| Idaho (Ada County), Boise — 72 — Airmail Service |
| | U.S. commercial airline service began with a Varney Airlines flight from Pasco to Boise which landed here on April 6, 1926. Army planes had delivered airmail before that time.
After Varney Airlines was merged with newer companies to become United Airlines, this flight was recognized as United's initial flight. A year later, Charles A. Lindberg landed here on his national tour after his solo flight to Paris. Boise's municipal airport continued to serve planes here until 1940 when 8,800-foot runways were built at its present site. — Map (db m22734) |
| Idaho (Ada County), Boise — 376 — Arrowrock Dam |
| | Higher than any other dam from 1915 until 1934, Arrowrock Dam still is an essential part of Boise Valley's irrigation system.
Located six miles upstream from here, Arrowrock is 350 feet high and 1,150 feet wide. Built at a cost of $4,725,000 to provide additional water storage to get 2,635 valley farms through dry summer seasons, it had enough extra capacity to take care of more than 1,000 new farms as well. Its 18-mile canyon reservoir holds 280,000 acre feet of water. — Map (db m22597) |
| Idaho (Ada County), Boise — 359 — Beaver Dick's Ferry |
| | In 1863 and 1864, overland packers hauling supplies from Salt Lake City to Idaho City crossed here and took a direct route northward to More's Creek.
They cut a steep grade from the Oregon Trail down to Beaver Dick's Ferry, which served a crossing only a short distance below here. After gold rush excitement ended, Idaho City traffic came on through Boise and used a toll road further north to Boise Basin. — Map (db m22641) |
| Idaho (Ada County), Boise — 402 — Boise State University |
| | Expanding from a two-year community college (1932-1965) to a campus with a graduate program, Boise State was designated as a university in 1974.
Originating as an Episcopalian academy founded in 1892, this institution was located a mile north of here until 1940, when Boise's municipal airport, located here became available for a large new campus. Christ's Chapel -- Boise's original Episcopalian church building, built downtown in 1866, was moved to this site for permanent preservation in 1963. — Map (db m22735) |
| Idaho (Ada County), Boise — 343 — Diversion Dam |
| | Diversion Dam was completed in 1909 to lift water into an already constructed New York canal system, greatly expanding its irrigated farmlands.
After a quarter century of failure to dig a large canal above Diversion Dam, United States Reclamation Service funding enabled a group of Boise Valley irrigation districts to complete this project. Then in 1912, a generating plant was installed to provide power to construct Arrowrock Dam. It has been preserved as an historical display by Bureau of Reclamation staff. — Map (db m22586) |
| Idaho (Ada County), Boise — 318 — More's Creek |
| | More's Creek is named for J. Marion More, leader of the party of miners who founded Idaho City, October 7, 1862.
Like most of Idaho's early miners, he came originally from the South. Unlike most of them, he struck it rich. During the Idaho gold rush, he had profitable investments in many important mining camps. Hardly anyone else did as much to build Idaho during the early days. — Map (db m22595) |
| Idaho (Ada County), Boise — 375 — Oregon Trail |
| | Indians, trappers, and emigrants who came this way before 1900 used a more direct route to get between Boise and Glenns Ferry. Their road still can be seen at Bonneville Point 5 miles from here. Following close to a line of hills bordering a broad, rolling plain, their route had water and grass essential for horses and oxen. It also gave them a spectacular view of Boise valley. To see that site, follow directional signs when you reach Interchange 64 at Black's Creek, 1 mile beyond here. — Map (db m22181) |
| Idaho (Ada County), Boise — 151 — The Oregon Trail |
| | The Oregon Trail is still clearly visible coming off the rimrock across the river. Here the west bound emigrants after 1840 came gratefully down into this green valley.
The first cart passed here with Spalding and Whitman, pioneer missionaries, in 1836. By the middle 1840's, thousands of emigrant wagons had cut a broad track, later the Overland Road. The tide of travel went down when the railroad was completed in 1884, but the tracks of the wagons and stages can still be followed for miles east in the desert. — Map (db m22639) |
| Idaho (Adams County), Council — 420 — Old Railroads |
| | An ambitious railroad project to a high Seven Devils copper mine (elevation 6800 ft.) created a lot of excitement here in 1898-1899.
