I wrote a column about Dr. Brown back in 1996, but I thought I would create an updated version. He was a central figure in the history of Salubria, the Seven Devils Mining District, Council and Starkey. It’s easy to confuse Dr. William Brown with Dr. Frank Brown who practiced in Council until 1916.
William Martin Brown was born Nov. 18, 1860 at Morning Sun, Ohio, which in now an unincorporated community that is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. He was the eldest of eight children. I don’t know where he went to medical school.
At the age of 28 he must have been practicing at or near Douglas, Nebraska, as he married Emma Sherman there on October 1, 1889. (Emma was born January 15, 1861 at Hebron, NY.) The first of their two children, Winifred, was born in Nebraska on March 13, 1892.
The Browns moved to Salubria not long after Winifred was born, as the first local reference I can find comes from the July 7, 1892 Weiser Signal: “Dr. W.M. Brown lately from Omaha has brought the practice, office fixture &c, of Dr. E.P. Howard, and no doubt (coming well recommended as he is) will do an excellent business and we hope will be very successful.”
That sale of the Salubria medical practice soon ran into trouble. The December 29, 1892 Weiser Signal reported that Dr. Brown “succeeded in obtaining an injunction over Howard in his right to practice medicine in Salubria and vicinity after selling out to Brown and giving a written contract to the effect that he would no longer practice here in consideration of $300 to him in hand paid by his successor.”
The next mention I’ve found of Dr. Brown is in a June 1893 Salubria newspaper when he was involved in what Heidi Bigler Cole called a “ride by shooting.” Dr. Brown was driving a hack by someone’s house in Salubria when a dog raised a hostile racket as he went by. It made the doctor angry, and he let go around from his revolver at the animal. Evidently the doctor wasn’t a very good shootist. The bullet went wild, going through the front window of a nearby house, almost hitting two young children. The homeowner was understandably outraged, and a lawsuit against Brown was thought to be likely. The matter was evidently dropped, as there was no further news about it.
William Brown was a tall, slender gentleman, and wore wire-rimmed glasses. The 32-year-old doctor quickly established a reputation as a brilliant diagnostician. He was the 42nd doctor licensed in the state of Idaho.
The March 8, 1895 Salubria Citizen newspaper announced that Brown had partnered with Eugene Lorton to purchase the Pioneer Drug Store and fixtures from John Cuddy. They planned to continue the business in the same building under the name of “Brown & Lorton.”
Brown soon disposed of his share of the drug store, selling it to Lorton the following January. He did, however, stay on as “drug clerk.”
In an era in which mining was a vocation for many and an avocation for many others, Dr. Brown was bitten by the gold bug. At least a couple of times in the 1890s, he and Charley Allen went prospecting in the Seven Devils Mining District. Brown continued to prospect as late as 1937, when he and my grandfather, E.F. “Jim” Fisk, went up someplace on the Salmon River looking for a gold prospect that Dr. Brown had discovered in the 1890s. In 1902 Brown owned shares in a claim on Cuddy Mountain.
At Salubria on January 13, 1897, the Browns had the second, and last, of their children: another girl, Mildred.
Soon after this, the Pacific & Idaho Northern Railway started preparing to build a line north from Weiser.
Part of the motivation for building the P&IN line was to transport copper ore from the Seven Devils Mining District, and the company made plans to build such a branch line out of Council. Dr. Brown was persuaded to be the railroad company’s physician in the mining district where construction was to begin soon. The company planned a hospital building in the new town of Cuprum, and the Brown family moved there in 1899.
The hospital would have a drugstore in the front section, a hospital ward in the middle, and a kitchen in the back end. Reporting on this new undertaking, in June of 1899 the Citizen reported, “Dr. Brown’s new drug store building is nearly completed.”
By this time, construction on the P&IN line roadbed (grade) had already started early that spring. The first rails were laid at Weiser in May of 1899. The company kept its cards close to its vest as the the route of the rails, keeping Salubria in suspense as to whether the town would have rail access – a factor that could boom or bust a town.
At the last minute it was announced that the P&IN would create a new town named “Cambridge” across the river, west of Salubria. This was not entirely a surprise, as it was standard practice for railroad companies to put a depot outside of a town on land they purchased at low cost (or were gifted) and then make a fortune selling lots.
All of the businesses in Salubria either moved to Cambridge or ceased to exist. Eugene Lorton relocated his drug store to Cambridge and it stayed in that family until not too many years ago.
Continued next week.
100 years ago
October 19, 1923
“Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Davis are the proud parents of a fine boy.”
A boy was born to Mr. and Mrs. John York of Indian Valley.
“A big string of ‘cheap’ horses were taken to the mountains this week to be slaughtered for coyote bait. They were in charge of Roy Wilkins of the Biological survey.”
75 years ago
October 21, 1948
Died at the Council hospital: Joe Lucas, 76. He was born in 1872 in Texas. Most of his life was spent in the Crane Creek area.
“Veterinary clinic opens at Weiser – Veterinary practice in this area is now being handled by doctors Craig Rowan and Maxim Lebeaux whose office quarters are in the Gemkraft building at 513 W. Commercial, Weiser. Dr. Rowan for several months has been associated with Dr. C. R. King who left recently to accept a position in Kansas City. Dr. Lebeaux arrived here about two weeks ago from Arkansas where he practiced since last spring, to enter into partnership with Dr. Rowan. The two men studied for the veterinary field at the University of Pennsylvania.”
49 years ago
October 24, 1974
A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Heiner at the Weiser hospital on October 17.
A son was born October 10 at the Council hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Bud Wagner.
Died: Arthur S. Higgins, 57, in Oregon. He was born in 1917 at Council, the son of Henry H. And Sadie Higgins. He spent his early life in Cambridge where he attended school.
Died: Delilah N. Widner, 87, of Weiser, formerly of Midvale. She was born in Weiser in 1887, a daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Newman, and moved as a small child to Midvale where the family homesteaded. She married Frank Widner in 1902 and the couple homesteaded south of Midvale.
Died: Carol A. Clarkson, 40, of Horseshoe Bend. She was born in 1934 at Indian Valley. She attended schools in Indian Valley and graduated from Cambridge high school in 1952.
25 years ago
October 22, 1998
More than 75 members of The Coalition of Concerned Citizens attended their annual meeting and picnic on September 27 at Starkey Hot Springs. “Coalition members were fortunate to listen to Dan Goicoechea of the Idaho Farm Bureau discuss property rights and the Farm Bureau’s current efforts in helping farmers and ranchers protect their property rights, especially as they relate to the Rails to Trails Act.”
