History of Idaho
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The History of Idaho is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Idaho, a geographical area in the Pacific Northwest (PNW, or PacNW) area on or near the west coast of United States and Canada. Other associated areas include southern Alaska, all of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, western Montana and northern California and Nevada.
Humans may have been present in the Idaho area as long as 14,500 years ago. Excavations at Wilson Butte Cave near Twin Falls in 1959 revealed evidence of human activity, including arrowheads, that rank among the oldest dated artifacts in North America. Native American tribes predominant in the area included the Nez Perce in the north and the Northern and Western Shoshone in the south.
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[edit] European exploration
By contrast, Idaho was the last of the 50 states explored by people of European descent. The Lewis and Clark expedition entered present-day Idaho on August 12, 1805, at the Lemhi Pass. The first expedition to enter southern Idaho is believed to be a group led by Wilson Price Hunt, which navigated the Snake River while attempting to blaze an all-water trail westward from St. Louis, Missouri, to Astoria, Oregon, in 1811 and 1812. At that time, approximately 8,000 Native Americans lived in the region.
Fur trading and missionary work attracted the first settlers to the region. In 1809, Kullyspell House, the first white-owned establishment and first trading post in Idaho, was constructed. In 1836, Henry H. Spalding established a mission near Lapwai, where he printed the Northwest's first book, established Idaho's first school, developed its first irrigation system, and grew the state's first potatoes. Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Hart Spalding were the first white women to enter present-day Idaho. The Cataldo Mission, the oldest standing building in Idaho, was constructed at Cataldo by the Coeur d'Alene and Catholic missionaries between 1848 and 1853.
During this time, the Idaho region was part of an unorganized territory known as Oregon Country, claimed by both the United States and Great Britain. The United States gained undisputed jurisdiction over the region in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The original boundaries of Oregon Territory in 1848 included all three of the present-day Pacific Northwest states and extended eastward to the Continental Divide. In 1853, areas north of the 46th Parallel became Washington Territory, splitting what is now Idaho in two. The future state was reunited in 1859 after Oregon became a state and the boundaries of Washington Territory were redrawn.
While thousands passed through Idaho on the Oregon Trail and during the California gold rush of 1849, few people settled there. In 1860 the first of several gold rushes in Idaho began at Pierce in present-day Clearwater County. By 1862, settlements in both the north and south had formed around the mining boom.
[edit] For Editors Unfamiliar with Idaho History
Idaho Before Statehood [1].
Idaho Since Statehood, 1890-1965 [2].
(compliments of the Idaho Historical Society.)
[edit] Mormon Settlement
The first organized town in Idaho was Franklin, settled in April 1860 by Mormon pioneers who believed they were in Utah Territory (a later survey determined they had in fact crossed the border) [3]. Mormon pioneers would go on to settle the majority of Southeastern Idaho, reaching as far as the areas just next to Teton national park in Wyoming. This area of Idaho is to this day predominantly LDS, and many LDS church leaders have come from this area, including the late LDS church president Ezra Taft Benson, who also served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the 1950s. Other notable Southeastern Idahoans are Vardis Fisher (author), Fred Dubois (United States Senator), and Mike Crapo (United States Senator). Mormons would also settle in other parts of Idaho as well, but never with the same numbers as in Southeast of the state. Former LDS church President Howard W. Hunter came from Boise.
[edit] Other Settlement
Irish after the Potato Famine fled to North America and they fled to west searching for agriculture. Many ended up in Montana and Southern Idaho. Thanks to the Catholic prescence in the state, many Irish Catholics settled in Boise and Great Falls, Montana. There is also a significant Black population after the abolition of slavery. The current population is only 1% of about 10,000 but census records show a rise in the near future. Many African-Americans lived near Pocotello and were ranchers, entertainers and agriculturalist. Despite being free, many Blacks suffered discrimination in the early to mid-late 20th century. Thanks to education, military, and jobs, the Black population is significantly growing. The state is known for its hospitatlity to all known as the "Idahoan Way". There is a Black History Mueseum in Boise Idaho with an exhibit known as the "Invisible Idahoan", which chronicles the first African-Americans in the state. The Basque people from the Iberian peninsula in Spain and southern France came to Idaho searching for farming. The largest Basque community in the US is in Boise, and a Basque mueseum and festival are held in the city. Chinese in the mid 1800's came to America through San Fransico to work on the railroad and open businesses. They suffered discrimination due to the Anti-Chinese League in 1800's which were afraid of Chinese culture. Today Asians make are third in population after Whites, Hispanics, and they are in head of African-Americans.
