HomeMy Public PortalAboutBoydstun, NealF
RELEASE OF TAPES
OF REMINISCENCES AND TRANSCRIPTS
TO IDAHO HISTORICAL AUXILIARY
DATE -March 31, 1971
on this day,
permit the Idaho Historical Auxiliary to record (tape) my personal
reminiscences and transcripts and to use the same recordings (tapes)
made today in any matter they see fit. It is with full understand-
ing that neither I nor any of my relatives will receive any payment
at any time and that all proceeds that should result from the use of
the tapes will go to the Idaho Historical Auxiliary or the Idaho
State Museum.
Neal Boydstun (signed)
Joe Bennett (witness interviewer)
0
RELEASE OF TAPES
OF REMIJISCEVCES ADD TRANSCRIPTS
TO IDAHO HISTORICAL AUXILIARY
DATE March 31, 1971
I ,L on this day,
i�:
permit the Idaho Historical Auxiliary to record (tape) my personal
reminiscences and transcripts and to use the same recordings (tapes)
made today in any matter they see fit. It is with full understand-
ing that neither I nor any of my relatives will receive any payment
at any time and that all proceeds that should result from the use of
the tapes will go to the Idaho Historical Auxiliary or the Idaho
State Museum.,
Neal Boydstun (signed)
Joe Bennett (wi tness
interviewer)
RELEASE OF TAPES
OF REMINISCENCES AND TRANSCRIPTS
TO IDAHO HISTORICAL AUXILIARY
DATE
r
on this day,
permit the Idaho Historical Auxiliary to record (tape) my personal
reminiscences and transcripts and to use the same recordings (tapes)
made today in any-matter they see fit. It is with full understand-
ing that neither I nor any of my relatives will receive any payment
at any time and that all proceeds that should result Yroir he use of
the tapes will go to the Idaho Historical Auxiliary or the Idaho
State Museum.
(signed)
kwl tress
nLervicv;El )
i
s�
r
Neal Boydstun
with Joe Bennett
Page 1
JOE "This is Joe Bennett interviewing Pleat Bnydstun in McCall. Neal, can you tell
us where you were born ?"
NEAL "I was born at Roseberry, Idaho. November 6, 1896."
JOE "How about your folks where were they from? When did they come to Idaho ?"
NEAL "They come to Idaho from Missouri. Mother came to Idaho April the second in
1898, no 1888."
JOE "When did they come to Long Valley ?"
T?F' L to came to Long Valley in 1888. Dad came to Idaho in 188 but he ct.yed
up around Idaho City and worked in the woods up there for t, vb years. He didn't
come to the valley till 1890."
JOE "What was your mothers' maiden name ?"
WEAL mj A We Cole"
JOE "where were they married ?"
t;EA2L "Van Wyck"
JOE " Z.N,what year ?"
MAL "I don't remember."
JOE "Do you know what nationality they were ?"
NEAL "Dads' people I think were English but I don't know what nationality the Cole's
were."
JOE 'Miere did you go to school first? Do you remember ?"
NEAL "At the old Star school south of McCall. That was in 1904."
page 2
TEAL "The first summer out there they had school in the wood shed. They built the
school the next summer."
OE "How many children was there in your family ?"
"I had one brother and one sister."
d�
DE "Your sister was the yo hges "
MAL "Yeah,'"
IOE "Are the all still living ? "
'EAL 114y sister's been.'. decal about four or fivd yyesrs. My borhter's still living, in
Colorado now."
,3g "How long were your terms in school ? "
Yom, "The first two years we went to school. in the summer time, ususkly about six
months."
3JP ! Ali went out there? Where did the children all cone from ?"
NEAL "The whole upper end of the valley except the east side. There Noss 01st they
called the Elo school."
JOE ' °Did they have a school in McCall, too ?"
14BAL "Hot at that time."
JOE "And you lived a Lardo. When did your dad reach Lardo ?"
HEAL "Ws moved up here in April, in 1902. That's when dad started the store,"
JOE "When did you get the post office ?"
ZEAL "I think it was about 1943."
JOE "Where was that post office moved from ?"
KEAL '"Itwas moved from the old McCall Hotel."
JOE "Can you tell the circumstances of how your dad got the post office?"
Page 4
NEAL "piece there was buckle he'd unbuckle the harness. The next day when he was
ready to start out he worked till noon trying to get his horses harnessed up.
He finally had to go get-Oome farmer to put his harness together for him."
JOE "Did he run the paper when it was at Roseberry ?"
DEAL "Well, my dad financed him on this, helped him put up the building. Financed
him for his egiipment in this Long Valley Advocate. He operated there about
three years then they moved it to Roseberry. I don't remember whether he operated
it at Roseberry§ or not. But as soon as he could prove up on his homestead he
went back to Utah."
JOB "Roy Stover told me one time that they moved that building to McCall and that
was the dog house. Is that your recollection hf It?
ZAL 'To"
JOE "He told rye that about two weeks before he died."
MEAL "That building where the paper was was still on that corner when I bought that
property in about 1935. I sold it to a fella named Cart Harper who moved it
on the lot behind there. Old John Lietrke lived in it for years and years. It
never did come to McCall."
JOE "I remember when Duke Robins run a sporting goods store there. Didn't Mullins'
have a paper up here ?"
NEAL "They run the paper at Roseberry for a long time."
JOE "When was the Payette Lakes Progress with old mane- ,lRoabrts"
<--k 1'.
"He moved in here from Ate. I don't remember what year but I was about
Page 5
REAL "sixteen or seventeen years old and I worked in that. I set type in there."
JOE "Did he come in with Duke Roberts ?"
HEAL "Well, they came in about the same time. They were both from 4tykas. They
operated the paper over there for scouple years than they moved it into toum.
Thcy moved it into thor=.. I think while I was in the service."
JOE "Can yout tell us something about that shooting that happened there at Lardo ?"
HEAL "I remember hearing the shot. One of the Koskie girls was -orking for Mrs.
Sinsear. She was pretty OeBly scared. Sinseer was the fella that shit PJaans.
it was a dispute over feed, it was a feed bill."
JOB "Did they have a livery barn there at Lardo ?"
YAL !'O yea, they had a livery barn there. A fella by the name of Arnold. Charlie
Arnolds' dad run a livery barn there at Lardo."
MTTY "Wasn't Bill Land onecof the old timers over here, too. Isn't that Land house
oils of the oldest. ?"
JOB "Re had a homestead out there by me."
NM "Bill moved into town after he proved up on his homestead. Bills' homestead
was right across the road from where Adolf Heinrich lives."
JOB "I s that when Bill built that log house ?"
NEIL "No, my dad had that house built. And he sold it to Lards'. They were living
on the ranch at the time dad had that build there."
JOE "Can you tell us any incidence about school or any thing you can tell us ?"
MAL "Jim Darkwood was my first school teacher. That was at the old Star school.
Page 6
NEIL "They had forty-five, fifty people in there, all eight grades and just one
teacher."
JOE F' "Can you tell.us something about that buggy and horse you used to drive ?"
HEAL "Well, we had a buck board and a horse we drove to school about two miles and
a half. We hauled all the kids that could get into that buck board."
JOE "Who were some of the kids that went to school from Lerdo ?"
REAL `Oh, there was the two Shaw girls. Dale and Rex Mullen they lived dox'm on the
west side of the river. Frederick Williams, his folks had a ranch. Then i
think it was about 1911 that they divided the district. School district forty-
nine was on the west side of the river. That was pert of the old Star school
district. There was a division of the school district once rrfor to that. -,,lien
they cut the McCall distrrct off. That left the school house setting on the
north end of the old Star school district. So the school building was finally
moved down south a mile or two. There was Roy Stover and the Rowland boys and the
two Rowland girls."
JOB "Can you tell us some of the homesteaders that homesteaded over there."
NEAL "There was this Johnny'Wallace, a newspaper man. .There was a fellow by the time
of Murphy, and a fella by the name of Radiken. A fella name 6f Williams that
was a brother of Newt Williams. He used to run a store in McCall. He homesteaded
out south of the Folton place. Bill Minks had a homestead out there. John
Williams and Fred Williams. And C.W. Luck."
Page 7
JOE "That's the man Luck's Point was naraed after."
PEAL "yeah, he was a civil engineer. He did a lot of the early day surveying of
this country."
XOE "What was cone of your social life, Neal ?"
NEAL. "Well, they used to have literary and spelling matches. Tat was in the winter-
time, when they had school in the winter. They had parties and a fev dances.
But kids didn't go to dances too much in those clays."
JOB "Can you tell us some in4ident's that happened arourJ town. Over there arounO
Lardo when you was a kid. Where did tho stages code from ?"
NEAL "Stages cone in from Council at first."
J`)E "Did they run a stake from Emmett cud up through High Valley ?"
1N"EAL "Not to my knowledge. There used to be a stage run from Van Wyck to McCall.
Then when the railroad was built up to Tamarack and New Meadoos, that was about
f6.61
1806. I used to freight from Evergreen into the store. Bill Land used to
freight for, my dad. We used to go down to Evergreen and back in two days. But
if the road was bad it took three days."
JOE "A lot of the homesteaders hauled freight for your dad didn't they ?"
NEAL "Oh yeah. There used to be quite a lot of grain raised in the valley. In the
wintertime the farmers hauled their grain to Tamarack and load a car there. In
the wintertime they'd haul-. it on sleighs. I can remember at tEvo. three o'clock
in the morning. They'd leave real early in the morning and they'd make a round
trip in a clay. I remember one time a bunch of these farmers were coming back
Page g
VEAL "from loading grain. They come up and shopped at old Meadows where there used
to be about eight or nine saloons. They spent some of their wheat money. They'd
usually put one fella in the lead that was still able to drive pretty good
then they'd just follow. One time old Nick Nasi's team missed the bridge at
Lardo. They got down into the river. He got pretty well sobered up when he
got into that ice cold water!"
