Adams County
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. . . immigrant and Idaho Pioneer, W. A. Goulder in his autobiography .
. . wrote:
There was, however, a great deal of real gold found
that year (1845) along every mile of that long, dreary transit across
the wilderness . . . It was the gold that was found in the courage and
fortitude, the patience and cheerfulness of the brave and persevering
immigrants. But in none of these qualities shine out in such resplendent
lustre as among the women of the immigration. There was never a day that
did not bring them its peculiar trials and burdens, its difficulties,
and its dangers . . . No one could avoid a feeling of exposure and
helplessness; and particularly did these experiences and this feeling
press with all their force upon the women who were making this long
dreary journey. In spite of all this, they were courageous, patient and
cheerful, and ready at all times for every emergency. What is true of
these women, who were marching under the banner of 1845, it is true of
those who came earlier and later (Goulder 1909: 132-133).
After Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, an Act passed by
Congress gave the President power to establish Forest Reserves from the
public domain. The principal objective was to reserve timber lands,
preventing them from passing into private ownership. In 1904 the Seven
Devils Forest Reserve and the Little Salmon River Reserve were
established. In 1905 the two Reserves were combined to create the Weiser
National Forest. In the same year the Idaho Forest was created. On April
4, 1944 the Weiser National Forest and the Idaho National Forest were
combined to create the Payette National Forest.
In the original
Forest Reserve Act no provisions had been made for homestead entries.
Congress recognizing some lands in the Reserve areas were more suited
for agriculture than for timber harvest passed the "June 11 Act" of
1906, authorizing homestead entries on Forest Reserves and in the
National Forests. The task of administering and overseeing the
processing the new law fell on the limited personnel of the newly
created Forest Service. J.B. Lafferty, Forest Supervisor for the Weiser
National Forest (1906-1920) later wrote, "Examining land applied for
under this act required a large part of the supervisor's time for
several years" (Lafferty 1963:37). He pointed out, of the 321
applications, 176 were approved.
The process began after specific
Reserve lands designated as more suitable for agriculture than timber,
were "listed." A person wishing to claim a listing applied for the tract
of land, was given a numbered entry and allowed to settle on the land.
Maximum allotment was 160 acres. The homesteader generally lived on the
land, built a home, cleared, farmed and made it their home, however, the
rules and regulations were many, varied, and changed over time,
depending on governmental laws. At the time of final proof, an
announcement was published in the local newspaper; the homestead and the
improvements were examined and evaluated, generally by the Forest Ranger
responsible for that area. The Ranger filed a report, making a
recommendation regarding the applicant's compliance with the "spirit and
the letter' of the Homestead law. If noncompliance and violations were
found, the entry was denied. If requirements were met, and fees paid,
patent was issued and land title given to the homesteader.
The
largest number of the entries were made by married couples, often with
families, a smaller number by single men, and an even smaller number by
women. The application reports made by the Forest officers provides a
unique opportunity to examine the lives, social conditions, and
accomplishments of the pioneer women, on what would become the Payette
National Forest.
Although the land and the way it lay was vital and important, the
construction of a house was the first sign of permanence. Often the
first home in the wilderness was a tent. Sarah Royce describes her first
pioneer home:
Our house was of cloth . . . one end I curtained
off for a bedroom . . . The rest of the house I divided more by
arrangement of the furniture than by actual partition into kitchen,
dining room, and parlor . . . My dining room . . . was furnished with a
table and a couple of chairs; and if I did have to use my dining table
in preparing my breads, pies and cakes on baking days, I did not have
very far to go to put them into the oven, nor much farther, to put them
into the cupboard, when done and cooled (Royce 1932:128-129).
More permanent houses were required of the homesteaders proving up their
land. Bethenia Owens-Adair describes her first cabin home:
The
improvements on it consisted of a small cabin 12 by 14 (feet) in
dimensions, made of round logs with the bark on them, each notched
deeply enough at its ends to dovetail into its neighbors above and below
it. The cracks still remaining after this rude fitting were filled with
mixed mud and grass, but this cabin had never been "chinked." It was
covered with "shakes" (thick, hand-made shingles, three feet long) which
were kept in place by poles, tied down at each end. The door was so low
that a man had to stoop to go in and out, and it was fastened with the
proverbial latch and string . . . Later I gathered grass and fern, and
mixed them with mud, and filled the cracks, thus shutting out the snakes
and lizards, which abounded in that region . . . My cooking utensils
were a pot, tea-kettle and bake oven (all of iron), a frying pan and
coffee pot, a churn, six milk pans, a wash tub, and board, a large
twenty or thirty gallon iron pot for washing purposes, etc., and a water
bucket and tin dipper . . . In addition, mother gave me a good feather
bed, and pillows . . . I considered this a most excellent start in life
(Luchetti 1982: 175-176).
Jane (Bradford) Shelton,
Bear, Idaho. When the claimant filed on the
land she was a widow with three children. On Dec. 24, 1912 she married
Earl Shelton and there are now five children in the family. The family
resides on the claim . . . Patent issued May 9, 1917.
Elizabeth
Brown,
Council, Idaho (Stevens). Patent issued on May 13, 1913.
Kate Lee Cole.