[edit] Idaho Territory
See also main article: Idaho Territory
On March 4, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act creating Idaho Territory from portions of Washington Territory and Dakota Territory with its capital at Lewiston. The original Idaho Territory included most of the areas that later became the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, and had a population of under 17,000. Idaho Territory assumed the boundaries of the modern state in 1868.
Although the 1863 Bear River Massacre in present-day Franklin County is considered to be the westernmost battle of the Civil War, the upheaval caused by the Civil War and Reconstruction was a distant concern to those in the comparatively stable Idaho Territory, a situation which in turn encouraged settlement.
Even so, in the late 1860s Idaho Territory became a destination for displaced Southern Democrats who fought for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. These people were well-represented in the early territorial legislatures, which often clashed with the appointed Republican territorial governors. The political infighting became particularly vicious in 1867, when Governor David W. Ballard asked for protection from federal troops stationed at Fort Boise against the territorial legislature. By 1870, however, the political infighting died down considerably.
In December 1865, the territorial legislature voted to move the capital from Lewiston to Boise. In response a Lewiston probate judge declared the move illegal and dissolved the territorial legislature. Since no higher court existed in Idaho Territory at the time, the decision threw the area into a political quagmire for several months and effectively ended the effectiveness of unpopular Governor Caleb Lyon. To make matters worse, much of the territorial treasury was embezzled amidst the chaos, leaving Idaho Territory without a functioning government and effectively broke. Although order was restored and the capital was successfully moved, the decision remained extremely unpopular in northern Idaho and increased the often bitter sectionalism between the northern and southern parts of the territory[4].
Almost immediately after Idaho Territory was created, a public school system was created and stage coach lines were established. Regular newspapers were active in Lewiston, Boise and Silver City by 1865. The first telegraph line reached Franklin in 1866, with Lewiston being the first town linked in northern Idaho in 1874. The first telephone call in the Pacific Northwest was made on May 10, 1878, in Lewiston.
The discovery of gold, silver and other valuable natural resources throughout Idaho beginning in the 1860s, as well as the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, brought many new people to the territory, including Chinese laborers who came to work the mines. As Idaho approached statehood, mining and other extractive industries became increasingly important to its economy. By the 1890s, for example, Idaho exported more lead than any other state.
After the capital relocation controversy proposals to split the two regions became widespread. In 1887 Idaho Territory was nearly legislated out of existence, but as a favor to Governor Edward A. Stevenson, President Grover Cleveland refused to sign a bill that would have split Idaho Territory between Washington Territory in the north and Nevada in the south.
Although forming a sizeable minority, Mormons in Idaho were held in suspicion by others in Idaho. By 1882 notable and powerful Idahoans successfully disenfranchised Mormon voters in Idaho Territory, citing their illegal practice of polygamy. Idaho was able to achieve statehood some six years before Utah, a territory which had a larger population and had been settled longer, but was majority LDS with voting polygamists.
In 1889, the University of Idaho was awarded to the northern town of Moscow instead of its original planned location at Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls) in the south. This served to alleviate some of the hard feelings felt by northerners over losing the capital.
[edit] Statehood
When President Benjamin Harrison signed the law admitting Idaho as a U.S. state on July 3, 1890, the population was 88,548. George L. Shoup became the state's first governor, but resigned after only a few weeks in office to take a seat in the United States Senate.
[edit] Miners' uprisings
During its first years of statehood, Idaho was plagued by labor unrest in the mining district of Coeur d'Alene. In 1892, miners called a strike which developed into a shooting war between union miners and company guards. Each side accused the other of starting the fight. The first shots were exchanged at the Frisco mine in Frisco, in the Burke-Canyon north and east of Wallace. The Frisco mine was blown up, and company guards were taken prisoner. The violence soon spilled over into the nearby community of Gem, where union miners attempted to locate a Pinkerton spy who had infiltrated their union and was passing information to the mine operators. But agent Charlie Siringo escaped by cutting a hole in the floor of his room. Strikers forced the Gem mine to close, then travelled west to the Bunker Hill mining complex near Wardner, and closed down that facility as well.
Several had been killed in the Burke-Canyon fighting. The Idaho National Guard and federal troops were dispatched to the area, and union miners and sympathizers were thrown into bullpens.