JOE "I never raid haul any wheat to Evergreen but in 1910, I used to keep ho^ing
that they'd haul wheat on Saturdays so I could go. I got to drive a team vixen
they went over there on Saturday. What year was it I worked for your dad and
Lad Cole and Folton? Can you remember what that was ?"
WEAL "Viet was while I was living on the coast."
DE "You stacked hay. You-$as running the stacker. Bill Land and I and somebody
else, we run the three mowers. I know you looked after the stacking of the hay.
I can't remember what year it was but I know tie put up hay there for a long
time. I Boas probably about fifteen or lest. When did Cole's move to Lardo ?"
NEAL "I think they moved up there about 1911. They first built a log house where
the Chicken Roost is. They lived over there about a year and a half then they
built that building that's still there."
JOE "Did they have the post office then ?"
BET1.'Y "I can remember my dad getting mail both at Boystuns' store and at Coles'. But
}
I was small enough I wouldn't know the years. I wasn't but four years old
when we cane here."
JOE ' "you were born in Nampa. And Warren was born in the transfer house."
Page 9
BETTY "Yes, then we moved to the Land house. I think we moved because dads' mail
contract was from Lardo to Warren."
JOE "How many children did you have, Neal ?"
MEAL "Three, all boys."
',)E "Who did you marry and when ?"
NEAL "I married Pearl 5tallsworth in 1917."
`r JOE Vhere did they live ?"
NEAL "'dell, she was born in Belview, Idaho. Her folks came to Idaho in the 1830'x.
lie was from Missouri. He homesteaded at Belview. They proved up on their home-
stead vround Belview and then went and homsteaded on the Snake River. He had
a ranch down there for several years. They sold that and they moved to the
coast. Then they moved back to Council, in fact they were living in clew Macdav s
at the time I met Pearl. She worked for my aunt who run the past office."
JOE "What year was it they come to Long Valley ?"
i
xF L "Nell, her folks worked for Osburn & Clay, they run cattle out here on the fleet
Mountain. They had kind of a summer quarters. Up in Sunflower Flat. They
summered for a while over there and wintered in old Meadows."
JOE "Did you meet Pearl out there ?"
NEAL "Well, she worked for my aunt, Mrs. Cole, in Lardo. The summer of 1913. That's
where I met her. We were married October, 1917."
JOE "Where did you live when you was first married ?"
NEAL, "Well we lived in Boise the first winter. Then moved on one of mom and dads'
ranches out here west of Lardo. That summer until I went in the service in
August, 1918. I was discharged in Washington on January, 9, 1919. 1 stayed
I .
N
Page 10
NEAL "on the coast until May, 1929. I came back to McCall in 1929. I've been here
ever since."
JOE "What is your business, Ideal."
NEAL "Right now I'm retired. Oh, I farmed a little when I was first married. After
I got out of the service on the coast I was involved in construction work
for seven or eight years. I worked in a steel mill. After I came back here
in 1929 I followed construction work and built houses. I built some of these
summer homes around the lake. I worked for the stdn for a year or tim, on the
Highway Department. I was in the reel estate and insurance business from about
1944 to '60's."
JOE "Was it your dads' half- br6ther that was in the real, estate buoiness.?"
NEAL "Yes, Culikpepper was in the real estate business in Long Valley in 1910. I
took over his business when he died in 1944."
JOE 'Veil, you dad worked for the state."
HEAL "Yeah, he worked for the Highway Department in the early days of that department.
Bought a bunch of right -of -ways for them. Dien he was maintained as foreman for
this area between Cascade and New Meadows, for several years."
JOE "Fie called me up one time when I was County Commisioner and he,said, "I'm
comeing by and picking you up we'll go to Cascade. We'll meat with a bunch of
the federal men and the state men.' We gent down there. We were very concerned
about this highway between McCall and Lardo. It was swamp right out here some-
where. Anyhow, they talked that a great deal that night and finally they told
Page 11
.108 "him to put in a French drain. He said he z�ould. When we started home he
said, 'Joe, do you know what a French drain is ?" I said, 'Hell no, I don't know
what a French Drain is. .Don't you ?' he s #d, 'lTo', I said, 'What are you
going to do ?' he said, 'I'm just gonna haul ac hell of a lot of rock!' He told
me he hauled a thousand truck loads of rock and put in that mud hole. After
he got it finished, the next spring, it didn't break up. There was a highway
man by the name of Lincoln and the state highway man for this district was
named Banks I believe. They come up here and Nicked me up and we come up and
looked at this toad. We went and got your dad and come un and looked et this
road and they said that was the finest French drain they ever saw! Anyhow
he made the road so we could get over. Did you ever know Jewsarp Jack ?"
YjgAL "No, I never did."
JOE "Did he have a homestead ?"
HEAL "Yes, he homesteaded in wb at is now lot one, section eight, townshin eighteen.
He had a cabin on that lot one. That was pert of his homestead and the rest
of it layed on around the lake. I think it was around 1.60 acres."
JOE "Was the state house on the land that he otmed ?"
11�AL "No
JOR "Did the state house: stand on homestes d land ?"
NEIL "That state house was on state land. In fact it was on the property that Marge
owns now. South line of her property is the south boundary of that state land
on the west sidd of the lake."
Page 12
BETTY "How did it happen then that hers' is deeded and the-:others are leased ?"
NEAL "Well, quite a bit of the lots on the other side are deeded lots that have
been purchased from the state. While I -,iss in the assessors office Magaret
was down there one day. I asked he.if she knew that the state still owned a
little corner of ground betwoen her and the lake. She said she didn't. I
showers it to her on the map and she finally got &hold of it. It was just enough
to keep her assay from the lake. The state finally deeded that to her."
JOB "Do you know who built the state house?".
PEAL 'No"
AETTY "I think that band was deeded to Hoff & Brown Vhen they bed the logging in there."
JOE "I hauled logs there one winter when I worked for George Morrison. We
stayed in the state house."
BETTY "I can't ever remember what happened to the state houses but I remember the barn
doan by the lake burned."
JOE "I think it burned down. Then Elmer Cole and I stayed in a tent all winter. Boy
it was cold."
IMAL "I think the Cole's left in 1988 or 1919. They left here and went over in
Meadows valley in the winter of 1918. Then 1919 they scent to Wilam.ite Valley."
JOE "Host of all the real old timers are dead. Seems to me like you taut a *•eater
wheel in the giver one time. What was that for ?"
"My dad and Charlie Nelson put in e water wheel and nut In a daiu across the river.
They put in a resevoir up on the hill. It still sets up there. They had a gate r
system in there. They got a couple of Finns who were supposed to have had
experience to build dews across rivers. They put a portion of the darn just
Page 13
H! NEAL "about straight across the river. Then they run the east wing up the river.
The wing they run up the river, when the water run over this dam slowed the
current on the east bank of the river and it washed out. About half of the da-n
fi
went out about two years after it was put in. They never did rebuild it. They
finally sold it to Payetty Water Uses. They got by with a temporary darn in
there. Later when Bennett put in than first power plant in McCall he tried to
} hook up his power plant to that. Only when they had extremefiy high water dial
they have enough power to run these generators. So they finally moved that
generator back to town and put in a steed outfit:'
t JOE "That's before he moved up on Lake Fork. That was the first power they had in
town. Austin Goodman never did anything with the power site he had out here."
IdEAL "That generator that was first used here was one my father and his half- bvother
bought at the old Thunder Bolt Mine. They bought all the equipment in that old
" mine back there at a tax sale back in Idaho City one winter. They got this
direct current generator, they got a ten stamp mill, they got a tram line. Vext
summer we went in to eee what all he bought. That generator vas the first
electric generator they had in town."
BETTY "One story your dad told us was that one, in early days, he didn't have money to
pay his taxes. So he led a cow from here to Idaho City to pay his taxes. I
wish there were more people like that today."
VEAL "That was before we moved to the lake and I just don't remember anything about it.
a
Page 14
"About the earliest recollection I have is staying la staying 171.th my grand-
parents at Roseberry. my grandded had a store and a post office at Roseberry.
My mother and dad and sister and brother want and h'intered in Boise and I
stayed with my grandparents. I Nave about four yearns old. So that 1,,89 just /
about the turn of the century. I can remember that Earl and Hill Per used
to ride steers to town."
Vasn't your grandfathers' homestead the site of old Roseberry ?"
Yes, it was the north and east corner of that road intersection there. ray dttds'
homestead was up to the southwest corner. Right up to that old yell. used to
be the torn well."
"Your =-dad told me that your grarxddad had a provision in the deed that they
,douldn't.put a saloon in town."
"I thins: that was right."
"I know they never did haw a saloon in Roseberry."
"No, they didn't. My grandfather wes the first post master at Roseberry."
"How did that get' it's nave ?"
"Nell, that post office was applied for by some people named Roseberry. It
took them about two years of get the post office and in the mean time ny dad
come into the valley and he bought their relinquishment. One of these Roseberry
g6rls was at my place about ten or twelve years ago. Her husband vas a dictwr And
in the Army. They'd been stationed at Portland for at,hite and they ere on their
way back to Massachusasetts. They were driving through and they stopped to see
Shawls and stopped at out place."
JOE "Have you got any tales you can tell us about when they had the hard winter
when the Cole's and the Davis' first come in here ?"
MEAL "Well, what they called an asst winter was of '87 and '88. I remember my
granddad talking about they got into the valley on the seventh day If April
1888. They shipped an iumigraant car to Weiser and they brought one team with
them and bought another in Weiser. One of these horses they bought in Weiser
was -bf4cking. They had to buy the third hnrse before they got out of town.
They were eleven days from Weiser to Roseberry with a team and �-ragon. They
fjorddd the Weiser River twenty -seven times. Grandad said when they got into
the valley the snow was all gone and the grass was green. That vas in April
and that was rafter the easy winter. It vas the next that they Balled the hard
winter. 'Theyllost many cattle."
