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Cowboys Drive Cattle Across Idaho into Wyoming and Nevada [otd 07/28]
On July 28, 1876, cowboy cook William Emsley Jackson wrote in his diary, "Three emigrant teams passed us while in camp – are being rushed right along now. Five herds of cattle between here and...
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Newspaperwoman and Women’s Suffrage Advocate Abigail (Scott) Duniway [otd 07/29]
On July 29, 1852, Oregon Pioneer Abigail Jane Scott wrote in her party's journal, "Three miles brought us to Goose Creek; There is grass enough here for a small party of cattle; The water is not very...
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Chief Pocatello Signs "Box Elder" Peace Treaty [otd 07/30]
On July 30, 1863, Shoshone Chief Pocatello signed the Treaty of Box Elder. In return for promises of food and other compensation for the game and land preempted by whites, the Chief agreed to cease his...
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Gooding College President and Methodist Minister Charles Wesley Tenney [otd...
Charles Wesley Tenney, LL.D., was born in Vancouver, Washington on July 31, 1873. His father, Horace Dewey Tenney from Vermont, pioneered in Washington by way of California in 1863. Horace became a...
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Colonel William Dewey: Mining Investor, Road Builder, and Business Developer...
Prominent Idaho pioneer Colonel William H. Dewey was born August 1, 1823 in Hampden County, Massachusetts (some sources give the birth year as 1822). Raised on a farm, he presumably followed that line...
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Lewiston Newspaper Golden Age distributed Its First Issue [otd 08/02]
On Saturday, August 2, 1862, the Golden Age newspaper released its inaugural issue in Lewiston, Washington Territory. The Age thus has the honor of being the first newspaper published in what would...
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Track Star, Olympic Athlete, and Coach "Hec" Edmundson [otd 8/3]
Coach, University of Idaho track star, and Olympian Clarence “Hec” Edmundson was born August 3, 1886 in Moscow, Idaho. In 1901, Clarence enrolled in the UI prep school and soon established himself as...
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Ag Secretary, Author, and Mormon Patriarch Ezra Taft Benson [otd 08/04]
LDS President and public servant Ezra Taft Benson was born August 4, 1899 in Whitney, Idaho (located 20-25 miles west of Bear Lake). He was named for his grandfather, who converted to the Church of...
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Second Idaho Regiment Brought into Federal Service for World War I [otd 8/5]
On August 5, 1917, the War Department drafted the Second Idaho Regiment (National Guard) into the U.S. Army for duty in World War I, part of perhaps 300,000 guardsmen taken into Federal service at that...
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Gold Prospectors Found Elk City Deep in the Idaho Mountains [otd 8/6]
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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Murphy and Twin Falls Get Regular Train Service [otd 8/7]
Coincidentally, August 7 marks two different Idaho railroad milestones.On this day in 1898, the Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railway initiated railroad service to Murphy. Colonel William H. Dewey [blog,...
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Bartleson-Bidwell Emigrant Party Enter 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 8/9]
Robert Coulter.Family portrait photo.State Representative and agricultural pioneer Robert Coulter was born August 9, 1875 in Richmond, Kentucky, about eighty-five miles southeast of Louisville. In...
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Cassia County Attorney and Idaho Chief Justice T. Bailey Lee [otd 8/10]
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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Cornerstone Laid for Alturas (now Blaine) County Courthouse [otd 08/11]
On August 11, 1883, officials for Alturas County laid the cornerstone for a new county courthouse. The projected cost of the highly ambitious structure, which was to include both the court facilities...
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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 8/13]
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 seen...
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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 SocietyIndian 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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