Boise County ID

Boise County, Idaho, established on February 4, 1864, during the Idaho Territory’s formation, is a picturesque region that epitomizes the rugged beauty of the American Northwest. Named after the Boise River, which flows through the county, “Boise” is thought to have originated from the French word “boisée,” meaning wooded, a name given by French Canadian fur trappers for the area’s once abundant trees and verdant landscape. The county’s geography is marked by its mountainous terrain, part of the Boise and Sawtooth National Forests, offering a plethora of outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, and hot springs, embodying Idaho’s reputation as a haven for nature enthusiasts. Boise County’s history is deeply intertwined with the Idaho gold rush era of the mid-19th century, serving as a pivotal area for mining operations and the resultant boomtowns that contributed significantly to the settlement and economic development of Idaho.

Biographical Sketch of James B. Crossen

JAMES B. CROSSEN. – Mr. Crossen is the present postmaster at The Dalles, and was born August 11, 1838, at Donegal, Ireland. This was his residence until he emigrated to America in 1849 and made his home with his parents in New York City until of age. In 1859 he crossed the Isthmus to California, and resided at Callaghan’s Ranch for four years, going from thence to Idaho, where he engaged in business at Placerville until 1863. Seeking a new location, he cast his eyes with hope towards the State of Oregon, and selected The Dalles as the most eligible … Read more

Biography of James A. Lauer

One of the popular and enterprising young merchants of Payette is James A. Lauer, who is numbered among Idaho’s native sons, his birth having occurred in Idaho City, on the 26th of February 1872. His father, William Lauer, is numbered among the early settlers of the state, having located here in 1861, and is the pioneer hardware merchant of Payette. The subject of this review was educated in the public schools of Idaho City, and with his parents came to Payette in 1885. Here he accepted a position as clerk in the general mercantile store of Marquardsen & Lamme, acceptably … Read more

Biography of Gen. Morton Mathew McCarver

GEN. MORTON MATHEW McCARVER. THE FOUNDER OF BURLINGTON, IOWA, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA AND TACOMA, WASHINGTON,- General McCarver was born near Lexington Kentucky, January 14, 1807. Of an independent, roving spirit, determination, courage and enterprise that knew no bounds, he quit his home at the age of eighteen years and went to Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and not finding anything congenial to his tastes returned and settled in 1830 at Galena, Illinois, where he was married to a Miss Mary Ann Jennings. He served in the Black Hawk war, and after the surrender of the great chief of the Sacs and Foxes, … Read more

Biography of James Fleet

Many of our most capable and substantial citizens have come to us from England and among that number we must mention the subject of this sketch, whose career has demonstrated the pluck, perseverance and intelligence of the doughty Anglo Saxon race, and any work which purports to give review of the prominent citizens of Wallowa County would be quite incomplete were there not mention of this honorable and esteemed gentleman, whose uprightness, integrity and capability have given him a standing among his men and fellows and it is with pleasure that we accord him representation in the chronicles of our … Read more

Biography of James Colson

One of the respected pioneer farmers of Salubria is James Colson, who came to Idaho in 1864, and has since been engaged in stock raising. He was born in Ripley county, Indiana, October 23, 1834, a son of John and Polly (Allen) Colson, the former of whom was a farmer in Kentucky, moving to Iowa in 1850, where he was successful as a business man and landowner. He died at the advanced age of seventy years. To him and his wife were born eight children, three of whom survive. James Colson was reared on his father’s farm and received his … Read more

Biography of John Brodbeck

One of the representative businessmen of Boise, Mr. Brodbeck, is a pioneer of Idaho, having come to this state in 1865. He is a native of Switzerland, where he was born April 4, 1833, and was reared and educated in his native land and there learned the brewing business. His parents were Nicholas and Elizabeth (Hagler) Brodbeck, the former of whom was a miller by trade, and he and his wife were members of the Lutheran church and were people of high respectability in the old country. He died in his fifty-third year and his wife survived him until attaining … Read more

Biography of Hon. James G. Watts

Among the practitioners of the bar of Silver City, Idaho, is James G. Watts, who is also a distinguished member of the state senate. Pennsylvania is the state of his nativity, his birth having occurred in the town of Wellsboro, July 23, 1858. His father, Daniel Watts, was a native of England, and on crossing the Atlantic to America took up his residence in New York, whence he afterward removed to the Keystone state. There he was married to Miss Harriet Goodrich, a native of Tioga county, Pennsylvania, and a representative of an old Puritan family. During the civil war … Read more

Biography of Jonas W. Brown

Jonas W. Brown, of Boise, is an honored pioneer both of California and of Idaho. He crossed the plains with ox teams to Shasta county, California, in 1853, and since that time his life record has been inseparably interwoven with the history of this section of the country. At all times he has been the advocate of those measures tending to-ward the advancement and development of the region, and his influence is that of an honorable, upright man, whose force of character stamps itself indelibly for good upon the public life. This work would be incomplete without mention of Jonas … Read more

Biography of Joel B. Harper

History has long since placed on its pages the names of those who, coming to the Atlantic coast, planted colonies in the New World and opened up that section of the country to civilization. As the years passed, and the population of that region rapidly increased, brave pioneers made their way into the wild districts farther west. The names of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton were enduringly inscribed upon the records of Kentucky, that of John Jacob Astor upon the history of Michigan and other states of the upper Mississippi valley. Later Kit Carson and John C. Fremont made their … Read more

