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Fur Trade and Real Estate Multimillionaire John Jacob Astor [otd 07/17]
J. J. Astor. Library of Congress.John Jacob Astor, who became America’s richest man, was born July 17, 1763 in Waldorf (near Heidelberg, Duchy of Baden, before the creation of Germany). He was born...
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Trappers Clash with Indians at the Battle of Pierre’s Hole [otd 07/18]
On July 18, the great mountain man rendezvous of 1832, at Pierre's Hole, was breaking up. The only Idaho location where the fur companies held their annual conclave, Pierre's Hole is known to us today...
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Railroad Town of Burley Incorporated [otd 7/19]
The town of Burley, Idaho, was incorporated on July 19, 1909. The village had grown explosively since being platted four years earlier, and many businesses supported the growing farm population. That...
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Poor Roads and Blistering Weather Hobble Traffic to the Idaho Gold Camps [otd...
On July 20, 1863, The Oregonian reported, “Increased facilities are offering daily for transportation to the Boise mines. We are informed that John Slavin & Co. have established a stage line to run...
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Ammunition Innovator and Manufacturer Richard, "Dick," Speer [otd 07/21]
Dick Speer.Beal & Wells photo.Lewiston industrialist Richard A. "Dick" Speer was born July 21, 1915 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. His father, who started out as a farmer and nurseryman, took up...
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Army Establishes Fort Lapwai on the Nez Percé Indian Reservation [otd 07/22]
According to Idaho State Historical Society records, a troop of Oregon Volunteer cavalry established Camp – later Fort – Lapwai on July 22, 1862. The location selected was near the mission established...
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Gambler Patterson Shoots and Kills Ex-Sheriff Pinkham [otd 07/23]
Sumner Pinkham.Idaho City Historical Foundation.On Sunday, July 23, 1865, businessman and ex-sheriff Sumner Pinkham took a hired carriage from Idaho City to a resort about two miles west of town....
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Railroad Begins Narrow Gauge Track Conversion in Eastern Idaho [otd 07/24]
On Sunday July 24, 1887, multiple crews assembled at intervals along the 262 miles of narrow-gauge track between Pocatello, Idaho and Garrison, Montana. They worked for the Utah & Northern Railroad...
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Long-Time U. S. Senator Frank Church [otd 07/25]
Senator Church. Library of Congress.U.S. Senator and third-generation Idahoan Frank Forrester Church was born July 25, 1924 in Boise. In 1942, he started school at Stanford University, but left to...
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Reynolds Distributes First Issue of The Idaho Statesman, in Boise [otd 07/26]
Statesman inaugural issue.On Tuesday, July 26, 1864, the first issue of the Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, a small four-column publication, came off the presses in Boise City. The newspaper debuted that...
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Methodist Minister Performs First Religious Service in Idaho [otd 07/27]
Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 1840.Illustration for Harper’s Magazine,November 1892.On July 27, 1834, Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth was working at his new Fort Hall site [blog, July 14]. In his Journal he recorded...
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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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