In 1895 the school closest to Council was nearly a mile north of the present town. In December of that year, the Salubria Citizen newspaper listed the students attending this school. The names included Lizzie David, Matilda Moser and Rolla and Lester McMahan. The teacher was Flora McCall, daughter of Tom McCall who founded the town of McCall.
Chicory – that stemmy weed with blue flowers – infests much of the local landscape today. Elizabeth Moser is said to have brought Chicory to this area. The root was dried, ground, and used as a substitute for coffee, or put into coffee to flavor it. It’s use was especially prevalent in the South during the Civil War when the blockade stopped many coffee imports.
Ulysses David Duree (called Dave) arrived at Council Valley in 1888 with his parents (Mr. and Mrs. Issac Jackson “Jackie” Duree). Dave Duree married Mary Ida Moser in 1896 and they moved to the Midvale area. Ida died in 1913, at the age of about 37. Dave’s sister, Viola Duree, married George Gould.
Weiser Signal, March 17, 1898: “Mrs. Moser sold seven town lots in Council. Consideration $225.”
Weiser Signal, November 3, 1898: “Council – William Clark and Eva Moser were married at the residence of the bride’s mother on October 25.” They apparently also moved to Midvale. Bill died at Weiser in 1933. Eva died at Hillsboro, Washington in 1955.
Weiser signal, September 14, 1899: “The railway people have completed negotiations with Mrs. Moser at Council by which she turns over to the P.&I.N. the townsite of Council, 40 acres of her meadow and in addition, a strip of land 2,000 feet long by 200 feet wide for side track and depot privileges. the railway will plat the 40 acres and add it to the Council townsite, Mrs. Moser holding every alternate lot. The depot will be erected a short distance in the rear of the present Moser hotel.”
The item above is interesting. Last week I ended this column writing that the Moser properties composed only the west part of Council, but that might be wrong. The rails were laid to the east end of town when the railroad arrived in 1901. Maybe the Moser homestead extended east to where the dollar store now sits, as that was the site of the first depot before the tracks were rerouted to the west side of town in 1905.
The September, 21, 1899 Weiser Signal said Council is “The only place in the county (unless it be Cuprum) that can boast of having doubled in size in the past year.”
Weiser Signal, 12-14-1899: Council: “The town is growing towards the site of the P.&I.N. depot, which is in what has been the Moser field, and is on the same forty on which stands the Moser residence and hotel.” This certainly makes it sound like the depot was to be on the west side of town. I suppose the railroad could have purchased land from Moser and then changed its plans to go to the east end of town.
Weiser Signal, April 12, 1900: “Sold by Elizabeth Moser to Berg & Eicle, lot 32, Block eight, Council, for $200.”
In 1900 Edgar Moser married Ida Belle Duree, daughter of Isaac Jackson Duree and Nancy Norman-Shaw, and sister of Dave and Nim Duree. I’m not sure of the time-frame, but Edgar and Ida Moser lived, at one time, where are is still the remains of a couple buildings standing among a thicket of trees just south of Cottonwood Road just east of the highway.
Sometime between 1899 and 1901 the Moser Hotel was renamed the “Plaza Hotel.” Whether Elizabeth Moser sold it is not clear, but it seems probable. In January of 1901 it was being managed by Hannah. A year later (January 1902) the Signal reported, “Edgar Moser has moved into the Plaza and opened a lodging house.” In May of 1902 Eva Moser Clark leased the hotel.
It isn’t clear when it happened, but at some point the Moser / Plaza Hotel building was purchased by George M. Winkler and moved to 202 North Fairview Street in Council and used as their home. It was subsequently bought by Ralph and Frances Bass and remodeled into a one-story home that is there today.
Continued next week.
100 years ago
April 25, 1924
Died: Joseph Gratton, a resident of the upper country for the past 35 or 40 years..
A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Dallas Shannon of Mesa on April 15.
Married at Weiser: Morris Brown, formerly of Cambridge, son of Mrs. Emma Brown, and Miss Mary Krigbaum of New Meadows. They will live at New Meadows where he is employed.
The road to Portland is in good condition “except for a few muddy spots on the” Blue Mountains.” “If going to Seattle, the tourists should go by way of Portland, as the Snoqualmie Pass on the Inland Empire highway is not open and may not be until May 15.”
75 years ago
April 28, 1949
Funeral services for Floyd Greene will be held on May 2 in Cambridge. He was killed in action in France in 1944. His remains will arrive at Weiser on May 1 and internment will be in the Salubria Cemetery.
“State Approves Plans for School Reorganization – Boise: The State School Reorganization Committee today approved five school merger plans, delayed action on another and denied a seventh plan.” The board approved applications for a class A district in the southern half of Washington County around Weiser, and a class B district for the Midvale-Cambridge-Indian Valley area of Washington and Adams counties.
An unusually dry spring is retarding crops and results will be serious unless rain is forthcoming in the near future. According to an item in the statesman, this is the driest spring in 30 years.
Indian Valley – “Beverly Keppinger is home with the mumps this week.”
49 years ago
May 1, 1975
Married: Helen Krawczyk and Sonny Simpson, both of Council.
Midvale will break ground for a new Midvale Community Library on May 6.
Engaged to marry: Karen Schwartz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tony Schwartz of Fruitvale, and Don Wood, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Wood of Cambridge.
25 years ago
May 6, 1999
Died: Ellis Charles Vogel, 78, of Emmett, formerly of Cambridge. He was born at Cambridge in 1921 two Hattie May and Charles Thomas Vogel.
A daughter was born to Caryl and Brenda Whitlatch on April 30.
Died at Payette: Lorn Gilbert. He was born in 1913, the son of Reese and Effie Gilbert. The family homesteaded on the little Weiser River, but later moved to Indian Valley in 1920 so Lorn could go to school. Reese operated the Indian Valley store for many years.
