“Black Rock Canyon is ideal for camping because there are no mosquitos.”
--James Madison (Matt) Taylor, 1860s (Black Rock Canyon was the former name of the spot where Taylor built his toll bridge, thus founding the city)
“I earned a dollar a day to cook for Jack Anderson. It went up to $40/month when I was gatekeeper at Anderson’s toll bridge.”
--John Lingren, 1880s
“Eagle Rock was too much of a godforsaken place to even bury a cowpuncher.”
--unnamed judge in Blackfoot, 1880
“Not a tree, nor bird, nor blade of grass was to be seen. Only sand. Everywhere there was sand, which when the wind blew, became unbearable.”
--Rebecca Mitchell, 1882
“It was a sorry-looking town to me. Just sand, sand, sand.”
--Isabel Heard, 1882
“We need to clear the sagebrush from the town – it is a fire hazard.”
--Robert Anderson, 1887
“I came to Eagle Rock from my home in Nephi, Utah, and was favorably impressed. I made up my mind to go home and sell out and return to Idaho with my wife and eight children. I bought one in Willow Creek.”
--Jabus Nowlin, 1889
“The metropolis of Idaho Falls is growing by leaps and bounds as evidenced by the hiring of four teachers for the coming school term.”
--George C. Chapin, 1893
To two cowboys shooting out street lights: “You break any more of those lights and I’ll shoot your heads off.” (done and done)
--Dick Chamberlain, 1900
“Indians come to Idaho Falls to the slaughterhouse and take all the scrap meat and entrails to dry . . . Mother used to hire an Indian woman to help her clean house.”
--Anita Else, c.1903
“To go to Heise, we had to go up from Idaho Falls and cross the river on the ferry. That river was really something in those days . . . I can remember that the town was just full of farmers on Saturday.”
--Anita Else, c.1904
“We offer $2.50 to the fellow who gets the first team of horses to the fire station to hook up the fire wagon after the fire bell sounds.”
--Fire Chief L.G. Jackson, 1905
“We contemplate division of Bingham County with Idaho Falls, the new county seat of the new county and the building of a handsome county courthouse.”
--Idaho Falls Register editor William Wheeler, 1909
“New Sweden was bleak, with dust and sagebrush. I was lonely for Sweden but there was no money to go back. I had to stay.”
--Nanny Beckman, 1911
Click here to read more of the November isssue.