0K, "Can you tell us any thing about that tombstone over there in Coplin Flat ?"
WEIL "A fella name of Wesby who had a prospect out there. He was in a shaft. He
was down about sixteen feet in this shaft. There was a rock in the wall of
the shaft and he` couldn't lift it out so he thought he'd just leave in in the
wall. He went on down and finally this rock give loose and it caved in on him."
NOE "Was that close to where he's buried ?"
REAL "I imagine. Where I got my information on that ,,!as from a nephew of his. He
was in here about fifteen years ago. He came in from Oregon and refenced that
grave. He was quite elderly. There were a(.friends of that miner -,rho hauled that
tombstone from Baker over here with teams. And nut it up."
Somebody puts flowers out there nearly every year and Memorial Day. I wonder
who that ia."
"It's probably some of his relchtves over around Baker."
"Somebody tried to tell me one time that man was killed by Indiana. But I
didn't think he was."
'To, he wasn't"
"I wAs gonna aik you if you could give us some history on the Claire Falls
Mining Company."
"Fell, there was never any active work out there after I come to the lake.
When the folks emme into the valley in 188 thgy stayed all night at the head-
quarters for the mining company. Cop }ins was living at the glace at that time.".
"was thaat the first ditch they built from Deadhorse around the Cnnli.n Flat?
Is that where they mined first? Do you know uhen the ditch was built scross the
valley from Lake Fork.? there did they mine first ?"
"I don't know"
"I worked for a man by the naive of Al Woods. I worked up on White Bird Ridge.
He told me, in 1914, that he worked on this ditch. I was thinking he `M rked on
it in 196. But that could!ve been about the time they built that ditch. Do you
know whether they ever got much gold out of it?"
"I don't know"
"John Taylor toI.d my dad one time that he was the shift boss. Old John was a
Swede and he couldn't say shift very good. I wondered TAiat he was talking about
and so did my dad, he didn't know what a shiff boss Baas. We had to ask the girls
Page 17
JOB " %•hat hheir dad was. I also heard a story that they closed that mine because
they were raising cattle and hay out there. They were using the cattle for,
or the land for agricultural. purposes when they.had a mining cicair.� on it. Bud
Davis told me one time, he and Bill had it leased one summer. There vas lots
of gold but it was awful hand for them to save. Ile said. 'I can show you
gold right hers on your place.' so he took a shovel and we went dove there to
that creek. lie dug behind a little rock down.there and come up. He tools the
shovel. and panned out several flacks of gold right there. He thought that �•V.s
the reason they stopped. But they were also raising cattle. I know Taylor got
some cattle from them and thyy sold one of their teaama off to Hoff and Brown.
A know they had the camp stove, it was such a big stove."
NEAL "Nov that was the Claire halls Mining Company that gug the ditch on the east
side of the river."
JOE "Weil what was this one?"
FEAL "Bay City Mining Company"
JOE "I thought you said it was the same as the Clair Falls one."
t }'EAL "They were different outfits."
,OE "I misunderstood you. They had a resevoir and I seen where they mined un on
that hill."
NEAL "feaah right west of the Luck place. Just east of the John William homestead. "
JOB "Can you;,-tell us about Marshall Lake and Marshall Mountain. When the Marshall;
district was running. It was running even 'after you got pretty well gro 7n,
wasn't it ?"
page Is
IM yea, I went into that mine in January..."
END Or TAPE AND INTERVIEW
Page 18
NEAL "Oh yes, I went into that mine in January. I wenti and worked in the beck knd
of the mine for the first couple Months I was up there. The Arry drafted the cohk
we had. I helped cook up there for about a noath and the last month I worked
in there I drove team. In the wintertime we had snowshoes and hirses. I
hauled out th last shipment of gold that was hauled out of the mines. I don't
remember what there was in the shipment but I, it was peavey enough that I
couldn`t put it the sled by myself. It took about four days to make a trip oat.
We just left this gold in the sleigh, throned a horse blanket over it. It 7,,a9
too big to pack off."
JOE "Was that the winter Willard worked up in the cynide plant ?"
!IT. AL "Yeah, he worked in the cynide plant most of the winter."
JOE "How did they process that ?"
REAL "dell, they had a crusher that they run this ore over first then run it over
concentrating tables with quicksilver on them. They'd scrape this quicksilver
and gold off of their concentrating tables with a big putty knife. Then they'd
melt the quicksilver out of it and melt it into gold brick. The cynide plant
didn't seem to pay. They didn't get enough gold out of it to pay to run it. So
they finally abandoned that."
JOE "tell, I went into the bank in Donnelly one time when they was running the dredge
at Warren. I think it was Fisher and Beumhoff had the drudge up there then. I
had some business with Bert Armstrong and he told me to go in his office. I gent
in there and there was just two chairs. He had a swivel chair set at his desk
and then another chair. Well, this other chair had a potatoe sack on it and I
Page 19
JOE "started to pick it up and set it off so I could set dowH. It was heavier than I
thought it should be and I looked in there and there was two big gold bricks
and a baby brick. When Bert come in I was setting in his chair, He said, 'What
the hill you setting in nay chair for? Why don't you set over in that other
chair ?' I said it was occupied. I said is that the-way they hauls. this stuff
around, just in sacks? end he said yeah,so I asked him how much it was worth.
He thought there was over thirty thousand dollars worth of gold in that sack.
They used to tell us quite some tales on Holt. A cousin of my, well mine,
had run a hotel with his parents for years. Then when his parents retired one
winter they went in there to work for Holt. Seemed like he never had any money
to shine with till the snow come. They -as always bringing provisions in there
in the winter and it would get very expensive. She said she'd coik a platter
of eggs for breakfast ans start them at the table. About the third man down he'd
just dump the whole platter of eggs on his plate. So she went to Hr. Holt about
it and has chid to give him all the eggs he wants. She said he eats a dozen of
eggs every day for breakfest. He said give hiss all he wants. But she said,
Mr. Holt those eggs coat you a dollar and a half a dozen. He said. 'I don't
give a damn if they cost a dollar and a half a piece give him all he wants.' Who
owns that mine now? Do you know ?"
OI AL 'yell, I think it belongs to the Golden Anchor— Company. It's a patented mine."
JOB "Jim Harris used to own some of that."
IM, AL "Well yeah, but they've let that all fill up now."
,pE "Like all mines probably fell in. I know I went up to the Iola one time and a
couple of boys was working there. We went in there and we went up through the
a
Page 20
Whole, I could just barey get through it. It was awful wet in there, water
everywhere and dark. They had a candle sticking in the gall and he had a carbide
light. I decided that I didn't want to mine. I didn't stay back in there very
long. Those mines run till about the second World War, didn't they ?"
"Yeah, they finished up dredging around Warren along in the late 130's."
"ghat holidays were important to your family, Neal ?"
"well, the Fourth of July celebrations in the early days were all celebrated at
what they called Picnic Point which is Lake View Village. Everybody from Meadows
Valley went up there for the Fourth of July celebration. 11at'a °:now part of
that state campground out there, they had a big race track. They always tied
horse racea out there and ball games."
"Did you see many Indiana around ?"
"Well, I remember one time there was apretty good aaixe of a bunch of Indiana come
through Rosebarry while we stillelived there. I was pretty small, about four
years old. They cane to granddad's store and done a little trading. They were
on the way back into the South Fork to fish. Lauer years, until they put the
Black Canyon Dam in the salmon used to run up the Payette River. The Nez Pierce
Indians used to come up here every summer. They carsped down on the flat just
across the river from where the stock yards are nova. They'd catch these salmon
and dry them. They'd have several racks of thew maybe twenty -Five thirty feet
long."
IN.Tell, were there any Chinese around here much ?"
"I never knew any Chinese miners. There was a Chinaman runRrestaurent in old
Page 21
IEAL "Meadows for a number of years. There ware a few Chinese around Warren. I
remember one of them came out to McCall to cook in a hotel out here. He wasn't
out here too long till he got sick and died and he'd buried out here at the
cemetery out here now. I think he was "z ong one of the first groves out here
at the cemetery."
JOE "hthat other foreign born people were around here ?"
IdEAL "Well, the east sides of the valley was pretty wal settled up with Finnibh-"people.
They'd come in here and homestead and the women would stay to hold their home•
stead rights and the men would go beck to Wyoming and Colorado and work in the
mines, in the wintertime."
JOE Nhat was your chores around the home over here? Did you help in the store ?"
IMAL "I used to help in the store. My dad run than store just ayj�arsa from Shore
Lodge for around twenty -Ofive years and I worked in the store. He also had asccm-
elated during that time several ranches. I worked on the ranch and freighted
a little."
JOE '%1haQt mostly did you raise on the ranch ?"
11EAL "It was hay, timothy seed."
J 3g "Can your remember. the first house you lived in ?"
NZAL "Well, the first house I lived in was on ded's rnneh do-.,m at Roseberry. It was
e ling house:."
"Was there any saw mills in here at that time?"
"The s had a saw mill up Cold Fork. 14Y granddad on my mother's side had a
lumber house on his homestead. The first year that they was on the ranch they
lived in a lode house. As I recall they had a dirt floor in it. That building
C1
v
PaXe 22
14EAL "That building is still there on the ranch or it was a couple years sago when I
went by there. That's south and east of Roseberry."
JOE "How big a log house did your dad have ?"
HEAL "I don't recall, about two rooms I imegine."
JOE "Was all you kids born down there?"
NEAL "Yeah"
JOE 'Vhat did you raise on that ranch? Was that hay ?"
NEAL "Well, I dolt recall. But I 'magine it was mostly hey and a few cattle."
JOE "At one time there was a flour mill at Roseberry and one at McCall. Did your
dad have anything to do with that ?"
