Boise City-Silver City Road-Fick Property Segment

The Boise City-Silver City Road is significant under Criterion A as part of a major Idaho transportation corridor from 1864 to 1910. This transportation corridor joined the two largest western Idaho mining areas, Boise Basin and Owyhee, to each other and to commercial and mining interests in Nevada and northern California. The roadway ran from Idaho City in the Boise Basin to Boise City, the territorial capital and location of the U.S. Assay Office. From Boise, the road ran southwest to Silver City in the Owyhee Mountains. The route continued through eastern Oregon to Nevada's Humboldt mining district. From there the road led to several emigrant crossroads at Susanville, California, then split into two routes leading to San Francisco, where the mint was located. This transportation corridor reflected the economic importance of southwestern Idaho gold discoveries to the larger Pacific Northwest region. The Boise City-Silver City section of this major roadway also aided in the economic development and eventual permanent settlement of southwestern Idaho.

Trappers and prospectors discovered gold in the area later known as Boise Basin by 1844. However, a major strike did not occur there until August 1862, when former Oregon miners found a new district that exceeded any previous discovery in the Pacific Northwest. The 1860 gold strikes near Pierce had already brought California and Oregon prospectors north into Idaho Territory. The size of the Boise Basin discoveries soon redirected thousands of eager miners southwest, and Boise Basin's mining communities flourished.

The Boise Basin discovery party also explored the Owyhee country in 1862. Party member D. H. Fogus panned gold on Jordan Creek, and three months later Oregon Trail emigrants discovered nuggets on Sinker Creek. In the spring of 1863, Boise Basin miner Michael Jordan led 29 prospectors into the area. The group left Boise Basin, crossed the Snake River near old Fort Boise, then proceeded to Jordan Creek and its surrounding gulches. There they found gold and established a mining district called Carson District, named after party member William T. Carson. Other members prospected the mountains above the streams and soon located ledges on War Eagle Mountain. By 1864 word of the strikes had traveled, so thousands of men followed the early claimants into the Owyhees. They quickly collected the "easy" placer gold in Jordan Creek. Ore assays from the two War Eagle Mountain ledges showed them to be richer than those of the Comstock Lode. Convinced investors from the West Coast and New York forwarded capital to develop the lode mines.

William H. Dewey joined Michael Jordan in the Owyhee country by 1863. He had been a partner with Michael Jordan in San Francisco during the 1850s. While Jordan attended to mining developments, Dewey built a toll road between the Owyhee mining towns of Ruby City and Boonville, then started a road down Reynolds Creek. Finding himself too late to dominate the real estate market in the two little towns, he created a new one. He selected the townsite of Silver City, platted it in 1865, and opened for business. Settlers abandoned Ruby City as South Mountain mines played out, and Silver City became the new county seat. With the creation of stock companies, the construction of stamp mills, and the development of roads and freight lines, Silver City grew.

The Reynolds Creek Road had become a toll road by 1865. In September of that year, Silas Skinner and H. C. Laughlin bought the toll road from Thomas Carson, a rancher who lived on Reynolds Creek. No records could be found of Carson taking over the road from Dewey, or if Carson was the one who started charging a toll. In 1863 Silas Skinner had already started a different toll road down Jordan Creek to the Owyhee River. Skinner and Laughlin also improved the dangerous Reynolds Creek Road, which had been the subject of many travelers' complaints in past years.

Idaho's Territorial Governor Caleb Lyon finally approved Skinner's franchises for both toll roads on January 1866.

The Reynolds Creek Road was only one part of an important overland freight and stage route that was developing from 1863 to 1866. By 1864, two rival groups were contending for mail and freight traffic between Silver City and northern California. Before this time, freight went by ship to Portland, Oregon, and followed the Oregon Trail along the Columbia River to southwestern Idaho mines. Wagon routes dominated transportation in Idaho at this time as no railroad lines served the area until the completion of the Oregon Short Line in 1884.

Winter snows often shut down roads over the Blue Mountains on the Oregon route and ice made later steamboat travel dangerous. Two contending routes with better travel conditions were built at great expense from Susanville, California to Chico and Red Bluff, also in northern California. At Susanville both connected with a federal wagon road that ran to Nevada's Humboldt mining district. The route followed the Humboldt River through Nevada to the Owyhee Mountains, a distance of 260 miles. The road ran to Owyhee River. There the road led to the future townsite of Jordan Valley, Oregon. Wagons followed Jordan Creek upstream directly to Idaho's Owyhee Range and its mining communities. The Reynolds Creek route served traffic coming to the Owyhee's from Idaho City and Boise City to the northeast.

