CANYON COUNTY

ESTABLISHED November 26, 1891
COUNTY SEAT Caldwell
Canyon County was named for the small canyon through which the Boise River flows near Caldwell. What is now Canyon County played an important part in the early history of Idaho. Efforts to establish posts at the mouth of the Boise River in 1812-13 and in 1819 were not successful. The Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Boise in 1834 near what is now Parma and it was abandoned in 1855. Emigrants traveled through Canyon County on the Oregon Trail, and in 1854, twenty-one persons were killed in the Ward Massacre south of Middleton. The early settlers located farms along the Boise and Snake rivers, and population quickly expanded when the Oregon Short Line crossed the county in 1883. Caldwell was platted in 1883 and incorporated in 1889. Nampa was incorporated in 1890 and the College of Idaho was founded at Caldwell in 1891. Agriculture is the chief industry of the county made possible by a vast acreage of irrigated land, and it has numerous small manufacturing and processing plants. -- "The Idaho Almanac," 1977 Edition, State of Idaho."
map     ISU atlas map    1895 Rand McNally map (includes parts of Gem & Payette Cos.)    Neighboring Counties

Note: Canyon County is 98% private ownership.


John Reed (Reid), trapping on Boise River (1813)
History of Fort Boise (1834)
      Alexander Ross' Journal, 1824 (off-site)
      John Work's Journal, 1830-31 (off-site)
Langley'1876 Directory, alpha index
Assassination of Governor Steunenberg (l905)
History of Canyon County, by James Hawley, 1920
The Fabulous Col. Dewey
Historic Postal Records
"Our Heritage...the McConnels", Parma Review, September 16, 1971
       Bio of Benjamin C. McConnel
      Bio of Walter McConnel
      see McConnel Homesteads for family sheets, more biographies and photos

News, from Library of Congress, Chronicling America, includes -
1868, Jan. 11: Snake River Froze Over, Owyhee Stage returned to Boise, Idaho Semi-weekly world - looks like the route would have been through Walter's Ferry
1869 ad for Owyhee and Boise Stage Line
1888, Feb. - Hogs running at large
1889,June 29: "The Bachelors Club", inludes Sept. 7, 1889; March 17, 1888.
1889, August: Oregon Short Line Time Table, Glenn's Ferry to Huntington
1892, June: To Settlers, land open for entry
1892, Sept.: A daring and successful robbery on the west-bound train Thursday
1893, Sagebrush to be sold at World's Fair
1894, Normal School, Caldwell, June 25 to August 3
1896, Feb. 1: Skeleton Found Near Snake River thought to be Joe Orr
1896, Feb. 1: skeleton undoubtedly Joe Orr
1896, Feb. 1: Caldwell band to give "calico ball"
1896, Tom Wheeler finds skeleton in rocks
1897, May: Summer Resort on the Snake River
1897 Caldwell Tribune ad, Grand Ball, New Year's Eve
1903, Geo. Froman & Cooper to take sheep and cattle to Klondike
1915, Skunk Farm in Nampa
1915, Baldridge shot coyote thought to have rabies
1921, Apr. - Moonshine Kills Goat/Leads to Discovery of Home-Made Liquor
1922, Caldwell, raid south of Deer Flat reservoir

Photos
1910, Snake River Fishing Trip
Caldwell Methodist Men Choir, 1910's, unknown names
Caldwell girls sports team, 1910's, unknown names
Caldwell Street Scene, 1910
Caldwell Courthouse, 1911
Oregon Shortline Railroad Depot, Nampa, 1918
1915 postcard from Nampa, "lots of work"
Oregon Shortline Depot, Caldwell and another view
Caldwell Courthouse, 1930's
Guffey Railroad Bridge
water archives photos

Links

Celebration Park, Idaho's only archaeological park
Find A Grave - Canyon County
City of Nampa Interment and Genealogy Site
Idaho Meanderings: Steunenberg, Trial of the Century, Labor, Legal, Political History
How Did We Get Here? Lita Genealogy Blog
Map Rock at trailtribes.org
Canyon Co., IDGenWeb
Canyon Co. USGenweb Archives
Natural Disasters (at archive.org)



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Copyright © 2013 - Sharon McConnel. All Rights Reserved.