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Message Transmitted: Transcontinental Railroad Completed [otd 05/10]
On Monday, May 10, 1869, telegraph operators clattered a message all around the United States, East and West: “D-O-N-E”. That signaled the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The story of the...
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Territorial Governor George Shoup Calls for Idaho Constitutional Convention...
On May 11, 1889, George L. Shoup, Governor of Idaho Territory, issued a proclamation calling for a convention to draw up a constitution for the proposed state of Idaho. His proclamation contained...
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Mine Owner and Long-Time State Senator J. Howard Sims [otd 05/12]
Howard Sims, ca. 1955.Beal & Wells photo.Mine owner and State Senator James Howard Sims was born May 12, 1904 in Salmon, Idaho. His father James came to Idaho from Texas in the 1880s, settling...
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Movie and Television Costume Designer Eddie Stevenson [otd 05/13]
Susan Hayward costume,David and Bathsheba, 1951.Edward Stevenson Collection, ISU.Long-time Hollywood costume designer Edward Manson Stevenson was born May 13, 1906 in Pocatello, Idaho. Stevenson spent...
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Boise Founder, Idaho Legislator, and Rancher Henry Riggs [otd 05/14]
Henry Chiles Riggs, one of the founders of Boise City, was born May 14, 1826 in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, about thirty miles due east of Lexington. At the age of twenty, he joined the First Missouri...
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Miner, Rancher, Bank Founder, and Legislator Joseph Ireland [otd 05/15]
J. N. Ireland. H. T. French photo.Joseph N. Ireland, co-founder and namesake of the J. N. Ireland Bank, was born May 15, 1839 in Calvert County, Maryland. That's on Chesapeake Bay about twenty miles...
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Snake River Steamboat Shoshone Makes Trial Run [otd 05/16]
On May 16, 1866, the stern-wheel steamboat Shoshone made its first trial run on the Snake River. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company had built the vessel in a rough temporary shipyard near the...
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Second Major Fire Devastates Idaho City [otd 05/17]
The Illustrated History (published 1899) observed, “The second great fire of Idaho City, on the 17th of May, 1867, did not spare St. Joseph's as the first had done.”The statement referred to the St....
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Prospectors Discover Gold in the Owyhee Mountains [otd 05/18]
O.H. Purdy. Commercial Directory.On the morning of May 18, 1863, a band of twenty-nine men broke camp and marched south and west from Reynolds Creek over a regional divide.Early that month, the group...
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Skinner Toll Road Connects Silver City to California Supply Route [otd 05/19]
On May 19, 1866, with great fanfare in the Owyhee mining camps, the Skinner Toll Road opened for business. The new road vastly improved stagecoach and freight wagon traffic into Silver City and the...
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Choirmaster, Musical Leader, and Operatic Composer Eugene Farner [otd 05/20]
Eugene Adrian Farner, who initiated Boise’s annual “Music Week,” was born May 20, 1888 in New York City. A child prodigy, he played his first public violin solo at the age of eight. He later became the...
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Richard Z. Johnson: Developer, Legislator, and Territorial Attorney General...
R. Z. Johnson. Illustrated History.Richard Z. Johnson, who served in the Idaho Territorial Council and as Attorney General, was born May 21, 1837 in Akron, Ohio. Johnson had ancestors on both sides who...
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Coeur d’Alene and Other Indian Reservations Opened to Homesteading [otd 05/22]
President Taft. Library of Congress.On May 22, 1909, President William Howard Taft issued a proclamation that opened "unreserved" agricultural, grazing, and timber lands on the Coeur d'Alene Indian...
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State Senator, Stockman, Mayor, and Special Agent George A. Day [otd 05/23]
State Senator George Addison Day was born May 23, 1867 in Draper, Utah, about sixteen miles south of Salt Lake City. After an early education in the “common schools,” he spent 1886 to 1889 at the...
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Stock Growers Offer Reward to Catch Cattle and Horse Thieves [otd 05/24]
On May 24, 1889, the Secretary of the Idaho County Stock Growers’ Association posted a notice in the Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville): The Association would pay $100 for information leading to the...
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Boise Veterinarian, Horse Breeder and State Veterinary Surgeon George Noble...
Dr. George Edward Noble, Idaho’s first State Veterinarian, was born May 25, 1868 in Nashua, Iowa. (Nashua is about 100 miles west and a bit north of Dubuque.) There are conflicting accounts of his...
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Idaho Territory Reduced in Size to Create Montana [otd 05/26]
On May 26, 1864, the U. S. Congress passed legislation that reduced the previously-massive Idaho Territory by creating Montana Territory and splitting off most of future Wyoming. President Lincoln...
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Snake Indians Defeat U. S. Army at Battle of Three Forks [otd 05/27]
The afternoon of May 27, 1866, a force of white infantry and cavalry encountered a band of about 500 “Snake” (Shoshone-Bannock-Paiute) Indians at the Three Forks of the Owyhee River. Major Louis H....
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Western Film Maker and Adventure Writer Oliver Drake [otd 05/28]
Prolific writer, producer, and director Clarence Oliver Drake was born May 28, 1903 in Boise. While not especially “wild” by that time, Idaho retained much of its Western character: Cowboys rode the...
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Political Operative, U. S. Senator, and Public Servant Fred Dubois [otd 05/29]
Senator Dubois. Library of Congress.Idaho Senator and political operative Fred Thomas Dubois was born May 29, 1851 in a tiny Illinois town about thirty-two miles south and a bit west of Terre Haute,...
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