A monument of the greatest historical interest to the state of Idaho was dedicated by the Sons of Idaho in Boise county Saturday, marking the site of the grave of George Grimes, whose discovery of gold in 1862, led to the formation of Idaho Territory.
It seemed fitting to the Sons of Idaho, who financed the monument, that the dedicatory address should be made by the one man now living who was in what is now Idaho when Grimes made his discovery, former Governor James H. Hawley.
Governor Hawley prepared the address which follows, giving careful attention to its accuracy from an historic standpoint, and then delivered a short extemporaneous address, in which he explained how much the spot meant to him. Not only had it been vouchsafed to him to be the one man left whose residence in Idaho dated back to '62, but many other memories surround the spot. He lived within a few miles of this grave until he had reached his fortieth year and it was a visit to this spot, following a Democratic convention at Hoggem, in company with Miss Bullock and her aunt, that led to his courtship and marriage the following year to the young woman.
The monument is a simple but impressive shaft of native stone and is set in the center of a five-acre tract which the government has permitted to be set aside for this purpose. The ceremonies were in charge of Herbert Lemp, president of the Sons of Idaho. The historic part of Mr. Hawley's address was as follows:
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Order of the Sons of Idaho, Ladies and Gentlemen: We are standing upon historic ground. Here it was that the real history of Idaho began. From the discovery of placer gold in this vicinity by George Grimes and his associates, in August, 1862, dates the very existence of our state. Here today we are engaged in a duty long delayed. Completing a task that more than a generation ago should have been performed.
Ever since the first pioneer organization in Idaho was had, the thought has been uppermost in its members' minds that on some future day we would fittingly preserve the recollection of a great event by building a monument here upon the ground where he lies buried, commemorating the deeds of George Grimes and his associates. From the time statehood was accomplished, nearly 40 years ago, have I heard such grand old pioneers as Frank R. Coffin, Ben Willson, John Hailey, George Almalle, C. W. Moore, and a score of others whose careers are an integral part of Idaho's past history, speak of the duty we owed to ourselves and to those who would come after us, to do this very thing we are now assembled to carry out. But the task was left undone, and now that newly organized society, "The Sons of Idaho," have quickly accomplished that which we old timers had so long talked of and hoped for, and this beautiful monument will here forever stand as their tribute to the early pioneers of our state.
But, alas! thankful as I am to be part of this assemblage, still I am somewhat sad, when I miss the familiar faces of those I wish could be with us here today; of those with whom in the past I have talked of this hoped for dedication. I feel somewhat lonesome as I stand alone in this large assemblage, as an Idaho pioneer of the early '60's. And in the entire state I do not now know of another who was a resident of what is now Idaho, when the events occurred which we are now celebrating. I cannot help believing, though, that the immortal part of many of those old friends of mine, called long years ago to their reward, hover about us on this occasion and sanctify these proceedings with their presence.
Conditions in 1862. It is difficult for you of the last two generations to realize the conditions prevailing in the northwest in 1862. The entire Pacific coast was then an isolated section, unconnected with the other parts of the union by railroads, or even by telegraph. The gold excitement of 1849 and the succeeding years had caused tens of thousands of the adventurous young men of the older states, and of European countries as well, to make the long trip to California, and when there generally, they stayed or tried fortune in the adjoining Pacific states and territories.
Oregon, after the ratification of the Buchanan _______enham treaty of 1846, within ______ years had a considerable population within her borders as the extremely liberal land laws, specially passed to invite settlement in the Willamette and adjoining valleys, caused many to leave the older states, and following the "Oregon Trail," to finally land in the chosen valley. When created a territory, Oregon embraced the entire area of the present states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and all part of the states of Montana and Wyoming lying west of the summit of the Rocky mountains. Oregon was admitted as a state in 1859, and in 1862 Portland, its chief city, had a population of less than 2500 people.
Washington territory, organized in 1853, embraced the entire remaining portion of Oregon territory. In 1862, Walla Walla near which a government ____ had several years before been established, was its principal city, but had a population not exceeding 1500, and the great cities of her seacoast were then only unimportant villages.
And in all the great area included in the Pacific states and territories, there was only one railroad, and that a short one connecting the California cities of San Francisco and San Jose, less than 80 miles in length. All travel with that exception was carried through ocean ships and river steam boats, except in California, where stage lines connected the mining sections with ocean and river towns.
