CARIBOU COUNTY

The History of Idaho, The Gem of the Mountain, by James H. Hawley, Volume I, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1920:

"One of the three counties created by the Fifteenth State Legislature was Caribou County, the creating act being approved on February 11, 1919, and Governor Davis shortly after naming a full list of county ofiicers, D. K. McLean, Frank M. Butler and W. J. Chester being appointed commissioners; Kenneth Gorton, clerk of the district court; N. E. Snell, county attorney; L. P. Carr, probate judge; A. J. Gronewald, assessor; R. F. Hickey, treasurer; W. E. Donahoe, school superintendent, and Paul Tipton, sheriff. The county is 1,250 square miles in area, and has a population estimated at 3,500. with assessable property of value of $4,000,000. The county was taken from the western part of Bannock County and Soda Springs named as the county seat. Soda Springs was a favorite camping place of the trappers who visited the Northwest before emigrants began traveling across ' the plains,' and is frequently mentioned in the narratives of Captain Bonneville, John C. Fremont and other early day explorers, being commonly called 'Beer Springs' by them. Soda Springs was a favorite resort of President Brigham Young and he is generally credited with starting the town and there he spent many summers. The name of the county is derived from Caribou Mountain, which in its turn was called after a man named Fairchilds, who was nicknamed 'Caribou' from the mining camp of that name in British Columbia where he had formerly lived, and who on a prospecting trip to Southern Idaho, in company with a man named George Chapin discovered both placer and lode gold mining claims on the mountain they named 'Caribou' and started a town called Keenan near the discoveries. This town had at one time a population of 1,000, as the mines looked promising, but development showed they were valueless and there is nothing left of the City of Keenan except a few deserted houses and the tradition that it was once a lively place.

"There is considerable farming done in Caribou County, but stock raising is the principal business of its people, the ranges being excellent and the sheep industry especially thriving. More wool is shipped from Soda Springs than from any other point in Idaho."




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