Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 123

Businessman, Attorney, and Idaho Legislator Lorenzo Thomas [otd 05/31]

Lorenzo Thomas. Family archives.Idaho legislator, attorney, and businessman Lorenzo R. Thomas was born May 31, 1870 in Staffordshire, England. The family moved to the United States three years later and settled in Salt Lake City.  Then, in 1882, they moved to Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls), Idaho. As a teenager, Lorenzo went on a mission for the LDS church in England.

Upon his return, he began work in a store in Eagle Rock (the town name changed not too long after that). Thomas showed imme...

U. S. Assay Office Added to National Register of Historic Places [otd 05/30]

On May 30, 1961, the old U. S. Assay Office in Boise took its deserved place on the National Register of Historic Places.

After the discoveries of 1862, gold – dust, nuggets, and quartz ore – poured out of the mountainous Boise Basin region (east of Boise City). Large amounts of silver from Owyhee County, and elsewhere, soon followed. Gold dust immediately became a preferred medium of exchange, as it always did in gold country. The metal has intrinsic value, of course, and can be doled out in...

Miners Extract Much Gold from Boise Basin, Elk City Ditches

On May 29, 1863, the Evening Bulletin in San Francisco, California published a report from the Boise Basin, specifically Placerville and Bannock City (soon to be Idaho City). They said, “Gold is now being taken out of the mines in large quantities.”

One man from Oregon had, after working through the winter and spring, “brought out 53 pounds of dust.” Another miner “came out at the same time with 39 pounds of dust.” At that time, the Oregon man’s gold would have been worth $12-14 thousand … ove...

Political Operative, U. S. Senator, and Public Servant Fred Dubois [otd 05/29]

Senator Dubois. Library of Congress.Idaho Senator and political operative Fred Thomas Dubois was born May 29, 1851 in Illinois. Dubois graduated from Yale in 1872, then worked in a Chicago dry-goods store for about three years.

More inclined toward politics and public service, DuBois wrangled an appointment to a low-level Illinois administrative post. He resigned a year later, shortly before the death of his father, a prominent Illinois politician.

He kept himself busy until 1880, when his bro...

Western Film Maker and Adventure Writer Oliver Drake [otd 05/28]

Prolific writer, producer, and director Clarence Oliver Drake was born May 28, 1903 in Boise. While not especially “wild” by that time, Idaho retained much of its Western character: Cowboys rode the range on horseback, and most packed a gun. Stagecoaches still linked outlying towns.
Stage headed for Boise, 1908. Elmore County Historical Research Team.
Oliver reportedly left “the city” at an early age to work on a ranch. However, by 1920, he was picking lemons near Chula Vista, California....

Reported Indian War in Idaho is a “Humbug” ... but be Careful Anyway

On May 27, 1863, the Deseret News, in Salt Lake City, published an item based on an interview with expressman Aaron H. Conover. He had brought in mail from Bannack City, on Grasshopper Creek. Conover asserted that “the Idaho Indian war, reported by the messenger who was sent to Gen. Connor for assistance was a humbug, invented by gamblers for their special benefit.”

He did not explain how phony news of an Indian war would benefit the gamblers. But, in fact, the News reported, “All was peace th...

Snake Indians Defeat U. S. Army at Battle of Three Forks [otd 05/27]

The afternoon of May 27, 1866, a force of white infantry and cavalry encountered a band of about 500 “Snake” (Shoshone-Bannock-Paiute) Indians at the Three Forks of the Owyhee River. Major Louis H. Marshall had led the U. S. Army Regular infantry out of Boise Barracks in an attempt to “pacify” the tribes. Indian attacks on outlying ranches and passing stagecoaches had intensified as prospectors and ranchers poured into the Owyhee area.
Three Forks of the Owyhee.
Photo posted on flickr.com by L...

Idaho Territory Reduced in Size to Create Montana [otd 05/26]

On May 26, 1864, the U. S. Congress passed legislation that reduced the previously-massive Idaho Territory by creating Montana Territory and splitting off most of future Wyoming. President Lincoln signed the bill two days later. By this action, they solved one of the major problems with the original structure of Idaho Territory.
Original Idaho Territory.
Adapted from J. H. Hawley with future borders tinted in color.
When Congress created Idaho Territory in 1863 [blog, Mar 4], it encompassed toda...

Mining Prospects in the Boise Basin are Depopulating Oregon Gold Camps

On May 25, 1863, an “Occasional Correspondent” in Auburn, Oregon wrote a letter to the Evening Bulletin in San Francisco, California. Auburn was a short-lived gold town located about eight miles southwest of today’s Baker City. (Founded in the spring of 1862, the town boomed to over five thousand people, but had dwindled to a couple hundred by the end of 1864).

The writer noted that men along the Pacific Coast were “rushing to Boise, and fast developing the mineral resources of the new Territ...

Boise Veterinarian, Horse Breeder and State Veterinary Surgeon George Noble [otd 05/25]

Dr. George Edward Noble, Idaho’s first State Veterinarian, was born May 25, 1868 in Nashua, Iowa. (Nashua is about 100 miles west and a bit north of Dubuque.) There are conflicting accounts of his early education, but as a youth he apparently completed a business program at Upper Iowa University (in Fayette, a tiny town about sixty miles northwest of Dubuque).
Vet students learn about horses. Kansas State University Archives.
After “nine terms” of teaching school, George began studies at t...