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The horseshoe-shaped bend in our majestic Payette River made possible the farming, ranching, lumber and railroads that supported the Boise Basin Gold Rush of 1862, and led to the development of Southwest Idaho. Our fun little river town was originally inhabited by the Northern Shoshone and Northern Paiute Indians and was the lifeblood of the gold rush in 1962. As thousands of miners poured into the Boise Basin (east of Horseshoe Bend), the realities of the winter climate and the lack of food turned Horseshoe Bend into a winter oasis.
Bringing their pack animals to the valley, miners helped create an economy of ranchers and farmers who provided the food for the gold rush. William J. McConnell, Idaho’s second governor and later US Senator, and his partner John Porter, planted onions in the Jerusalem area and packed them to the individual miners mining for their own gold. In 1864, thus encouraged, they expanded their produce growing and were soon selling watermelons for $8.00 apiece. Farming soon became a safer, milder and steadier source of gold than the actual gold rush itself.
Originally named Warrinersville, with its first postmaster in 1865, the name was changed two years later to Horseshoe Bend. In 1872, Frank R. Starr, city editor of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “The picturesque village is regularly laid out, having a hotel, church, sawmill, schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, etc., and is called the 'Arcadia' of Idaho.”
1864 saw the first bridge across the Payette river on the north end of town. As the town grew, buildings increased and the need for lumber skyrocketed. Sawmills appeared on the drainage of nearly every tributary on the river. Soon, the railroads became interested in the area, and in 1912 rail transportation was a reality, ending the river log drives.
Through most of the 1900s, the sawmill run by Hoff Lumber - then later Boise Cascade - was the backbone of the town, with as many as 500 employees. The mill whistle was community’s communication device. Everyone knew which whistle indicated what event, from an accident to a fire to lunch hour. The mill closing in 1990 created a community of commuters as jobs had to be found elsewhere.
Information taken from Idaho Magazine, May 2006, provided by Fran Hefner, Cora Larson, Deb Marks, Jess Cooper and Sandy Boyington, members of the Horseshoe Bend Historical Society. For more information, visit the historical thumbnail in City Hall, or email hsbhistory@gmail.com.
In "pioneer times" Horse Shoe Bend was always spelled with three-capitalized letters - now, only two: Horseshoe Bend.
An eye-witness account of events in and around the three-worded Horse Shoe Bend of 1872 has been preserved. Frank R. Starr, City Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, lived with his aunt after making the trip from California overland via Winnemucca, Nevada in the fall of that year:
"Eight miles beyond Warriner's Diggings we came to the picturesque village of Horse Shoe Bend. The town is regularly layed out having a hotel, church, sawmill, school-house, blacksmith shop, etc., etc., and is called the Arcadia of Idaho*.
The old Brownlee Trail crosses here going into the (Boise) Basin. A toll road and direct route to Oregon passes through also. The population in this district is 300. There is a weekly mail route from here to Bairdville on Upper Squaw Creek, thence over the divide to Upper Weiser, then to Warren, Idaho County. The finest horses and cattle in the world are raised at Horse Shoe Bend and fatten on the luxurious hills. Extensive fishing is carried on here at certain times of the year.
A saw and a first mill were built at the mouth of Shafer Creek in 1866 by E. Flemming.
In 1866 Mr. G. Miner build a large sawmill on the Payette River near town. He also built a fine bridge of two spans across the river in 1864, the only communication during high water for a large extent of the country.
North of here through timbered mountains are a series of valleys entirely unsettled and on to Payette Lakes, three in number. There is much game and many fish, including red fish or land-locked salmon in the upper lake.
Six miles above Horse Shoe Bend is the town of Jerusalem on a creek by the same name. The population is 100. They have a school house there."
*Arcadia is a mountainous, landlocked region of Greece...now English speakers often use arcadia to designate a place of rustic innocence and simple, quiet pleasure. Arcadian can mean "idyllically pastoral" or "idyllically innocent, simple or untroubled."
Excerpted from UC Berkley publications and "All Along the River" by Nellie Ireton Mills.