�,7A, "Well, he helped promote that. I don't know ghat. I know he proved up on his
ranhh'�down there, a 160 acres. There was a log house and a log barn on it. It
was fenced all around with a rail fends. He sold that ranch during the Panic
I think in 1906. He sold that ranch for two hundred dollars. After Roseberry
boomed and got to be quite a little town, in fact it was the biggest town in-:
the valley at one time, he bought four lots in what used to be his homestead. The
second block from the corner on main street he bought these four lots. He held
onto them till after the railroad came ib. He finally traded these four lots
to old McDougal for two dozen eggs. Eggs were worth about fifteen cents a dozen."
JOB "When did McDougal start there at Roseberry, did he buy your granddad out?"
VEAL "No, my dad's half brother, Eif CulXpepper run granddad's store after he died.
Eif run his store for a number of years. I think �*e sold out to 11cDou a1 and
Scott. As I recall, Scott finally sold out to McDougal. Scott moved to Emmett
I think it was. And McDougal run that store there for a long time, I don't
"know just how long."
"Who was the first man that started that hardware store there? Was that Henry
Simms that started that ?"
"I believe it was. I believe Henry Simms was the hardware man."
"I can remember being there when an automobile come. They had gas in barrels
and they paced it into a bucket and packed it out and poured it inta the car.
Deal, was the Odd Fellows logde above McDougall' store ?"
"I believe it was. They had an Odd Fellows Lodge there at Roscberry for a long
time." "
"Was your dad an Odd Fellow ?"
"Yeah. Then during the time Roseberry was booming Blankinship and A.00re had
in a clothing store in there."
'Veil your grandparents all died here, didn't they ?"
"Yeah, and buried over in the home cemetery. Also mother and dad are."
"The people at that time, they used to visit quite a lot, didn't they? When you
first moved here to Lardo.'
"Well, they visited, In them days it seemed people had a little more time than
they do now. Most of our relatives at that time lived around Roseberry. If
they come up to visit you they come with a team and they'd stay there all night
anyway, abaybe a day or two."
"I can remember some of our relatives lived down by Center. They'd come up and
sometimes they'd stay over the weekend. They all worked and helped and then you
r
r
i
Page 24
JOE "visited while they was there. "
TED "What about these dances they used to have ?"
JOB "Well, they used to dancd a lot, Ted. I can remember when I first learned to
dance. We danced in the old Elo "tore. The closed down the store and post
office at Elo. And Eloheimo's had a piano in there and we used to dance there.
Then we used to dance, one winter in 1912, we danced at Elmer Shaws'. We'd
stay till daylight because the roads wern't never very good. I imagine that's
what a lot of them did over here. There was quite a bunch of people homesteaded
over here on this side of the river. There was homesteads clear down on the
west side of hhe river. They even had so many Missouiens down there that they
called it Missouri Corner. Thera was a school down there called Missoure school.
"Were your dances square dances ?"
JO "Some of them square dances and round dances, wattr, two -step and poke. They
generally had a fiddle add a piano, sometimes a banjo. Once in a while an
accordianist."
NEAL "I remember one time before we left Roseberry one winter we went up to White's
to a dance. I remember uza didn't go home till after breakfast, daylight. They
had a pretty good snow that night. We going down along there at just about the
old $pink cemetery. We met a coyote coming up the road.. When we got up to him
he just hopped up on the bank, not ten feet from the road and just stood there.
We went by and got back in the road and went hie way."
JOE "Well, Shell Wh$te, he was quite a caller, too. I can hear him, yet. When he'd
S
Page 25
"herd get s little high he'd make the call and then he'd yell. 'Get away from
that horse's head.' One time I cote to town and it was during prohibition.
I tied my horse back behind Newt Willimas' store and I walked up the alley to
to to the old pool hall, the old Blackwell Saloon. There was an old Model T
setting in the alley running. Shell and Billy Parsons was packing gear Beer
bottles over there and puttigg then in the track seat. Here they come with a bi
arm lodd a piece and just as they got to the car I tried to imitate Clyde Folton`s
voice. I said, 'What the hellyou doing here.' and boy they throwed those bottle&
in there and the glass sure broke. They jumped in that Ford and awry they went!
I was there sitting there and about a half hour later playing cards and they
come in there. They were standing there watching this card game and I said,
'What the hell;• =you doing in here V old Shell started cussing me. He said that
back seat was so full of glass. They was stealing Clydes bottles to put moon
shine in!"
END OF TAPE AND TNTERVIEW
ROUGH DRAFT
FURY: mbc
r
May 11, 1973
Speaker for this evening is Mr. Doydstq' n. I can't tell you what he is going
to tall:. about because he wanted to keep it a mystery„ At this time I will
turn it over to Neal and you can hear what he has to say.
I brought along a few old time pictures here that I had. You can
pass these pictures around and divide them up. you would like to ask
a few questions about the pictures, you can kinda look at them first.
Someone asked about a picture of the school. His answer_ was " the high sch.00l
was, you know when you go south, past the stockyards, down in the draw and
up might on south past the railroad track, that school set there on the right
hand side of the road going south about 1/4 mile south of the railroad
track. If you drive down that way in the summer time you can still sire
a bunch of boards and poles thrown over the well that was right there.
Oh is that where the Mill was? No, she thought that smoke was from the
kitchen stove. No; I thought you meant a flour Mill, you meant lumber mill.,
XBXEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Well, I'm going to start in Weiser when my folks come to this country.
It was on my mothers side, that was the Cole's. They shipped in from Missouri,
shipped in an emigrant one team and some wagons with what they wanted to bring
with them. Three or four of them rode in the car with the household and farm
goods and the rest of them came a little later on a passenger train. They hauled
in to Weiser and then they bought an extra team for the second wagon that they
had and one of them bought a horse and then they had to buy a second horse
before they could get out of town. They were 1.1 days with the teams from
Weiser to Roseberr_y, and they got into Roseberry on the 7th day of April in
1888. They forded the Weiser River 27 times without bridges, so the road
must have come pretty much up river (voice from the audience, "yes, right
down the -middle "). My grandparents on Dad's side came to the Valley in. '88.
years before they come on into the Valley. Dad cut cord wood up in the Boise
basin and they floated it down the river and they worked for a wood contractor
who furnished wood in the city of Boise by the name of Bob Avalene, and they
cut wood up there two years. They floated this wood down the river and Dad
said they -- there were quite a few men that worked up there getting this
wood and he said he and his half- brother, they wouldn't take time to pile
their wood, they would just cut it and throw it out on the river bank and
never bothered to rick it. in the spring of the year and the water was
high and they got ready to float it down the river they just guessed at
the amount of wood they had. He said some of the fellows would take time
to rick their wood and measure it so they would be sure they got their
moneys worth. Dad said they figured they could make more by guessing and
spend their time sawing rather than ricking it. Anyway, Dad came into the
Valley in 1890 and he homesteaded at Roseberry and his homestead, you know
where the Farm to Market road comes down the valley and right straight
through Roseberry, and then the.road from Donnelly comes east and west
there, his homestead was right in the southwest corner and came right up
to the intersection where the roads cross. They built a house pretty near
a quarter from the intersection there, it was a cabin and my grandfather
on Dad'sside he H. G. Boydston, he bought a relinquishment from Roseberry's.
Roseberry's had been in the Valley for a year or two before them and they
had filed on the land catty corner across the intersection on the northeast
side.
(end of side 1 tape)
r
M
A d
.^ Start Side 2 tape)
down to our place, I had quite a visit with him. Her father had applied
for this post office but it was two years from the time they applied for
that post office before it was issued and they got it and in the meantime
they sold out to my grandfather and that is how he got to be postmaster,
he bought the ranch and got the post office along with it when it came and
he had to put in a store there and he run the store until about 1906 or 07
that he passed away but we moved to the Lake in 1902, the spring of 1902
and my Dad put in this store down there at the other side of the bridge,
like the pictures I showed. This ranch that he took over was 160 aces
and you talk about the prices of land in this country. During the panic
of 1906, now he had a rail fence all around, a good rail fence around it,
and a pretty good log barn and the house where I was born and he sold that
place for $200 in 1906 during the panic and in later years after Roseberry
boomed and at one time Roseberry was the largest town in the Valley, he
acquired through some kind of a trade four lots in the second block from
the intersection there, the main intersection of Roseberry, he acquired 4
lots there and he said that they figured the lots were worth about $400. Now
this was out of the same ranch that he had sold for $200 in 1906. Well, as
Roseberry boomed, it was the biggest town in the Valley until the railroad
built in, well he hung onto these four lots xmtii that he had accumulated
and after the railroad built in the town all moved to Roseberry. Mr. McDougal,
how that was this McDougal that lives out here, what is his first name "Spec1°,
that was Spec.McDougal's Dad, he had the store in Roseberry, the only building
that is left in Roseberry, the only business building, and after most of the
people moved out of Roseberry McDougal commenced buying up vacant lots around
that people couldn't take with them so Dad was down there one time and McDougal
asked him, "What are you going to do with those lots Silly ? ", and Bill said
oh I don't know would you like to buy them, and he said Well not very bad,
well, Dad said what will you give me for them. So they dickered around and
finally Dad traded them four lots for two cases of 'eggs. Well eggs were about
$.15 cents a dozen then. - - - -- Lots of laughter- - - - - -. When we moved to the
Lake in 1902, the road came up the east side of the Valley about where the
present Farm to Market road is, just a little bit east below Lakefork, but
anyway we crossed, got up to Spink, come to west to Spink about 1/2 or 3/4
of a mile and down into Lakefork bottom and forded Lakefork, there wasn't
any bridge, and we come up on the end of the prairie this side of Lakefork
3 /8th of a mile west of the present highway down the valley and after you
come up on the - into the flat this side of Lakefork there wasn't any
fences, the road just went across the prairie and the first place we
come to was a place owned by a fellow the name of Tom Young, who lived out
here where young Riddlemoser lives, you know where the little orchard is
on the hill out here about 3 miles, well that was the first house in 1902
this side of Lakefork along that section of the prairie. The Taylor's and
ihu
the Ritter's mid uxux lived over west of this road that rums past the
cemetary. There was a couple of families in there and there was one family
that lived out here where Mrs. Clark lives now, you know just east of the KOA.
