Idaho was not only one of the original counties, but the largest in the territory. Since its organization it has experienced many changes. Lemhi and Custer counties were taken from it bodily, and it contributed generous amounts to the counties of Boise and Washington. In 1875, this loss of territory was partly compensated by receiving from Nez Perce a section which included the mining districts of Elk City and Newsome Creek, and the great Camas Prairie country, which is now its chief agricultural section. It still boasts of being the largest county in Idaho and is exceeded in size by few in the United States.

It occupies a central position in Idaho, its borders touching the states of Oregon and Montana as well as seven sister counties. Surely a subdivision so vast and central may honorably bear the name of the mother state.

The following description is taken from a state report: "Idaho County occupies nearly one-seventh of the whole area of the state. It embraces 7,222,400 acres, a larger extent of territory than the combined area of Rhode Island, Delaware and Massachusetts. It is a truly royal dominion, royal not only in territorial extent, but royal in the hidden treasures in its hills and mountains, royal in its climatic conditions from the dry atmosphere of its river valleys to the life-giving moisture of its rolling prairies, from its low elevation and high temperature to its snow-capped mountain peaks; and royal in its game preserves.

"The Salmon River, the greatest tributary of the Snake, traverses the county from the Lemhi county line to its mouth, a distance of nearly two hundred and twenty-five miles, with its myriads of branches, creeks and rivulets penetrating its hill sides and lapping the snow from its highest ridges. The North and South forks of the Clearwater in a like manner penetrate the eastern and northeastern part of the county. The atmosphere on these rivers is dry and warm in the summer and the temperature rarely permits of snow in the winter, affording an ideal climate for orchards and vines. For a narrow margin along these rivers, irrigation is required, but water is plentiful.

"Within the boundaries and conditions roughly sketched, there are many rich valleys, rolling prairies and hillside slopes of arable land, and here the rainfall is sufficient and the moisture adequate to give luxuriant life to the vegetable kingdom. The county contains the rich and fertile Camas Prairie of the north, forty by thirty miles in extent, and the two plateaus known as the Joseph and Dormice plains, equally as rich and fertile.

"The area assigned to Camas Prairie contains 768,000 acres. This area, however, includes the breaks of the Clearwater River. This river, like all the rivers of the northern part of the state, runs its whole length in a canyon.

"The word canyon in its popular signification here is somewhat indefinite in meaning and apt to mislead one not acquainted with its use, and it may not be out of place to attempt to define its use in our western vernacular. Canyon, then, is not the river nor the channel of the river, but the deep gulch or ravine cut by the river through the mountains and hills in its course to lower levels, and embraces all the surface of the earth exposed on either side of the stream up to the table land or rim rock, and the rim rocks on either side before erosion set in were the walls of the canyon. Where the walls of the canyon stood perpendicular so as to prevent a passage way on either side of the stream, it is called a box canyon; where the walls gradually and with but little inclination merge into a plain, it is called a valley. But between these two descriptive words—box canyon and valley—there is a wide variety of scenery and topography and the word canyon is used to designate the whole. In places there is barely room for a wagon road; in other places there may be miles, even as high as fifteen or more, between the table lands on either side. In such places there are bars (bottom lands) which usually occur at the mouth of side streams or at some sudden turn in the river, causing sediment to be deposited on the opposite bank. These bars are of all sizes from a few acres up to hundreds of acres, and are very rich and fertile. Then above these are benches, in places as high as three or four, approaching the table land above by steps or degrees. These benches are also rich and fertile, especially on the north and west hillsides. These latter conditions are called the breaks of the river.

"Now the canyon of the South fork of the Clearwater River runs the whole length of Camas Prairie, and these breaks, of course, will detract from the arable land designated, but the Salmon River, with its tremendous length in the state, so far as its canyons are concerned, are similar to those of the Clearwater, with many rich bars and benches, and the same thing occurs on the Snake river side of the county.

"But Idaho County is essentially a mountainous region. On the east are the Bitterroot mountains, and the larger portion of the Salmon River mountains are included within its borders. These mountains are in no well defined range, but are a vast collection of irregularly scattered peaks, overtopping a wilderness of lesser peaks, all of a rugged and forbidding aspect. The average altitude is about six thousand feet, though many of the peaks have an elevation nearly double that height."