Hostilities would erupt at the Bunker Hill facility once again in 1899, when seventeen union miners were fired for having joined the union. Other union miners were likewise ordered to draw their pay and leave. Angry members of the union converged on the area and blew up the Bunker Hill Mill, killing two company men.
In both disputes, the union's complaints included pay, hours of work, the right of miners to belong to the union, and the mine owners' use of informants and undercover agents. The violence committed by union miners was answered with a brutal response in 1892 and in 1899.
Through the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) union, the battles in the mining district became closely tied to a major miners' strike in Colorado. The struggle culminated in the December 1905 assassination of former Governor Frank Steunenberg by Harry Orchard (also known as Albert Horsley), a member of the WFM. Orchard was allegedly incensed by Steunenberg's efforts as governor to break an 1899 strike after being elected on a pro-labor platform.
Pinkerton detective James McParland conducted the investigation into the assassination. In 1907, WFM Secretary Treasurer "Big Bill" Haywood and two other WFM leaders were tried on a charge of conspiracy to murder Steunenberg, with Orchard testifying against them as part of a deal made with McParland. The nationally publicized trial featured Senator William E. Borah as prosecuting attorney and Clarence Darrow representing the defendants. The defense team presented evidence that Orchard had been a Pinkerton agent and had acted as a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association. Darrow argued that Orchard's real motive in the assassination had been revenge for a declaration of martial law by Steunenberg, which prompted Orchard to gamble away a share in the Hercules mine that would otherwise have made him wealthy.
Two of the WFM leaders were acquitted in two separate trials, and the third was released. Orchard was convicted and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted, and he spent the rest of his life in an Idaho prison.
[edit] Progressive policies
Idaho proved to be one of the more receptive states to the progressive agenda of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The state embraced progressive policies such as women's suffrage (1896) and prohibition (1916) before they became federal law. Idahoans were also strongly supportive of Free Silver. The pro-bimetallism Populist and Silver Republican Parties of the late 1890s were particularly successful in the state.
After statehood, Idaho's economy began a gradual shift away from mining toward agriculture, particularly in the south. Older mining communities such as Silver City and Rocky Bar gave way to agricultural communities incorporated after statehood, such as Nampa and Twin Falls. Milner Dam on the Snake River, completed in 1905, allowed for the formation of many agricultural communities in the Magic Valley region which had previously been nearly unpopulated.
Meanwhile, some of the mining towns were able to reinvent themselves as resort communities, most notably in Blaine County, where the Sun Valley ski resort opened in 1936. Others, such as Silver City and Rocky Bar, became ghost towns.
[edit] 1950s to Present
In the north, mining continued to be an important industry for several more decades. The closure of the Bunker Hill Mine complex in Shoshone County in the early 1980s sent the region's economy into a tailspin. However, since that time there has been a substantial increase in tourism in northern Idaho, particularly in Coeur d'Alene, a popular lake-side resort town.
Beginning in the 1980s, there was a rise in North Idaho of a few right-wing extremist and "survivalist" political groups, most notably one holding Neo-Nazi views, the Aryan Nations. These groups were most heavily concentrated in the Panhandle region of the state, particularly in the vicinity of Coeur d'Alene. Although Idaho is a conservative state politically the vast majority of its residents reject such ideologies.
In 1992 a stand-off occurred between U.S. Marshals, the F.B.I., and white separatist Randy Weaver and his family at their compound at Ruby Ridge, located near the small, north Idaho town of Naples. The ensuing fire-fight and deaths of a U.S. Marshall, and Weaver's son and wife gained national attention, and raised a considerable amount of controversy regarding the nature of acceptable force by the federal government in such situations.
In 2001, the Aryan Nations compound, which had been located in Hayden Lake, Idaho, was confiscated as a result of a court case, and the organization moved out of state. About the same time Boise installed an impressive stone Human Rights Memorial featuring a bronze statue of Anne Frank and quotations from her and many other writers extolling human freedom and equality. A recent poll found that Idaho citizens except people of different cultures and ethnicities and the demograhics of the states has changed as well as a surge in economic expansion due to this growth in different groups, especially in Boise.
[edit] Reference
"IDAHO ENCYCLOPEDIA". Vardish Fisher. Caxton Printers,LDT. Caldwell Idaho. 1938.
"HISTORY OF IDAHO". Beal & Wells. Volumes I & II. Lewis Historical Publishing Company,INC. New York. 1959.
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