There was a house in there, and that was about all the inhabitants there was
in that area and the road came on- up through town past the old dump up here.
The other day here there was some discussion about when the Finnish settlement
came into the Valley. I wasn't able to get any dates of when they come into
the Valley, but I did look up on the records in Cascade the dates of the patents
on the various ranches. The two Finn families that I remember when we lived
in Roseberry was Harleys and Koskella's. Now the Harleys and the Koskella's
and the Kantola's all got patents on their ranches in 1905. Now they took up
their homesteads and they could live and improve on them after they lived there
5 years or they could wait until they lived on them 7, so you could figure w from
that either 5 to 7 years back from the time the patents were issued was the
time they come into the Valley. Now I looked up the land that Kantola was
on, and there is still a Kantola living on this place down below Lakefork.
There is still one of the Kantola's living down there and there is one of the
Harley's lives in the Valley yet in the summer time and also old John
Kumpula got a patent on his ranch in 1905 and now that was up on this end
of the Valley and Vic P a- p, that was Faye �i- . 's father, she is the
cashier at 0s , well her Dad got a patent on his ground in
1905. The first patent on a piece of ground that was issued in the Valley
was issued to Wilbur C. Whitley the 5th and 20th in 1891. There was four
people Wilbur C. Whiteley, Charles B. Fisher, John Burger and a Robert S.
Stubbs that all received patents in 1891 on the ranches that theyowned.
This was Owyhee County then. In 1902 there was a man by the name of
William J. Stubbs that got a patent on his place, just one in 1902. Three
in 1903, and then there wasn't many more patents issued until 1906. In 1.906
E. B. York got a patent on a piece that runs out east of town, it used to be
called the old Blackwell place. York got a patent on that in 1896 and Yagel
whose homestead was uphill, that is about where the railroad Y is, the railroad
bought Yagel's place when they moved in. He got his patent in 1897 and Dad
got a patent on his homestead in 1907 and Thomas McCall got a patent on his
homestead here in 1898. Lewie Heacock patented his homestead which 3 /4th of a
mile along the Lake, it runs from the Yacth Club west to the public beach and
back in this area where the school house is. Ile patented that in 1900, the
same year my Dad got a patent on his 40 acre timber claim where Lardo townsite
is. In 1907 Lewie went to California, he was from Iowa and there had been
quite a migration of his friends and several of his relatives to California and
he went down to visit them and he got the California Fever and he come back and
he wanted to sell out. He had 156 acres, 3 /4th of a mile along the lake and
he tried all summer to sell his place for $1250 but he never could find o buyer
Clint Shaw patented his place in 1905, on the 19th of January 1905. (Many
voices in the background prompting him to recall incidents, the voices are
mingled and his replies are inaudible). Here is another thing that is
interesting. Art� is the guy that built the schoolhouse, Art Roland
homesteaded and patented 120 acres that lays right in this area, he patented
that in 1911, there was quite a lot of this stuff that was open for quite
a while after there were quite a few people in the Valley. Now that area
( End side 2 )
Meeting 3 /1/73
TAPE 2
-- the
old
timers will
remember the Highschool, he got
that
patented.in
1905.
Then A.
W.
Hamilton, I
think that was Clark Hamilton's
Dad,
they got
a patent
on the place in 1905. Henry Patrick patented his place back in 1900, his
place was right east of Jack Gibson. Perry PrinQe got a patent on his place
in 1904 and the Pottinger's, J. W. Rkkin Pottinger got his patent in 1902.
John Jasper patented his place in 1903. John R. Wallace's, they came from
St. George, Utah and they came into here on a mission, they were Mormon's.
They homesteaded out here about 3/4 of a mile the n:kknms:inxiDfxth other side
of the Lardo bridge, where you come out into the flat. The building fell
down here two or three years ago, it is still laying in there. There is one
road that forks and goes down toward the river, the other one goes on up
the valley. That was their homestead, they came, I don't remember just what
year they came here - - -- voice from the audience, "it must have been about 1905 ",
He was a newspaper man and he had never done anything but work in the printing
office, in fact he was an englishman and he started his apprenticeship in the
printing office in England when he was just a kid. Anyway, he took the train
to Boise and when they started up here he bought a team and a wagon in Boise
and come on up here with it. The fellow he bought the team from moved it up
for him and started him out. That night when theymade camp, when he got ready
to take the harnesses off his horses why every place there was a buckle he
unbuckled the harness ---- - - - - -- lots of laughter-- - - - - -. The next morning when
he was ready to start out it took him till noon to buckle it back up and he
finally had to go get some farmer to come back and get the horses together again.
He came on up here and he got started building his house and he had a shingled
house, you know shingles up and down. My Dad staked him for printing house
and they put in the first newspaper in the Valley. It was the Long Valley
Advocate. I think it was about 1.905 when he got his paper started, but they had
Meeting 3/1/73
Tape 2
Side 1, page 2
two boys and they weren't school age yet. These kids would run off and of course
they would be gone two or three hours and Mrs. Wallace would come in and tell
him about the kids being gone, and they would get all the neighbors around
to go and hunt these kids up. Sometimes it would take them quite a while
to find them. One time they found one of these kids, at oh along about 6 o'clock
but the other one it was about 9 o'clock before the kid wandered into the
old, state house up here, that is around where Davies place is around the lake
where the old log dump used to be. Well, this kid wandered into there, and
of course they questioned him to find out where he had been and what he had
seen and one thing and another, and they couldn't get much out of him, only
he said he seen a black cow up a tree.... laughter...... But it was quite a
regular occurrence that one of these kids or both of them would get lost, but
they wouldn't stay together when they got out.
Question from the audience: Are there any copies still around of the
original paper? Answer: I have one issue and I loaned it to Mrs. Pottinger
who lives down in Riggins here when she was working on her book and she still
has it. Audience voice..... it would be interesting maybe to have a print
made of it for the library....... Well, now three years ago my brother was
in St. George,Utah and the youngest one of these Wallace boys is still living
and he is living in St. George........ Question from audience, is he still running
away from home? Answer... well I don't know if he is or not.... They went to
visit them and he had his fathers copies of all the papers, you know they keep
a copy of each paper, and he still had all. the copies of the Long Valley Advocate
that his Dad printed and Willard said they said up way into the night looking at
the papers. Voice from the audience... well, there are some photo copy processes,
I wonder if he might..... I think Don McMahan could copy a few, do you suppose
you could work an arrangement with them. Answer, I have told Don about this
and he has corresponded with him and they wanted to get those papers and have
Tape 2
Side 1, page 3
copies made of them, but he wouldn't let them go, he said if anyone had a
way of copying them right there they could make copies of them. There ought
to be someone there that could make copies... Voice from the audience...
they should be able to make a microfilm, it would make a beautiful microfilm
for our new .library.
Voice from audience.... gave me a bunch of back copies,
myxhxmkhaxxkExexiuxxEixxi-ivnxyeRxnxagnxgnxn my brother here, about four or
five years ago brought out a roll of Long Valley Advocates and said I don't
know I got these.... and I said I do:. you got them out at my place.......
/a fellow and
laughter.... in about 1960 I went over to Emmett to help a lady and teach
her how to run the print and I went over with him and she gave me these papers,
a bunch of old copies of the Long Valley Advocate.... voice fades and is inaudible.
What happened to the printing equipment (question from the audience). That
equipment went to Cascade. The printing office was in Lardo, right there on
the corner where the Mobile station is.
Roberts had the Payette Lakes Star. Roberts came in here from . He
moved up a printing outfit from there. Voice from audience, Roberts always
smoked a Cigar or a Pipe............ Well, if they are available, we might be
able to work something out with the Utah Historical Society to get some copies
for our microfilm library. Mr. Boydston replied, I talked to Mrs. McMahan one
day and she told me about the correspondence they had had with him, ... voice
from audience, the best way to keep tract of them would be with the Historical
Society... another voice, I have two clippings cut out, one is about the first
homesteader in 1882, a Leland Clifford and my wife thought he was a relative
of hers, then I have another clipping about the first settler who was a
who came out here to work on the road and he was the first to build in Long
Valley and he homesteaded in 1882, I forget what their names were... voice is
inaudible.
'Meeting 3/1/73
TAPE 2
Side 1, page 4
Boydston speaking again...... I might tell you another story here.. I
worked in. Spokane and I and Vern Conders, during the war we went up to Spokane
and remodeled several of those big old houses there and made apartments out
of them. We usually could get three or four apartments out of them. I met
I
a fellow in Spokane that I- found out was from Long Valley and he said you
know I was in Long Valley years and years ago. He said I was down around
below Van Wyckt and he said there was a man and his wife came in there
a year or two before and they went up lox& from Clear Creek, you know where
the Clear Creek service station is below Cascade, well you can go east there
for about a mile and then there is quite a little creek and the valley comes
in from the north and east there, it is 4, or 5 miles up there I guess, and
there are several wide places along this creek there, so he was telling me
about this couple that come in. there along in the summer and they took up
a place a way up this creek, it was about 4 or 5 miles from where anybody
else lived, but they went up there and built them a cabin and a woodshed,
got him a little'groceries, enough to hold up for the winter and so along
in the winter he got sick and she couldn't ski and they didn't have any webs
and the snow got so deep you couldn't wade it so he got sick and died so
she got him out of the house and took him to the woodshed and put him up on
a work bench and let him freeze and in the spring when the snow crested to
where she- could walk out well she walked down to the neighbors and they got a
bunch of them together and went up and buried him so I thought, well I'll take
that with a grain of salt until I find out more about it. Well, while I was
assessor I was back up in that country and I had to check'a new house for quite
an elderly lady that had been there most of her life, she just built her a new
house, so I happened to think of this while I was up there and so I asked her
about it and she said Yes that is true, he is buried right out there on that
knoll and she said an uncle of mine married this fellows wife and she said that
' TAPE 2
Side 1, page 5
is a fact, except that it was about 6 weeks or two months after he died before
they got around to burying him, but it was cold enough that he kept all right.
