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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 Jane (Scott) Duniway...
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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Box Elder Treaty – Sesquicentennial
For this particular date, my regular "On This Day" article does double duty, being also relevant for the Sesquicentennial.
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Rancher, Banker, and Idaho Legislator Victor LaValle [otd 07/31]
Victor LaValle. J. H. Hawley photo.Rancher and legislator Victor LaValle was born July 31, 1874 in Chickasaw County, Iowa, 30-50 miles north of Waterloo. His father died when he was just 14, so he had...
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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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First Scheduled Stagecoach Arrives in Boise City [otd 08/1]
On August 1, 1864, the first scheduled stagecoach arrived in Boise City. The coach was, in a manner of speaking, about a month late: Indian unrest and other problems had delayed construction of the...
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Lesson (Re)Learned: Always Cross-Check Your References
Today you get two “On This Day” (OTD) items for the price of one. As those of you who follow the blog regularly know, I have been making small revisions to articles posted during a previous year for a...
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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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Large Amounts of Gold Dust Waiting for Shipment
On August 3, 1863, The Oregonian reported, “Our merchants are constantly receiving letters from their correspondents at Boise and at other trading points in the mines, full of complaints because of the...
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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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Boise Basin Has Thousands of Claims, but Water Short for Mining
On August 6, 1863, The Oregonian published a letter from a correspondent in Bannock City, in the Boise Basin. By his observation, Bannock City (the future Idaho City) had grown to be by far the largest...
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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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Construction of Alturas/Blaine County Courthouse … Registered Historic...
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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