A stage line was established between Idaho City and the Owyhee country as early as May 1864. James M. Wood first used pack trains between Idaho City and Boise, then stages the rest of the distance. In summer he used stages on the entire route. The stage road ran southwest from Boise City and crossed the river at John Fruit's ferry (later called Munday's Ferry, then Walter's Ferry), established in 1863. From there the road ran to Reynolds Creek and joined Skinner's Reynolds Creek toll road at the Carson Ranch.

Competing stage and express lines sprang up as Boise City became the economic center and eventually the capital of the Idaho Territory. In May 1864, the Humboldt Express was formed by C. T. Blake and J. J. McCommons, former Wells Fargo employees in Idaho City, with Cutler and Westerfield. The line started as a pony express service from Idaho City to Silver City, and on to Star City, Nevada. By August 1864 it also provided passenger wagons to Star City. From 1864 to 1865, Charley Barnes and William Yates of Boise formed the Barnes and Yates Stage Company that ran tri-weekly to Silver City. Joseph Leach, who had also established a stage line from Boise City to Boonville and Ruby City, soon formed a partnership with Barnes and Yates."

Native American uprisings would cause problems for both stage companies in 1865. By August, the Humboldt Express had gone out of business, unable to deal with constant Indian attacks. In December, Joseph Leach and his partners Barnes and Yates sold their Boise City-Silver City stage line to Hill Beachey, a veteran in stage management. Beachey had previously assumed responsibility for the stage line between Walla Walla (Washington), Lewiston, and Boise Basin. He turned over management of the Boise City-Silver City line to his brother-in-law, John Early, and began working on a Silver City to Virginia City route. However, Indian attacks cost him dearly and delayed his plans. Furthermore, the Post Office Department rejected his bids to carry the mail from Boise City via Ruby City to Humboldt City. Despite these setbacks, Beachey continued to operate his stage line between Silver City and Boise City."

In June 1866, the Post Office Department awarded the mail contract between Virginia City and Boise to Jesse D. Carr, an experienced expressman from California. The Central Pacific Railroad, which had plans to build a line from San Francisco to Nevada's Truckee River, intervened for Hill Beachey and helped him become partners with Carr. By August, Beachey had bought out Carr's interest in the mail route. The next month Beachey reorganized the stage line, joining with new partners under a different business name.

The Railroad Stage Line was incorporated by several expert managers, including Hill Beachey. George and Henry Greathouse and their partner George Thomas originally ran the Walla Walla (Washington) and Boise Stage Line. John Hailey and his partner William Ish developed the freight line between Umatilla, Oregon, and the Boise Basin. The Greathouse's later partnered with Sam Kelly, who ran the stage between Placerville, Idaho City, and Boise City. In October 1866 the Railroad Stage Line changed its passenger route. The road followed the California portion of the Oregon Trail to present-day Winnemucca, continued to the Owyhee River drainage and Reynolds Creek, then followed the creek to Silver City. The Railroad Stage Line advertised that their stages could travel from Silver City to San Francisco in four days--an unprecedented record.

In 1867 Beachey bought out his partners' interests in the Silver City-San Francisco portion of the Railroad Stage Line. The old Chico stage line, beset with financial problems, was unable to deliver the mail on time. Eventually, Hill Beachey's line won the mail contract and cut the trip's time down to two and one-half days. The Idaho Statesman emphasized this route's importance to Idaho Territory: "The Rip Van Winkles of the present day will live to see the Idaho trade worth something, and they will not have to live long to see it." The paper also predicted that Idaho would become the main trade tributary to San Francisco.

When Beachey bought out his partners in 1867, he traded the Silver City-Idaho City stage line as part of the deal. Former partner Sam Kelly ran the Silver City-Boise City portion of the line, and Henry Greathouse oversaw the Boise City-Idaho City section. During this time two opposition stage lines started up, challenging the dominance of Kelly's Boise City Line. Charley Weeks started his operation in June, and Jehu Brinkerhoff started in July. Both operations faded away in less than a year's time. Flush with success, Hill Beachey bought back the Boise City-Silver City stage line in December. Both the Silver City and Idaho City newspapers welcomed Beachey's return, commenting that the mail would now arrive regularly.

The Boise City-Silver City stage route was firmly established in 1867. That year marked the first time that the United States Geological Survey platted townships, ranges, and sections in the Idaho Territory. Survey records charted the road's location, which started from the Oregon Trail near Boise's West Bench area, then stretched southwest across the valley to present-day Kuna Butte, and continued to the old Fruit Ferry. Another road paralleled this route further south and west but was little used. Newspaper accounts also recorded stage stations along the main route. One was located ten miles from Boise (later called Ten-Mile Station), and another five miles further southwest (later called Fifteen-Mile Station). A journalist described the route in an 1877 news article:

The road passes over an undulation plain or table land, where there are large bodies of the most fertile sage lands awaiting the era of irrigation to make the theme the scene of agricultural prosperity. Ten miles from Boise City a small stream is crossed, called "Ten-mile Creek." Here are the ruins of an old stone house and corral, once a stage station. Five miles later I came to Fifteen-Mile House, kept by Mrs. Homar. Here I met the stage from Silver City and partook of a most excellent dinner in company with the driver, Mr. Howar, and the Express messenger, Mr. Dunn."

