POCATELLO.
The city of Pocatello, so named in memory of an Indian chief, stands
at the western entrance to the Portneuf canyon, and for that reason
is appropriately known as the “Gate City.” Its site marks the
junction of the Montana and Idaho divisions of the Oregon Short Line
railroad, and the tremendous volume of traffic that passes through
its yards, together with the many departments maintained here, is
rapidly developing a large and prosperous city. Twenty-five years ago
the town was a mere hamlet; in 1910 the United States Census returns
gave a population of 9,100, and in 1914 Polk’s Directory credits
Pocatello with over 12,000 inhabitants, to which must be added some
500 transients. The city is the metropolis and county seat of Bannock
county, and the second largest place in the state of Idaho.
Pocatello is pre-eminently a railroad town, and to the railroad she
owes her birth as well as her growth. When the westward course of the
Oregon Short Line crossed the tracks of the Utah & Northern railroad,
some fifty miles south of Idaho Falls, then called Eagle Rock, a
hamlet naturally sprang up at the junction. This was in the heart of
the Fort Hall Indian reservation, but the railroad had a grant of
some two hundred acres for its right of way, upon which it allowed
settlement, and upon which, in 1882, it erected the Pacific hotel
and station. Shoshone had been selected by the railroad officials as
a division terminal, but there being some dispute relative to the
town-site, they determined upon Pocatello instead. In 1887 the town
received a further impetus in the removal thither of the shops from
Idaho Falls, which brought several hundred men, many of them with
families, into the hamlet. For the accommodation of this addition, the
railroad company built what is today known as Company Row.
One of the most historic buildings in the city is the two-story frame
house to the left of the west end of the Center street viaduct. In
the days when buildings were scarce and the little available space
overcrowded, this building, now used for office purposes, served as
a public meeting hall. Portneuf Lodge, No. 18, A. F. & A. M. was
organized here in 1886, and met in the building for some time. In the
late eighties the building was used for public school purposes, and
in 1891 as the fire hall. At various times it has been used as a
church, a theatre, a pool hall, and within its walls were held many a
church fair that helped to build the present city churches, and many a
dance that lives yet in the memories of the older members of Pocatello
society. The city council also used it for a meeting place.
Although there was no land open for settlement, there quickly grew up a
typical frontier town, “wide-open,” as the saying is, where excitement
ran high, where vice went unashamed, and where saloons and gambling
knew no closing hours nor Sunday laws. At last the demand for more room
became so insistent, that the United States government purchased two
thousand acres of reservation land from the Indians, to be used as a
town-site. This was surveyed in 1889, and the following year lots were
sold at auction at prices ranging from ten to fifty dollars. At that
sale the foundation of many comfortable fortunes of today were made.
Already some buildings had been erected, and it was feared that the
purchase of their sites by other parties might cause trouble. But the
squatter’s right was honored, and the man who had built a store or home
was allowed to secure a title to his holdings.
The community was organized into a village during this year, with H.
L. Becraft as chairman of the board of trustees, and D. K. Williams,
A. F. Caldwell, L. A. West and Doctor Davis members. Another tract of
reservation land was opened for settlement in 1905.
Before 1892, Pocatello had a population of over three thousand, and
by an act of legislature it was in that year created a city of the
first class. At the first city election, held in 1893, Edward Stein
was elected mayor; Ed. Sadler, clerk, and J. J. Curl, treasurer. Eight
councilmen were also elected.
Edward Stein, Pocatello’s first mayor, and now a citizen of Boise,
has had an eventful career. He is a grandson of Baron von Stein,
commander-in-chief of the Prussian army during the Napoleonic wars.
His father, William von Stein, a veteran of the Franco-Prussian war,
became a follower of the brilliant reformer Carl Schurz, and upon the
failure of the latter’s attempt to establish a democracy in Germany,
was cast into prison. He was afterwards released, but lost his title
to nobility. Edward von Stein was born in Schubina, Poland, January
17, 1854, and was educated at the Prussian University of Bromberg. His
republican tendencies naturally turned his attention toward America,
where Carl Schurz and many another European revolutionist had already
found a haven, and with his father’s approval, embarked in 1871 on the
steamer Weiland from Hamburg to New York.
Because he had reached an age at which the German military service
would have claimed him, young Stein had entered upon his journey
without a passport, an application for which would have led to his
compulsory enlistment in the army. Presently an officer of the ship
accosted him and demanded his passport, and proceeded to make a search
for it when none was forthcoming. But the search was vain, which the
officer announced in a loud voice, adding that officials had warned the
ship’s officers that young von Stein had no passport. The future mayor
of Pocatello thereupon produced a packet from his pocket, which he
handed to the officer, who examined its contents, and promptly shouted
to his superior officer, “I find the papers of Mr. Stein to be quite
correct.” The packet contained the four hundred marks his father had
given him at starting.
