History of Adams COUNTY

Chapter 17

Having in my way told something of Washington county and its early settlers, I will now endeavor to tell something of Adams county for 32 years a part of the parent county of Washington. This county was created at the eleventh session of the legislature and the act which made is a county was signed by the late Governor Hawley on the 3rd of March. 1911. The population of the county is confined principally to three valleys, Indian, Council and Meadows.

As Indian Valley was the first of these to have settlers, we will begin with its history. The climate of this section is milder in winters than that of any of the valleys along the Weiser, except lower Weiser valley, and because of this fact the Indians of the upper reaches of the Weiser River made the valley their winter headquarters, hence the name Indian Valley. The north and south highway does not pass through the valley, but follows some distance along Gray Creek and then ascends to the Mesa, where the great orchards are located and a good view of it may be had from the grade leading up the hill. It extends in a northerly and southerly direction along the tittle Weiser for some eight or 10 miles.

The land lying near the river is extremely productive and quite a number of valuable ranches are located along the stream, while back a mile or so from the river there will be need for considerable distintegration of the rocks before that section will become crop producing. Who were the very earliest settlers, I do not know and information on that subject is not now obtainable.

Among those I know who settled there at an early day, are Cal White, who will have more extended notice when I arrive at the Meadows, Isaas Spoor, who was one of the county commissioners named by the act creating the county of Washington, Albert McDowell, a stepson of Spoor, Solon Hall, who bought the White ranch, John Anderson, the same man who would have become one of the earliest of Middle Valley. had it not been for the excessive snowfall of the winter he tried to establish himself there; Thomas Gray, who took a ranch on the creek bearing his name, who has been mentioned before as one of the authors of the act by which Washington County was made a municipality of the Territory of Idaho in 1879.

T.C. Underwood, first Probate Judge of Washington County was another of the early comers as were John V. Wilkerson, William Monday, Halley and Gresclose, who were murdered by the Indians in Long Valley in 1878, as previously told. Tilford Lindsay and family went in there and purchased homes more than 50 years ago. Lindsay bought the White farm from Solon Hall, who succeeded White, and his son D. Kelsey Lindsay still lives on the place. There were others who would receive mention as early corners did not my memory fail me.

George E. Stewart, went to the valley and made his home there nearly half a century ago, and while not one of the oldest settlers, is deserving of special mention. He is a civil war veteran now in his late 90s, the last survivor of the veterans of that war now living in Adams County. Mr. Stewart is not an aristocrat himself, but is a firm believer in aristocracy in livestock, from a chicken to a Norman-Percheron horse. When he arrived here from Iowa he brought with him some of the finest breeding jacks ever seen in the state. He also dealt in purebred horses and later in Hereford cattle and no better could be found anywhere. His supply of these animals never equaled the demand, as stockmen knew what they were getting when they bought of Steward. He owns a well tilled farm, a comfortable farm house and I believe the largest and best appointed barn in the state.

I do not know the people of Indian Valley. as I once did as I don't have occasion now to visit the place as often as in past year and many of the older generation  I once knew have passed. When I knew nearly all of them, they were a most happy, generous and hospitable lot, always ready with a welcome to both friend and stranger. They never failed to attend public meetings during campaign times whatever the political complexion of the campaigners might be.

I have attended public meetings there when there would be a dozen or more candidates and camp followers among the visitors and all were taken care of for the night with their teams and neither guest or host ever had any thought of a charge being made for the generosity bestowed. They enjoyed a law suit and there were many of them in the valley, when all work would be suspended until the suit was over. There was a quaint old character living there in the person of George W. Paterson, "Old Pat" , as they all called him. He was an old Idaho pioneer but went to Oregon many years ago where he lived for a number of years and then returned and bought the Gray place on Gray Creek.

He delighted in a law suit and encouraged them just for the fun of it and was always counsel on one side or the other, it mattered not to him which side he was on. He was not a lawyer but could make a pretty good speech, always replete with witty sayings to the delight of the audience. If a neighbor came to him with a grievance against another, his advice was invariably to sue him and if he took his advice seriously and hired some one else to represent him, Pat would take the other side. Andy Adams, an old Englishman. was for a number of years justice of the peace and presided at these trials with great dignity.