By 1868 the Central Pacific Railroad reached the new Winnemucca townsite. This shortened the stage ride to the Owyhees, whose main towns now had a population of approximately 1,600 people. The summertime bullion shipments from the Owyhee District reached a high of over $150,000. Not surprisingly, the stage was vulnerable to occasional attacks, robberies, and accidents. An Indian attack had occurred near Fruit's Ferry the year before, and an 1868 accident on the Jordan Creek road-killed one passenger.

Major changes occurred to Hill Beachey's Boise City-Winnemucca line in 1870. In spring Beachey transferred his stages from Winnemucca to the Cope Road running out of Elko, Nevada, to Silver City. The trip between Elko and Silver City could be made in two days. By July, Beachey had sold the Elko line and the Boise City line to the Northwestern Stage Line, an eastern company. Just before Christmas, Northwestern Stages announced that its line would no longer run from Silver City down Reynolds Creek to Boise. Instead, it would run directly from Anderson's Ranch down Sinker Creek to Boise. A stub line extended upstream from Anderson's Ranch on Sinker Creek to Silver City. During the 1870s the Northwestern Stage Company expanded its operations in Idaho Territory, to include the Boise Basin and the Rocky Bar mines, and north to Umatilla and Walla Walla.

The Bank of California collapsed in the panic of 1875, causing a crisis in the Owyhee mining country. The bank was the main financial support of the War Eagle mines, which all closed after its collapse. Though mining continued on neighboring Florida Mountain, traffic from Silver City diminished considerably. The Northwestern Stage Company sold its Boise City-Silver City line to the Utah, Idaho and Oregon Stage Company. Idaho stage magnate John Hailey had formed this new company with Gilmer and Salisbury of Salt Lake, who previously ran stage lines in Montana. By the early 1880s, John Hailey had reduced stage running time to two days between Boise and Winnemucca. He put six-horse coaches on the route to compete with the oncoming Oregon Short Line Railroad lines. Hailey's old hometown newspaper, the Wood River Times, bragged: "This change will make the stage transit between the two points of shorter duration than by railway."

By 1883, the Oregon Short Line reached the Old Fifteen-Mile Stage Station located southwest of Boise. Former Territorial Supreme Court judge and Statesman editor Milt Kelly described this station in a news article: "Coming to Boise, it is the last place of changing horses, and the last opportunity for a meal in the desert before...the green paradise on the Boise." Kelley was not so complimentary when Oregon Short Line officials renamed the Fifteen-Mile Station "Kuna." He called the new name "the ugliest, nonsensical name that could be picked out...for a railway station. "

The stage continued operation from the Kuna station to both Boise and Silver City throughout the 1880s, but competition with the railroad became severe. The Utah, Idaho and Oregon Stage Company was forced to liquidate its holdings in 1886. The stage line between Boise and Silver City was nearly abandoned, but new stage routes to DeLamar and Silver City from Caldwell developed in the 1890s. However, freighters continued using the old Boise City-Silver City road into the twentieth century. Sarah Teed Painter, daughter of Kuna townsite founder F. H. Teed, remembered seeing freight wagons heading to Silver City in the early 1900s. She also described herds of feral horses grazing by Kuna Butte at the time.

After the Kuna Townsite opened in 1907 and the New York Canal was completed in 1909, the surrounding desert was transformed by irrigated agriculture. Lands southwest of Kuna was broken up into private parcels, and the old Boise City-Silver City Road began to disappear from the landscape. Even the section on which the present-day Fick property lies had been split into parcels of less than 80 acres by 1917. Intensive row-crop agriculture required plowing furrows, so portions of the old stage road were destroyed. The area was further subdivided in the 1970s, covering more of the original wagon ruts. The roadbed is still visible on portions of the Fick property, probably saved from destruction because it ran across a basalt outcropping that could not be easily removed. Joyce Anne and Robert Fick bought the property in 1986, and wish to preserve this remaining segment of the Boise City- Silver City Stage Road.

The Fick Property Segment of the old Boise City-Silver City Road serves as a visible reminder of an important, nineteenth-century transportation corridor to the Idaho Territory. This corridor tied the gold and silver cities of western Idaho to other important mining and commercial centers in Nevada and northern California. The Boise City-Silver City section of this major roadway also aided in the economic development and permanent settlement of southwestern Idaho. It is part of the rich legacy of Pacific Northwest transportation and migration history.