This would have been Idaho's highest mountain railroad if funding had been available to complete it. Construction began near a canyon rim more than a vertical mile above Snake River. Although it never got anywhere, that grade still can be seen near Kinney Point. Remains of an old mining smelter at Landore also survive from that time. — Map (db m23226) |
| Idaho (Adams County), Meadows — 183i — Packer John's Cabin |
| | John Welch -- always known as Packer John -- hauled supplies from Lewiston to Idaho City during a major Boise Basin gold rush of 1863-1864.
He built a cabin (1/4 mile north of here) that immediately became an historic Idaho landmark. Territorial political conventions (Republican in 1863 and Democratic in 1864)used his facility as a point where North Idaho leaders could meet with southern representatives to choose congressional candidates. This site now is a state park. — Map (db m23230) |
| Idaho (Adams County), Mesa — 374 — Mesa Orchards |
| | For more than half a century, after 1910, an apple orchard of nearly 1400 acres, thought to be the largest in the United States under one management, covered this area.
Investors, mostly from the eastern U.S., bought 10-acre shares to finance the project. An eight mile wooden flume carried water for irrigation from the Middle Fork of the Weiser River, and in 1920, a unique gravity tramway was built to carry fruit 3 1/2 miles north to a rail siding. Production lasted until about 1960 when . . . — Map (db m23222) |
| Idaho (Blaine County), Carey — 354 — Goodale's Cutoff |
| | When emigrants began to take their westbound wagons along an old Indian and trapper’s trail past this lava, they had to develop a wild and winding road.
At this spot, like many others, they had hardly enough space to get by. At times, they could not avoid lava stretches. But they slowly crept along, leaving their road strewn with parts of broken wagons. J.C. Merrill noted in 1864 that “at one place we were obliged to drive over a huge rock just a little wider than the wagon. Had we . . . — Map (db m4650) |
| Idaho (Boise County), Grandjean — 435 — Emile Grandjean |
| | An immigrant from Denmark where he had studied forestry, he came to this part of Idaho in 1883 to mine, hunt and trap.
Before Idaho became a state in 1890, he built a winter cabin below Grandjean Peak on a site later occupied by Grandjean Ranger Station. Because of his European studies, he became a professional forester here. Then he served as supervisor of Boise National Forest from 1906 to 1922. — Map (db m22638) |
| Idaho (Boise County), Horseshoe Bend — 278 — Horse Shoe Bend |
| | Gold was struck in Boise Basin (over the ridge to the east) in 1862, and the rush to these new mines came through here.
Traffic came by steamer up the Columbia to Umatilla, and thence overland. At first there were only pack and saddle trains, but in 1864, John Hailey, famous Idaho pioneer, ran stages this way, and a toll road up Harris Creek was opened shortly. Though other routes to the Basin also developed, freighters continued to come through Horse Shoe Bend for many years. — Map (db m23235) |
| Idaho (Boise County), Idaho City — 188 — Grimes' Creek |
| | Named for George Grimes who, with Moses Splawn, led the party which on August 2, 1862 made the strike that started the Boise basin gold rush.
The party was searching for a rich basin described to Splawn a year earlier by an Indian. Farther up this creek, they found the gold they were looking for. A few days later, Grimes was killed at Grimes Pass (it was blamed on Indians) and his partners had to bury him in a prospect hole nearby. — Map (db m22600) |
| Idaho (Boise County), Idaho City — 186 — Idaho City |
| | This roaring metropolis was founding early in October, 1862, about ten weeks after gold was discovered in Boise basin.