Idaho Area Unknown. The area included within the present boundaries of our state was a practically unknown region in 1862. In 1859, Capt. E. D. Pierce had discovered gold in Orofino creek, a tributary of the Clearwater river, but the paying area was neither very extensive nor particularly rich. In 1861 gold was struck further down the Orofino, and the town of that name started, and attained that summer a population of about 500 people. Soon another party of prospectors found placer deposits at Elk City, on the south fork of the Clearwater river, where some 200 or 300 men engaged in mining ventures yielding moderate returns. The prospects for richer finds were, however, so alluring that many of the more adventurous miners in the established camps left their claims and engaged in prospecting the adjoining mountains. Late in the summer of 1861 gold was found in Florence basin, at the heads of Slate and Miller creeks, tributaries of the Salmon river, and slight development showed up extraordinarily rich gold deposits. News of the strike soon reached Elk City and the Orofino camps, and the population of these little mining centers, almost to a man, left for the new Eldorado. Many secured claims that showed up big values, and it was estimated that nearly 1000 men that fall found their way into the new camp, and a little town was started, which they called Florence.
Weather Too Severe. But the altitude of the new camp was great, and heavy storms set in early in the fall, followed by the most rigorous weather ever experienced on the Pacific slope. Supplies could not be taken to the new camp, and many who had secured placer claims assuring them apparently a comfortable fortune were compelled to leave or face starvation. Those few that remained were practically without supplies sufficient to last until spring. Some died, and all would have suffered untold hardships had they not been assisted by the Nez Perce Indians living near the mouth of Slate creek. But many of those that were compelled to leave had opened up their claims and secured a short period of profitable work. The result, when those half-starved men, loaded down with gold dust, finally reached the settlements, can easily be imagined.
The basin, in which the placers had been discovered, was large, and it seemed fair to conclude that the remaining part would show up as well as the small area that had been tested. The news of the great strike rapidly spread over the entire Pacific slope. Naturally, the reports, exaggerated undoubtedly in the first instance, soon assumed such shape and form as to lead whole communities to believe a second California had been found.
Gold Discovery Announced. The times were ripe for a great gold excitement. The placer mines of California, which caused the great rush to that state in 1849, had become well nigh exhausted. The almost equally extensive placers of southern Oregon were in the same condition. Thousands of restless, adventurous men, still young in years but practically unfitted for other pursuits by reason of their apprenticeship served in placer mining, had been anxiously awaiting the discovery of new placer sections. The reports from the new "Salmon river mines" fell upon willing ears, as they circulated through the various mining regions of the coast. There had been great rushes for supposed new placers for several years before, but never before was the excitement so great, and thousands resolved to start of the new gold fields when weather conditions would permit.
And so, during the month of April, 1862, the trails from the newly found town of Lewiston were lined with men bound for the Florence basin, most of them on foot, with horses to pack in their supplies - a few only with saddle horses. But all were soon on equal terms, because it was impossible, until after May had well opened, for horses to be taken nearer than 25 miles from Florence. The rest of the journey had to be taken on foot and all the supplies packed in on men's backs. But still the trails - roads there were none - continued lined with men eagerly hastening to the new land of promise. Early in May it became possible to get horses into the new camp, and it was soon ascertained that both the richness and extent of the camp had been grossly overestimated. These reports soon became generally believed, and most of those who had so hastily and joyously started for the new placer fields, just as precipitately returned to their old surroundings. Many on the way to Florence basin likewise so heard, and began prospecting on the way, and as a result several promising mining camps were opened in eastern Oregon. The mining camp of Warrens had also been discovered by prospectors from Florence.
Conditions in What is Now Idaho, in 1862. The section embraced within the present boundaries of our state was, in the beginning of 1862, the most isolated section of the northwest, and less was known in regarding to its resources and future possibilities than of any other section. It was an unknown region, and except for a few Indian trails in particular sections, there were only two roads that were included within our present boundaries. One of these, the Mullan road, was built under an act of congress passed in 1855, and extended from Fort Benton on the Missouri river, and in the present state of Montana, 600 miles westerly to Fort Walla Walla, a distance of over 600 miles, and was constructed for military purposes. It entered what is now the state of Idaho by the St. Regis pass, near the present town of Mullan, and in 1862 followed down the Coeur d'Alene river on the northern shore of the lake of that name, passing through the present city of Coeur d'Alene, and thence westerly to Walla Walla. It was never used to any considerable extent and was practically impassable for teams in 1862. In northern Idaho at that time were a few trails constructed by the whites, leading from Lewiston to the mining district I have mentioned. A wagon road from Walla Walla to the Lapwai had been constructed by the government a few years before. The old Nez Perce Buffalo Trail crossed the Snake river near the present city of Lewiston, and following up the Clearwater, crossed the Bitter Root mountains by the Nez Perce pass and was used by all the Indians of the northwest in their expeditions to the buffalo country. Trails used by the Nez Perce Indians, connecting the various tribes of that nation, practically included all the other trails in the northern section of the state.
