History Corner

We left off last week with Statesman editor Milton Kelly’s 1876 description of Salubria Valley. He had just mentioned “Harrison and Andrew Abernathy located what is known as the “Warm Spring ranch.”

“David Allison has the next ranch above. He and the Abernathy boys fence their farming land together. The latter keep a house of entertainment where the traveler can get good accommodations.

“A quarter of a mile below is the Salubria store and post office, kept by Mr. Alex Boyles. He ... has a family, keeps a small stock of goods. His store is the only one in either of the valleys on the Weiser and a great convenience to the settlers.

“Next below is Alexander Allison, the oldest man in the valley who is a blacksmith by trade, too old to do much work. He stops most of his time with his daughter, the widow Pence, who also has a new ranch. Next is Wm. Allison and James Colson; each have good farms with limited improvements, but enough to make them comfortable.

“We now come to Mr. Ed Jewell’s place. He is at the lower end of the valley at the confluence of the little and big Weiser rivers and has one of the choicest farms of 320 acres in this valley. Has 140 acres of splendid grain growing, a large barn, good house, blacksmith shop, granary and other out buildings, a nice lot of hogs, horses and cattle, and is a well-to-do farmer.

“The next morning we went up to Frank and Andrew Adams’ place a mile above. They are Englishmen and new comers. They have garden peas in blossom and other vegetables well advanced. We fell in with Mr. Thomas Farry, an old California acquaintance, at Mr. Boyles store.

“The first ranch we visited was the Wislow (Winslow?) Thompsons, three miles above on the little Weiser. Captain A.J. Borland was here building a new frame house for Mr. Thompson. Mrs. T. ... is one of the best butter and cheese makers in the Territory, but has only half a dozen cows. This is the only place where we have seen any cheese making in all our travels.

“From this place we visited Mr. B.W. Philips and family a mile above. Mr. Philips has located a choice piece of land, but has small improvements, save an extra good house. He had a good band of cattle, but sold them this spring to James Forbes.

“Cap. Borland has a ranch half a mile north with a comfortable frame house and a garden fenced and planted. He claims to be in the center of the valley, and says he will lay out a town on his place, start a cabinet shop, get Mr. Boyles to move his store and post office over, and some one to start a blacksmith shop, and make business lively.

“The school house is about a mile this side of Mr. Jewell’s. It is a cheaper building than we expected to see in this pleasant valley. Mr. Fouts of Payette is teaching the school this summer.

“The next ranch is the celebrated place of Wilkerson Bros., two miles farther up. There are four brothers here, William , Morris, James and Millard Wilkerson. The three first located here in the spring of 1868, the first settlers in the valley. They have 800 acres of as choice land as can be found in all Idaho; lying mostly on the north side of the Little Weiser, with several good springs issuing from the bench land. Nearly all of this ranch is good plowing land, and fair portion natural meadow land. They have six hundred and forty acres fenced, with over seven miles of good staked and ridered rail fence. Two hundred acres in grain, forty acres of timothy meadow, and over a hundred acres of good wild grass meadow. Some years they turn out 300 head of fat hogs and turn out fifty fat steers in the spring, five and six years old. They raise very fine American horses, and keep a dozen large fat horses for doing their farm work. They have all the latest improved machines, tools and farming implements; use to sets of gang plows and a breaking plow on wheels. They have a large frame barn, granary and other out buildings, a comfortable log house, and intend to build a frame house this fall.

“The next place above is a comfortable little ranch, belonging to Frank M. Mickey. The Wilkerson Bros. are digging a large ditch from the Little Weiser, sufficient to irrigate all their land. Mickey has an interest in it so that he can irrigate his farm.

“Wm. Wilkerson is the oldest of the brothers and chief manager. There are seven of the Wilkerson brothers. One is located in Indian valley and two are still back in the States. They are all hale, stout built men no one less than six feet in height. The four brothers on this ranch are bachelors.

“Half the ranchmen in this valley are in the same fix – old bachelors, but is hardly their fault, for they are praying for more immigration of the gentler sex. A car load of school marms could get situations here without any trouble.

In one of its next issues, the Tri-Weekly Statesman said Solon Hall had bought the Merrill and Price places “so as to be at the departure of his mail routes, the Warren route and the route to Horseshoe Bend.” Price was probably Tom Price, who later moved to what we know as Price Valley, named after him.

‍