Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 54

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 (near later Walla Walla, Washington) in November 1825...

State Authorizes Precursor to Idaho State Historical Society [otd 03/12]

On March 12, 1907, Idaho's government authorized the "Historical Society of Idaho Pioneers" to become a state-supported entity called the "Historical Society of the State of Idaho." The enabling act included a $3,500 appropriation for expenses, and provision of space in the capitol building. The "Pioneers" organization had been created in 1881 to preserve memories of how the Territory was formed. That organization was largely dormant for many years, except for a revival in 1896 under Governor...

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 man’s 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 Ray’s 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...

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 bickerin...

Idaho Supreme Court Justice George Stewart [otd 02/26]

Idaho Supreme Court Justice George Harlan Stewart was born February 26, 1858 in Connersville, Indiana, about fifty miles east of Indianapolis. He was something of an intellectual prodigy: George leaped through a “common” education to himself teach at country schools in his late teens.
Law School at Valparaiso, ca 1880. Valparaiso University Archives.
After several years, he entered Northern Indiana Normal school, in Valparaiso. (In 1900, the school became Valparaiso College, now University.)

Geo...

Woolgrower and Boise Business Executive Thomas McMillan [otd 02/25]

Sheep rancher and later Boise investor/manager Thomas McMillan was born February 25, 1865 in Scotland. As a young teenager, he worked in a Glasgow bank. His older brother John came to the United States in 1881, and their father brought the rest of the family over a year later.

Thomas followed John west and herded sheep in Wyoming for awhile. Then, around 1886, the brothers each settled down near Corder Station, located about twenty miles southeast of Boise. When John became postmaster at the s...

Merchant, Mining Investor, Rancher, and Public Servant Alexander McKinlay [otd 02/20]

Pioneer mining investor, merchant, and rancher Alexander Duncan McKinlay was born February 20, 1853 in Clayton County, Iowa, 20-40 miles northwest of Dubuque. In 1877, a year after he married in Iowa, he took up land on Idaho's northern Camas Prairie and went into farming.
Three-horse plow.
Library of Congress.
Almost immediately, he became involved in the Nez Perce War and the other Indian conflicts in 1878 and 1879 ... and acquitted himself well. The Illustrated History of the State of Idaho...

Wife, Sounding Board, and Philanthropist Lillian Bounds Disney [otd 02/15]

Lillian Marie Bounds, wife of the world-renowned entertainment innovator Walt Disney, was born February 15, 1899, in Spalding, Idaho, about ten miles east of Lewiston. She grew up on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation, where her father was a Federal marshal and a blacksmith.
Lewiston, ca. 1918. J. H. Hawley photo.
Around her, the Indians still wore traditional garb and the pioneer environment dominated. While the old “Wild West” was passing, horses were still far more common than cars. As a teena...

Physician and Drug Store Operator William Anderson [otd 02/14]

Dr. William Hopkins Anderson was born February 14, 1835, in Florence, Pennsylvania, 20-25 miles west of Pittsburgh. He had family roots back to Revolutionary War times and his paternal grandfather participated in the War of 1812. His mother, Dorcas Hopkins, had a distant relationship with the founder of Johns Hopkins University.
Country Doctor. National Archives.
Anderson graduated from the Eclectic College of Medicine and Surgery at Cincinnati  in 1855. [See blog, February 12, for a brief...