History of Idaho

Volume I

In the fall of 1861, prospectors starting from the placer mining camp of Oro Fino, situate upon the waters of the Clearwater in what was then the eastern part of Washington Territory, and which had itself only been discovered a few months before, found rich placer gold deposits in the Florence Basin on a small tributary of the Salmon River. The news spread and the few white men who had straggled into this unknown and almost inaccessible region, soon congregated in the new camp. The deposits were not only rich in gold but seemed extensive, and the parties interested made diligent efforts to procure proper supplies to carry them over until spring. A severe winter, however, set in unusually

early and most of those who had made locations found themselves without provisions and were compelled to go to the lower country to escape starvation.

The news of the discoveries soon reached, in an exaggerated form, the scattered residents of Oregon and Washington and quickly spread over the mining sections of California, in which state the placer mines that had caused its settlement and occupied the attention of most of its residents, were fast becoming exhausted.

The miners, comprising as they then did a majority of the population of both California and Oregon, a restless class — always ready to leave an established region to share in the opportunities presented by newly discovered min- ing sections, almost unanimously prepared to go to the new Eldorado, as soon as weather conditions would permit, and commencing in the early spring of 1862, came the last of the great "Rushes" from the placer mining camps of the coast, which left the mining sections of the two states nearly depopulated.

 

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I
A GENERAL VIEW 19

CHAPTER II
ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 31

CHAPTER III
INDIAN TREATIES AND CESSIONS 41

CHAPTER IV
EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS 51

CHAPTER V
THE FUR TRADERS 63

CHAPTER VI
OVERLAND TRAILS — EMIGRATION 77

CHAPTER VII
THE OREGON DISPUTE 89

CHAPTER VIII
SETTLEMENT — DISCOVERY OF GOLD 99

CHAPTER IX
PIONEER DAYS 115

CHAPTER X
TERRITORIAL HISTORY 133

CHAPTER XI
TERRITORIAL HISTORY (Continued) 163

CHAPTER XII
ADMISSION TO THE UNION 197

CHAPTER XIII
STATE GOVERNMENT INAUGURATED 221

CHAPTER XIV
FROM STEUNENBERG TO MORRISON 239

CHAPTER XV
FROM GOODING TO BRADY 265

CHAPTER XVI
FROM HAWLEY TO DAVIS 289

CHAPTER XVII
PENAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS 315

CHAPTER XVIII
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 333

CHAPTER XIX
NEWSPAPERS OF IDAHO 363

CHAPTER XX
FINANCIAL HISTORY 383

CHAPTER XXI
EARLY TRANSPORTATION 411

CHAPTER XXII
HISTORY OF IDAHO RAILROADS 423

CHAPTER XXIII
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 439

CHAPTER XXIV
HORTICULTURAL INTERESTS 473

CHAPTER XXV
MINING AND MANUFACTURING 483

CHAPTER XXVI
TIMBER IN IDAHO 503

CHAPTER XXVII
INDIAN TROUBLES AND EARLY MILITARY HISTORY 517

CHAPTER XXVIII
TRADING AND MILITARY POSTS 551

CHAPTER XXIX
IDAHO IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 563

CHAPTER XXX
NATIONAL GUARD—WAR WITH GERMANY 575

CHAPTER XXXI
BENCH AND BAR OF IDAHO 585

CHAPTER XXXII
THE COUNTIES OF IDAHO 601

CHAPTER XXXIII
COUNTY HISTORY, CONTINUED 645

CHAPTER XXXIV
THE CITY OF BOISE 687

CHAPTER XXXV
CITIES AND TOWNS 715

CHAPTER XXXVI
INCORPORATED VILLAGES 769

CHAPTER XXXVII
HEALTH AND PLEASURE RESORTS 801

CHAPTER XXXVIII
RELIGIOUS PROGRESS IN IDAHO 823

CHAPTER XXXIX
FRATERNAL AND CIVIC SOCIETIES 845

CHAPTER XL
MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY 855

CHAPTER XLI
STATISTICAL REVIEW 867

CHAPTER XLII
CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY 875

 

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VOLUME II

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VOLUME III

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HON. JAMES H. HAWLEY.

Hon. James H. Hawley, Idaho pioneer in many parts of the state, a distinguished member of the bar, governor from 1910 until 1912, his record has ever been such as has reflected credit and honor upon the state that has honored him. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, January 17, 1847, he is a son of Thomas and Annie (Carr) Hawley, who were natives of Brooklyn and of Cooperstown, New York, respectively. In the paternal line he comes of English ancestry with an Irish strain, while on the distaff side he is of Irish, Holland and English lineage. One of his great-grandfathers in the maternal line was a soldier of the war of the Revolution, while his grandfather was a soldier of the War of 1812. Mr. Hawley's mother died when he was an infant, and his father went to California in 1849, leaving the boy with relatives. His father resided in California until 1856, when he removed to Texas and lived there until his death a number of years later.