Through these mountains the Salmon River has relentlessly cut its way. Its valley is from three thousand to four thousand feet lower than the average altitude of the mining camps in the adjacent mountains, and consequently there is a marked difference in the climate. In the valley snow rarely falls before February, and many years there is practically none during the winter; while in the mining camps the snow covers the mountain sides to a depth of from four to six feet.

The Salmon River Mountains are chiefly of a granite formation and are supposed to belong to a comparatively recent geological period. The canyon of the Salmon River affords excellent opportunity for geological research, as in places its walls rise to a height of one thousand to two thousand feet. Toward the west the country is covered by a lava formation, the decomposition of which has formed the rich soil of Camas Prairie.

The history of the original counties in Idaho is for the most part a history of the early mining discoveries. Gold was found in 1860 in what was then Shoshone County. The next year saw a great invasion into that section, and many of the miners, instead of working the ground already prospected, pushed on into unknown territory to find new fields.

Such a party, in September of 1861, located the gold gravels of Miller creek, about seventy five miles south of Elk City, which was the scene of the first mining in the region afterward to be designated as Idaho County. A few weeks later the Florence diggings were found, and a number of men wintered in the mountains, undergoing great hardships. The next year saw the opening of the Warren placers, and Idaho County was fully launched on her first mining career.

The county seat was at Florence. The population consisted of miners and of those engaged in various lines of business dependent on mining. All of these early towns flourished or declined just as the mining industry in their vicinity prospered or waned. The ground near Florence was soon exhausted and, in 1869, the county's capital was removed to Warren.

This town had for three years enjoyed a steady growth so that by 1865 it numbered 1,500 inhabitants, but by 1867 it had lost two thirds of its population. The discovery of quartz lodes caused a revival, and it was during this period that Warren became the county seat. But quartz mining proved disappointing and the town dwindled to four hundred or less. In 1872, there was influx of the Chinese to the number of twelve hundred. They took up the claims abandoned by the white men, worked over the gravels and then they, too, departed.

The first saw mill in Warren was built in 1868 by F. Shessler and William Bloomer. About the same time a five stamp quartz mill was installed by Godfrey Gamble, water power being used. A second mill was built about five miles from Warren, but the quartz veins did not prove as profitable as had been expected.

One of the first residents of Warren was Leo Hofen, a German, who came to the Pacific coast in 1855. He located in Lewiston where he conducted a general merchandising business and did assaying. In the spring of 1865 he moved to Warren, where he remained for a number of years, being the last of the pioneers to desert the mining town. For a time he practically had control of all business between the Fayette and Salmon rivers.

All who entered Idaho's western border were not so blinded by gold that other resources escaped them. Realizing the richness of the Camas Prairie, many located there and in time a thriving agricultural community was built up. It in turn laid claim to the county seat which, in 1875, was established at Mount Idaho, this section, including the Prairie and the mining district east of it, having been taken from Nez Perce and given to Idaho county.

We quote the following from Bancroft: "The history of Mount Idaho is the history of farming in Idaho County. Situated on North Camas Prairie, the town was settled in 1862 by L. P. Brown, through whose efforts it was made flourishing. Located at the foot of the mountains on the east side of the Prairie, it became a picturesque place, with mills, stores and good buildings. H. S. Crossdale and one Baring resigned commissions in the British army and settled on the Prairie, ten miles north of Mount Idaho, about 1870, where they raised sheep. A rival to Mount Idaho was Grangeville, two miles northwest, which about equaled it in business and population for some time." Fickle fortune! Mount Idaho is not now even listed among the towns of Idaho County while Grangeville is the thriving county seat.

Any estimate of the agricultural lands in this county in its present state of progress must necessarily be approximate, and may be stated at about three-quarters of a million acres. There are about one hundred and fifty thousand acres of this class of land now held by patent from the government. On the east side of the Clearwater River there is a large number of homesteaders in the timber, building up homes much in the same way that the Ohio and Indiana pioneers did, clearing a small amount of ground each year and getting it in cultivation, but it is much harder to get rid of the pine stumps than to dispose of the hardwood roots of the eastern forests. There is compensation, however, in being able to sell the logs instead of having to destroy them.

