The History of Washington County, ID, Chapter 14.

Chapter 14

In the last preceding chapter 1 dealt at some length with biographies of some of our pioneer people, and I now come to that of the one who may well be designated the first in charity, philanthropy and public spirit, Honorable Thomas Cyrus Galloway. He was born in Wisconsin on June 6, 1837, and crossed the plains with his parents when yet a boy and became a resident of Yamhill county, Oregon. He remained there until he was 27 years of age when he was lured to the wide open domain of Idaho territory where he could engage in agriculture and raising livestock. As told before, he came to the Weiser River with his friend Woodson Jeffries in 1864, where he acquired a considerable holding of land and engaged in farming it, and raising livestock on the range, principally horses, of which he raised thousands within his time.

In the younger days he entertained the idea that he would like to be a preacher, but doubting his ability to become famous in that line of work abandoned the idea. He told some amusing stories on himself, relating to his endeavors as a minister, one of which I will try to relate, not exactly in the language he used the same in effect. He said that one day while going to the church he ran into a bunch of boys intensely interested in a game of marbles, stopping he began to admonish them on the wickedness of indulging in play on Sunday.

He said to them, "Boys, I am sacred," and receiving no response, repeated, 'Boys I am sacred," when one little fellow spoke up and said "Who are you anyway?" to which he replied, "I am a meek and lowly follower of the Savior." The hopeless urchin in turn said. "If He knew such a looking things a you were following Him, He would turn around and kick you into the river." The young would-be minister went on his way very much doubting his ability as a reformer of wayward youth. In his young manhood Galloway was an ardent Democrat in politics and always took an active part in forwarding the interests or his party. In the late seventies, for some reason best known to himself he went off the democratic reservation and joined the enemy forces, greatly to the indignation of his former political associates. He remained with the Republican party until the campaign of 1896, when W.J. Bryan was the democratic candidate for the presidency, when he returned to the party of his younger days and remained with it the remainder of his life. He was elected as a Republican to the legislative council in 1882, and to the lower house of the legislature as a Democrat in the early-days of the century. The legislative council was the upper branch of the legislature, equivalent to the senate under statehood government.

Everybody likes romance in life and it is the best part of fiction, but in real life it is better. I will endeavor to give a bit of romance in the life of my subject, as nearly as I can from what was told to me by an old and confidential friend of Mr. Galloway.

Meeting His Bride

Early one day in the leafy June,

When birds and brooks were all leafy in tune,

Galloway hitched up His gray and brown,

And started on His way to Boise town.

In the early days it was necessary for those having business at the county seat or wishing to purchase store goods to go to Boise on such errands as it was the nearest trading point.

He went by way of where the town of Emmett is now located, in the upper part of the Payette valley. South of Emmett there is a range of hills which rise quite abruptly from the valley, and what they called a road in those days led up the summit to a hogs back with a deep gulch on each side. If a driver did not straddle the apex of the ridge his vehicle would turn over and roll down into the gulch.

Galloway made his way up this ridge on his way to Boise and upon arriving at the top met a family on their way to the Payette River, and as such meetings were rather unusual in those days, both parties were inclined to halt and exchange greetings. The party he met were traveling in two wagons, a hack in which were riding three girls and perhaps their mother and the other wagon was driven by the father and was loaded with household goods and provisions. The old gentleman was Col. A.W. Flournoy, an affable and chivalrous Virginian of the old school and anxious to learn all he could about the country which was as yet new to him. He said he was on his way to a place on the Payette River where he was going to make a home. The hero of this story told them that just ahead was a very steep hill which they would have to descend and that a rough lock and a skillful driving was necessary to a safe descent. He proffered his services as a driver of one of the vehicles, meaning of course, the one in which the young ladies were riding. The kindly offer was thankfully accepted by the Colonel and his good wife and the wagons were brought to the top of the hill where rough locks were applied and Galloway took the place of the driver, the eldest of the girls and they proceeded down the declivity in safety to the plain below. When the steep hill was behind them the family were profuse with their thanks for the kindly assistance given them and both the good Colonel and his wife insisted that if the skillful driver should ever have occasion to come that way again he must make it so he could be their guest over night. Young Galloway started back up the hill where he had left his team. doubtless glancing back occasionally at the receeding party as they journeyed on towards their destination.

Meeting His Bride

He hitched up his team and proceeded on toward Boise dreaming dreams of a different nature than he had ever dreamed before. It was not long after his return home that he thought it necessary to visit Boise again and starting early he arrived at the new home of the Flournoy family the same evening, where he was warmly welcomed by the entire family. On his return by command of the Colonel he again stayed with them overnight, and afterwards made frequent visits to their hospitable home until at length, on the 27th day of February, 1868 he carried away as his bride the young lady whom he had displaced as driver down Freezeout hill in June the year before, and they jogged along together for 51 years, when he died.

