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Gold Prospectors Found Elk City Deep in the Idaho Mountains [otd 08/06]
On August 6, 1861, a band of miners founded the mining town of Elk City, Idaho, about 35 miles east of the present town of Grangeville. Prospectors had first entered the area in the latter part of May....
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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 Enters 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...
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Cassia County Attorney and Idaho Chief Justice T. Bailey Lee [otd 08/10]
Thomas Bailey Lee, Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, was born about twenty miles southwest of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on August 10, 1873. He attended law school after graduating from the...
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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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Idaho Falls Medical Pioneer Clifford M. Cline, M.D. [otd 08/11]
Idaho Falls physician Clifford M. Cline, M.D., was born August 11, 1884 in a rural area sixty miles or so north of Des Moines, Iowa. Accounts of his early life are a bit skimpy. However, in 1900 he was...
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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...
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Snake River Steamboat Annie Faxon Explodes, Killing Eight [otd 08/14]
On the morning of August 14, 1893, the Snake River steamer Annie Faxon exploded, killing eight people and injuring eleven.Steamer Annie Faxon. Washington State University archives. Steamboats plied the...
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First Documented Visit to, and Sketch of, (Renamed) Shoshone Falls [otd 08/15]
On August 15, 1849, a guide led two men from a column of U. S. Army Mounted Rifles to see a great waterfall on the Snake river, three to four miles northeast of today’s Twin Falls, Idaho. They later...
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Captain Relf Bledsoe: Indian Fighter, Businessman, Prospector, Mine Manager...
Capt. Beldsoe. Oregon Historical Society Indian fighter, business leader, and public servant Relf Bledsoe was born August 16, 1832 in Henderson County, Kentucky. That small county is located along the...
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Mountain Man, Explorer, and Survivor John Colter [otd 08/17]
On August 17, 1806, discharged Army Private John Colter headed up the Missouri River with his two new partners, Forest Hancock and Joseph Dickson. Captains Lewis and Clark had released him early from...
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Desert Land (Carey) Act Signed to Encourage Irrigation in the West [otd 08/18]
On August 18, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the Desert Land Act of 1894, better known as the Carey Act. Sponsored by Wyoming Senator Joseph M. Carey, the Act was meant to improve the success...
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Philo Farnsworth, Inventor of the First Practical Television Camera [otd 08/19]
Inventor and television pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth was born August 19, 1906 in Beaver County, Utah. The family moved to a farm near Rigby, Idaho during World War I. There, Philo set off on the path...
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Wildfire -- "The Big Burn" -- Ravages North Idaho [otd 08/20]
On August 20, 1910, serious forest fires in and around Northern Idaho “blew up” into arguably the worst wildfire in U. S. history. More than anything else, weather conspired to set the stage for this...
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Dr. Edward E. Maxey and Research on Spotted Fever [otd 08/21]
Dr. Maxey. H. T. French photo. Prominent Boise physician Edward E. Maxey, M.D, was born August 21, 1867, in Irvington, Illinois, about sixty miles east of St. Louis, Missouri. His father, also a...
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Edward Moffitt: Mining Manager and University Regent [otd 08/22]
Wallace businessman Edward H. Moffitt was born August 22, 1845 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, now a part of Pittsburgh. Around 1858, the family moved to Illinois, where Edward grew to young manhood....
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Traveler Joel Palmer Tackles Notorious Three Island Crossing [otd 08/23]
Joel Palmer. Oregon Historical Society. On August 23, 1845, the small wagon train led by pioneer Joel Palmer approached the notorious Three Island Crossing, near today’s Glenns Ferry, Idaho. In his...
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