Generally speaking, the agricultural interests of the county are confined to the Camas Prairie district. Prior to 1908 there were fewer than twenty-five miles of railroad in the entire county. Even on the Prairie the farmers raised little more than was needed for local consumption, as there was no way of marketing their products. During this time the chief industry was cattle, which, during the greater part of the year, could range the hills and keep in good condition.

Over two hundred and seventy thousand acres of grazing land are now held by patent, being by far the largest amount of land of this character in any one county of the state. "While the number of range cattle has materially decreased, Idaho County is still in the lead in this line, being excelled only by Owyhee and Lemhi counties. With better facilities for marketing, more farm products have been grown and special attention has been turned to swine, in the production of which this county now stands first.

We are indebted to L. M. Harris for the following facts concerning Camas Prairie, which takes its name from the native camas, a root highly prized by the Indians as food: "Camas Prairie, Idaho, is situated in the northwest portion of Idaho County, its elevation being from two thousand to thirty-two hundred feet above sea level. The crops grown are wheat, oats, barley, corn, clover, alfalfa, timothy, potatoes and vegetables of all varieties. Fruit grown on Camas Prairie consist of apples, plums, prunes, cherries—sweet and sour,—pears, peaches, nectarines and quince, together with the whole berry family.

"A conservative estimate, or rather, accurate records of several years past, show the yield of grain on the Prairie to be as follows: Wheat—winter—from 35 to 65 bushels per acre; wheat—spring—from 35 to 65 bushels per acre; winter barley, from 50 to 108 bushels per acre; beardless barley, from 40 to 75 bushels per acre; blue barley, 50 to 87 bushels per acre; oats, from 40 to 90 bushels per acre. The whole of Camas Prairie, when not planted to other crops, self seeds to timothy, which produces from one to two and one-half tons per acre.

"At Portland, in 1905, Camas Prairie was awarded the gold medal for grains and grasses, and again in Seattle, in 1909.

"The average rainfall on Camas Prairie for the past five years has been thirty inches per annum well distributed throughout the growing season. There are no dashing rains to wastefully wash the soil and very little thunder and lightning. The season of assured rainfall closes June 20 to July 1, leaving fully three months for the proper ripening and harvesting of grain.

"It is seldom that Camas Prairie has zero weather. The summers are very pleasant, the extreme heat that might be oppressive in other localities being" modified by the gentle, ever stirring breeze from the neighboring mountains. This assertion finds proof in the fact that during the past five years the warmest day recorded was 98 degrees in the shade.

"Numerous springs of pure, cold water over the Prairie, and the several mountain streams which pass through the agricultural sections on their way to the Clearwater and Salmon Rivers, furnish an abundance of the finest water obtainable. Wells are from twenty to one hundred and fifty feet in depth, depending upon the locality in which they are dug. The water of Idaho County is a natural resource of which the residents have boasted for ages, and as long as the bounteous rains come steadily in the spring time and the crystallized snow melts in the mountains, their boasts will go begging for doubt or contradiction.

"Stock raising ranks among the principal industries of the county. The time was when the cattleman was king, having large herds of cattle maintained in the summer and fall on the bunch grass ranges on the highlands and breaks of the Salmon and Clearwater Rivers and fed throughout the winter months on grain and hay grown on the Prairie. Conditions are different now but not less profitable. Practically every farmer has a number of well bred cattle, using thoroughbred bulls and thereby bettering the quality of his herds. As a resultant of these methods, stock raising has been extended and elevated, and a great many splendid individual herds may be seen over the Prairie.

"Hogs are here—as in other countries where they thrive—a big factor in the livestock industry. They thrive on the native grasses in summer and will feed on the waste in harvesting and threshing from the wheat and barley fields, acquiring in this manner the amount of feed and exercise necessary for the greatest possible growth.

"It is generally admitted that corn ensilage is one of the best, if not the very best, feed for dairy cows. In extensive corn growing states such as Iowa, Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska, corn stalks produce too many ears, resulting in a fattening feed instead of a milk producing feed. Here the ensilage grows to perfection, this country not being an ideal corn producing country, so far as ears and bushels of corn are concerned. This makes it the acme of corn ensilage production.