Pone Woods, an Arkansawyer, was constable and attended all the sessions of the court with great deference to his honor, the judge. When he was ordered to open court he would proceed to the front door and there in a loud voice gave vent to the following: "Hear ye, Hear ye, The honorable justice of court of Indian Valley precinct, county of Washington, State of Idaho is now in session, pursuant to adjournment, and all those having business therewith will draw nigh.

He had not the least idea what "Pursuant to adjournment" meant, but always used the words even when the court was opened for the first time. I attended some of those court sessions and they were really diversions. On one occasion the court session was held in Old Andy's store and saloon combined, and the case was tried before a jury of three, composed of Tom Price, Mike Ward and Ike Elledge.

When the case was submitted to the jury, there was no place for their deliberations except in Andy's kitchen to which they retired. After being out, or in the kitchen for an hour of more, Andy began to get uneasy and was parading up and down the court room saying, "I can't see what that jury is 'anging out for. They are 'anging out and 'anging out, like a bunch of geese, just for nothing. It is the plainest case I ever saw in my life." George Stewart, a nephew of Andy, by marriage said to me, "Do you know what Andy is worried about?" I told him I did not, when he said, "his barrel is in the kitchen." I then readily understood the cause of the judges perturbance. as his supply behind the bar had run out and he was losing customers there while the jury were helping themselves at the "Bar'l" for nothing, burning the candle at both ends as it were. After another hour of deliberation, drinking up Andys booze, the jury announced they had arrived at a verdict. They were brought into the presence of his honor, must beautifully soused. The verdict being what Andy desired, the culprits were not fined or even reprimanded for their unseemly conduct. They had a glorious time of it, with all the whisky they could drink and that without costing them a cent, a privilege that they or anyone else had never got before at Andy's expense. Andy closed out his dual business of merchandising and booze selling and went to California where he united with a church called 'The burning bush" somewhat akin to the "Holy rollers" and was considered a bright and shining light in the congregation.

The chief city of Indian Valley is Sour Dough, christened that by Tom Price, an old California aiid Idaho pioneer, who had the honor of being the first mayor. It has a store and a place for the traveller to put up for the night. Tom was a sort of nomad, living in different parts of the country, and had a host of friends. Price Valley is named in his honor. The postoffice and station bear the name of Tamarack but the name should be Price in honor of the old pioneer.

North of Indian Valley. 10 miles, lies Council Valley, the largest and most populous of the Adams County valleys. It's name, it is said, comes from the fact that representatives of Indian tribes from a distance met there at times for the purpose of holding their councils. The councils were a sort of legislature and supreme court, although their legislative acts and court opinions were never published. These tribal representatives entered into treaties which were generally observed, and not deemed "scraps of paper."

Council Valley was first settled by people who came there to make permanent homes in about 1877. Old Bill Stewart, known among his many friends as "governor," claimed the honor of sending the first settlers into the valley. He asked me one time if I had ever heard how he settled Council Valley. I told him that I had not, when he told me the following story in his own Irish style: ''Wan day, at the store, (he always spoke of Falks store as the Store), there was an imigrant train coming down the road with a long tall yaller whiskered feller walking ahead, with an old Kentucky rifle on his shoulder and a powder horn and bullet pouch at his side. Whin the old feller got up to the well across the road from the store, he halted the outfit and told them that they would camp there for the night, as here were grass, water and wood handy. They all drove up and began unhitching their teams and the women got out and picked up wood to make fires to cook their suppers. Whin they got unhitched I wint over and axed them what part of Missouri they were from, whin wan of thim said they wasn't from Missouri they were from Arkansaw. Thin I axed them where they were goin' whin wan of thim said they was going to the Two Wallys (they meant Wally Wally). I told them there was no use in going there, as all the good land had been taken up and they wouldn't find anything worth having. Thin I told them that there was a valley up the Wazar river, called Council Valley, where they could all find good land for their homes, with plenty of timber, water and grass and with the children they had, they could have a good school. They didn't pay any attintion to this and said they would kape on as they had started for two Wallys, they would go through. I wint back to the store where there were four or five other fellers, and I says to thim, "Theres a foin lot of paple out there in that train, all from Arkansaw, and they are all good dimocrats and we have thim here and ought to try to hold thim." So we made it up that after they had had their suppers we would go over and begin to talk among ourselves for their benefit.

