Idaho History: North Idaho tried for a generation to be free of Boise
When E.D. Pierce discovered gold in 1860 in what would become Idaho, it was part of a sprawling Washington Territory that included what became western Montana and Wyoming. When Idaho Territory was created on March 4, 1863, it included all of later Montana and most of Wyoming, an area larger than Texas.
That giant Idaho lasted until May 26, 1864, when Montana Territory was created, and Wyoming was attached to Dakota Territory, leaving Idaho with its present panhandle shape.
The second session of the territorial legislature met in Lewiston from Nov. 14 to Dec. 23, 1864, and voted to move the capital to Boise City. The action reflected the fact that new gold discoveries had shifted the population dramatically to the south, where most legislators now lived. It also created the popular legend in Lewiston that “Boise stole the capital” and spawned efforts for many years thereafter to have North Idaho join Washington, or even to become part of an entirely new territory.
On Dec. 22, 1864, T.M. Pomeroy, acting for the citizens of Lewiston, took legal steps to have all actions taken by the second session of the legislature declared invalid, thereby preventing Boise from becoming the capital. On Jan. 4 and 5, 1865, a citizen meeting favored redrawing Idaho’s boundaries to include eastern Washington and to exclude southern Idaho entirely.
On Jan. 10, 1866, the Idaho legislature itself, apparently tired of dealing with North Idaho complaints about the inconvenience of having to come to Boise to do government business, suggested creation of a new territory of Columbia, made up of eastern Washington, North Idaho and Western Montana, and in 1867 Lewiston citizens met to endorse annexation to Washington preliminary to getting a Columbia Territory measure through Congress. In January 1868, the Washington legislature requested congressional passage of a North Idaho annexation bill.
Nevada Sen. W.M. Stewart, sensing the break-up of Idaho Territory, introduced legislation in Congress for his state to annex all of Idaho south of the Snake River. The Idaho Statesman and the Idaho World objected strongly, but Silver City’s two papers, the Owyhee Avalanche and Owyhee Semi-weekly Tidal Wave, favored joining Nevada. Apparently they were no happier than North Idaho was with Boise as the capital and thought Carson City would serve Owyhee County’s needs better, despite being much farther away.
Throughout the 1880s the battle continued to have North Idaho annexed to Washington. Idaho’s representatives in Congress, first John Hailey and then George Ainsley, were able to block annexation until Feb. 24, 1886, when the House of Representatives passed the bill making North Idaho part of Washington Territory. In 1887, Nevada’s legislature then voted to annex all of southern Idaho.
There would be no Idaho as we know it had not Idaho Gov. E.A. Stevenson been able to persuade President Grover Cleveland not to sign the bill, thereby letting it die. This pocket veto of March 1887 made it possible for Washington in 1889 and Idaho in 1890 to achieve statehood with their present boundaries.
Idaho’s rugged mountainous terrain, so long a physical, cultural and political barrier between the state’s north and south, has become less so through the gradual development of improved communications and transportation. The automobile, the airplane, radio and television have brought Idahoans closer together, but sectional differences remain.
An elderly citizen of Lewiston once told me, almost proudly, “I’ve never been to Boise, and I’m damned if I’ll ever go there either!”
Arthur Hart writes this column on Idaho history for the Idaho Statesman each Sunday. Email histnart@gmail.com.
This story was originally published May 24, 2015 at 12:00 AM.