"In the past this country has been farmed to wheat, single farmers having as much as five hundred to eight hundred acres. To grow more wheat, to buy more land to grow more wheat seemed to be the desire of the people living here. Even today we have too many large land owners for the best good of our country. Some of these large tracts are for sale in a body. If the large holdings could be cut into forty to one hundred acre farms, the country would be in a better condition. People, homes, families and school houses are what Camas Prairie needs not the speculator nor the large land owner. The territory served by the railroad, thirty-five miles in length, lying between the railway and the foot hills of the mountains on one side and comprising, on the other side, some of the best land for general farming in this part of the country, is particularly well adapted for what is generally described as "the 'small farmer." The large farmer, with abundance of land and capital, has not troubled himself about the minor branches of farming, selling his grain and hogs in large lots and receiving big checks for them. But the man of limited means must look after, and pay attention to, all the smaller items that go to make up a comfortable living and render a crop failure unknown to him.

“There are many reasons why this territory, lying close to transportation as it does, is very suitable for the purposes of the small farmer. It is admitted that dairying is the backbone of success in mixed farming and the community in which that industry is intelligently carried on, in combination with hogs, poultry and small fruit, has more revenue per head of population, or per acre, than one employing any other style of farming, except a district especially adapted for high-class fruit or truck gardens.

"Camas Prairie is well suited for this kind of farming. Grasses and clovers grow abundantly on well prepared soil, and land in good grass in this district is able to carry twice the amount of stock that can be carried in a lower and drier altitude. Alfalfa grows well, either as mixture with clover and grasses for pasture, or for hay, and lasts several years. All the fodder crops suitable for a temperate climate do well here. Corn will readily produce from ten to twelve tons of feed to the acre for hogs or cattle, either in green state or fodder, or for ensilage. It is an indisputable fact that a good crop of green corn will feed more head of stock for a given time than any other forage. Oats and peas, sown together, produce the next highest amount of feed.

Timothy is naturalized and is very dependable. Timothy hay from Camas Prairie has made the highest price on the Seattle market. Timothy seed from this district is in great demand and last year gave very high returns per acre, yielding as much as six hundred pounds per acre and selling for ten and one-half cents per pound.

"Another reason for the suitability of this country for mixed farming is the proportion of clay in the soil and the clay sub-soil. This accounts for the freedom from drought. When thoroughly cultivated the moisture is conserved, the grasses and fodder for that reason possessing very high feeding qualities and growing young animals with abundance of bone and muscle and meat of the finest flavor.

"Stock raising and dairying are becoming important industries here and many of the farmers do not pretend to market any of their grain, but feed it all to the livestock kept on their farms. Hogs, especially, do well and weigh over two hundred pounds when less than a year old. Most of their growth costs the farmer little, as they run at large on the farm and are fed but a few weeks before ready for market. They are known locally as '"mortgage lifters" and have accomplished wonders in placing the farmers of this county in their present affluent circumstances.

"Dairying is a later thing and is only getting started, although the two cream stations ship large amounts of cream daily to Lewiston and Spokane.

"This is a country rich is possibilities and undeveloped resources and it offers great attractions to the industrious husbandman and the careful investor. There is still plenty of room here for all who care to live in one of the best and most attractive portions of the globe, and the newcomer will be greeted with a true western welcome whenever he decides to cast his lot in our midst.

"The Joseph and Domicq plains are across the Salmon River from Camas Prairie and, while isolated in a way, grow immense crops of grain which is fed to hogs, the latter being driven to the railroad to market."

A record made of the actual production of all cultivated lands in the various counties for one year shows that Idaho County produced an average of thirty-three bushels of wheat and thirty-eight bushels of barley to the acre, no other county excelling in these two products. Oats yielded forty-six bushels, corn thirty bushels and potatoes one hundred and thirty nine bushels per acre.

The last census gave the entire population of this immense county as less than 12,500. As yet but two railroads enter Idaho county, with a total length of less than seventy-five miles. Yet, with this population and lack of transportation, the eleven banks of the county show aggregate deposits of more than a million and a half dollars.

