Wife, Sounding Board, and Philanthropist Lillian Bounds Disney [otd 02/15]
Lillian Marie Bounds, wife of the world-renowned entertainment innovator Walt Disney, was born February 15, 1899, in Spalding, Idaho, about ten miles east of Lewiston. She grew up on the Nez Perce...
View ArticleSheepmen John Wilson and Daniel Cummings Found Dead [otd 02/16]
On the morning of February 16, 1896, sheepman Edgar "Ted" Severe settled his flock and then set up camp. Twelve days earlier, a looming snow storm had chased him from the campsite, located about 26...
View ArticleTeacher and Newspaper Operator Frances Roberts, and Her Sister Nellie [otd...
Newspaper owner and publisher Frances Ida Roberts was born February 17, 1860, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her sister Nellie had been born in 1844. Their grandfather and father both ran newspapers, the...
View ArticleIdaho, Other Territories Can Now Get Land Grants for Colleges [otd 02/18]
Congressman Justin Morrill. Library of Congress. On February 18, 1881, Congress passed "an act to grant lands to Dakota, Montana, Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming, for university purposes." These lands could...
View ArticlePoet, Attorney, and Public Servant Herbert Ferguson [otd 02/19]
Herbert Ferguson. H. T. French photo. Colonel Herbert Van Allen Ferguson was born February 19, 1852, in Three Mile Bay, New York state, about 65 miles north of Syracuse. After attending a preparatory...
View ArticleMerchant, Mining Investor, Rancher, and Public Servant Alexander McKinlay...
Pioneer mining investor, merchant, and rancher Alexander Duncan McKinlay was born February 20, 1853 in Clayton County, Iowa, 20-40 miles northwest of Dubuque. In 1877, a year after he married in Iowa,...
View ArticleEmma Russell Yearian: Wife, Mother, and “Sheep Queen of Idaho” [otd 02/21]
Emma Russell, “Sheep Queen of Idaho,” was born February 21, 1866 in Leavenworth, Kansas. Her father had been born in Illinois and served in an Illinois regiment in the Civil War. By 1870, the family...
View ArticleFreighter, Rancher, Mine Owner, and State Senator George Rogers [otd 02/22]
George Rogers. Illust-State photo. Idaho state Senator George Bailey Rogers was born February 22, 1842 in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, 35-40 miles west of Madison. Dodgeville was a well-known center for lead...
View ArticleChinook Thaw Floods Lower Clearwater and Other Rivers in the Region [otd 02/23]
The Lewiston Teller newspaper reported that on Sunday, February 23, 1879, "a regular Chinook visited us." The report provided no firm numbers, but the notorious Chinook wind can raise air temperatures...
View ArticleRancher, Attorney, and Idaho Chief Justice Alfred Budge [otd 02/24]
Judge Alfred Budge. H. T. French photo. Alfred Budge, Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, was born February 24, 1868 in Providence, Utah, just south of Logan. Two years later, the family moved to...
View ArticleSix Miners Killed in Sudden Mining District Fire [otd 02/25]
On Tuesday, February 25, 1902, about three o'clock in the morning, the residents of the connected Standard Boarding and Lodging houses slept quietly. Most of them worked for the Standard Mine, located...
View ArticleWoolgrower and Boise Business Executive Thomas McMillan [otd 02/25]
Sheep rancher and later Boise investor/manager Thomas McMillan was born February 25, 1865 in Scotland. As a young teenager, he worked in a Glasgow bank. His older brother John came to the United States...
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