Wilson Price Hunt Fur Trade Party Reaches Boise Valley [otd 11/21]
In November 1811, Wilson Price Hunt recorded in his journal, “On the 21st at daybreak we saw ahead of us a river that flowed to the west, its banks lined with cottonwood and willow trees. Some Indians...
View ArticleBranch Railroad Arrives in Rexburg, Headed for Yellowstone [otd 11/22]
On November 22, 1899, tracks of the St. Anthony Railroad Company were completed into Rexburg, Idaho. The goal of the Company, which had been incorporated in May, was to extend a rail line from Idaho...
View ArticleUnsuspecting Cowboy Shot and Killed at Fort Hall by Angry Bannock [otd 11/23]
On November 23, 1877, a Bannock Indian, Tambiago by name, shot and killed cattleman Alexander Rhoden at the Fort Hall Indian Agency. Alex was born around 1852 in northeast Missouri, near the Iowa...
View ArticleNampa Businessman, Investor, Novelist, and World Traveler Fred G. Mock [otd...
Idaho pioneer, author, and world traveler Fred G. Mock was born November 24, 1861 on a farm in Cumberland County, Illinois, about sixty miles south of Champagne. Fred left home when he was twelve or...
View ArticleTough Talk and Action Versus Snake War Violence [otd 11/25]
Governor Lyon. Library of Congress.The Owyhee Avalanche newspaper (Silver City, Idaho) for November 25, 1865 reported some “good talk” (their expression) by the Territorial Governor about the on-going...
View ArticleIdaho State University President Miles Reed [otd 11/26]
President Reed.Idaho State University photo.Miles F. Reed, president of the Academy of Idaho, precursor to Idaho State University, was born November 26, 1872 about 20 miles south of Dubuque, Iowa....
View ArticlePure Food, Dairy & Oil Commissioner William C. Howie [otd 11/27]
Commissioner Howie.H. T. French photo.Attorney William Clarence Howie, Idaho Food, Dairy & Oil Commission President, was born November 27, 1860, in Davis County, Iowa. He graduated from high school...
View Article“Rufus” Reid and Agnes Just Perpetuate Century Ranch Heritage [otd 11/28]
Robert “Rufus” Reid.Family Archives.*On November 28, 1906, twenty-year-old Agnes Just married Robert E. “Rufus” Reid in Blackfoot, Idaho. Agnes was the youngest child and only surviving daughter of...
View ArticleReverend Henry Spalding Establishes Presbyterian Mission at Lapwai [otd 11/29]
Henry Harmon Spalding.National Park Service.On November 29, 1836, Henry Harmon Spalding established a Presbyterian mission among the Nez Percés Indians. The initial location was on Lapwai Creek about...
View ArticleBoise Banker, Developer, and Geothermal Promoter Christopher W. Moore [otd...
Boise banker and businessman Christopher Wilkinson Moore was born in Toronto, Canada, on November 30, 1835. His parents, both immigrants from Ireland, tried to make a go of it farming near Toronto and...
View ArticleWholesale Grocery Pioneer and Pocatello Developer Joseph Young [otd 12/01]
Joseph Young. J. H. Hawley photo.Western grocery wholesaler Joseph Taylor Young was born December 1, 1880 on a ranch near Logan, Utah. Three years later the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho, where he...
View ArticleAmerica’s Sherlock Holmes – Innovative Forensic Detective Luke May [otd 12/02]
Detective Luke May.Family Archives.On December 2nd, Luke S. May, who became known as America’s preeminent scientific detective, was born near Grand Island, Nebraska. Hawley’s History of Idaho and other...
View ArticleWorld Renowned Mining Engineer and Innovator Fred Brown [otd 12/03]
World renowned mining engineer Frederick C. Brown was born December 3, 1867 in London, England. Brown continued a long family tradition of accomplishment in highly technical fields – his father was a...
View ArticleMarine Corps Ace and Medal of Honor Winner Pappy Boyington [otd 12/04]
Pappy Boyington. USMC photo.Ace pilot and Medal of Honor winner Gregory “Pappy” Boyington was born December 4, 1912 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. His mother divorced and remarried while Greg was very young,...
View ArticleMerchant, Developer, and Industrial Commissioner George Fisher [otd 12/05]
Commissioner Fisher.J. H. Hawley photo.George Howard Fisher, Bancroft merchant and first Commissioner of the Idaho Industrial Accident Board, was born December 5, 1872 in Richmond, Utah (5-6 miles...
View ArticleAttorney, Mining Investor, and Territorial Secretary Robert Sidebotham [otd...
Robert Sidebotham. H. T. French photo.Pioneer lawyer and developer Robert A. Sidebotham was born December 6, 1834 along the Ohio River in Pennsylvania (west of Pittsburgh). He gained early exposure to...
View ArticleRhodes Scholar, Eminent Historian, and Pulitzer Prize Winner Lawrence Gipson...
Historian Gipson.University of Idaho Archives.Rhodes Scholar and eminent historian Lawrence Henry Gipson was born December 7, 1880 in Greeley, Colorado. The family moved to Caldwell, Idaho when...
View ArticleChief Forester Guy Mains of the Payette/Boise National Forest [otd 12/08]
On December 8, 1878, long-time Idaho forester Guy B. Mains was born in Clark County, Wisconsin, 40-50 miles east of Eau Claire. Guy’s father was a lumberman and he grew up in the midst of a flourishing...
View ArticleWallace and Grangeville Share Railroad Milestone Day(s) [otd 12/09]
On December 9, 1889, standard-gauge tracks of the Washington & Idaho Railroad (W&I RR) Company reached Wallace, Idaho. Wallace is one of several towns that arose from the discovery of placer...
View ArticleFranchise Granted for Taylor's Bridge Across the Snake River [otd 12/10]
On December 10, 1864, the Territorial legislature granted a bridge franchise to the Oneida Road, Bridge, and Ferry Company for a span across the Snake River in eastern Idaho.Taylor’s Bridge, 1871....
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