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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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Cornerstone Laid for Idaho Soldiers Home in Boise [otd 05/23]
On May 23, 1893, dignitaries gathered in Boise City to lay the cornerstone for the new Idaho Soldiers’ Home. Meant to care for Union Army veterans of the Civil War who were “aged and in want,” the Home...
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Eastern Newspapers Spread Information, and Misinformation, About Idaho
The May 23, 1863 issue of a newspaper in Gloucester, Massachusetts said, “The new Territory of Idaho, created by the late Congress, is formed out of Eastern Oregon and Western Dakota, and extends from...
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Stockmen Battle Rustlers and Horse Thieves: Then and Now [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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Correspondent Rover: Business Lull in Lewiston, but Future Prospects Great
On May 24, 1863, correspondent “Rover” sat down in Lewiston, Idaho Territory, and penned another long letter to the Evening Bulletin in San Francisco, California. He wrote, “Business continues dull in...
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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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Mining Prospects in the Boise Basin are Depopulating Oregon Gold Camps
On May 25, 1863, an “Occasional Correspondent” in Auburn, Oregon wrote a letter to the Evening Bulletin in San Francisco, California. Auburn was a short-lived gold town located about eight miles...
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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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Reported Indian War in Idaho is a “Humbug” ... but be Careful Anyway
On May 27, 1863, the Deseret News, in Salt Lake City, published an item based on an interview with expressman Aaron H. Conover. He had brought in mail from Bannack City, on Grasshopper Creek. Conover...
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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 Illinois. Dubois graduated from Yale in 1872, then worked in a Chicago dry-goods...
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Miners Extract Much Gold from Boise Basin, Elk City Ditches
On May 29, 1863, the Evening Bulletin in San Francisco, California published a report from the Boise Basin, specifically Placerville and Bannock City (soon to be Idaho City). They said, “Gold is now...
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U. S. Assay Office Added to National Register of Historic Places [otd 05/30]
On May 30, 1961, the old U. S. Assay Office in Boise took its deserved place on the National Register of Historic Places.After the discoveries of 1862, gold – dust, nuggets, and quartz ore – poured out...
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Businessman, Attorney, and Idaho Legislator Lorenzo Thomas [otd 05/31]
Lorenzo Thomas. Family archives.Idaho legislator, attorney, and businessman Lorenzo R. Thomas was born May 31, 1870 in Staffordshire, England. The family moved to the United States three years later...
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Water Starts Flowing Through Egin Bench Irrigation Canal [otd 06/01]
On June 1, 1883, water flowed from a pioneer canal onto Egin Bench farmland. The Bench bends for about 12-14 miles along the west side of Henry’s Fork, some 25 to 35 miles north of today’s Idaho...
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High Wages in the Mines of Idaho
The June 1, 1863 issue of the New York Post published a brief item: “Laborers’ wages in Idaho territory are eight dollars per day.”At that time, non-farm laborers in the East earned less than $1.50 a...
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Boise Replaces Volunteer Fire Department with Professional Firefighters [otd...
On June 2, 1902, Boise’s volunteer fire crew disbanded and fire protection became the responsibility of the new professional Boise Fire Department. Early Boise Fire Station. Boise Fire Dept.Boise City...
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Army Doctor M. W. Wood and Spotted Fever Research [otd 06/03]
Marshall Wood. U. S. Army archives.Lieutenant Colonel Marshall William Wood, Army Medical Corps, was born June 3, 1846, in Watertown, New York, about sixty miles north of Syracuse. He enlisted as an...
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General Connor, Soda Springs, and Franklin, Idaho
On June 3, 1863, a correspondent for the Evening Bulletin in San Francisco wrote an article after arriving in Salt Lake City. He had traveled with General Patrick Connor’s Army column into Idaho...
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