By the next summer, this was the largest city in the Northwest, with 6,275 people -- 5,691 of them men! Families followed, and respectable businesses, schools, libraries, good theaters, churches, and fraternal orders came soon. The town survived several disastrous fires and remained an important mining center until the war shut down gold production in 1942. — Map (db m22601) |
| Idaho (Boise County), Idaho City — 266 — The Old Toll Road |
| | The Old Toll Road to Idaho City crossed the ridge from Boise through the lowest point you can see in the skyline across the valley.
Climbing the More's creek canyon wall, it crossed this highway about here and swung north. The road was built and stage service began in 1864 when Idaho City was the largest town in the Pacific Northwest. Even though this road was shorter than today's highway, it was a long, hard day's trip from Boise to Idaho City. A stage from this run is in the State Museum in Boise. — Map (db m22599) |
| Idaho (Boise County), Lowman — 442 — Emma Edwards |
| | A talented artist, Emma Edwards went to work in 1890 to to design Idaho's state seal when she was only 18 years old.
Although her father had moved to California after serving as governor of Missouri (1844 to 1848), Emma preferred to spend much of her time in Idaho. After her marriage to John C. Green, a Boise Basin miner, they took up a land claim along Emma Creek and Green Creek in 1906 and lived here for many summers. Her seal design designated Syringa, which blooms on these hills, as Idaho's State Flower. — Map (db m22637) |
| Idaho (Boise County), Lowman — 444 — Lowman |
| | In 1907, Nathaniel W. Lowman settled here, and four years later, when he started a post office in his large log house, this community was named for him.
Only a few scattered settlers lived here then. Lowman got all its supplies once a year from a large freight wagon over a state road built in 1894 to provide access to North Idaho. This highway followed in 1939. Eventually a one-room schoolhouse was moved here from Garden Valley. It still serves Lowman. — Map (db m22616) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Caldwell — 455 — Emigrant Crossing |
| | After reaching Boise River, emigrant wagons had to travel 30 miles to find a good crossing about 1/4 mile north of here.
They had to avoid a wide zone of shifting channels, so they descended Canyon Hill where the route is still visible. In 1853, Maria Belshaw "...crossed Boise River at ford, 15 rods wide 3 feet deep, beautiful river, gravel bottom, very clear, large salmon in it." After crossing, the road headed westward along a route that became US 20. — Map (db m22326) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Middleton — Hostility Erupts Into Violence — Ward Massacre |
| | On August 20, 1854, the Alexander Ward Party of 20 men, women, and children were traveling on the Oregon Trail with five wagons, a day behind a larger party led by Alexander Yantis. The Wards pulled their wagons off the Trail for lunch and to water their stock when two white men and three Native Americans approached the party to trade for a horse. When the trade failed, one of the Indians attempted to ride off with the horse and was killed.
Fearing retribution, the Wards hurried back to the . . . — Map (db m22398) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Middleton — Peaceful Trading Turns Hostile — Ward Massacre |
| | In the 1830's, local tribes, including the Shoshone, Paiute, and Bannock began trading with Euro-American fur trappers and missionaries passing through southern Idaho. Peaceful exchanges beneficial to both groups increased in 1842 when wagon trains crossed southern Idaho on the Oregon Trail. As they moved through the Boise Valley, the trains obtained food, stock and services from native bands in exchange for a variety of goods and animals. What was only a few hundred wagons in 1842 became a . . . — Map (db m22333) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Middleton — 75 — The Ward Massacre |
| | Only 2 young boys survived the Indian attack on Alexander Ward's 20 member party, Oregon bound on August 20, 1854. Military retaliation for the slaughter so enraged the Indians that Hudson's Bay Co. posts Fort Boise and Fort Hall had to be abandoned, and the Oregon Trail became unsafe without army escort. Eight years of Indian terror followed. Finally the 1862 gold rush brought powerful forces, civilian and military, that gradually subdued the tribes. — Map (db m22328) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Middleton — To the Memory of the Pioneers — Ward Massacre Memorial |
| | To the memory of the pioneers who were massacred by Indians near this spot August 20, 1854.