.... Lots of laughter.......
Any questions...... A question from the audience.. We wondered about that
Lytel school, didn't they use it up to just a few years ago? How old is it,
when did they build that? Answer... it was about 1911..... Another voice
tell us about that
f�P-4w out at Shore Lodge, fact or fiction.?
Well, I'll tell you, I furnished the guy a picture of the old bridge
and some pictures of -khe Dad's store and the old hotel and just to the west
of it where Glenn's Kitchen is now, the only building that was on this side
of the river was a barn that belonged to a fellow who was stageline driver.....
voice from the audience, you mean the west side of the river.... answer, no,
the east side of the river, the only building on the east side of the river
was a barn that the stage driver had, he had the mail contract between McCall
and Van Wyck, now he added all them other buildings, and the wagon mixup and
the while thing, yes Jack Slim he was from down in southern Idaho, around Rupert
I think, and he was the guy that concoctedthe wagon mixup and the Indians etc,
however there was a fellow killed there at Lardo's...... (end of tape)
TAPE 2 Side 2
Page 1
There was a stopping place, but you could get meals and there were two or
three rooms to rent and there was a fellow by the name of Emmons that had
been up around Warren or Burgdorf and worked one summer but be came out that
fall he put up there for the winter and before spring he run out of money,
he had a team so things began to kinder break over in New Meadows so he goes
over to Meadows and got him a job with his team over there. He come back over
Kincaid
and told _ R:iR1ZRXR that he had a job over in New Meadows and he was going
to go over there and work and he said the money, the rest of what I owe you
Kincaid
I'll pay you, but Jinni a said, well you can go if you want to but your not
a going to take that team until you pay your bill. Well, he said I've got
Kincaid
to have the team to go on this job, so SINU% 4e says that's your luck just leave
them right in the barn until you pay the bill. So they argued about it a little
bit and then he got up and went out and went down to the barn and harnessed up
Kincaid
his team and brought them out to hook them up to his wagon and old x RxE just
took his 30 -30 and went out and shot him. .... I remember hearing the shot, I
was just a kid.... one of the Koskie girls, who later married one of the Casey's,
Kincaid
was a working there for :ftnizRxe in this boarding house there, and she come a
running over and come in the front- door of the store and she went through- the
it
store she hollered at my Dad, Kincaid killed Emmett ", she run right on through
the store and upstairs and hid in the bedroom...... Lots of laughter....
I think that was where this Slim kinda got his idea for this wreck and this
shooting that was supposed to be going on in that picture.
Question from the audience... The name Lardo is not very.... it is a unique
name, where did it come from?
Well., I don't know, it came up here with the postoffice. The first .place that
I knew of the postoffice having the Lardo name was at the Fred Thrope place down.
about 1/2 mile east of Spinjl(, you know where Bud Averly lived when he first came
to this country? Well, that was called the Fred Thrope place and the Lardo postoffic
Tape 2, Side 2
The Lardo Postoffice was in McCall before my Dad got to be postmaster and
they moved it down to French. Well that is where the Lardo postoffice name
was, the first I knew anything about it. I never knew why they named it
Lardo, and I never knew why the Roseberry postoffice was named Roseberry
until this Mary Roseberry was her name, her husband was a Doctor and he
was in the army and he had been stationed in Portland, they were both
quite elderly, but they had been in Portland in World War II and I believe
there home was back in the East, Masachussettes I believe, and they came
through this way when they were on there way back and looked us up and that
was the first I knew how the Roseberry Postoffice got its name.
Well,... any other questions? Voice from the audience, when dial they
put the road down the canyon? Another voice from the audience...
a clipping about that, they appropriated $1200 to survey and build what they
Lew Barton was Commissioner, voice becomes inaudible.
Boydston says, the railroad'wasbuilt first, the railroad was .. got into
McCall in 191.4, other voices in the audience discussing it and decide 1914 was
the date, it got into Donnelly the fall before in 1.913......
was
Boydston says ... There was a time here that the town n: McCall
depot was Lakefork and the postoffice was Lardo, now that was a complicated mess.
Discussion in the audience about where "half -way house was ". Boydston says
it was about 8 miles this side of Squaw Meadows. He said there was a fishery
station, more discussion in the audience, most of which is inaudible.
Voice from the audience, tell us about Payette Lakes Club, you know that
you had the pictures of, can you tell us about that.
Well, that was started in 1913 I believe and there was a man by the name
of Arnold who promoted that deal and they sold memberships in the Club for $100
and they give them lots with the membership. A man by the name of Cottingham
built, he had a contract to build the Lodge, and the Secretary and Treasurer of
TAPE 2, Side 2
Y Page 3
the promotion corporation name was Robb, and by the time they got the building
built they didn't have money enought to pay Cottingham so Cottingh.am just
stayed and run it for several years, I don't know how many years. But he run
it for a number of years. They had a big dance hall down on the lake, there
is a picture of it on a postcard. Question from the audience, Did it burn down?
Answer, no they let the snow break it down. The club was the Payette Lake Inn
up on the hill and that was what you bought the interest in was the Hotel and
the club up there but the dance hall and the boat club was down right along
the lake shore. Voice from the audience, after that fell in we used to dance
up at the club house and we used to play basketball down at the dance hall
down at the lake. Voice from the audience, Neal, I'll have to add a note
about the dance hall, our living room floor is part of that old dance floor.
Another voice from the audience, We have always heard about the terrific parties
fellow by the name
they had, Boydstun says, Yes, there was a PXn9xx:T of King Sullivan that come
up here and his Dad got a hold of that Payette Lake Club, King was a young
fellow and the year they had the movies up here he came up and opened that
up and put in a bar and they had some real parties there that summer. That
was in 1938.
Anymore questions? Voice from the audience, When your family ran
the Lard.o Postoffice, was there any other postoffice in the whole other area?
Answer, Not until they moved the ti post office into the Finn Store. The
Farmers Commercial Company, which was the Finn Store, that was located right
down here where the She &l Service Station is on the corner. They had another
post office but they lost it. It was against the law to have liquor at the
post office and somebody complained so they took it away from them.
Another voice from the audience.... Did they try to hire a Finn girl or someone
±m who could talk to the Finn people? Another voice, that was a practice for
many many years. Another Voice, Klemm went out and got the postoffice from
TAPE 2, Side 2
' Page 4
old man by the name of Hammel that wanted to get rid of it, and brought it
into the store, it was called the Finn Commercial Store, the first manager
was a fellow at Haimnels place and then Cannon, voices are muffled and
inaudible again.
Another voice from the audience, How about naming some of the Homesteaders
over in Copeland Flat,Neal. Another voice, was there a Negro back that
homesteaded some place hereabouts? Many voices trying to decide where it
was, no one can recall, but they are sure it was there someplace. But he
didn't want to stay in the winter, it got too cold for him.
Boydston talking again.... Someone asks where Copeland Flats was...
He answers... That is this flat just the other side of Lardo's when you
turn south and west going past the Chicken Roost. There was a guy named
Williamson, and there was some relatives of his up here 5 or 6 years ago
and he refinished that place out there and he said that Wisdom was sinking
a shaft out there, he was a prospector and he had hit a rock inside the shaft
and it was so big that he couldn't get it out so he kinda worked around it
and went on down and after he got in below it it fell out the side of the
wall and killed him, that is what his relatives told me when they were here.
He said that that tombstone, some friends.... end of tape....
Star News - Reflections - 3/16/80
Boydstun fa niil y
founded Lardo
There probably isn't a more familiar
face at city government meetings than
Neal Boydstun, who at 83 attends most
city council and planning and zoning
commission meetings.
When there is some question about ,
the history of how some area was
platted or where or when a city water
pipe or sewer line was installed, he
usually has the answer.
He was born in McCall in 1896 and
grew up in the village. During World
War One he joined the Army (coast
artillery) and in 1919 after mustering
out at Fort Lewis, Wash. stayed on in
Seattle for 11 years with is wife, Pearl.
In 1929 they returned to McCall.
Pearl was born in Council but for years
when she was a child, she visited Mc-
Call in the summer with her parents.
There were very few buildings in the
area in the early part of the century,
said Neal. It wasn't until 1905 that the
first house went up on the west side of
the lake.
"Much of the land around here was
wilderness," said Pearl. "Where the
Village Motel is and all along the lake
shore past Elevation 5,000 was cow
pasture.
"My dad, W. B. Boydstun, platted the
Lardo Township," said Neal. W. B.
Boydstun was also the proprietor of W.
B. Boydstun General Store in Lardo for
25 years. The store'was located on the
current site of the Riverside Motel, he
said.
After coming back to McCall, Neal
went into the contracting business and
built a restaurant on the site of the
Kitchen Cafe. He also built the building
across from the Shore Lodge which
currently he,,,ses Dewey's Ski Haus.
In 1949 the couple built a Mobil
service station in McCall and ran it
until 1956. After that Neal worked in
real estate and insurance until retiring
in 1963. -
He was asked to be Valley County
assessor after his retirement and
served in that capacity from 1965 to
1969.
"He retired again after being
assessor," said Pearl. "And he has
been busy ever since."
One of the big differences between
now and the turn of the century is that
most things then were done by hand,
they both noted.
"It's amazing what people did with a
few hand tools," said Pearl.
Neal helped hand dig a well when he
was a boy. They walled it up with rocks
and mortar and it was still being used
the last he heard.
One of the things that had the biggest
impact on the city, they feel, was the
coming of the railroad to McCall in
1914. Until that time all supplies, mail
and passenger traffic had to come by
way of the New Meadows railhead in
stage coaches, dog sleds and, later,
cars.
