Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 122

Steamboat Competition Squelched on the Columbia and Snake Rivers

The San Francisco Evening Bulletin received a story, dated June 6, 1863, from “Our Own Correspondent” in Portland for publication in the newspaper. He began, “All the world knows that during this summer there has been a very lively steamboat opposition between here and Lewiston, and the points intermediate.”

The correspondent did not sign himself as “Rover,” the one who had submitted items from Lewiston to the Bulletin on April 12 and May 24. But Rover had, indeed, made a point of mentioning t...

Weiser Stockman and Irrigation Developer Thomas Galloway [otd 06/06]

Tom Galloway. Illustrated History.Weiser pioneer Thomas C. Galloway was born June 6, 1837 in Iowa County, Wisconsin. He was a teenager when the family emigrated along the Oregon Trail to Yamhill County, Oregon in 1852. Tom pursued a variety of jobs, including some time as a teacher, before leading pack trains into the British Canadian gold fields.

In 1863, Galloway packed supplies into the Boise Basin, then stayed to work in the gold fields. The following year, he and Woodson Jeffreys settled...

U. S. Army Shifts More Troops into Idaho Territory

On June 5, 1863, The Oregonian reported on activities in Walla Walla, Washington: “Major Truax has been ordered to Lapwai – probably to take command of the post there. It is thought that Col. Steinberger will be returned to the command of Fort Walla Walla.”

Sewall Truax was born in 1830, in southern Quebec, Canada to parents who were U. S. citizens. He grew up near Saint Albans, Vermont, perhaps 20-30 miles south of where he was born. Educated as an engineer at Norwich University in Vermont, h...

Eleven Dead, Millions in Damages Due to Teton Dam Failure [otd 06/05]

On the morning of Saturday, June 5, 1976, observers noticed a major leak in the north abutment of the Teton Dam. This came after two days of increasing seepage. Within about three hours, a whirlpool in the reservoir behind the structure signaled that a substantial flow was undermining the dam.
Spillway of intact dam. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Located on the Teton River 13-14 miles northeast of Rexburg, Idaho, the structure was the culmination of over forty years of speculation, and then plann...

Pettigrew Amendment Clarifies Forest Reserves Management [otd 06/04]

Senator Pettigrew. Library of Congress.On June 4, 1897, President William McKinley signed a "Sundry Civil Appropriations" bill, which included an amendment crucial to the development of our national forests.

The "Pettigrew Amendment" – for South Dakota Senator Richard F. Pettigrew – addressed issues that had rendered previous forest legislation "ineffectual and annoying."

Initially, the Federal government saw the public lands as simply a source of revenue. The General Land Office sold them off...

General Connor, Soda Springs, and Franklin, Idaho

On June 3, 1863, a correspondent for the Evening Bulletin in San Francisco wrote an article after arriving in Salt Lake City. He had traveled with General Patrick Connor’s Army column into Idaho Territory and back. As noted for April 29, Connor had established a military post near Soda Springs, as well as a Morrisite settlement there.

Leaving a company of California Volunteer infantry as garrison, Connor had then marched south along the Bear River. The correspondent said, “Proceeding southward...

Army Doctor M. W. Wood and Spotted Fever Research [otd 06/03]

Marshall Wood. U. S. Army archives.Lieutenant Colonel Marshall William Wood, Army Medical Corps, was born June 3, 1846, in Watertown, New York, about sixty miles north of Syracuse. He enlisted as an Army Private in late 1864 and was twice wounded in Civil War action.

After his discharge in the summer of 1865, Wood found a position as a medical assistant at a retired solders home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, he began his medical studies in a physician’s office.

In 1870, he re-enlisted in the...

Boise Replaces Volunteer Fire Department with Professional Firefighters [otd 06/02]

On June 2, 1902, Boise’s volunteer fire crew disbanded and fire protection became the responsibility of the new professional Boise Fire Department.
Early Boise Fire Station. Boise Fire Dept.
Boise City “survived” without an organized fire brigade for quite a long time, considering the threat. As in every other early town, pioneers built almost all their structures out of wooden logs and rough-sawn lumber. It was not like they did not see the risk. They knew that Idaho City had almost been wipe...

High Wages in the Mines of Idaho

The June 1, 1863 issue of the New York Post published a brief item: “Laborers’ wages in Idaho territory are eight dollars per day.”

At that time, non-farm laborers in the East earned less than $1.50 a day. Farm laborers did well to make 50¢ a day, although they usually got meals as part of the deal. One can easily see why men might be tempted to head for the gold fields. Of course, those wages seemed much less generous when common food items, like bacon and bread, might cost four to ten times...

Water Starts Flowing Through Egin Bench Irrigation Canal [otd 06/01]

On June 1, 1883, water flowed from a pioneer canal onto Egin Bench farmland. The Bench bends for about 12-14 miles along the west side of Henry’s Fork, some 25 to 35 miles north of today’s Idaho Falls.
Egin Bench farmland near Henry’s Fork.
The first settlers arrived on the bench during the summer of 1879, shortly after Utah & Northern Railway tracks reached Eagle Rock (today’s Idaho Falls). While they saw potential there, they had to be content at first with cutting hay and raising stock....