Oregon Trail Only Road. The only wagon road in what is now southern Idaho, then existing, was the Oregon Trail. It left the old Santa Fe Trail at Lawrence, Kansas, and followed the Platte river to Fort Laramie, thence up the North Platte and Sweet Water rivers to the South pass. It struck Idaho on Bear river and crossed from Idaho into Oregon, near old Fort Boise, a distance of nearly 400 miles. It was connected with trails to California and Utah and in several places in Idaho the trail divided, but again united further on. The Oregon Trail and its branches were the only rode in now southern Idaho at the time we are referring to. A few Indian trails led into the mountains from various localities occupied by the Indians.
All southern Idaho was at this time an unknown region, except insofar as it was traversed by the Oregon Trail. The great Snake river valley and all its tributary valleys were marked on the geographies of that period as part of the great American desert. There was not one white person who lived on the Snake river or its tributary valleys, nor was there a house built there, or an acre of land under cultivation. The only buildings that had ever been erected in that entire section were Fort Hall, built by Captain Wyeth for use of his trappers in 1834, and Fort Boise, built by the Hudson Bay company near the confluence of the Snake and Boise rivers long before the disputed boundary had been settled by treaty in 1846, and both of these buildings long had been completely destroyed.
And such were the prevailing conditions in what is now Idaho, in the summer of 1862. Without roads upon which to travel; without known landmarks to guide them; without maps or charts to give knowledge of the mountains, the rivers, and the lakes; without knowledge of the numerous Indian tribes, their numbers or camping places; knowing nothing of the topography of the country they travelled through; far removed from surgical or medical assistance, although in constant danger from accidents and hostile savages; the men, who in those early days boldly faced the known and unknown dangers always lurking in both the valleys and the mountains, and in their search for new placers opened up the hitherto unknown regions of this state, were taking chances as desperate as would a mariner embarking on an unknown sea, without either chart or compass. But the men who so engaged and claimed for themselves no particular credit or extraordinary virtues for so doing, were the prospectors who made the first discoveries in these mountains of ours, the men to whom I referred in opening my remarks and of whom I will now further speak.
George Grimes and Party He Led. Moses Splawn always claimed that at Elk City, in 1861, a Bannock Indian watching him wash out a pan of gold-bearing gravel, told him that a long ways south of the Salmon river was a basin in the mountains where gold was plenty, and gave him directions how to find the place. During the early summer of 1862 Splawn organized a party to search for the place. About the same time Captain Thomas Turner started from the Willamette valley with a party to look for the mythical "Blue Bucket Diggings," a supposed rich placer deposit in the mountains south of Snake river, claimed to have been found by emigrants bound for Oregon in 1845. Splawn and Turner met and united their parties, but shortly after quarreled and separated.
George Grimes, then in Oregon, had organized a party to look for the "Blue Bucket diggings" shortly after Turner left, and following the latter's trail, ran across Splawn and his party south of the junction of the Snake and Boise rivers. Joining forces and numbering 13 men all told, they crossed Snake river near the Boise junction and followed up the latter stream, prospecting always on the way, and in the vicinity of the present town of Centerville found encouraging prospects. Proceeding up the stream and prospecting the creek and the bars and gulches as they went, they reached this vicinity where we are now holding these services. Their supplies were nearly exhausted.
Satisfied they had struck a rich placer mining section they were contemplating returning to Auburn for supplies when a band of Indians camped close to where we now are, commenced hostilities, and George Grimes was killed; and here, at this very spot where we are now erecting this monument, he was buried. The others of the party started immediately for Auburn, where they arrived a few days after, promptly informed their friends in different section of their discovery, and in October, accompanied by a number of others, returned to the place where the discovery had been made.