"Everybody turned out to see the
first train," said Pearl. "It started
bringing in tourists. Then output from
the mill started going up."
"Before the train came," Neal ex-
plained. "The mill just made lumber
for local consumption. There were no
logging trucks then. The first logging
truck didn't show up in this area until
1929. But when the railroad came
through, the lumber mill started
making railroad _ties. After a while
production at Brown Tie and Lumber
was 60 to 65 percent ties."
He said that many of the local
loggers and farmers made ties also,
which they sawed by hand, and sold
them to Brown Tie and Lumber who, in
turn, sold then- to the railroad.
"Everyone also made their own
skis," said Pearl. "There wasn't a
child in the valley who didn't know how
to make skis. I remember that Neal
made me a set for Valentine's Day one
year."
Neal said that his father did try his
hand at mechanized farming when
almost everything was still powered by
horse.
"He ordered a Ford tractor,"
recalled Neal. "It came in 1915 or '16
and was the first one in the valley. It
never did work, though. It was too
heavy and one thing or another always
went wrong.
"He bought it in partnership with his
neighbor but they never got much good
out of it. . ,
The person they remember as having
the biggest impact on them over the
years was Louie Hickock.
"He was the most faithful and helpful
person I ever met," said Pearl. "For
years he made the five -mile trip 6
town to pick up the mail for those ii
Lardo. He just took it upon himself b
do it.
"If anyone was in trouble or havin
some bad luck, he was always right'
there to help."
.Neal recalls that Hickocl
homesteaded the beach front lad
running three quarters of a mile fron
the current Crystal Beach Condos
the mouth of the Payette River.
"He tried the whole summer of 190
to sell that land for $1,250," said Nea]
"But he couldn't get any' takers. "_
`,`He's been, dead a longtime now
said Pearl. "His grave stone says tha
he was a pioneer. He was also a goo
mnn » >
Star News - June 1986
VERITA JUNE
HAYES SMITH
Verita June Hayes Smith, 66,
of Meridian and formerly of Mc-
Call, died Friday, June 13, 1986,
at Mountain Home Air Force
Base hospital of natural causes.
Funeral services were held
Tuesday, June 17, at the Heikkila
Funeral Chapel, McCall. Pastor
Bill Higgins of the McCall Bap-
tist Church officiated. Burial was
in the McCall Cemetery.
Mrs. Smith, a homemaker, was
born June 21, 1919, at McCall, a
daughter of Florida Boydstun
and Paul T. Hayes. She was rais-
ed in McCall and later moved to
Portland, where she married
William Robert Alford. They
were the parents of two children.
They were later divorced.
She married Frank Pattison of
Seattle, and they were the parents
of three sons. They were divorced
in 1946. She then married James
Dimond "Jack" Smith Sr. of
Bellefontaine, Ohio, who was in
the U.S. Navy. They were the
parents of five children. Verita,
Jack and their children traveled
extensively, including Cuba.
When Jack retired from the
Navy in 1959, they moved back
to McCall. In 1966 they moved to
Bremerton, Wash. Jack retired
from the Bremerton Navy Yard,
and they lived for a short time on
the coast. They moved to Boise in
1980, then to Meridian in the spr-
ing of 1985.
Verita was laid to rest in Mc-
Call, the home she loved, next to
her mother and grandmother in
the Boydstun family plot.
Survivors include her husband,
Jack of Meridian; nine children,
Joy of Albany, Ore., Ray Alford
of McCall, Patrick, James and
Michael all of Kent, Wash.,
Darlene Fry of Washington,
D.C., Jacquillyn Brown of Fern -
wood, Verita Gale Wallace of
Philadelphia and David G. Smith
with the U.S. Army in Germany;
a brother, Bill Hayes of Tucson,
Ariz.; 28 grandchildren; four
great - grandchildren; and a
nephew, an aunt and uncle, and
several cousins.
A son, James "Buddy" Smith
Jr., died in 1979. Her parents and
a brother, Boyd, also died earlier.
The Land and its People - Spring - 1982
The one that
didn't get
by Dale Loomis
Neal said that he was out ice
fishing on Payette Lake. One day
he lost one of his outfits through the
ice. About three months later, the
ice had mostly melted and he was
away
out in his boat. He saw his outfit
floating so he went over and grabb-
ed it. The fish was still hooked to it.
He said that was the skinniest fish
he had ever seen. (It was probably
the most rotten fish he had ever
smelled, also).
Mr. Boydstun
Mrs. Boydstun.
One of McCall's first families
by Dale Loomis
Neal Boydstun was born in
Roseberry in 1896. His father
homesteaded there. Roseberry was
a big town at this time. In 1914, the
railroad came through Donnelly
and the town of Roseberry died.
Neal had come to McCall in 1902. At
this time, there were 10 or 12
houses around the lake. In 1913,
Mrs. Boydstun came to work in the
post office and bakery for Neal's
aunt.
The Indians use to come down
from Nez Perce Reservation in
Lapwai to catch Salmon- in the spr-
ing and fall. Then they built Black
Canyon dam and that stopped.
Farmers used to plant a lot of grain
and grass seed in this area. In the
last 25 years, most of them have
gone to pasturing cattle.
Before the railroad came, all of
the winter supplies had to be
brought in before the snow because
the roads were closed in the winter.
The Boydstun's have lived in Mc-
Call for eighty years now and they
Wan to stay.
Star News 1982
Pearl and Neal Boydatun
on their wedding day in 1917.
Boydstuns
celebrate 65th
anniversary
Children and � grandchildren gathered
around Sunday to help Pearl and Neal
Boydstun celebrate their 65th wedding an-
niversary.
The Boydstuns, who were married in a
simple ceremony in Boise Oct. 2, 1917,
have lived in McCall all of their married
life except for 11 years shortly after they
were married.
Neal went into the service and was sta-
tioned in the Seattle area. When he was
discharged, the couple stayed there for
several years before returning to McCall.
Both Pearl and Neal were living in Mc-
Call at the time of their wedding.
Asked what it was like being married to
Neal for 65 years, Pearl said:
"We have been happy. Of course there
have been some rough spots, but the two of
us were able to work them out. Now we are
thankful that we can enjoy these later
years together."
Boydstun file copied 5/19/94
A Is b vets days
People meeting a woman with a bouquet of
red poppies Friday are asked not to rush by her
but to return her smile, make a contribution,
y "pin on a poppy and wear it with pride.
"It is a symbol of respect and a reminder that
the price of peace is costly," Pearl Boydstun,
vice- president and former president of
4merican Legion Auxiliary No. 119, said.
"Your contribution all goes to help those who
served."
Friday is American Legion Poppy Day.
Members of legion auxiliaries throughout the
country will be approaching citizens to ex-
change a poppy for a contribution that will go to
veterans and their families in time of need.
"The red crepe paper poppy will be offered to
the citizens of this community as a reminder of
the sacrifice' made by the thousands of
American men and women in four wars,"
Boydstun, McCall, said.
"Hospitalized veterans make these poppies
,.by hand, petal by petal. 'There is no set price.
We are asking for a contribution to say
American has not forgotten you."
The poppies being sold Friday were made by
veterans in the veterans' hospital in Boise, who
are paid for time spent making the flowers. All
others involved in the program donate their
time.
"We're glad to do it," she said.
The McCall auxiliary currently has about 14
.tnembers but only five live here.
Anyone who has a serviceman as a relative --
whether it be a grandfather, father, brother,
son or husband -- is welcome to join the aux-
iliary and participate in its service activities,
Boydstun said.
"We want them to come," she said. "They
can carry on the work here."
At one time the American Legion was the
.leading organization in McCall, and included
people from Meadows Valley.
"Now it's dropped down to just a few," she
said.
Auxiliary members carry on a constant ser-
$rice at the veterans' hospital.
"Any member can go and volunteer whatever
time they can give," she said. "It's beautiful
work and does so much good for those men.
They laid their life on the line when they took
their oath and joined the service.
"A good many came back disabled. They
should never be forgotten."
Auxiliary members make items for the
hospitalized veterans, furnish them with
reading material and put together cheer
baskets that are taken around the hospital.
Photo by Maureen Robertson
Pearl Boydstun will be selling poppies.
They send dollar bills every year, Boydstun
said, and at Christmastime send gifts. The gifts
are for the men or their children and wives.
Once the veterans choose the Christmas gifts
they want, volunteers at the hospital wrap and
send those that are for family members out of
town.
"There are so many phases of this work,"
Boystun said. "It's just beautiful work and it's
much needed."
The McCall group recesses its business
meetings during summer months, but con-
tinues its work at the hospital. Anyone in-
terested in taking part in the auxiliary's ac-
tivities can get more information by calling
Boydstun at 634 -5517 or Mary Hoss, auxiliary
president, at 634 - 2912... x. -
The Land and its People - Spring 1982
One of McCall's first families
by Dale Loomis Lapwai to catch Salmon in the spr-
Neal Boydstun was born in ing and fall. Then they built Black
Roseberry in 1896. His father Canyon dam and that stopped.
homesteaded there. Roseberry was Farmers used to plant a lot of grain
a big town at this time. In 1914, the and grass seed in this area. In the
railroad came through Donnelly last 25 years, most of them have
and the town of Roseberry died. gone to pasturing cattle.
Neal had come to McCall in 1902. At Before the railroad came, all of
this time, there were 10 or 12 the winter supplies had to be
houses around the lake. In 1913, brought in before the snow because
Mrs. Boydstun came to work in the the roads were closed in the winter.
post office and bakery for Neal's
aunt. The Boydstun's have lived in Mc-
The Indians use to come down Call for eighty years now and they
from Nez Perce Reservation in-_-, _plan to stay.
Mr. Boydstun Mrs. Boydstun.
The one that
didn't get away
by Dale Loomis
Neal said that he was out ice
fishing on Payette Lake. One day
he lost one of his outfits through the
ice. About three months later, the
ice had mostly melted and he was
out in his boat. He saw his outfit
floating so he went over and grabb-
ed it. The fish was still hooked to it.