The claimant is single and resides on the land . .
. Patent issued Nov. 8, 1917.
Minnie C. Day,
Wild Horse,
Idaho. Family members, husband and four children.
Cora Roth,
daughter of John C. Derrick, deceased. Mrs. Cora Roth of Fruitvale is
the daughter of John C. Derrick, deceased, and resides with her husband
on the homestead . . . Patent issued July 24, 1914
Anna E. Gibbs,
Cambridge, Idaho, and 4 daughters and 7 sons. The entrywoman is a widow
. . . patent issued Nov. 11, 1909.
Mrs. Phoebe Harland,
Cambridge, Idaho. The family consists of herself, her husband, daughter
and grandson . . . Mr. Harland is practically blind . . . patent issued
Sept. 8, 1919.
Della (Myers) Landers,
Meadows, Idaho, and one
boy ten years old, and one baby 18 months old . . . Off a few months
during summer to obtain living. Husband refuses to assist in supporting
family . . . patent issued Jan. 3, 1908.
Mary A. Lindgren Smith,
Bear, Idaho,. The claimant was a widow when the entry was made. She has
since married and resides on the land . . . Patent was issued.
Martha L. Over,
Cambridge, Idaho. She is a widow, her family consists
of herself and seven children, three of the children are married and
have homes of their own, the remaining four make the claim with their
mother . . . patent issued Feb. 14, 1919.
Mary A. Rusow,
Ranger recorded her last name as "Russaw", noted that Mary could neither
read nor write. The family consists of herself and one son . . . Mary
settled on her homestead at age 69, in 1903. In 1906, in order to pay
the final filing fees, Mary borrowed what she thought was $200 from two
local merchants. The merchants, realizing that Mary was illiterate,
added her son's $400 grocery bill on the loan, secured it with the
homestead and improvements, and put a 90 day due date on the contract.
Mary, unable to read and trusting, put her "X" on the contract . . .
(investigated by forest service agents, merchants in Council who desired
to acquire title to the land because of the timber thereon) . . . patent
issued Mar. 15, 1909.
It is not possible to know the reason each of the women decided to
homestead. It could not have been an easy decision. It had to have been
both fearful and exciting to walk the boundaries of the homestead the
first time, to see the land, the trees and the spring; the meadow next
to the creek where the house could be built. To plan.
After the
move to the homestead and the building of the house, the clearing and
planting was the beginning of hard work, but it was possible.
Aunt Nel would put the baby on a quilt at the end of the field while she
plowed. That way she could keep an eye on her. The old dog laid by the
baby, keeping her on the quilt and out of harms way (Scofield 1992,
personal conversation).
The work list included: plowing, raking,
planting, weeding, harvesting, canning and preserving; setting the hens,
gathering the eggs; carrying water from the spring or the creek for
washing, cleaning and cooking; milking and churning; getting in wood for
cooking, heating, and putting by some for winter; clothes and quilts
often were homemade; bread, pies and food all had to be cooked on the
farm; wild food like, greens, serviceberries, huckleberries,
strawberries, chokecherries and gooseberries had to be gathered; animals
had to be fed and cared for and butchering done. Fences had to be built,
ditches dug, and crops harvested. A trip to town to get the mail or
supplies meant harnessing up the team; it took the whole day. If the
women, like Anna Gibbs, Della (Myers) Landers, and Martha Over, had
children, schooling had to be arranged for. The Ranger's reports
indicate the importance the women placed on this, and the effort they
went to, making sure the children were educated.
Friends and
neighbors were another important element, providing some security in the
isolation. Rangers within their districts got to know the settlers
personally. Its not hard to imagine the weary Ranger getting off his
horse, being invited into the kitchen table for a meal or a piece of pie
and a cup of coffee, and visiting about the problems ground squirrels
were causing in her pasture, or what a good hay crop she had this year,
or how well the orchard was doing on the southeast slope above the
creek.
That sense of understanding and compassion can be also be
felt in the letter sent to Washington by Forest Supervisor E. Grandjean,
describing Della (Myers) Lander's struggle to feed her family, and
better herself. Or in Deputy Forest Ranger B.L. Riggs' and Forest
Supervisor J.B. Lafferty's struggle to help Mary Rusow after she had
lost her homestead at age 74, and had "taken to her bed". Their actions
reveal the heart of the people in the Forest Service.
The
complete stories of the women who homesteaded on the Forest will never
be known, for history is generally made up of people who remain hidden
by time. However, by telling even a portion of their stories we have a
chance to remember these proud pioneer women and the heritage they left
behind.
Goulder, W. A. "Reminiscences In The Life of A Pioneer In Oregon and
Idaho." T. Regan, Portland, Oregon. 1909
Lafferty, J. B. "My Eventful
Years." Signal American Printers, Weiser, Idaho. 1963
Luchetti, Cathy
"Women of the West." Antelope Island Press, St. George, Utah. 1982
Royce, Sarah "A Frontier Lady." Ed. by Ralph Henry Gabriel, University
of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska. 1932
Scofield, Afton D. 1992
personal conversation.
Vestal, Stanley "The Old Santa Fe Trail."
Bantam Books, New York, N.Y. 1957
Contributor: Unknown
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