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Marine Corps Ace and Medal of Honor Winner Pappy Boyington [otd 12/04]
Pappy Boyington. USMC photo.Ace pilot and Medal of Honor winner Gregory “Pappy” Boyington was born December 4, 1912 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. His mother divorced and remarried while Greg was very young,...
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Merchant, Developer, and Industrial Commissioner George Fisher [otd 12/05]
Commissioner Fisher.J. H. Hawley photo.George Howard Fisher, Bancroft merchant and first Commissioner of the Idaho Industrial Accident Board, was born December 5, 1872 in Richmond, Utah (5-6 miles...
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Attorney, Mining Investor, and Territorial Secretary Robert Sidebotham [otd...
Robert Sidebotham. H. T. French photo.Pioneer lawyer and developer Robert A. Sidebotham was born December 6, 1834 along the Ohio River in Pennsylvania (west of Pittsburgh). He gained early exposure to...
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Rhodes Scholar, Eminent Historian, and Pulitzer Prize Winner Lawrence Gipson...
Historian Gipson.University of Idaho Archives.Rhodes Scholar and eminent historian Lawrence Henry Gipson was born December 7, 1880 in Greeley, Colorado. The family moved to Caldwell, Idaho when...
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Chief Forester Guy Mains of the Payette/Boise National Forest [otd 12/08]
On December 8, 1878, long-time Idaho forester Guy B. Mains was born in Clark County, Wisconsin, 40-50 miles east of Eau Claire. Guy’s father was a lumberman and he grew up in the midst of a flourishing...
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Wallace and Grangeville Share Railroad Milestone Day(s) [otd 12/09]
On December 9, 1889, standard-gauge tracks of the Washington & Idaho Railroad (W&I RR) Company reached Wallace, Idaho. Wallace is one of several towns that arose from the discovery of placer...
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Franchise Granted for Taylor's Bridge Across the Snake River [otd 12/10]
On December 10, 1864, the Territorial legislature granted a bridge franchise to the Oneida Road, Bridge, and Ferry Company for a span across the Snake River in eastern Idaho.Taylor’s Bridge, 1871....
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Glenn Balch: Writer of Horse and Dog Stories for Young Readers [otd 12/11]
Writer Glenn Balch was born on December 11, 1902 in a tiny Texas town that’s now near the southern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. Young Balch grew up among animals and the countryside. He...
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Mine Owner and State Senator Michael Carey [otd 12/12]
Idaho state Senator Michael Carey was born December 12, 1844 in Ireland. The family emigrated to the U.S. in 1850, settling in Keweenaw County, on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The area was known...
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Cattle Ranchers Demand Limit Law on Sheep Grazing [otd 12/13]
On December 13, 1872, the Idaho Statesman (Boise) published a letter from pioneer J. H. Whitson, which said in part: “But the people of Ada county, and perhaps other counties need, ask for and demand a...
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Major Earthquake Rocks Idaho Panhandle and the Pacific Northwest [otd 12/14]
Late on the evening of Saturday, December 14, 1872, residents in North Idaho felt a major earthquake that swayed buildings, caused shelved objects to rattle around, and agitated animals. In its report...
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Freighter, Mining Investor, and U. S. Marshall Joe Pinkham [otd 12/15]
Marshal Pinkham.Illustrated History.U. S. Marshal Joseph Pinkham was born December 15, 1833 in Canada. His grandparents were Welsh and had emigrated many years earlier to what became the state of...
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Mining Investor and Idaho Governor Frank W. Hunt [otd 12/16]
Governor Hunt. J. H. Hawley photo.Idaho Governor Frank W. Hunt was born December 16, 1861 in Newport, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was an officer in the U.S. Army,...
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Unjustly-Convicted “Diamondfield Jack” Davis Finally Released from Prison...
Diamondfield Jack Davis.Denver Public Library, Western Collection.On December 17, 1902, the Idaho Board of Pardons annulled the life sentence of cowboy-gunman Jackson Lee Davis – better known as...
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Weiser Signal Newspaper Publishes Its first Issue [otd 12/18]
On December 18, 1890, Robert E. Lockwood published the first issue of the Weiser Signal newspaper.Vintage printing press.American Local History Network,Clark County, Wisconsin.Lockwood was born in...
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Prominent Boise Area and Twin Falls County Architect Benjamin Nisbet [otd 12/19]
Architect Nisbet. Family archives.Benjamin Morgan Nisbet, who made his name as a fine Idaho architect, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on December 19, 1873. At age seventeen, Ben began an...
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Mountain Man Osborne Russell Becomes a "Free" Trapper [otd 12/20]
On December 20, 1835, trapper Osborne Russell said he “bid adieu to the ‘Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company’ and started in company with 15 of my old Messmates to pass the winter at a place...
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Boise Valley Stockman, Irrigator, and Eagle Developer Truman C. Catlin [otd...
Truman Catlin. J. H. Hawley photo.Rancher and developer Truman C. Catlin was born December 21, 1839 in Farmingdale, Illinois, about eight miles west of Springfield.In 1862, he boarded a Missouri River...
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Civil Engineer, Idaho Falls Mayor, and Idaho Governor Barzilla Clark [otd 12/22]
Governor Barzilla Clark.Bonneville County Historical Society.Barzilla Worth Clark, sixteenth Governor of the state of Idaho, was born December 22, 1881 in Hadley, Indiana, about twenty miles west of...
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Idaho History: Gold, Cattle, Sheep and More
With Christmas bills coming due soon, I need to sell some books. So bear with me for a small advertisement. You will have noticed that yesterday’s blog featured Truman C. Catlin. One of the earliest...
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