The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1923-07-19
HE HoMEsrEADED BLACKFooT

HE HOMESIEADED BLACkfOOl
w. N. Shilling once filed a home
stead on part of the land where the
town of Blackfoot stands and Shill
ing avenue is named for him. He
served in the Civil war and some
Indian wars, and after being mus
tered out he had a line of exper-
\ fences that help to make history. The
following article is taken from the
i Portland .Oregonian of July l.:
Custer was dead and the wires
were down. Turnout the country nc
i one knew of the massacre which had
wiped out five companies of men and
ended the life of one of America s
| brilliant generals.
That was June 26, 1876. At $50
o'clock the next night stage driver
bridged the gap from Pleasant val
ley to old Fort Hall, Idaho, where a
| telegraph operator excited and
grieved for the death of the general
under whom he himself had served
in t he Civil war, put the story on the
wire.
Today that operator, bit more
rotund. considerably grayer, but
with eyes that flash as brightly as
they did in that Western Union sta
ion nearly One-half century ago, sits
pleasantly among his friends and his
memories at the Old Peoples Home
at Thirty-third and Sandy. For w.
N. Shilling has had an eventful life,
grown up, literally, with the western
country, and now that his eighty
third milestone is passed he can still
smile with genuine pleasure at the
thought of the experiences that were
his, dating back as far as the time
when he cast his first presidential
vote for Abraham Lincoln.
Roads Opening Photographed
1t was Mr.. Shilling, too, who gave
the country its news of the driving of
the golden spike at PrOmOntory
Point, Utah, which marked the con-
nection of the Union and Central
Pacific system in the first transcon-
tinental railway line in North
America. From a little deal table
beside the track May 10, 1869, hei
telegraphed the word Of the opening
of the road which loosed the chimes
in Trinity church in New York and
the steam whistles in the harbor at
San Francisco bay.
Eyes, l served with Custer" the
octogenarian said 81 enlisted in the
first Michigan cavalry in 1861 and
served until 1865. Custer was
Northumberland then, and had just
graduated from West Point about
year before. It was with him that I
came west after the war was over,
and he was sent to fight the Indians.
went to Denver and wasn't mus
tered out of the service until six
months after peace had been de-
In Blackfoot, Idaho, there is a
street called Shilling avenue IT
Is w. N. Shilling after whom it is
the man who built the first
residence in the little city north of
Pocatello. Just the exact year does
not come to Mr. Shilling's mind, and !
guess at even In casual conversation.
1t was while at Blackfoot that Mr..
Shilling went thru the war with the
BannOck Indians. He was in charge
II licensed trading post, and the
Who had brought stock to the post I
lalf q year, with a number of deaths I
III OOtu 6luC6. odQ Iu0ulClu0, 10
he telegraph operators verdict of
he Bannocks.
They were hostile" is the tele-
,raph operators verdict of the Ban
locks. They were hostile and not
ike the other Indians. Even their 8
anguage was deep cultural. l was !
BILE to talk Shoshone, but never /
ute mastered that throaty talk of I
he Bannocks."
Associated as he was With, the 9
uilding Of the transcontinental: rail-
Dad line, Mr.. Shilling was not actu- n
lily - the employ, Of the railroad, t
ut ss-a Western Union operator he'll G
ept abreast Of tho progress of thel
Dad In the construction Of the tele- n
raph line. When the work was
nally completed he was chosen a.
ne single operator to preside overI
le instrument at Promontofy Pointt
nd the wires over the entire country
ere cleared for his message. h
There Is an odd thing about that y
'ike," he said with = bit Of . laugh. b
When President Stanford Of thel Il
entral Pacific swung the .sledge to "
I've the initial blow to the spike heI Il
ldn't really shit 1t, but he hit thei u
Ill. And. 50 did tho vice-president, Of
no swung the sfedgehammer after =
I'm. But it didn't matter, / sent =
1t the word thatTthefdeed had been
one, and 1t was good that did, for
ter they missed the spike neither
them swung the hammer again."
And that was ffty-four years agoj
! May 10 last, when the Unionl
acifc celebrated another annivers-
y Of one Of the biggest moments
the railway history Of the nation.