This monument is dedicated by Pioneer Chapter
Daughters of the American Revolution Boise, Idaho
William Ward Age 44
Margaret Ward " 37
Mary Ward " 18
Robert Ward " 16
Edward Ward " 9
Francis Ward " 7
Flora Ward " 5
Susan Ward " 3
Eliza White " 30
George White . . . — Map (db m22336) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Middleton — Violence is Avenged — Ward Massacre |
| | In early September, 1854, Major Granville Hallar set out with a US military force from their post in Oregon to avenge the Ward-party deaths. Upon arrival at the rebuilt Hudson Bay's Fort Boise near the mouth of the Boise River, the Indians they encountered were arrested, but released after proving their innocence. The next day, four Indians were arrested - three were killed and one was wounded, but escaped.
The expedition next advanced up the Payette River tracking a suspect Indian band to . . . — Map (db m22366) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Notus — 361 — Lower Boise |
| | Confederate refugees from Missouri started farming in this area in 1863 and 1864, when gold and silver mining camps created a great demand for flour and cattle. Driven out from their Missouri River homes below Kansas City by extremely bitter Civil War border warfare, they got a new start by digging riverside canals and planting crops. They helped make Idaho an overwhelming southern Democratic territory from 1864 to 1880. Settlements from Caldwell to Notus were known as Dixie, and those farther west were Lower Boise. — Map (db m21988) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Parma — 78 — Marie Dorion |
| | An Iowa Indian who came through here with Wilson Price Hunt's fur trappers in 1811, Marie Dorion spent an incredible winter in this region in 1814. She and her two infant children were sole survivors of a mid-January Bannock Indian clash at John Reid's fur trade post 6 miles west of here. So they had to set out with two horses on a 200-mile retreat through deep mountain snow. Finally a Columbia River band of Walla Walla Indians rescued them in April. — Map (db m21995) |
| Idaho (Canyon County), Parma — 85 — Old Fort Boise |
| | An important Hudson's Bay Company fur trade post was established in 1834 four miles west of here on the bank of the Snake River. Fur trading declined, but this British post became famous for its hospitality to American travellers on the Oregon Trail. An 1845 report spoke of "two acres of land under cultivation...1,991 sheep, 73 pigs, 17 horses, and 27 meat cattle - a welcome oasis at the ford of Snake River after 300 thirsty miles from Fort Hall. A flood in 1853 washed away the adobe . . . — Map (db m21992) |
| Idaho (Fremont County), Macks Inn — 452 — Pierre J. Desmet — Jesuit leader |
| | Roman Catholic Missionary services began in Idaho on Sunday July 10, 1840 in Teton Valley, followed by a mass held near here at Henry's Lake, July 23.
Pierre J. DeSmet a Belgian Jesuit leader accompanied a Pend Oreille - Flathead band on their way northwest to their homeland. Climbing a mountain here, along streams "descending from dizzy heights, leaping from rock to rock with a deafening noise," he invoked divine thanks for his succesfull tour into Idaho and Montana. — Map (db m12559) |
| Idaho (Gem County), Emmett — 377 — Black Canyon Dam |
| | Constructed in 1924, this $1,500,000 concrete gravity dam has a 1,039 foot crest and a 183 foot structural height.
A 29 mile canal, along with lesser ditches, serves 58,250 acres of Boise and Payette valley farms. A power plant at Black Canyon Dam generates electricity for commercial use as well as for irrigation pumping. Farms far from early riverside canals benefit from this project. — Map (db m23237) |
| Idaho (Idaho County), Grangeville — 294 — Nez Perce War |
| | Near the base of this hill, over 100 cavalrymen and volunteers met disaster in the opening battle of The Nez Perce War.
Rushing from Grangeville on the evening of June 16, 1877, Captain David Perry planned to stop the Indians from crossing Salmon River to safety from pursuit. At daylight the next morning he headed down the ravine below you. Some sixty to eighty Indians wiped out a third of his force and the survivors retired in disorder. No Indians were killed. — Map (db m4643) |
| Idaho (Nez Perce County), Lewiston — Lewis and Clark |
| | Lewis and Clark camped on the North Bank of Lewis's or Snake River October 10, 1805
Erected October 1955
by Alice Whitman Chapter D.A.R. — Map (db m23267) |
| Idaho (Payette County), Fruitland — 336 — Salmon Festival |
| | Long before fur hunters explored here in 1811, an annual Indian salmon festival was held each July in this area.