After a little we wint over, and I says to the other, 'Did yez hear about thim fellers cumin down from the upper Wazar country with all that deer and bear hides and coon skins and tradin thim at Jeffreys? He hadn't heard about it, and thin I told him that they had four horses packed and traded their load for their winters grub, tin gallons of whisky an a lot of traps as they intended to trap fur beaver, coons and martin during the winter; and they said there niver was the likes of the deer, coons and possums that there was up there and every trail along the river is loaded with wild honey. Thin the imigrants began to gether around and listen and wan of thim axed 'whar is that place? and I told thim that it was Council Valley, up the Wazar River where I was tellin thim about the good land to take up, and wan of thim spoke up and said thats the place for us, and the next mornin they were up early and off, and that is the way I settled Council Valley."

I believe that early in these writing I have on several occasions, mentioned my friend, Dr. Edward A. Paddock. whose name I am sure, will live down in history with those of other great men who have made their homes in this state. However, I feel this chronicle would be far from complete without a more detailed study of his life and his accomplishment. His death early in January, 1940, was a great blow to men and women all over the country who knew and loved him.

Dr. Paddock was 97 when he died at his home on the site of the school he founded, on the mesa north of Weiser. Dr. Paddock was born in the state of Wisconsin, then a new state on the borders of the frontier in 1843, when the treek of the pioneers to the Oregon country began. He was of Puritanical stock, his ancestors being of the New England states. Being a hater of human slavery, he joined the Union army when yet in his teens and served through the Civil war to its end.

He entered Oberlin College in Ohio and later attended a theological school where he took his degree and at once entered the ministery of the Congregational church.. He was attracted toward the west, first to Colorado, then enjoying a mining boom, and in the roughest and toughest of mining camps, he preached the gospel.

In 1882 he came to Weiser and began the work of founding the Congregational church. He held meetings in a small hall, and the next year started building the church, which now stands. He got donations of the ground. labor, materials and money. The work was done under his supervision, and he did much of the carpentry himself, being gifted in that way.

With the church completed, the old alturist had only begun his work. Dr. Paddock was a dreamer, and he conceived the idea of a vocational school and he took up a 160-acre homestead on desert government land on the mesa north of town on which he made final proof and donated it for school purposes. Since there was no high school for most of the young people to attend. he wanted to found a school where children of poor parents might procure an education with the least cash outlay, paying part of the tuition in labor. To raise funds for that purpose, he made numerous trips to eastern cities and sought out wealthy philanthropists, and solicited and received handsome donations for the work. He sometimes carried with him fruits and vegetables from here, and delivered lectures extolling the richness and productivity of the lands from which the exhibits came. After the lecture, he sold them for a dollar apiece or more. Year after year he made trips until he had secured sufficient donations to erect a number of fine brick buildings, dormatories and farm buildings, and purchased several hundred acres of additional land. Mrs. Russel Sage, Marshall Field and Andrew Carnegie were among those who donated to Dr. Paddocks cause.

The school was first known as the College and Academy, and later became the Intermountain Institute. The Reverend actively headed the faculty until the weight of years of ceaseless labor at legnth told upon the able doctor and he was no longer able to make his pilgrimages and tuition fees were inadequate to meet expenditures. The school closed at great sorrow to the founder and the community,

In politics, the doctor was a Republican, although a Liberal one. He served his county as state senator in 1921-22 with credit to himself, The doctor was married three times, two of his wives preceding him in death. The first Mrs. Paddock died in 1896, and in 1900 he married Elizabeth Sommer, who passed on in 1927. The last Mrs. Paddock, formerly Sarah Blout of East Syracuse, New York, was married to the mmnister in 1931 and survives him. She still makes her home in Weiser.

I would say that few persons in the past or present have had such an abundant 97 years of life as this fine scholar. Teacher, preacher, carpenter, lecturer and leader of men.