Grangeville, the county seat, is the terminus of the branch railroad from Lewiston. Stites, a station to the northeast, is the end of the other railroad in the county, this line extending up the south fork of the Clearwater to the point named. Grangeville receives special mention in a following chapter.

Cottonwood is the commercial center of the western part of the Prairie. It is also on the railroad and has a population of 750. More grain is shipped from this town than from any other in the county, and it also claims the distinction of excelling any other producing station west of the Rocky Mountains in the shipment of hogs.

White Bird is the principal town of the Salmon River country in the southwest part of the county, which is the great range section. Kooskia is a thriving village on the railroad which terminates at Stites.

Of the mining camps, Elk City is probably the best known. Here was the scene of one of the early gold discoveries, and some of the best quartz ledges so far opened are near this town. It is also the center of a most excellent range, the cattle fattened here commanding the highest market prices.

The forests are a notable feature of this county. Much of the southern portion is well wooded, but the principal timber tracts of commercial value are found in the northwest part of Camas Prairie and in the eastern and northeastern sections of the county. Here are vast areas of the finest white and yellow pine, red and white fir, cedar and tamarack. Many small saw mills have manufactured lumber for local use, and in recent years sections within hauling distance of the railroads have shipped their product to outside points, but this industry is still in its swaddling clothes.

The United States has control of 3,107,760 acres of this timber, included in the Challis, Clearwater, Idaho, Payette and Salmon national forests.

It is quite generally believed that the great future of Idaho County lies in its mineral resources. Quartz veins were discovered in the '60s, but, because of the remoteness of the region, nothing but high grade ores can be made to yield a profit.

Quartz ledges were opened near the Warren placer grounds, and several mines were operated but not with marked success. The Rescue was the most productive, although its ore occurred in chimneys. This property is credited with an output amounting to $90,000. It is estimated that during the first fifteen years the ore taken from all the lodes in the Warren district did not exceed four thousand tons.

Several quartz districts have in the succeeding years been prospected, with good results. Properties have been developed and mills operated with fair returns. But this region cannot come to its own in mining until it is afforded adequate means of transportation. Piuffalo Hump is one of the well known quartz districts. Some of the best veins so far opened are in the vicinity of Elk City. This country is credited with the production of $10,000,000 of placer gold, and a like amount is said to have been taken out of the Warren diggings. The source of placer gold is usually traced to nearby quartz veins, which, through disintegrations, have liberated their metal content. More often than not therefore, a district furnishes both classes of mineral claims.

About 1901 and 1902 there was much talk of the Thunder Mountain district, in the southeastern part of Idaho County. It was advertised from the Atlantic' to the Pacific and a stampede ensued, despite the fact that it was one hundred and fifty miles from any railroad, and eighty to ninety miles from the nearest wagon roads. To reach this region, it was necessary to walk or ride horseback through a country crossed with mountain ranges running in all directions, with no road or trail of any kind. But in the excitement, these obstacles were overcome. Trails that would permit pack animals to pass were first surveyed and constructed, and the building of wagon roads was begun, but before they had reached within sixty miles of the camp a twenty stamp mill had been taken in and was in operation. This boom was ill-advised and short-lived. There are in this district immense bodies of low grade ore, but the values are not high enough to cope with the excessive expenses incident to operation. The regions mentioned, as well as Big Creek, Marshall Lake, Resort and other districts, are high mineralized. In the western part of the county there are copper deposits. In the old placer diggings there are still large acres of gold-bearing ground that would pay splendid profits if dredging machinery were installed.

Idaho County is a domain of golden promise and alluring possibilities. Now it is the sportsman's paradise. Water fowls are near its lakes, fish abound in the mountain streams, while in the mountains are found the brown, black and grizzly bear, the deer and the elk. When the smoke of the railway engine trails through the valleys, when the veins of quartz are yielding their golden content, when the fertile bottoms throughout the mountains are producing the fruits, vegetables, grains and live stock to sustain the numerous mining camps, then indeed will Idaho county's dream of prosperity and greatness be fully realized.

[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME I; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]