Indian peoples came great distances to trade, celebrate, and arrange intertribal marriages. Cheyenne and Arapaho bands brought elegant tipi poles from Colorado. Crow and Shoshoni buffalo hunters supplied meat and hides from Montana and Wyoming. Nez Perce and Walla Walla horsemen marketed superior stock they had developed, and Paiute weapon and tool makers provided obsidian from . . . — Map (db m23197) |
| Idaho (Payette County), Fruitland — 263 — Snake River |
| | The valley of the Snake, historic passage from the Midwest to the Northwest, has been a primary route for travel since the days of Indians and fur traders.
The Oregon Trail forded the river at Old Fort Boise, the Hudson's Bay Company 12 miles upstream. Many a famous early westerner saw the valley you now see - though the look of the land has changed since white settlement brought irrigated farms. Today the river provides both irrigation and power along its thousand-mile course from the . . . — Map (db m23195) |
| Idaho (Valley County), Cascade — 155 — Long Valley Ambush |
| | While hunting stolen horses on Aug. 20, 1878, WM. Monday, Jake Groseclose, Tom Healy, & "Three Finger" Smith were ambushed in a rocky basin 9/10 mile by road from here.
Monday and Groseclose were killed immediately, and Healy wounded; Smith, "being a man of experience in such matters," fled. He made it 40 miles to Salmon Meadows. Infantrymen buried the 3, marked the spot, and took up the Indian trail. Smith estimated there were 75 Indians; army trackers finally concluded there were only 5 -- but they never caught them. — Map (db m23231) |
| Idaho (Valley County), Smiths Ferry — 496 — Splash Dams |
| | Prior to the arrival of the railroad in 1912, the North Fork of the Payette River provided an avenue for logs destined to downstream mills in Horseshoe Bend and Emmett.
In 1903, $100,000 was spent to dynamite open a clear channel in the river. Splash Dams were built to store logs. During the winter of 1903-04, logs were held in a 36-acre pond. In April, the logs were blasted loose when the main dam was opened. Less then half of the logs made it to the mills and four men lost their lives . . . — Map (db m23233) |
| Idaho (Washington County), Cambridge — 185 — Brownlee Ferry |
| | Guiding Oregon Trail emigrants and a party of prospectors who had discovered gold in Boise Basin, Tim Goodale opened a new miners' trail through here in August 1862.
A gold rush followed that fall, and John Brownlee operated a ferry here from 1862 to 1864, before leaving to work his own Boise Basin mine. A new ferry commenced here a year after James Ruth and T.J. Heath discovered silver mines on Brownlee Creek in 1874, with service continuing until after 1920. — Map (db m23227) |
| Idaho (Washington County), Cambridge — 378 — Seven Devils Mines |
| | More than a century ago, miners faced a hopeless problem of hauling copper ore to this canyon for shipment to smelters.
They started with Albert Kleinschmidt's road grade down from their mine, more than a vertical mile above Snake River, and more than 30 miles downstream from here. After a steamboat failed in 1891, a railroad (now under water) was built past here to their river landing. That did not work either. Large ore trucks finally solved their problem in 1968. — Map (db m23228) |
| Idaho (Washington County), Weiser — 487 — 11,000 Years of Indian Occupation |
| | The Weiser Valley provided an abundant environment for early hunters and food gatherers.
Archaeological excavation along Monroe Creek in conjunction with US-95 realignment yielded one of the most significant prehistoric sites in the region. Spear and arrow points and radiocarbon dates suggest the site was occupied for 11,000 years. Inhabitants hunted deer, mountain goat, and rabbit and gathered salmon, roots, berries, and seeds. Artifacts were found ten feet below the ground surface. — Map (db m23220) |
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