The discovery party included, besides George Grimes and Moses Splawn, its leaders, Joseph Branstetter, D. H. Fogus, usually called Colonel Fogus, John Reynolds, J. Westenhaver (Westenfelder), Wilson, Miller, and two Portuguese named Antonio and Felippe. I became somewhat acquainted with Fogus, Splawn and Westenhaver in 1863, and intimately knew Joseph Branstetter up to his death in Boise a few years ago. I have related here these occurrences as they told me of them, and have no doubt but what they are the equal and exact truth in regard to this notable discovery.
Results of Great Discovery. The news of this great strike quickly traveled to Florence and to the smaller mining camps. Before October had passed, Jeff Standifer and Captain Bledsoe organized a party of more than 100 men in Florence and made their way to the Boise basin, striking rich placers at Placerville. I prepared to go with this party, but was taken with pneumonia a few days before the start and was unable to reach the basin until early in the following April. Every mining camp in what is now Idaho became practically depopulated in a few weeks, and before the fall had passed, hundreds of the disappointed gold seekers who had gone to Florence and returned again to their homes, made another effort and landed in the new mining section. From every part of Oregon, California, Utah, and Nevada came the eager gold hunters, and all were rewarded by finding good claims. Many emigrants crossing the plains heard the glad news before they had reached their destination and switched off the Oregon Trail and landed in the newly found placers. There was room for all.
Much of the richest ground was easily worked and considerable gold was soon extricated, and along before the belated winter had set in the sight of this treasure so assured the outside business meant that ample supplies of all kinds were shipped by teams from the several towns adjoining the Oregon Trail, and packed on horse and mule trains from the end of the wagon roads over the newly- made mountain trails to the several mining centers. Hundreds of beef cattle were driven from the fields of Oregon and slaughtered in the new camps. Ample supplies of all kinds came in, and there was plenty of gold dust with which to pay the bills.
It was soon demonstrated that never before in the history of mining for placer gold had as rich deposits been found in an equal area, as those of Boise Basin. News of the great discoveries soon reached throughout the country and thousands from the older states reached Idaho before the end of 1863.
And "Idaho" we soon could properly call the newly discovered section, because congress, in March, 1863, set apart the territory of Idaho as a separate jurisdiction.
The Boise country was heavily timbered with magnificent yellow pine trees and red fir. Lumber was easily manufactured and splendid well-built towns, four in number, were well started before the first winter had actually set in. Comfortable cabins were built by the miners on their claims from the timber growing at their very doors. Never before had been struck a so conveniently situated mining section. The water was good and the climate almost perfect, and the elevation the most desirable.
Camp Produced 250 Millions. Before 1863 had ended, conservative estimates show that over 20,000 men were living in Boise Basin, nearly all of whom were engaged in mining, and a mining failure those first two years was there an unheard of thing. Up to 1880, when the placer areas had become practically exhausted, those best posted on the output insisted that 250 millions in gold dust had been produced from the date of the discovery. Not only this great discovery of George Grimes and his party been responsible for all this, but still greater results followed from their efforts.
It is undoubtedly true that this discovery of theirs led to the formation of Idaho territory followed in due time by her admission as a state of the Union.
It is equally certain that this great discovery of gold was responsible for the speedy reclamation of our farming lands and the successful application of water to the lands in our arid sections. Without the market insured by the mining industry, there would have been no incentive urging settlers to occupy our farming lands and to the labor and expense of putting water on them for irrigation purposes.
With this great mining discovery, stock raising would never have been carried on in this far distant section, and the lumbering industry would have been postponed for a hundred years.
Without this discovery, lesser mining camps of low grade mining ores would never have been opened and this great source of our precious metal production would never have been ascertained.
It was the result of the population brought here in the first stance by this great mining discovery; of the farming, the stock growing and the lumber industry, that were made possible by reason of it, that caused the building of the Oregon Short Line and the other railroads of southern Idaho, and made our state in reality an integral part of this great country of ours, and of our people happy and content citizens.
And is it then not well that we celebrate, even at this late day, this great discovery by the foremost of our pioneers? Is it not well to honor George Grimes and his associates in 1926 for the great things they accomplished, in the good year 1862?
My friends, I am truly glad that you are here on this pleasant occasion. I am doubly glad to be part and parcel of this celebration.
Last updated October 2008