It was, therefore, with a light pocketbook that Mr. von Stein landed
in the United States. He was anxious, however, to see something of
the country before settling down, and got as far as Chicago before
his funds failed. He accordingly pawned some of his belongings, and
was dejectedly walking the streets, wondering where to turn in his
perplexity, when a gun was thrust suddenly in his face, and the order
given, “Hands up.” The highwayman found nothing of value on his
victim, and when he learned that the boy was penniless, took him to
a restaurant and bought him a meal, and told him where he could find
employment as a Polish-German interpreter in a brick yard. From then on
von Stein’s fortunes began to advance. He spent some time in Wisconsin,
was recalled to Europe in 1876 by his father’s death, when he made an
extended tour of the continent, returned to this country and made a
fortune in the Black Hills, which he later lost in mining ventures, and
moved on to Colorado, where he married. In 1884 he came to Idaho, and
in time became superintendent of car service on the Oregon Short Line,
with headquarters in Pocatello.
Before his tenure expired, Mr. von Stein resigned his office as mayor
of Pocatello, and moved to Nampa, where he had purchased a section of
land, and helped to organize that town. He still has property interests
in Pocatello.
A. B. Bean succeeded Edward Stein as mayor of the city, and was
followed by W. F. Kasiska, the present proprietor of the Bannock hotel
and owner of large real estate and business interests in and about
Pocatello. Mr. Kasiska held the office until 1898, when W. T. Reeves
was elected, who in turn was succeeded by A. B. Bean, the former mayor
of 1894.
During 1895, J. B. Bistline filled the office. Mr. Bistline is a member
of the Bistline Lumber company and has been a resident of the city
since 1891.
M. D. Rice was the next mayor and in 1901 Theodore Turner was elected
to the office. He was re-elected in 1912. Theodore Turner is one of
the most prominent men in the political life of the county. He was a
state senator in 1900, and in 1902 was elected state auditor. Besides
holding many public offices, Mayor Turner has taken great interest in
the Academy of Idaho and in the good roads movement.
Dr. O. B. Steeley succeeded Mr. Turner in the mayor’s chair, and has
since served the county as coroner and the city as school trustee.
In 1904, D. Swinehart filled the office, and in 1905, W. H. Cleare.
Mr. Cleare was one of the organizers of the Farmers & Traders Bank in
Pocatello and also of the Railroad Y. M. C. A. He served in the city
council during the years 1901-2, and has been a member of the board of
trustees of the Academy of Idaho.
Dr. C. E. M. Loux, of the lumber firm of Loux, McConnell & Co., a
member of the city council, was elected to the mayoralty in 1907, and
D. W. Church, cashier of the Bannock National Bank, in 1909. Mr. Church
is one of the most prominent members of the Republican party in Bannock
county, and was a state senator in 1898. He has been identified since
the organization of the city with nearly every movement for civic
betterment and advancement. Mr. Church was succeeded by J. M. Bistline,
a brother and business partner of the mayor of 1899, who in turn was
followed by Theodore Turner, who is now filling the office for the
second time.
Many other residents of Pocatello whose names make a list too long to
repeat here, have rendered valuable public service to both the city and
county. Among them may be mentioned Judge T. A. Johnston, who for a
period of twelve years, beginning in 1900, served the county as probate
judge; Oscar B. Sonnenkalb, who has been county surveyor since 1896;
the late D. Worth Clark, Lorenzo Brown, Andrew B. Stevenson, and John
Hull, who have served in the state senate; W. A. Staley, W. J. Ingling,
Col. H. V. A. Ferguson, and W. A. Hyde, former members of the state
house of representatives; Alfred Budge, who, after long and faithful
service as district judge, has just been elevated to the supreme bench
of the state; Daniel C. McDougal, attorney general of the state of
Idaho in 1908, and Hon. Drew W. Standrod.
Judge Standrod was elected district attorney in 1886, while he was
still a resident of Malad, where his father practiced medicine for many
years, and in 1890 he ran successfully for election as judge of the
Fifth Judicial District of the state of Idaho. He moved to Pocatello
in 1895, since which time he has been actively identified with the
legal and financial activities of the city. In addition to his interest
in the First National Bank of Pocatello, of which he is president,
Judge Standrod is interested in ten other banks in the inter-mountain
country. He is a leading figure in the Republican party, and has
recently resigned a six year appointment on Idaho’s first Public
Utilities Commission, after serving nearly two years.
Of Senator Brady, who is not only one of the most distinguished
citizens of Pocatello, nor yet of Idaho, having been governor of the
state, but also of the United States, he being a member of the nation’s
highest legislative body, we will speak in the next chapter.
