Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 13

Cattleman Con Shea Drives Texas Longhorns to Owyhee Ranches [otd 09/24]

On September 24, 1870, the Owyhee Avalanche (Silver City, Idaho) published the following item: “From Texas – Con Shea, one of Owyhee's most adventurous and enterprising citizens, just got back from Texas. He and Tom Bugbee left here in March last, since that time they have purchased in Texas, and driven to within one hundred miles of Denver City, some 1300 head of cattle. Bugbee remains with the stock, which will winter on the waters of the Arkansas river. Grass is very short along the route, wh...

Lewis & Clark Return to St. Louis, First Train Arrives in Moscow [otd 09/23]

On September 23, 1806, Sergeant John Ordway wrote in his journal, “About 12 oClock we arived in site of St. Louis. Fired three rounds as we approached the Town and landed oppocit the center of the Town, the people gathred on the shore and Huzzared three cheers.”

Portraits of William Clark and Meriwether Lewis.
Independence National Historical Park, National Park Service.The Lewis and Clark Expedition had been gone from St. Louis just about 28 months. Their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase ter...

Boise Developer, and County and State Treasurer John Eagleson [otd 09/22]

Businessman and financial expert John W. Eagleson was born September 22, 1869 at Cadiz, in eastern Ohio. The family moved twice while he was a youngster, first to central Iowa and then to eastern Nebraska. After high school, he spent two years at the University of Nebraska, but then followed the family to Boise in 1891.
John Eagleson. [Hawley]
John first worked in his father’s lumber business, along with his younger brother Charles, who was still in his teens. Early-on the family took part in Boi...

"Judge" William Clagett: Mining Investor, Lawyer, and "Silver Tongued" Orator [otd 09/21]

Judge William Horace Clagett was born September 21, 1838 in Prince Georges County, Maryland, which wraps around the east side of Washington, D. C. In 1850, the family moved to Iowa. After high school, William studied at the Albany Law School in New York.

Mark Twain, 1867.
Library of Congress.In 1861, Clagett moved to Nevada and began a life-long passion for prospecting and mining investments. On one “stampede” to Humboldt County, he was in a party with the later celebrated Samuel Clements (Mark T...

Businessman, Public Servant, and Local Sports Legend Wes Deist [otd 09/20]

Wes Deist, 1960. Family photo.Sportsman and business leader Wesley W. “Wes” Deist was born September 20, 1923, in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. A committed Roman Catholic, after high school Deist entered Gonzaga University. There, he became “a standout back” on their freshman football team. However, the University dropped football after the 1941 season, so Wes transferred to the University of Idaho.

Deist lettered in football for the 1942-1943 season, but at some point he enlisted for World War II. Wes ...

Gold Prospector Julius Merrill Reaches Boise City by Wagon Train [otd 09/19]

Julius Merrill. Merrill family archives.On September 19, 1864, gold-seeker Julius Merrill wrote in his journal, “We hitched up and turned our faces toward Boise City.” They camped about four miles downriver from the city.

Born in Maine, Julius Caesar Merrill turned 24 early on the trip west. He traveled with a rather ad hoc band of gold-seekers: “At Oak Creek I was joined by Charles Carey, Henry and Stephen J. Durbin. We were to furnish and fit out a team in company. Two of them I had seen but on...

William J. McConnell: Vigilante, U.S. Marshal, Merchant, and Governor [otd 09/18]

W. J. McConnell. McConnell,
Early History of Idaho.On September 18, 1839, William J. McConnell, third governor of the state of Idaho, was born in Commerce, Michigan, about twenty-five miles northwest of Detroit. He moved to California in 1860 and engaged in mining and other work for a couple years. He spent the following year in Oregon, where he taught school and perhaps worked in a store.

McConnell followed the major gold rush into Idaho’s Boise Basin in 1863. Schooled by his experience in Califo...

Walgamott Slays Liquored-Up Gunman at Rock Creek Store [otd 09/17]

On September 17, 1877, traveling bank examiner Nathaniel Langford recorded an incident that highlighted the rather casual violence of those frontier days. Oddly enough, the surviving participant in the action chose not to connect himself with the event in the reminiscences he published later in life.
N. P. Langford, ca 1870.
Minnesota Historical Society.
Charles Walgamott came west from Iowa in August 1875, when he was seventeen years old. He joined his sister and brother-in-law, Charles Trotter, ...

Governor, U. S. Senator, and Wool-grower Frank Gooding [otd 09/16]

Idaho Senator and Governor Frank R. Gooding was born September 16, 1859 in England. He was 8 years old when his parents emigrated to the U. S. and settled in Michigan. In 1877 Frank moved to California and then, within a year or two, to Ogden, Utah. There, he worked at the Union Pacific (UP) depot.

Two factors then perhaps combined to draw him to Idaho. First, by 1879, the UP had decided to extend a branch rail line across Idaho. At about that same time, silver was discovered in the Wood River va...

Senator and Partners Found D. L. Evans Bank in Albion, Cassia County [otd 09/15]

On Thursday September 15, 1904, State Senator David Lloyd Evans convened a group of leading businessmen in Albion, Idaho. Cassia County needed a bank, and they proposed to start one in what was then the county seat.
D.L. Evans bank clerk, Albion, early 1900s.
D. L. Evans Bank.
When their intention was originally announced, the Albion Times, quoted in the Idaho Register, Idaho Falls (August 12, 1904) said, “This is an institution that is badly needed in Cassia county and no doubt it will do a good ...