He said that was the skinniest fish
he had ever seen. (It was probably
the most rotten fish he had ever
smelled, also) .
Boydstun scrapbook file - 5/19/94
Neal',Boydstun, 92, of Nampa,
formerly of McCall, died Sunday,
'Nov ; -13; in a Boise hospital, Fu-
neral services.will be held at 1 p.m.
`.Wednesday, Nov. 16, at Heil-kila
;Funeral Chapel, with the Rev.
G.W, Vos officiating. Burial will
,be in McCall Cemetery..
He . was born Nov. 6, 1896, at
Roseberry, the son, of William B.
and Hattie Cole Boydstun. He mar -
ried Pearl N..Stolsworth on Oct. 2,
017, in Boise, He served during
W?rid War I in the Coast Artillery.
He.had been a carpenter, work -
Ingt or many. homes and business
buildings , in the McCall area. He
built.and operated a service station
in Lardo. He was a real estate agent
and was in the insurance business
for a number, of years. He served
two terms as Valley County
Assessor.
He was a member of Amcrican
)region ,.Post No. 119, McCall.
Neal and -Pearl moved to Nampa
three ago from McCall.
Surviving are his wife, Pearl, of
Nampa; three sons and two daugh-
ters -in -law, John and Virginia of
McCall, Bob and Marvel of Boise
and Jim of McCall; four grandchil-
dren and two great- grandchildren.
Neal Boydstun
NAMPA — Neal Boydstun, 92, of
Nampa, and formerly of McCall,
died Sunday, Nov. 13, 1988, in a
Boise hospital.
Funeral services will be held at 1
pp m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the
Heikkila Funeral Chapel, McCall.
Pastor G. W. Vos will officiate.
Burial will be in the McCall Ceme-
tery.
Mr. Boydstun was born Nov. 6,
1896, at Roseberry, Valley County,
Idaho, a son of William B. and
Hattie Cole Boydstun. He married
Pearl N. Stolsworth on Oct. 2, 1917,
at Boise. He served in the Coast Ar-
tillery during World War I. Neal
had been a carpenter, working on
many homes and business buildings
in the McCall area. He built and op-
erated a service station in Lardo. He
also was in real estate and the insur-
ance business for many years. He
served two terms as Valley County
assessor. Neal and Pearl moved to
Nampa three years ago from
McCall.
He was a member of American Le-,
gion Post # 119, McCall.
Survivors include his wife, Pearl
of Nampa; two sons and daughters -
in -law, John and Virginia of McCall,
and Bob and Marvel of Boise; a son,
Jim of McCall; four grandchildren;
and two great- grandchildren.
10 Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Long Valley Advocate
nkil-
1vx« -d�.L woman still skiing at the tender age of 85
By Lois Fry g
The Long Valley Advocate
The legacy of the early families in this fair valley is
their influence on life in McCall today. Still with us is
Virginia Boydstun, who is still inspiring her family and
everyone who knows her. Chronologically, her age is 85,
but her energy and enthusiasm for life are unwaveringly
youthful. She still downhill skis, and looks forward to
doing that with the many friends she's made on the hill.
Although her husband, John, is gone, she recalls vivid-
ly her life with him as they helped shape
A,
e ski - related activity in McCall am
Other civic contributions over the years
The Boydstun family figures promi-
nently in Valley County history from
early pioneer days to the present. Brief
historical accounts found at the Community
Congregational Church chronicle the fam-
ily's evolution here: John's great grand-
parents, Howell T. and Sarah Boydstun,
came from Granby, Missouri to the Idaho
Territory in 1888, where they settled a
160 -acre homestead at the northeast cor-
ner of the Roseberry intersection that had
been vacated by Lewis Roseberry. H.T.
later became the first nnctmn.ta „F
Roseberry and ran a store.
In 1890, John's grandfather, W.B.
Boydstun, built a log cabin and barn at
the southwest corner of the Roseberry
intersection, where John's father, Neal,
was born. In 1902, the family moved to
Lardo, where W.B. opened the W.B.
Boydstun General Store at the lake.
Virginia (Cooper) Boydstun said she
was born in Nebraska, and in 1938, her
family moved to Emmett. She married
John Boydstun, the son of Neal and pearl
Boydstun, who moved to McCall in 1928.
"I carne out here from Nebraska in 1938
when my whole family moved to Idaho.
The Depression was on,— we lived on a
farm and things were in bad shape. My
grandparents came out fast and wrote back
and said what a beautiful valley Emmett
was in, so we came out and settled there.
"After I graduated from Emmett High
School in 1941," she said, "I moved to
Boise and worked at Newberrv's in the
there, he turned me loose, and consequently, I didn't ski
for several years after that. I was never so stiff and sore in
all my life, but I got off the mountain! Later, a friend put
me on a pair of skis on the hill here at the house and said
he was going to teach me to snow plow, and that got me
started again. 19m still learning!
"After Johnnie ran the Little Ski Hill, we didn't have
the sled, we had a platter pull and later a T -bar. Patty rode
on the back of Barry's skis or caught rides up, standing at
the bottom until somebody took her to the top. She would
have been unhappy if she couldn't go with us to the Little
She said the tour group stopped in
Hawaii to recuperate from a bug they
all picked up in Japan.
Everybody on the tour tried to tell
me how to say Pepto Bismal in Japanese
in the airports. It only took a day on
the plane and overnight by the time we
got there. We didn't get to see much
of Hawaii. Everything in Japan tasted
like fish! How great it was to get to
Hawaii and have a steak that didn't
taste like fish."
Boydstun says she is a 60 year +
member of Eastern Star, the Congreg
ational Church, Daughters of the Nile
and Wives of Shriners.
"The Nile helps the Shriners' crip-
pled children's hospitals, and we sup-
port that: We recently furnished teddy
bears for the kids and helped support
a lot of activities"at Shriners' hospitals.
In Eastern Star I was an officer for years
and stopped holding office when Johnnie
passed away. I had a lot to take care
Of, things widows have to do.
"I am very proud of our son, Barry,"
she said. "He's a graduate of the
University of Idaho with a Masters
Degree in Education. He put himself
hrough college with a bicycle shop in
Virginia Boystun and her dog, Cuddles
Ski Hill. We were at a ski meet in Bend, Oregon, and the
race officials began to talk about her being on the US Ski
Team. She was in junior high and was winning races in
the northwest, and being a girl as young as she was, they
picked up on her. We didn't take her out of town to a lot
of races because we were working all the time, so she
e° passed away. I had a lot to take care
of, things widows have to do.
"I am very proud of our son, Barry
she said. "He's a graduate of the
University of Idaho with a Masters
Degree in Education. He put himself
through college with a bicycle shop in
McCall, renting and repairing bicycles
where Patty and Dean (Hovdey) had
their ski Shop. He taught for one year
and started working on the large com-
puters in Moscow, then for the State of Idaho before going
to Hewlett - Packard in Boise. He's doing very well there."
She says she is thankful her kids haven't insisted she
go to a retirement place.
"I love my place. It's home when you know your foxes,
squirrels and birds. You don't want to give that up if you
don't have to. I put my trust in the Lord
and hope for the best. I worried an awful
lot while Patty was traveling at a young
age, mostly about airplanes crashing or
that she might marry a Frenchman. We
had to wait for the mail to come before
we heard from Europe, or once in awhile
a phone call. I had to trust that every-
thing would be okay. Patty couldn't
wait to get home — she took her books
with her and studied all the time. I was
happy when she found Dean and I didn't
have to worry about her being over-
seas.
"I had 65 happy years with Johnnie, and it's hard to be
without him," she said. "We went all over the country in
our Airstream van — to Alaska twice, Nova Scotia, and all
over the northwest. We went once to see Patty and Dean
in Alaska — he was smoke jumping. We loved the trip
across Canada to Nova Scotia. We went south a few times
- Johnnie liked to be on the move all the time. We saw
everything we could possibly see after we retired. We
enjoyed all the parks in Utah and enjoyed the scenery in
Canada. I am content to stay home now."
Boydstun has also made quite a few quilts, some for her
grandkids, and is making scrapbooks for them from baby days.
"Anna �inished high school early so she could go to
Concordia College in Portland. She will come back to
graduate this year with her class. Eric is on the football
team at Whitworth College in Spokane.
"I've always been interested in antiques and family
heirlooms. I have the old sewing machine that Johnnie's
grandmother made his mother's baby clothes on, and a
couple of H.T. Boydstun's things. I have some from both
sides of the family, some from W.B. Boydstun's store.
Some of them went to the Roseberry Museum.
"Indeed, it has been a happy life, and at age 85, I'm
still enjoying downhill skiing!" says Boydstun.
mainly skied in races at Bogus and close to home, and it
was Boise for the out -of -town races."
She remembers ice skating on the lake with John in the
early years of their marriage.
"Often, some years, the lake would freeze with no snow
on it. When the lake froze it was beautiful. It didn't always
happen, but we would come home for the winter from
doing construction and wait for the day to come when we
could skate. The lake sometimes had to be cleared for skat-
ing, but the times it froze with no snow, it was beautiful.
"Some of our happiest family days were at the Little
Ski Hill on Wednesday nights," she said, "when the fam-
ily would go out and we'd have potluck dinners. The kids
were already out there skiing at 4 o'clock. As soon as their
school work was done, we could go night skiing. You can
imagine how fast kids can get their work done!"
Boydstun said that after ten years, she was working too
much at Brundage and wasn't getting to. ski, so she start-
ed to work at Shaver's Department Store.
"I worked at Shaver's for 16 years while Johnnie con-
tinued at Brundage for 27 years. Patty traveled a lot dur-
ing grade school through high school. Getting her to air-
ports, etc., she traveled by herself. At first she mainly trav-
eled with a group of local skiers. When she got a little
older, she traveled with a ski team.