Biography of James I. Crutcher

One to whom has been entrusted important public service and over whose record there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, is James I. Crutcher, of Boise. President Cleveland recognized his eminent qualifications for responsible duties when he appointed him United States marshal for Idaho, in which position he served for four years and two months, in a manner above suspicion. His unbending integrity of character, his fearlessness in the discharge of duty and his appreciation of the responsibilities that rested upon him were such as to make him a most acceptable incumbent of that office, and his … Read more

Biography of John Dovell

JOHN DOVELL. – Mr. Dovell is one of those men who have belabored fortune, and have knocked about the world until it is sufficient to turn one’s hair gray simply to listen to their adventures. A native of the Azores, of Portuguese parentage and born in 1836, he came to Portland, Maine, at the age of fourteen, and learned shipbuilding. He left in four years and plied his trade in New Orleans, shipping thence to Liverpool, and coming as ship’s carpenter from that foreign port to San Francisco. He soon came up the coast to Portland, Oregon, and worked upon … Read more

Biography of John Lemp

More than a third of a century has passed since John Lemp came to Idaho, and throughout this long period he has been most actively connected with the business interests of Boise. His labors have contributed largely to its growth and upbuilding, and its commercial enterprise is due in no small measure to his investment in industries and business concerns which have contributed materially to its prosperity. He is one of the highly esteemed residents of the city, whose history would be incomplete without the record of his life. A native of Germany, John Lemp was born April 21, 1838, … Read more

Biography of Edward S. Jewell

Edward S. Jewell dates his residence in the Salubria valley from 1869, and is therefore numbered among its pioneer farmers and stock-raisers. A native of Wisconsin, he was born in Dodgeville, Iowa County, that state, on the 9th of October 1846, and is of English extraction. His father, Edward S. Jewell, Sr., was born in Cornwall, England, and after his marriage came with his wife and five children to the United States, locating in Wisconsin, where he remained until 1852, when he went to California to secure gold in the Eldorado of the west. It is believed that he was … Read more

Discovery Of Gold in Idaho

It is reported that gold was discovered by a French Canadian in Pend d’Oreille river, in 1852. Two years later General Lander found gold while exploring the route for a military road from the Columbia to Fort Bridger. The earliest discoveries of which we have any authentic record, however, were probably made by members of the party with that veteran pioneer and path-finder, Captain John Mullan, the originator of the now famous Mullan road from Fort Benton to Walla Walla, a distance of six hundred and twenty-four miles. In a letter dated Washington, D. C, June 4, 1884, to Mr. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Noah S. Kellogg

NOAH S. KELLOGG. – This renowned prospector, whom Fortune has singled out as her favorite from among many thousands, was born in Ohio in 1829. In 1852 he began the journey across the plains, reaching Council Bluffs that year, and coming on to Portland, Oregon, in 1853. He terminated his trip at the Sound the same season. The next year he engaged in lumbering at Port Gamble, and continued in that business until 1870, spending one year, 1860, in the Boise basin. Since 1870 Mr. Kellogg has devoted the most of his attention to mining, traveling in British Columbia, California … Read more

Political Secessionism And Crime

Before the mining period, commencing in 1862, Idaho was a comparatively unknown region belonging nominally to Oregon and afterward to Washington. During the years 1862-3 such was the rush of immigration to this section that Idaho was erected into a territory of the United States government. The enabling act to organize as such was passed by congress in the spring of the latter year, and on the 22d of September William H. Wallace, late delegate to congress from Washington, who had, on July l0th preceding, been appointed governor of Idaho by President Lincoln, issued his proclamation for organizing the territory, … Read more

Biography of George Dabney Ellis

One of the founders of Boise City and one of the most active spirits in the upbuilding and progress of this thriving place during the past quarter of a century has been George D. Ellis, a pioneer of Idaho, whither he came in 1863. He is and has been the president of the Capital State Bank of Boise City for several years; is a stock-holder and general manager and treasurer of the electric street-car line of this place and is a stock-holder and a director of the Artesian Hot & Cold Water Company, besides having materially aided and fostered many … Read more

Biography of James H. Hawley

No Compendium such as the province of this work defines in its essential limitations will serve to offer fit memorial to the life and accomplishments of the honored subject of this sketch a man remarkable in the breadth of his wisdom, in his indomitable perseverance, his strong individuality, and yet one whose entire life has not one esoteric phase, being an open scroll, inviting the closest scrutiny. True, his have been “massive deeds and great” in one sense, and yet his entire life accomplishment but represents the result of the fit utilization of the innate talent which is his, and … Read more

Washington County Its Towns, Resources, Etc.

Washington County lies on the western border of the state of Idaho, and about five hundred miles from the Pacific coast. It contains a large area of land suited to various purposes. It has a population of over five thousand people. Its inhabitants are, generally speaking, enterprising and thrifty people, many of them having settled here in the early 6o”s and have remained ever since. The early settler devoted himself to stock-raising and placer-mining, and he thought that was all the county was fit for. But as the county began settling up it was soon found that anything which grew … Read more