Untiring Worker

Galloway was the most careless person of his personal health and safety I ever knew. He was an untiring worker and it seemed that he never realized when night came on, if there was anything that ought to be finished up. He would go on foot among a corral full of wild range horses, when they were rearing and plunging all around him without the least fear of getting hurt. John Cuddy, who lived for many years in the upper valley and ran a flour mill on Rush Creek, told of meeting him one day on Mann Creek under rather hazardous looking conditions. I will try to tell it as Cuddy told it in his own Irish style. He said: "I was going up Manns crick wan day whin I saw a tame coomin down the road, running away, and I pulled out to kape them from running into me, and whin they coom up by me I saw it was Tam Galloway. He had two wild horses hitched to the running gears of a wagon without any brake and with two boards laid on the bolsters and Mrs. Galloway was sitting up there a laughin' and hollering' and holdin' a baby with two little fellers holdin' on behind her. Just as they passed me Tam turned them up a steep gulch where they had to stop and I win up and helped get them turned around and thin they wint on down the road to visit some place. I would not have my family on that wagon for tin thousand dollars, but it was all right with Tam and Mrs. Galloway."

Frank Hubbard, another old-timer on the river told of him hitching up two such animals to a hay wagon, one time on his ranch up the river and turning the outfit over to a new hand he had just hired to haul hay, and told him to go down in the field where the men would load him up. There was quite a steep pitch to go down to the meadow and as the team came to that the rack struck them in the rear and away they went down through the field and making a short turn, threw hayrack, man and all off and the team ran down in the brush. The new hand said he believed he did not care for a job hauling hay and took his departure without collecting for the time used in his rapid transit down that hill and into the field below.

Galloways Move to Boise

In the early 1880s Galloway made a sale of his immense herd of range horses to a buyer from Nebraska for a very favorable consideration. He got $46 per head, including colts and as there were so many of them the total amount received was a considerable sum. He also about that time sold his ranch on upper Mann Creek to Thos. Shannon. Sr. of Weiser and bargained his river ranch to his brother Francis, who later concluded he was unable to carry the burden of indebtedness the deal entailed, turned it back to his brother.

After he had made these sales he moved with his family to Boise where there were the best schools in the territory, his older children having outgrown the faculty in our local schools. A short time after moving to Boise he came down to Weiser as he often did during his residence there, when I asked him if be had rented a residence in Boise and he replied by saying that he did not wish to go there and bum an education for his children and had bought a place so he could bear his proper share of taxation necessary to maintain the schools. He also made other investments in and around the city, which if he had retained 10 years longer would have brought him an immense profit. After the children had completed their high school courses, he disposed of his Boise interests and moved back to Weiser and made numerous investments in real estate, a portion of which is a 40-acre tract, on which the high school building now stands, (Weiser Junior High), and planted a large apple orchard.

Owing to the pests that began to prey upon the trees and fruit, the orchard failed to prove a profitable investment, he platted the orchard tract into an addition to the city, which bears his name. He donated the ground on which the high school stands to the district and also gave a block east of it to the city for a park. I drew the deed of conveyance for him, which contains a reversionary clause to the effect that if the city should use it only for park purposes and if it ceased such use or diverted to any other purpose. the title should revert to him or his heirs. Shortly after his return here he induced some Boise people who had made considerable investments here in real estate, to join him in purchasing the ditch and water rights of the Weiser Water Company that was about to fail in their endeavors to supply the lower valley with water for the irrigation of its arid lands. The new owners chose him as president and general manager of the enterprise and began diligently to enlarge the ditch in order to supply the needs of the settlers. The undertaking was one far surpassing in expense the estimates of the new owners, although operations were carried on with skill and the utmost economy. Owing to the formation of a considerable part of the ground through which the canal was constructed, there were continuous breaks, when a large section of the ditch would slide off down the hill and an immense washout would be the result. Galloway would not lose a minute of time in getting all the teams and men that could be used on the works, to make the necessary repairs, always under his immediate supervision, and the way these men and teams worked is still remembered by those who were on the job.

He never went into the business with the hopes of making any money, but with a desire to see the valley irrigated and its people made prosperous; neither did he expect to lose on his investment, but it looked dark for him at times. I heard him say that if it had not been for his own labor and that of his boys and teams the enterprise would have broken him up in business. His associate stockholders, all being men of considerable means, were able to pay their assessments in cash, while he worked out his, thus enabling him to carry on. During the irrigation season he was constantly on the ditch, traveling up and down it on horseback, sometimes late into the night watching for breaks, and he also had men stationed along the line for the same purpose. In case of a break. it was necessary to cut off the water in order to minimize the wash in case a break came. Notwithstanding his almost super-human efforts to supply the needed element for crop production there were who were continuously finding fault. One old grouch by the name of Mason, who lived where Jenkins Creek enters the Snake River, was continuously growling and cursing Galloway, and even when he had a good head of water would let it run to waste into the river while he was running around trying to get his neighbors to join him in a lawsuit against the company. Some suits were brought through the efforts of this old nuisance, but they always resulted in verdicts favorable to the company.

Sold At Loss

There are a few people still living on the flat west of here who would not join in any effort to embarrass the company by law suits and who fully appreciated the efforts it was making to supply them with water. As heretofore related the annoyances and expenses connected with the irrigation scheme and the want of profits led the company to sell its holdings to the Weiser Irrigation District at somewhat of a loss. The company sold water to the farmers at a cost less than they are now paying, notwithstanding there is not one break in the ditch now where there were 10 in the earlier days.