Men who left Pocatello ten or fifteen years ago would hardly recognize
the city today. Recently a man returned from Ohio, who had owned a
large number of lots near Center and Main streets in the late nineties,
and who sold them for a modest sum after having held them for some
years on speculation. He learned to his surprise and chagrin that the
property he had sold for fifteen hundred dollars is worth more than
twenty thousand today. Another old-timer who grew tired of the west and
returned to his eastern home, in acknowledging the receipt of a picture
of Pocatello, wrote that the picture was very nice but that he knew it
was not a picture of Pocatello because Pocatello had no trees!
Not only is the city well supplied with trees, but it is equipped with
the full complement of an up-to-date city. Commercially it is one of
the most active and prosperous in the west. It has an ample supply
of water, of electric power, a street car service, and is gradually
installing new improvements in its street and sewerage system. It is a
common thing in the west for growing cities to outstrip themselves in
their zeal for improvements, and an unwise enthusiasm and optimism has
plunged many municipalities into embarrassment and debt. Pocatello has
been wisely governed in this respect, and if she is rather behindhand
in some lines of improvement, this is far preferable to being several
years ahead, and attempting by a forced growth to meet an unneeded
equipment. Several local organizations, notably the Civic Club, have
done much for the betterment of civic life in the city, and it is
probable that the next five years will see a decided improvement in the
appearance of both streets and homes.
The religious needs of the city are well supplied. The Congregational
church was organized in 1888, and Trinity parish, of the Episcopal
church, was established the following year. Since then the Baptist,
Methodist, and Presbyterian denominations have built up strong
institutions. The Latter Day Saints and the Roman Catholic church are
so strong that they have each two churches, one on the east and one
on the west side of the town. No reference to the religious growth of
Pocatello would be complete without a sketch of the Rev. Father Cyril
Van der Donckt, who came to Idaho as a missionary in 1887 and has
resided in Pocatello since 1888.
Father Van der Donckt was born in Belgium in 1865 and was educated in
Renaix College, in the Seminary of St. Nicholas, and in the American
college in Louvain. By a special dispensation from Pope Leo XIII, he
was ordained when twenty months under age, and came directly to Idaho,
where he has since labored. During six years he was general missionary
for the whole of southern Idaho, his ministrations covering eleven
counties, and for some time he was the only secular priest in the
whole state. In addition to St. Joseph’s parish, a large and strong
institution, Father Van der Donckt has built a parish school, and will
soon see a hospital added to his establishment. The prolonged and
faithful services of such a man as Father Van der Donckt are invaluable
to any community, but especially to a country in its formative stage.
The hardships, discouragements and indifference that the latter
condition always throws in the way of a missionary call for no ordinary
amount of pluck and perseverance, and great credit is due to the
man who faces them unflinchingly and who out of nothing builds up a
flourishing and useful work.
Among the religious activities of Pocatello, the Railroad Young Men’s
Christian Association takes a leading place. This is the second largest
institution of its kind in the United States, having a membership of
over fifteen hundred members. Its success is due to the ability of
its general secretary, A. B. Richardson, and his associate, Eric A.
Krussman.
During recent years Christian Science has become firmly established in
Pocatello.
Other among the city’s public institutions are the Carnegie Public
Library and the Pocatello General Hospital.
In addition to her public school system, of which Supt. W. R. Siders
is the head, Pocatello is the seat of the Academy of Idaho, a state
institution created by the legislature of 1901, and opened for
instruction in 1902. The city gave ten acres as a site for the Academy,
and in 1905 the state gave the institution forty thousand acres of
land, the sale of which will provide an endowment. The work of the
Academy is largely along technical lines, and for the use of the
agricultural department a hundred-acre farm has been purchased just
south of the city. Miles F. Reed is president of the Academy, which has
about three hundred students.
Standing sentinel over the city, towering above it to the south, and
doubtless protecting it from many a wind and storm, is Kinport’s peak.
Harry Kinport, for whom this mountain was named, is now dead, but he
was well known in Pocatello a few years ago, and is supposed to have
been the first white man to climb the mountain. He signalized his feat
by planting a flag there. Kinport was a business man in Pocatello for
several years, coming to the town in 1885. He was always a great
hunter and fisherman, and when President Roosevelt visited the city,
caught a mess of trout and presented them to the visitor.
There is every reason to hope that Pocatello will have a population of
over 20,000 before the next census. Its facilities as a distributing
point are attracting many manufacturing and merchandise companies,
who are building warehouses, and the fact that the Oregon Short Line
railroad has built a freight depot to handle the traffic of a town of
50,000 population, shows that the management of that line expects a big
growth.