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Prospector Files Original Claims for Today’s Hecla Mining Group [otd 05/05]
According to the Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, “The original claims comprising the Hecla group were the Hecla and Katie May lode claims, located by James Toner on May 5, 1885.” The...
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Owyhee Mining Investor and Developer John Scales [otd 05/06]
John Scales. Commercial Directory.Owyhee silver mine developer John Scales was born on the 6th of May, 1840 in County Clare, Ireland. The family moved to the U.S. and settled in Maine when John was a...
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Irrigation Pioneer and Twin Falls Developer Ira B. Perrine [otd 05/07]
Ira B. Perrine.Grubb & Guilford, The Potato, 1912.Twin Falls area developer Ira Burton Perrine was born May 7, 1861 in Indiana. He followed relatives to the Wood River Valley in 1883 and briefly...
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Idaho Woolgrower, Businessman, and Legislator Fred W. Gooding [otd 05/08]
Fred Gooding. H. T. French photo.On May 8, 1856, woolgrower and state legislator Fred W. Gooding was born in Devonshire, England. Fred began work in a factory there at the age of eight, laboring in the...
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Grand Opening for Owyhee Hotel in Downtown Boise [otd 05/09]
On May 9, 1910, the Owyhee Hotel in downtown Boise opened for business. Naturally, managers touted their new establishment as the best, with the most modern features and richest décor in all the...
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Message Transmitted: Transcontinental Railroad Completed [otd 05/10]
On Monday, May 10, 1869, telegraph operators clattered a message all around the United States, East and West: “D-O-N-E”. That signaled the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The story of the...
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Territorial Governor George Shoup Calls for Idaho Constitutional Convention...
On May 11, 1889, George L. Shoup, Governor of Idaho Territory, issued a proclamation calling for a convention to draw up a constitution for the proposed state of Idaho. His proclamation contained...
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Mine Owner and Long-Time State Senator J. Howard Sims [otd 05/12]
Howard Sims, ca. 1955.Beal & Wells photo.Mine owner and State Senator James Howard Sims was born May 12, 1904 in Salmon, Idaho. His father James came to Idaho from Texas in the 1880s, settling...
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Movie and Television Costume Designer Eddie Stevenson [otd 05/13]
Susan Hayward costume,David and Bathsheba, 1951.Edward Stevenson Collection, ISU.Long-time Hollywood costume designer Edward Manson Stevenson was born May 13, 1906 in Pocatello, Idaho. Stevenson spent...
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Boise Founder, Idaho Legislator, and Rancher Henry Riggs [otd 05/14]
Henry Chiles Riggs, one of the founders of Boise City, was born May 14, 1826 in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, about thirty miles due east of Lexington. At the age of twenty, he joined the First Missouri...
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Books: Indians, Cowboys, Sheepmen; Gold, Mining, Timber; Prospectors,...
I received a royalty check from Amazon.com a few days back, which reminded me that it had been awhile since the last one. So, it must be time to plug my books again. I’m sure regular readers of this...
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Miner, Rancher, Bank Founder, and Legislator Joseph Ireland [otd 05/15]
J. N. Ireland. H. T. French photo.Joseph N. Ireland, co-founder and namesake of the J. N. Ireland Bank, was born May 15, 1839 in Calvert County, Maryland. That's on Chesapeake Bay about twenty miles...
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Snake River Steamboat Shoshone Makes Trial Run [otd 05/16]
On May 16, 1866, the stern-wheel steamboat Shoshone made its first trial run on the Snake River. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company had built the vessel in a rough temporary shipyard near the...
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Second Major Fire Devastates Idaho City [otd 05/17]
The Illustrated History (published 1899) observed, “The second great fire of Idaho City, on the 17th of May, 1867, did not spare St. Joseph's as the first had done.”The statement referred to the St....
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Prospectors Discover Gold in the Owyhee Mountains [otd 05/18]
O.H. Purdy. Commercial Directory.On the morning of May 18, 1863, a band of twenty-nine men broke camp and marched south and west from Reynolds Creek over a regional divide.Early that month, the group...
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Skinner Toll Road Connects Silver City to California Supply Route [0td 05/19]
On May 19, 1866, with great fanfare in the Owyhee mining camps, the Skinner Toll Road opened for business. The new road vastly improved stagecoach and freight wagon traffic into Silver City and the...
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Choirmaster, Musical Leader, and Operatic Composer Eugene Farner [otd 05/20]
Eugene Adrian Farner, who initiated Boise’s annual “Music Week,” was born May 20, 1888 in New York City. A child prodigy, he played his first public violin solo at the age of eight. He later became the...
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Richard Z. Johnson: Developer, Legislator, and Territorial Attorney General...
R. Z. Johnson. Illustrated History.Richard Z. Johnson, who served in the Idaho Territorial Council and as Attorney General, was born May 21, 1837 in Akron, Ohio. Johnson had ancestors on both sides who...
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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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