Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 150

British and American Fur Trappers Meet Near (the Future) Carey, Idaho [otd 10/10]

On October 10, 1830, a party of trappers working for the American Fur Company met the bulk of the “Snake Brigade” – trappers and camp keepers of the British-Canadian Hudson’s Bay Company. The encounter apparently took place on the Little Lost River, west of the lava flows and probably not too far from today’s Carey. (One must account for travel time estimates and reconcile different geographical names to locate the probable meeting place.)
HBC Leader John Work.
British Canadian Archives.
Such en...

Kitty Wilkins, Horse Queen of Idaho and North American Supplier [otd 10/9]

On October 9, 1936, the Idaho Statesman announced that “Kittie” Wilkins had died the day before at her home in Glenns Ferry. The Statesman then reminded its readers of her place in Idaho history, when newspapers celebrated Wilkins as the “Horse Queen of Idaho” and the “Queen of Diamonds.”
Kitty Wilkins. Elmore County Historical Research Team.
Katherine “Kitty” Wilkins was born in the Rogue River area of Oregon, in 1857. The family moved around a great deal after about 1861 – with stops in Flore...

Guy Bowerman: Bank Organizer and Investor, and Banking Official [otd 10/8]

East Idaho banker Guy Emerson Bowerman was born October 8, 1866, in Coldwater, Michigan, about forty miles south of Lansing. Armed with just a public school education, Bowerman found bank employment in Dell Rapids, South Dakota (about 20 miles north of Sioux Falls). For fifteen years, he advanced into higher and higher positions at the bank.
St. Anthony in 1907. Vintage postcard.
Then, in 1899, Bowerman moved to St. Anthony, Idaho, the county seat of Fremont County. There, he and some partners...

Classes Start at College of Idaho, Boise Basin Gold Towns [otd 10/7]

On October 7, 1891, classes began at the new College of Idaho in Caldwell. The Presbyterian Church's Wood River Presbytery began discussing the idea of an Idaho college in 1884. Leaders canvassed the membership and found a considerable groundswell of interest. That interest grew, so in 1889 the Presbytery asked the Reverend William Judson Boone [blog, Nov 5] to explore the idea further.
College of Idaho, ca. 1900. College of Idaho photo.
The 1891 meeting of the Presbytery’s Education Commi...

British Canadian Trappers Camp Along the Salmon River [otd 10/6]

On October 6, 1824, a large band of fur traders, trappers, and camp keepers – the so-called "Snake Brigade" – returned to what they called "Canoe Point." (Probably located where the Pahsimeroi River empties into the Salmon, but possibly near Challis.) A unit of the Hudson's Bay Company led by Alexander Ross, the Brigade had earlier hidden their beaver pelts at the spot. At that time, Ross said, "Hiding furs in places frequented by Indians is a risky business."

Now he wrote, "Our cache of May i...

Fur Traders, the "Overland Astorians," Enter Idaho Via Teton Pass [otd 10/5]

On October 5, 1811, a column of whites led by American Wilson Price Hunt mounted the slope out of Jackson Hole toward Teton Pass: “We climbed it, following an easy and much-traveled trail.  Snow whitened the summit and the northern slopes of the heights.  The Snakes served as our guides … ”

J. J. Astor. Library of Congress.The Hunt party represented the Pacific Fur Company, founded by fur trade magnate John Jacob Astor [blog, July 17]. Astor, with one American and several British-Can...

First Women on Jury Duty, Fevered Gold Rush into Florence [otd 10/4]

On October 4, 1897, Idaho saw its first trial in which women sat on the jury – they having been granted equal suffrage the year before. Quoting historian Hiram T. French in full: “The women who, with W. R. Cartwright and R. F. Cooke, served on this jury were Mrs. R. E. Green, Miss Frances Wood, Mrs. Boyakin, and Mrs. E. J. Pasmore. Jury duty for women has not figured largely in Idaho. In the natural adjustment of conditions to equal suffrage, this public service has, for the most part, been r...

University of Idaho Greets Its First (Under-Qualified) Students [otd 10/3]

On Monday, October 3, 1892, the University of Idaho in Moscow greeted its first prospective students, about 40 of them. That event completed one of the odder paths to the creation of an American university.

The story really began with the creation of Idaho Territory in March 1863. Congress made Lewiston the capital, even though the region’s population had already moved south: The 1863 Census showed roughly 1,500 along the Clearwater River and in Lewiston, versus over 15,000 in the Boise Basin...

Prospectors led by Elias Pierce Find Gold on Orofino Creek [otd 10/2]

Gold in the pan. National Park Service.Speaking of this day in October 1860, Captain Elias D. Pierce said, “[On] the second we moved down and camped on the stream, afterwards called Oraphenia creek. Here we found better prospects than further up the stream where we first made the discovery, which was a sufficient guarrentee that we had a rich and extensive mining camp, and organized a new mining district, and gave its boundaries, drafted a code of mining laws, to govern our new mining distric...

Spain Returns Louisiana to France, L&C Expedition Builds Canoes [otd 10/1]

On October 1, 1800, by the (poorly-kept) “secret” Treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain returned what might be called “greater” Louisiana to France. “Returned” because Spain had received the region from France in 1762-63, during the latter stages of the Seven Years War. The Great Power details of the Treaty transactions don’t concern us.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Portrait by Jacques-Louis David, here cropped.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson dispatched “envoy extrao...