential fell short. While output continued for a number of years, the mines were mostly small. Many passed into the hands of Chinese miners, who patiently worked claims that whites had no interest in.

But the end of summer, only a few hundred people remained in and around Florence. Most of the rest had moved on to Boise Basin. One of those who did was a young man (boy, really) named James Henry Hawley. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1847, Hawley lost his mother as an infant and grew up with his maternal uncle. The family moved to California in 1861.

Although he was supposed to stay in school, gold excitement drew him to Florence in the spring of 1862. He worked there through the season, wintered at The Dalles, and went to the Boise Basin in May 1863. Jobs in and around Placerville provided enough of a stake so he and two partners could purchase placer claims of their own.

J. H. Hawley. [Illust-State]

In 1864, Hawley returned to California. With a diversion to “knock around” the Orient, James finally returned to Idaho, where he completed his education in law. Over the next few years, he served in both branches of the Territorial legislature, on the Boise County Commission, and as a Territorial District Attorney.

He moved permanently to Boise City in 1891-1892.  By then, he was one of the best known lawyers in the new state of Idaho. A biographer later asserted that Hawley had acted on one side or the other of “more murder cases than any other member of the bar in the United States.”

Hawley was elected Boise mayor in 1902, and Idaho Governor in 1910. His four-volume History of Idaho was published in 1920. He passed away in August 1929.

References: [Hawley], [Illust-State]
“Items from the North,” Evening Bulletin, San Francisco, California (June 20, 1863)

Twin Falls County Sheriff Howard Van Ausdeln [otd 6/13]

Twin Falls County Sheriff Howard C. Van Ausdeln was born June 13, 1868 in Crawford County, Kansas, in the southeast corner of the state. He farmed and ran stock in Kansas until he was about thirty years old, when he moved to Utah.

H. C. Van Ausdeln. H. T. French photo.

Howard acquired a ranch in the Bear River Valley near the town of Garland. He also engaged in real estate and ran a meat market in town. For a time, Van Ausdeln served as a Justice of the Peace.

In 1903, about the time construction started on Milner Dam, Van Ausdeln began to consider prospects in Idaho. Three years later, and a year after Twin Falls got train service, he decided to make the move. He sold off his holdings in Utah and moved his family to the new town of Filer, about seven miles west of Twin Falls. Howard invested heavily in land around the area as well as in Twin Falls.

In addition to irrigated farm land, Van Ausdeln bought a ranch nearby and soon began shipping large consignments of cattle and other stock from the railroad station at Filer. He also raised grain, which he fed to his stock. It's possible that he also shipped a surplus to outside markets.

In 1907, the state legislature created Twin Falls County, with “Twin” as the county seat. Three years later, Van Ausdeln became the third sheriff of Twin Falls County. He was the second elected sheriff, the first having been appointed. Howard ran for the office when the previous sheriff chose to run for County Assessor.

Although Howard had no law enforcement experience, his business skills helped the department expand along with the explosive growth of the town and county. Under his direction, "the department became one of the most efficient in the state of Idaho," and he was elected for a second term.

Howard had been a member of the Filer School Board, but resigned when he was elected sheriff. He then moved his family into Twin Falls, where he had growing commercial investments. He continued to operate the Filer ranch and was also partner in some property in the foothills southeast of Hollister.

In January 1921, Van Ausdeln returned to law enforcement as a Deputy to the elected Twin Falls County Sheriff. He spent most of his time cracking down on moonshiners and bootleggers trying to evade Prohibition. Month after month, the newspapers displayed headlines about raids all around the county.

During his time as Deputy, Howard observed the 1921 extradition, trial, and murder conviction of serial poisoner “Lady Bluebeard,” Lyda (Trueblood) Southard [blog, Sept 25].

Train serving Twin Falls area. Twin Falls Public Library.

In September 1922, Nevada officials requested Van Ausdeln’s help in tracking murder suspect Sylva Van Eaton. Van Eaton had shot his ex-girlfriend to death after she spurned him. He also severely wounded her mother, who was trying to protect the girl. The shooter first escaped into the rugged country along the border near today’s Jackpot, Nevada. A week later, he appeared near Rock Creek, Idaho.

Finally, authorities found a suicide note and evidence that suggested he had drowned himself in the Salmon Falls Reservoir. His body was never recovered, however, and some locals believed he had perpetrated a scam and successfully fled the country. Soon after, Howard returned to private life.

Early in 1933, Howard suffered a bad bout of the flu. He never fully recovered and passed away in a Los Angeles hospital in June 1933.
                                                                                 

References: [French]

“Former Sheriff Dies,” The Buhl Herald, June 6, 1933.

Jim Gentry, In the Middle and On the Edge, College of Southern Idaho (2003).

“History of the Twin Falls County Sheriff,” Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office.

Boise Basin Mines Thriving, but Water Becoming a Problem

On Jun 10, 1863, a miner wrote a letter from Placerville, from which portions were later extracted for publication in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. The writer began, “Plenty of gold; it beats California in 1849. Gold is taken out by the pound, and new discoveries are made every day.”

One claim went on the market on a Saturday for $4 thousand, with no takers. Then, the following Tuesday, “The owners took therefrom 11 pounds in one day’s work.” They were apparently then offered $15 thousand for their property and (naturally) turned it down.

But the mining riches came with a downside: “Building lots are very high, as is also building material; single boards cost from $3.25 to $4. I have bought a building for $1,200, and it will cost $600 or $700 more to finish it.”

The writer also said, “Living here is expensive: meals $1.25 or $16 per week, and one don’t get anything extra at that, the reason being there is nothing in the market.”

Tools and equipment were also costly. Yet, even so, “Everyone is making money, and if it were not for the scarcity of water, gold would be as plentiful as dirt, so rich are the diggings. The water failed about two weeks since and many that had the best claims were obliged to suspend.”

As noted earlier, this was a continuing problem for claims in the Grimes Creek watershed. Weather most often approaches this area from the southwest. The high Boise Ridge, including 66-hundred-foot Gardiner Peak, creates something of a “rain (snow) shadow” in that part of the Basin.

The writer continued, “On account of the scarcity of water, many have gone to Bannock City, which is 14 miles from here, with a good wagon road … In consequence of the failure of water in one or two ditches, the place has lost considerable trade, and Bannock City has the benefit of it, as they have plenty of water there and good rich diggings. It is reported to be very lively at Bannock City, and to-morrow I leave for there.”

He then made a statement that is somewhat puzzling: “There has sprung up, also, a new place about eight miles from here, said to be ‘A No. 1.’ Rich diggings have been struck, and it promises to be a rival of Bannock City.”

Hydraulic Giant Threatens to Undercut a Town. Idaho City Historical Foundation.

Perhaps he referred to a camp that was washed away by subsequent large-scale hydraulic mining, which used giant water jets. Or, even later, powered gold dredges wiped out many smaller towns with their huge buckets.

Reference: “Later from the North,” Evening Bulletin, San Francisco (June 29, 1863).
Merle W. Wells, Gold Camps & Silver Cities: Nineteenth Century Mining in Central and Southern Idaho, 2nd Edition,  Bulletin 22, Idaho Department of Lands, Bureau of Mines and Geology, Moscow, Idaho (1983).