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Idaho Legislature Passes a Driver’s License Law [otd 07/01]
On July 1, 1935, after protracted debate, the Idaho legislature approved a law that required car and truck drivers to obtain a state license. Oddly enough, the licensing process did not require a...
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“Ironclad Oath” Loyalty Provision and Idaho Political Infighting [otd 07/02]
On July 2, 1862, the U. S. Congress passed what was called the “Ironclad Oath” law. The law required Federal officials and employees to swear, not just that they would not, but that they had never...
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President Harrison Makes Idaho Territory the Forty-Third U. S. State [otd 07/03]
President Benjamin Harrison, ca. 1897.Library of Congress.On July 3, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed the bill that made Idaho a state, the 43rd. The signing culminated one of the more...
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Major Pinkney Lugenbeel Picks Site for Fort Boise [otd 07/04]
Major Lugenbeel, ca 1880.U. S. Army Archives.On July 4, 1863 Major Pinkney Lugenbeel formally selected a spot to build a military encampment, which the U. S. Army initially called Camp Boise.A West...
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Vengeful Assailant Murders Judge John C. Brady in Rathdrum [otd 07/05]
On the night of July 5, 1901, farmer Henry Williambusse shot and mortally wounded newspaper editor and Probate Judge John C. Brady. This event was the violent climax to a dispute of two years...
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Newspaperman and Printing Company President Harry Syms [otd 07/06]
Harry J. Syms, co-founder and President of the Syms-York Company was born July 6, 1866 in Aukland, New Zealand. After learning the printer's trade, he found employment in several South Pacific...
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Miner, Store Owner, and Dairyman Francis Marion “Frank” Davis [otd 07/07]
Francis Marion Davis was born on July 7, 1838 near Monmouth, Illinois, about 55 miles west and a bit north of Peoria. He lost his father when he was a boy, so he and his brother Thomas lived with and...
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Trapper Osborne Russell Observes "Beer Springs" (Today's Soda Springs) [otd...
In July of 1834, fledgling mountain man Osborne Russell wrote, "We travelled down this river and on the 8th encamped at a place called the Sheep Rock, so called from a point of the mountain terminating...
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Shelley Businessman and Theater Owner Francis Davis [otd 07/09]
Theater owner and Mormon Bishop Francis M. Davis was born July 9, 1883 in Provo, Utah. He first found regular employment when he was just twelve years old. After several years in various unskilled...
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First Structures Completed at Naval Ordnance Plant in Pocatello [otd 07/10]
On July 10, 1943 workers completed construction of the first usable structures for the Naval Ordnance Plant (NOP) about three miles north of Pocatello, Idaho. The Navy had authorized the Plant in the...
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Labor Clash in Coeur d'Alene Silver/Lead Mines Kills at Least Twelve [otd 07/11]
On the morning of Monday, July 11, 1892, striking union miners and a crew at the Frisco Mine exchanged gunfire. This lead-silver mine is located about four miles northeast of Wallace, Idaho. The crew...
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Strong Earthquake Rocks Central Idaho [otd 7/12]
In the early afternoon of July 12, 1944, a quick double-punch of earthquakes hit south-central Idaho. Later analysis placed the epicenter about forty-two miles west, and slightly south, of Challis,...
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Stagecoach Robbery, and Murder, in Portneuf Canyon [otd 07/13]
On the afternoon of July 13, 1865, the stagecoach traveling south from the Montana gold fields towards Salt Lake City reached a point about ten miles southeast of today's Pocatello. They entered a...
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Fur Trader Nathaniel Wyeth Selects Old Fort Hall Site [otd 07/14]
On July 14, 1834, Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth wrote in his journal: "Went down the river about 3 miles and found a location for a fort."This event occurred on Wyeth's second fur trading and trapping...
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Naturalist John Kirk Townsend Describes Fort Hall Area [otd 07/15]
Naturalist Townsend.Oregon Historical Society.On July 15, 1834, naturalist John Kirk Townsend described the site selected by Nathaniel Wyeth for the Fort Hall trading post [yesterday's blog].Townsend...
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Fruitland Physician and Army Medical Veteran Crispin Wright, M. D. [otd 07/16]
The biography of physician Crispin Wright in French’s History of Idaho states that he was born July 16, 1882 in Chatham, Virginia (about 43 miles southeast of Roanoke). That date may be off by a couple...
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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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Shoemaker, Contractor, and Probate Judge Thomas A. Johnston [otd 07/19]
Versatile pioneer and Probate Judge Thomas A. Johnston was born July 19, 1848 in Ontario, Canada. At the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to a shoemaker. Around 1868, he crossed over into the U. S....
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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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