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Construction Manager, Entrepreneur, and Prolific Bridge Builder James H....
Pioneer Idaho bridge builder James Hunter Forbes was born July 27, 1862 near Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents were both Scottish emigrants. With only a common school education, James began his working...
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Methodist Minister Performs First Religious Service in Idaho [otd 07/27]
Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 1840.Illustration for Harper’s Magazine,November 1892.On July 27, 1834, Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth was working at his new Fort Hall site [blog, July 14]. In his Journal he recorded...
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Cowboys Drive Cattle Across Idaho into Wyoming and Nevada [otd 07/28]
On July 28, 1876, cowboy cook William Emsley Jackson wrote in his diary, "Three emigrant teams passed us while in camp – are being rushed right along now. Five herds of cattle between here and...
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Newspaperwoman and Women’s Suffrage Advocate Abigail (Scott) Duniway [otd 07/29]
On July 29, 1852, Oregon Pioneer Abigail Jane Scott wrote in her party's journal, "Three miles brought us to Goose Creek; There is grass enough here for a small party of cattle; The water is not very...
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Chief Pocatello Signs "Box Elder" Peace Treaty [otd 07/30]
On July 30, 1863, Shoshone Chief Pocatello signed the Treaty of Box Elder. In return for promises of food and other compensation for the game and land preempted by whites, the Chief agreed to cease his...
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Gooding College President and Methodist Minister Charles Wesley Tenney [otd...
Charles Wesley Tenney, LL.D., was born in Vancouver, Washington on July 31, 1873. His father, Horace Dewey Tenney from Vermont, pioneered in Washington by way of California in 1863. Horace became a...
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Colonel William Dewey: Mining Investor, Road Builder, and Business Developer...
Prominent Idaho pioneer Colonel William H. Dewey was born August 1, 1823 in Hampden County, Massachusetts (some sources give the birth year as 1822). Raised on a farm, he presumably followed that line...
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Lewiston Newspaper Golden Age distributed Its First Issue [otd 08/02]
On Saturday, August 2, 1862, the Golden Age newspaper released its inaugural issue in Lewiston, Washington Territory. The Age thus has the honor of being the first newspaper published in what would...
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Track Star, Olympic Athlete, and Coach "Hec" Edmundson [otd 08/03]
Coach, University of Idaho track star, and Olympian Clarence “Hec” Edmundson was born August 3, 1886 in Moscow, Idaho. In 1901, Clarence enrolled in the UI prep school and soon established himself as...
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Ag Secretary, Author, and LDS Patriarch Ezra Taft Benson [otd 08/04]
LDS President and public servant Ezra Taft Benson was born August 4, 1899 in Whitney, Idaho (located 20-25 miles west of Bear Lake). He was named for his grandfather, who converted to the Church of...
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Second Idaho Regiment Brought into Federal Service for World War I [otd 08/05]
On August 5, 1917, the War Department drafted the Second Idaho Regiment (National Guard) into the U.S. Army for duty in World War I, part of perhaps 300,000 guardsmen taken into Federal service at that...
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Boise and Southwest Idaho Automotive Pioneer Harry H. Bryant [otd 08/05]
Boise Ford dealer Harry H. Bryant was born August 5, 1871 on a farm about eight miles northwest of downtown Detroit. The family homestead was just four to five miles north of where automotive pioneer...
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Madison County Farmer, Canal Builder and Probate Judge James A. Berry [otd...
Idaho pioneer and Probate Judge James Allen Berry was born August 6, 1854 in Bristol, England. His father, foreman at a basketmaking plant, suffered from ill health, so James began working at the age...
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Murphy and Twin Falls Get Regular Train Service [otd 08/07]
Coincidentally, August 7 marks two different Idaho railroad milestones.On this day in 1898, the Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railway initiated railroad service to Murphy, Idaho. Colonel William H. Dewey...
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Bartleson-Bidwell Emigrant Party Enter Idaho, Headed for California [otd 08/08]
John Bidwell, 1840.Meriam Library, Chico State University.On August 8, 1841, the group generally referred to as the Bartelson-Bidwell emigrant party entered what would one day become the state of...
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Rancher, Businessman, and Party Leader Robert Coulter [otd 08/09]
Robert Coulter.Family portrait photo.Political operator, state Representative and agricultural pioneer Robert Coulter was born August 9, 1875 in Richmond, Kentucky, about eighty-five miles southeast of...
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Pioneer Miner, Merchant, and Stockman Orville P. Johnson [otd 08/10]
Western pioneer and Idaho freighter and stockman Orville Payne Johnson was born August 10, 1832, somewhere in Tennessee. Orphaned young, he knew his parents only by their first names, William and...
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Cornerstone Laid for Ambitious, Expensive, and Historic County Courthouse...
On August 11, 1883, officials for Alturas County laid the cornerstone for a new county courthouse. The projected cost of the highly ambitious structure, which was to include both the court facilities...
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Presbyterian Missionary and Preacher’s Wife Narcissa Whitman [otd 08/12]
Narcissa Whitman.Oregon Historical Society.On August 12, 1836, Narcissa Prentiss Whitman wrote in her journal, “The hills are so steep and rocky that husband thought it best to lighten the wagon as...
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Butch Cassidy and Two Gang Members Rob Montpelier Bank [otd 08/13]
On Thursday, August 13, 1896, Montpelier, Idaho sweltered under a blistering afternoon sun. Three riders walked their horses along a street, trailing a pack mare behind them. Had the local jeweler seen...
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