In addition to the several activities already mentioned, Mr. Galloway taught school, was a justice of the peace, school director, member of the town board before we became a city of the second class and after that a member of the city council, always working with his usual activity and without compensation other than the satisfaction that he had done some good for the community. There is much more that I could say of this good old pioneer benefactor but as there is so much confronting me before I can finish my work of writing of the pioneers and their efforts to make this country a place in which it is a valuable privilege to live. I consider it a great privilege and an honor to have associated with and enjoyed the friendship of Tom Galloway for 36 years of my life, a time long enough to know him well.

He had the good sense to direct that after his death his body should be cremated and in obedience to his desire in that respect his mortal remains were disposed of in that manner. He died here at his beautiful home in 1916, after being confined to his bed for some time. His end was no doubt hastened 10 years by his excessive labors and disregard for personal comfort. The canal he was instrumental in bringing to a success hears his name as a monument as does the addition he laid out to the city and one of the residential streets bears the name of Galloway Avenue.

In the last preceding chapter I was somewhat in error as to the time at which Galloway became interested in the irrigation enterprise, which resulted in the reclamation of this hitherto desert waste. He first took a hand in the project in 1884 or '85 and continued to work with the first stockholders of the company until about 1891 or '92, bearing the greater part of the burden himself, when the Weiser Land Improvement Co. took over most of the stock of the company except his, when his burdens were greatly lightened.

Mrs. Galloway

Perhaps my brief story of the activities and success of Mr. Galloway would have been still more brief, or never written at all, had it not been for that chance meeting on top of Freezeout hill in 1867, when he first met Mary Flournoy, who as told before, became his wife. She was a woman exactly suited for this man, as in all probability, no other woman would have been. She was a woman of splendid educational attainments and must have been possessed of an apt mind and a retentive memory to have acquired such an amount of learning. She could spell and define almost every word in common use besides many others that were not. She could add up figures two columns at a time as rapidly as most scholars could add one column, and with the accuracy of an adding machine. She was also a good gramarian and had an all around education and was of great assistance to her children while they were young and attending schools poorly taught by teachers less than half educated. She and her husband were both opposed to the use of the rod in schools as a corrective measure. He told me one time that never one of his children was punished in school except his daughter, Fannie, who was chastened by Old Dave Richardson, an itinerant old pedagogue who taught country schools along the Boise, Payette and Weiser Rivers.

Little Miss Fannie persisted in saying yellow instead of "Yeller" as demanded by her learned (?) teacher, which so enraged him that he was obliged to use the instrument which when spared spoils the child. I never asked whether the story is based on fact or one of her god fathers jokes.

Rode in Plane at 80

When Mrs. Galloway had attained the age of about 80 years, she was invited to take a free ride in an airplane, which invitation she accepted with pleasure. The plane circled all around over the valley and she looked down on beautiful groves, fruitful orchards and fields of grain and hay, a town of 2500 people, and homes and school houses and two railroads. How different the cheering view was from what she first beheld when she arrived here to make her home back in 1868. There was nothing here then to greet the eye but a vast desert covered with gray sagebrush, except for the few cultivated spots along the Weiser River. This transformation from a desert to a garden spot was brought about by the application of water to the arid, yet productive soil, and it was her enterprising and philanthropic husband who had wrought larger than any other in bringing about the change. She was of a wonderfully even temperately; never getting angry or fearing any mishap, and when trying her first and only experiment at flying was no more perturbed while high above the earth, than she was that day when she took that perilous ride down Mann Creek behind a run-away team. Mrs. Galloway survived her husband 13 years and died at the home where her husband passed away, at the age of 83, and was borne to her tomb by her five stalwart sons and one grandson, through a throng of sorrowing friends who had gathered at the home to pay a tribute to respect to a grand old pioneer lady. She lies buried in the northwest corner of Hillcrest cemetery along with the ashes of her beloved husband. In conclusion I will quote these most fitting lines:

"She had a smile for all and a tear for all,

But she never caused a tear to fall, Until she laid down and died."

There were nine children born to the Galloways, all of whom survive and range in ages from 52 years to near 70, and all were born in Ada and Washington counties. Mr. Galloway said that in raising this family, he had expended in doctors bills $27.50 and I do not believe there is any doubt but what his statement was correct. Six of the family still reside here in this county. Charlie and Flournoy, in the city, Annie, Mrs. L.M. Dickerson, lives on a ranch just outside the limits, and Guy and his sister Kate live on the old place on which their father first settled. Francis (Fannie) had been a teacher in the Yakima high school for a number of years, but now lives here. She taught here for a time and was superintendent of schools for a term before going to her present location. Mary, Mrs. A.G. Butterfield, was a teacher at one time and now resides in Willowa Valley, Oregon. Jim is an attorney, living and practicing his profession at Boise. Tom, the youngest of the family is a prominent physician of Springfield, Ill., specializing in electrical treatment.