Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 84

Congress Authorizes Fort Sherman Construction in North Idaho [otd 04/16]

Gen. William T. Sherman, ca. 1865.
Library of Congress.On April 16, 1878, the U.S. Congress authorized the construction of a fort on Lake Coeur d'Alene at what would eventually become the city of that name. The action had been recommended by General William Tescumseh Sherman.

The General had traveled through the area the year before, not long after the end of the Nez Percé War. Sherman sought answers to why the Army had had so much trouble with the Nez Percé and other Indian uprisings (the Cust...

Fur Trade Leader Donald Mackenzie Navigates Hells Canyon [otd 04/15]

Donald MacKenzie, ca. 1840s.
Chautauqua County Historical Society,
Westfield, New York.On April 15, 1819, fur trade leader Donald Mackenzie reported his "successful" ascent of the Snake River through what is today called Hells Canyon: "The passage by water is now proved to be safe and practicable for loaded boats, without one single carrying place or portage; therefore, the doubtful question is set at rest forever. Yet from the force of the current and the frequency of rapids, it may still be a...

Army Leader and Western Explorer Benjamin Bonneville [otd 04/14]

U.S. Army General Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was born to bourgeoisie parents on April 14, 1796, near Paris, France. His father, perhaps sensing how the political winds were blowing, sent the family to the U.S. in 1803. (Napoleon would crown himself Emperor of France in 1804). He joined them some years later.
West Point, early print, bef. 1835. Library of Congress.
A precocious student, Benjamin graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when he was nineteen years old....

Newspaperman and Pure Food Enforcer James Wallis [otd 04/13]

J. H. Wallis. Photo from Rytting biography.Newspaperman and pure food crusader James Hearknett Wallis was born April 13, 1861 in London, England. The family moved to a town near Liverpool when he was twelve. Four years later, James converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Having apprenticed in the printer’s trade, Wallis found work at a newspaper in Liverpool, where he met his future wife.

In 1881, James and his prospective bride emigrated to the United States as part of a...

Eastern Idaho Physician and Hospital Builder Edwin Cutler [otd 4/12]

Dr. Cutler. H.T. French photo.Edwin Cutler, M.D., was born April 12, 1868, in American Fork, Utah, midway between Provo and Salt Lake City. After high school, he attended Brigham Young University and then the University of Utah. He graduated in 1889, and taught school in a number of Utah districts. Over the next decade, he also served at times as a school principal or superintendent.

Cutler moved to Idaho in 1900 to become Principal of the Oneida Stake Academy, in Preston. He spent two years t...

Narrow Gauge Railway Tracks Reach Eagle Rock (Idaho Falls) [otd 4/11]

In 1879, the Engineering and Mining Journal contained the following brief item: "Ogden, Utah, April 11 – The Utah & Northern Railway has been completed to Eagle Rock Bridge, Snake River, Idaho, 210 miles north of this point. Regular trains will begin running there April 15th."
Western steam train. Library of Congress.A decade earlier, the eastern and western legs of the transcontinental railroad had worked their way toward each other. Even then, settlers in Montana began agitating for thei...

Cattle Growers Meet in Shoshone, Discuss Disease and Over-Grazing [otd 04/10]

The April 10, 1886 issue of the Owyhee Avalanche in Silver City, Idaho reported on the Annual Meeting of the Idaho Territorial Stock Growers' Association. The meeting took place in Shoshone. The Association had been organized about three months previously at that same location.
Idaho Hotel, Silver City. Owyhee Directory.
The first documented Idaho stockmen's association began in 1878, when cattlemen held a convention in Silver City to discuss their business. (The Owyhee Cattlemen's Association...

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...

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...