The Bozeman courier., 1927-11-04
BY MRS. NJ. E. PLAssMANN

IT rs STRANGE how trivial acts,
thought of little Importance at the
time they occur, often lead to i'm
portant results. When Idaho be-
came a territory, its first governor had
his home in southwestern Washington.
In order to continue his residence there,
we are told. he made Lewiston the cap
ital Of the section of which he was gov
ernor. 1t was a serious mistake, as was
soon discovered.
In order to understand this it is neces-
sary to know what were the boundaries
Of the new territory On the north was
the Dominion of Canada; eastward it eX-
tended to Dakota, then one territory, and
Nebraska; south to Utah and Colorado,
and west to Oregon and Washington in
other words, from longitude 104 degrees
east to 1T degrees west, and from lati-
tude 40 north to Al south as its fur
thermost southern boundary. It included
what is now Idaho. Montana, and Wyo-
ming, a country large enough to have
formed several of the leading European
states. It comprised over 100000 square
miles of surface, where were lofty noun
tains, numerous rivers, lakes, some level
country, and desert.
Lewiston, the capital of this magnifi-
cent domain was at its extreme western
boundary line. Between it and the Da-
kOta line extended from northwest to
a little southeast, the main range OF
the Rocky Mountains under that name
and also that of the Bitter Root and the
Occur d'Alene. These mountains were
impossible during a severe winter sea-
son, at a time when there were no rail-
roads through them. I have already told
of the difficulties experienced by the
legislators from the eastern side OF the
mountains in going to and returning
from Lewiston. Six months were re-
quired for the journey They travelled or
horseback and with pack animals, leav'
= ,saAr1 inn ~
early spring. The honor supposedly con
ferred upon them by their election die
not in any degree compensate them To-
what they suffered on this journey.
There was this excuse for making Lew
iston the capital. The new territory wa
simply a vast wilderness with no town
of consequence, a few fur trading ant
military posts, together with some scat
tered mining camps could hardly b.
termed bona fide settlements, yet form
Of government had to be established owe
this region. and Governor Wallace waStet
no time in trying to discover more cen
tral point from which it could be ad
ministered.
One of the first things to be don
was to divide the territory into judicie
districts and name the judges who wer
to preside over them. My father, Sidne
Edgerton, being chief justice of the terri
tory should, according to custom, hav
been assigned to the Lewiston distric
This was, however, given to an assc
Ciate justice while, comments the schoC
history of Idaho. Judge Edgerton, al
though chief justice, was awarded til
Third district, which embraced TIL
WILD DISTRICT EAST OF THE ROCK
MOUNTAINS" Capitals mine-M. E. P.
This was not by any means the end {
the matter. The few people living j
the said wild district Of the east, di
not mean to be Disseminated against
having the capital in the extreme ives
and their being left virtually withoJ
law other than that administered by tt
miners and the vigilantes, as the Chi
justice could not qualify; he being judl
IN name only.
glance at a map of the Idaho