Other History Highlights of Horseshoe Bend:
Bread Rock dig near Horseshoe Bend - A 1989 archeological dig near Bread Loaf Rock dated human life at least back to 3,000 years ago. Fire pits and pottery shards were found, and the archaeologists documented that "hunter-gatherers" had frequented the area.
Brownlee Trail & Brownlee School House (the East/West trail intersecting the North/South Packer John Trail) – the original Indian trails. The trails the Indians used were overlays of ancient game trails – natural routes and easy grades that became some of our present-day roads.
Horseshoe Bend was the “hub” of all trails, leading in all directions out of the Valley. It was located on the shipping route between Umatilla Landing and the Boise Basin, and was the last stopping off place before wagons headed over the high summit to the gold fields. Large freight wagons, drawn by six or eight horses or oxen teams, usually traveled in trains of eight or ten wagons or more.
The Payette River country was a disputed border between the Snake and Nez Perce Indians, and was familiar hunting ground for far-ranging bands of blackfeet. The leader of an 1820 fur brigade estimated the Indian population of the vast Snake River region at 36,000. They were tribes of Shoshoni culture, among them the Lemhi, Snake, Sheepeater, Kootenai, and Nez Perce; the Payette was home to many of them.
The Payette River was named after Francois Payette, who was put in charge of Fort Boise in 1818 and traveled through the area. J. Baptiste Payette, a descendant of the explorer Francios Payette, who gave the Payette River its name, was present at a 1846 Hudson Bay meeting where prominent half-breeds demanded of the fur traders better pay and working conditions.
In the early 1860’s, Garner Miner set up a large farm within the valley of the Payette River Bend. Described as one of the biggest farmers and stock growers on the Payette River, he farmed 320 acres, using gang-plows, seeders, mowers and other “improved” farming equipment of the times. Pieces of his equipment were so large that they had to be hauled by a 20-mule team to manage the hill from Boise. Garner raised grain and barley, had 150 herd of sheep, and a large herd of cattle and horses. To irrigate his fields and gardens, Miner built a ditch, diverting river water to irrigate most of the flat, where the town of Horseshoe Bend is today. The ditch had its origin near the silver bridge north of town, and circled the bluff from there to the valley, following the bottom of the hill (below what is now Riverview subdivision).
Zip Idaho (www.zipidaho.com) is located two miles from the Payette River near Horseshoe Bend in gorgeous Jerusalem Valley. Envisioned and owned by Eric Faull, great-great-grandson of George Faull, one of the first pioneers, visitors from all over the world have soared with Zip Idaho over 200 acres of scenic beauty untouched since George Faull ranched in the Jerusalem Valley beginning in 1863. Jerusalem is an area with no known boundaries, situated northeast of Horseshoe Bend on Hill/Brainard Creek and Porter Creek, and east of Gardenia. Jerusalem was and is certainly a happy land, flowing with milk and honey. Mount Moriah, a peak in the Jerusalem valley, was named by George Faull who was a student of the Bible.
Sources: Examining Our Roots, by Dobson & Drake; All Along the River – the Payette and its Pioneers, by Nellie Ireton Mills; The Journal of George H. Faull, Pioneer of the Comstock Lode and of The Boise Basin by John and Brian Kent.
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In 1862, prospectors found gold in Boise Basin, located east of Horseshoe Bend on the other side of Boise Ridge.
Their discovery led to one of Idaho's largest gold rushes. A year later, the basin's population swelled to between twelve and fourteen thousand people.
Horseshoe Bend was established when miners headed for Boise Basin settled on the river to wait out the winter snows. For a short time, the town was known as Warrinersville, after a local sawmill operator. In 1867, the name was changed to Horseshoe Bend. That year, a Kentucky miner named Felix Harris built a toll road to Placerville. It was rumored that Harris sometimes collected $1,000 a day in toll fees paid with gold. After the gold rush subsided, Horseshoe Band developed into a prosperous ranching and logging community. The school on Jackass Creek, shown below, served the community of Horseshoe Bend for over twenty years.
Thanks to the Boise National Forest. June 7, 2019 Skip Myers
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