Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 33

Boise Developer and Saloon Owner Madison Smith [03/15]

Madison Smith. H. T. French photoBoise pioneer Madison C. Smith was born March 15, 1839 in Richmond, Missouri, about 35 miles northeast of Kansas City. The family moved West in 1851, crossing Idaho in a wagon train. Local Indian unrest was rising at that time, but the party had no trouble. They settled in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Unfortunately, Indians killed Madisons father in 1856, so he had to work the family ranch until his mother remarried.

Madison was out on his own by 1860, and...

Militia Organized Again, Then Becomes the Idaho National Guard [otd 03/14]

In an interesting coincidence, two different March 14 dates are significant for the Idaho National Guard. On March 14, 1889, Edward A. Stevenson, governor of Idaho Territory, sent a letter to the Quartermaster-General of the U. S. Army, stating that the citizens of Boise had organized a company of militia.
Governor Stevenson.
City of Boise photo.
This action followed over a decade during which the Territory had no authorized military force at all. In the early gold rush days, miners had...

Act Signed to Create Academy of Idaho, Today’s Idaho State University [otd 03/11]

On March 11, 1901, Governor Frank W. Hunt signed an Act to establish an educational institution in Pocatello. Incorporated in 1889, the town had grown explosively and topped 4,000 citizens in the 1900 census.

The authorization for a school, to be called the “Academy of Idaho,” came with a catch, however. The townspeople had to supply land for the institution. The subsequent dispute almost killed the Academy before it started.
Administration Building, Academy of Idaho, ca. 1912.
H. T. French...

Colonel Judson Spofford: Civil War Veteran, and Idaho Developer [otd 03/10]

Civil War veteran and Idaho developer Judson Spofford was born March 10, 1846 in Derby, Vermont, two or three miles from the Canadian border. The family had a proud military heritage. A great-great-grandfather was a colonel in the Revolutionary War and that mans son served in the Quartermaster Corp. Another forebear served in the War of 1812. Judson enlisted in the 10th Vermont Regiment in July 1862. The regiment saw minor action initially, and just missed participation at Gettysburg in...

Rigby and Fremont County Physician Ray Fisher [otd 03/09]

Prominent Fremont County physician Ray Homer Fisher, M. D., was born March 9, 1883 in Oxford, Idaho. At the time, Oxford was an important commercial and shipping center. One of Rays older brothers was George Howard Fisher, first Commissioner of the Idaho Industrial Accident Board [blog, December 5]. Their father was  William F. Billy Fisher, a famous rider for the Pony Express. When the Express disbanded in late 1861, Billy settled in northern Utah, where George was born. He moved to...

Indian Leader, Teacher, and Idaho Senator Joseph Garry [otd 03/08]

Joseph Garry in
traditional Indian regalia.
Beal and Wells photo.Prominent American Indian leader Joseph Richard Garry was born March 8, 1910 near Plummer, Idaho. (Plummer is about 25 miles south of Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene.) Of largely Kalispel and Coeur d’Alene Indian blood, Garry traced Flathead Indian heritage through his mother. For a variety of reasons, he was generally identified with the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

He was also a great-grandson of Chief Spokane, for whom that city was...

Legislature Authorizes Albion State Normal School [otd 03/07]

On March 7, 1893 the Idaho legislature passed a law to create Albion State Normal School, as they had authorized the Lewiston State Normal School earlier in the year [blog, Jan 6]. The Act required that land be donated as a site for the school (the offer had already been tendered) but did not appropriate any funds for construction.
Administration building, ca 1910. H. T. French photo.
Nonetheless, the school began classes in September 1894, using a structure built by volunteers. The 1895...

Canal Company Executive, County Commissioner, and Farmer Arthur Goody [otd 03/06]

Commissioner Goody.
J. H. Hawley photo.Prominent farmer and Jefferson County Commissioner Arthur James Goody was born March 6, 1871 in Cache County, Utah, 10-15 miles northwest of Logan.

His father, Arthur Joseph, had come to the United States from England in 1863, when he was in his early teens. The parents Mormon converts followed a year later and settled on land north of the Great Salt Lake. By 1870, Arthur Joseph had married and moved to the area where Arthur James was born.

In 1883, the...

President Lincoln Signs Law to Create Idaho Territory [otd 03/04]

On March 4, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill that created Idaho Territory, splitting it off from Washington Territory. The signing culminated a period of intense political wrangling that first heated up in late 1858, after the Yakima Indian War. When Oregon became a state in February 1859, Washington Territory was left basically as a catch-all for the area north of Utah and west of (vaguely) the Rockies.
Gold pan with nuggets amidst black sand.
National Park Service.
The...

Civil War Veteran, and Soda Springs Developer George W. Gorton. [otd 03/03]

Cavalry veteran and far-sighted businessman George Washington Gorton was born March 3, 1846 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He traced his lineage back to Samuel Gorton, one of the original (albeit controversial) founders of Rhode Island. His great-grandfather, Thomas Gorton, was a captain in the Rhode Island regiment that fought in the Revolutionary War battles of White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton.
George W. Gorton [Illust-State]
George’s parents moved from Rhode Island to Scranton a year or two...