Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 131

Americans and British-Canadian Fur Trappers Meet Along Portneuf River [otd 04/09]

Peter Skene Ogden.
Oregon Historical Society.On April 9, 1826, Peter Skene Ogden, for whom the Ogden River is named, wrote in his journal, "About 10 a.m. we were surprised by the arrival of a party of Americans and some of our deserters of last year, 28 in all."

Ogden led the Snake Brigade, a band of trappers and support personnel working for the British-Canadian Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) [blog, Jan 1]. The column had left Fort Nez Perces (later Walla Walla, Washington) in November 1825 to tr...

Physician, Drug Store Owner, and Rancher John Plumer [otd 04/08]

Dr. John J. Plumer, a pioneer physician in De Lamar and then Hailey, Idaho, was born April 8, 1860 in Edina, a rural corner of Missouri about 150 miles northwest of St. Louis. John received his pre-college education in a small town in Iowa, about fifty miles north of Edina. He then attended Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio. (After multiple mergers, the institution became today’s College of Medicine of The Ohio State University.) John received an M.D. degree in 1882.

For a couple year...

Roving Reporter: Travel Costs High and Winter Impedes the Gold Rush

On April 7, 1863, Correspondent “Rover,” wrote a long letter from Lewiston after arriving there from Portland, Oregon. First, he complained about the cost: “Total expense from Portland to Lewiston, $65.50.” He had good reason to squawk, since that was over a month’s pay for a skilled working man.

Yet in their rush, gold seekers spent as little time as possible in Portland. There, Rover said, “The merchants have large stocks of goods on hand, for which they have no customers.” On the other hand...

School Superintendent and Probate Judge Thomas Jeffreys [otd 04/07]

Judge Jeffreys. Illustrated History.Thomas M. Jeffreys, Probate Judge and Washington County Superintendent of Public Instruction, was born April 7, 1852 in Yamhill County, Oregon. The family had moved there from Missouri in 1845. Three years later, after the U. S. and Great Britain resolved the status of the “Oregon Country” [blog, June 15], Congress created Oregon Territory.

Attracted by opportunities in Idaho, his father Woodson took up land along the Weiser River in 1864. Woodson soon persu...

Investor and Mining Millionaire Amasa Campbell [otd 04/06]

Amasa Campbell. Illustrated History.Mining investor and executive Amasa B. Campbell was born April 6, 1845 in Salem, Ohio, about twenty miles southwest of Youngstown. In 1862, he took a clerk’s job at a firm engaged in grain and wool commission trading. After five years there, he worked two or three years in the west for the Union Pacific Railway.

During this period, Amasa developed an interest in Western mining prospects. For over a decade after 1871, he followed the industry in Utah, Colora...

Aircraft Carrier Boss and Decorated Naval Hero Dixie Kiefer [otd 04/05]

Captain Dixie Kiefer.
U. S. Navy photo.U. S. Navy Commodore Dixie Kiefer, winner of the Navy Cross and other medals, was born April 5, 1896 in Blackfoot, Idaho. The family moved around while Dixie was young: The 1900 Census shows the family in Spokane. In 1910, his widowed mother Christena was listed as head of the household, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

It was from there that Dixie received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. He graduated from the Academy in 1918. Kiefer first serv...

T. F. McElroy, Territorial Revenue Collector, arrives in Lewiston

A correspondent to the San Francisco Bulletin observed that, on Saturday, April 4, 1863, “The U. S. Revenue Collector for this region, T. F. McElroy, arrived here on Saturday, and entered upon his duties of taking “notes” – legal tender notes – in exchange for licenses … ”

At this point, the new Idaho Territory had no government, so Washington Territory retained responsibility for collecting license fees from merchants, saloon keepers, professional offices (doctors and lawyers), and other busi...

Steamer Accident Kills Five on the Coeur d Alene River [otd 04/04]

On April 4, 1887, the steamer Spokane pulled away from the dock at Kingston, Idaho. (That's about seven miles west of Kellogg.) The little boat chugged along the winding course of the Coeur d'Alene River. The Spokane had been built in 1882 for trade on the Snake River below Lewiston. Several transfers later, she was operating as an excursion steamer on Lake Pend Oreille. In 1887, a new owner moved the boat south to Lake Coeur d'Alene and modified it to handle freight as well as passengers.
Sma...

Spud Farmer, Expert, and Booster Joe Marshall – Idaho® Potato King [otd 04/03]

Joe Marshall. Beal & Wells photo.Joseph P. Marshall, who did more than any other one person to improve and popularize the Idaho® potato, was born April 3, 1874 in Versailles, Ohio, about thirty miles northwest of Dayton. He moved west to Montana in 1892 and went to work at a stock ranch north of Billings. Over a period of years, he taught himself civil engineering as it related to canal building and irrigations systems.

 While shuttling between projects in Montana, North Dakota, and T...

Sheepman Hugh Fleming Found Dead. Killed by Cattlemen? [otd 04/02]

On April 2, 1894, riders on the range near American Falls, Idaho discovered the body of sheepman Hugh Fleming. The unarmed herder had been shot four times. Suspicion instantly fell on local cattlemen, who had threatened Hugh and his brother John on numerous occasions.
Western sheep herding. Library of Congress.
The dispute centered largely on the use of the public lands in Idaho, as it did in other Western states. Sheep came early to Idaho, arriving in 1860 with the first Mormon colonies along...