Starting after 1860 was the influx of minors and early settlers; but the minors were first. One of the earliest was none other than Caption Elias D. Pierce. His destination was the Orofino area. The contact he made with the Potlatch River Basin was only a skirting of the southerly margin.

This was in 1861. Pierce was on as expedition important to Idaho history, which resulted in gold discovery on Orofino Creek, near Pierce. His discovery caused a great influx of prospectors, and resulted in the establishment, in 1862 of Lewiston. It greatly stimulated exploration and also the arrival of settlers.

His diary is the most reliable record of his trip. Pierce crossed the Potlatch River near Kendrick, about 18 miles south of Deary. He went east to the North Fork of the Clearwater, along a route which must have taken him near Southwick. When his party reached the river, they turned southward for a way, then eastward along the Lolo Trail and mountain ridges to the site of the goldfields.

Various writers have written of the journey. An account published in the Lewiston Morning Tribune August 7, 1960 narrates some interesting parts of the story:

"Pierce's diary records that he traveled north from the junction of the Snake and Clearwater to a place near the site of Moscow, then turned eastward, crossing the Potlatch River near Kendrick. --The trail had to be cut for the pack animals. At first sight of the North Fork, the party had to descend about a mile to it, and slipped and slid to the river"

Reviewed in this newspaper account is a further story of the trip, reported by R.G. Bailey in his book, "The River of No Return, " The source of this other story was a man named Tom Beall, who was a member of the expedition. This is the story, as phrased in the Tribune:

"The pierce party had got only as far as Alpowa, downstream from Lewiston on the Snake river, before meeting hostile Indians. The Nez Perces refused to allow Pierce to proceed, and after several fruitless attempts to pass around the Indians, Pierce found all his routes blocked by armed warriors. So he got permission from Timothy, a friendly chief, to winter near Timothy's camp, and while there became acquainted with the chief's daughter, Jane, a girl of 18.

Jane agreed to lead Pierce and his men around the Indian camps and did so, by way of the Colfax and Moscow areas, across the Thatuna Mountains, past the site of Elk River, and down to Canal Gulch from the north."

Parts of this story agree quite well with things that are know. The Indian trouble is true. And although he does not say who it was, Pierce did have a guide. More than one authority thinks it was the Indian girl Jane, daughter of Timothy.

Jane married John Scott:

"a white man who operated a ferry across the Clearwater at Lewiston. She burned to death in 1895 at age 53, when flames from a fireplace set her dress on fire. She and her husband are buried together on a little rise of ground north of the Clearwater, opposite Lewiston."

Much of Beall's story seems to fit what happened. But he must be wrong about the route taken. One can hardly argue with an account taken from a diary, and written by the Captain himself.

A year earlier than the strike at Orofino was a discovery in the Hoodoo Mountains, at the headwaters of the Palouse. This was made by a man named Hoteling, in the year 1860 (Faick, 33). The discovery has gotten little attention because its size was relatively small. Also, it did nothing to cause expansion, or change history.

The Orof mo discovery led quickly to other important finds farther south. This same luck did not hold north of the Clearwater. Yet, in several areas, a little gold was found.

One success was in the Burnt Creek area south of Elk River. The date is not recorded, but Anderson (la) notes that it closely followed the Orofino strike. Gold was found, also, in Camas, Jerome, and Gold Creeks north of Harvard possibly in 1862; certainly no later than 1870. Gold mining began on Ruby Creek, south of Bovill, in 1885.

These things are mentioned now simply to establish the chronology and attest to the great activity of the miners. Some of the mining activity continued over decades of time. A later chapter will be devoted to it.

Meanwhile, farmers and settlers began to enter the fertile prairies of the Palouse region. These grasslands crossed from Washington into Idaho at Moscow and Genesee. Ann Driscoll (6) notes that land was claimed by Jacob Kambitch at Genesee, and by A. A. Lieuallen at Moscow, in 1871. Within two or three years, small communities had formed at both localities. Homer David (31) describes laying out streets in central Moscow in 1878. The O.R.∓mp;N. railroad was built into Moscow in 1886.

The first land was taken in Juhaetta in 1878. Settlers then pushed to the ridge country north of the Potlatch River. By 1890, much of the better land along these ridges, south of Troy and even toward Deary, was occupied.

J.Wesley Seat took a homestead at the Troy townsite in 1885. Five years later, two sawmills were at work. A railroad through Troy and Kendrick, promoted by John P. Vollmer, was built at this time, in the year 1890. This railroad (the Northern Pacific) provided important connections to Lewiston and Moscow.

Vollmer was an influential banker and business man of Lewiston. The town of Troy, organized in 1891, at first took Vollmer's name. The name was changed to Troy at about the turn of the century.

Troy was particularly important to the Bovill region, because for many years it functioned as the principal center for supply and communication. However, I am concerned not so much with the events as with the setting. After all, the history of Troy and the nearby ridges is the central theme of the book by Ann Driscoll.

Westward of Troy and along the ridges to the south were expanses of grassland. At one time even buffalo, in small numbers. wandered here. I can remember seeing two or three of their wallows. They were shown to me by one of my adult friends - perhaps Swan Erickson - when I was a small boy. They appeared as round hollows, perhaps 20 feet across and five deep. They were bounded by distinct rims, notched where trails came through. I was able to picture the beasts standing in these holes, fighting flies by pawing dust over their great sides and shoulders.

Eastward of Troy practically all was forest. The road to Bovill led from the north end of town. It ascended the slope just above the present football field, and turned northeast. The route is still open, and merges with highway 95A two miles farther east, at the sharp bend above Meadow Creek. The route then lies along the highway or near it, past the old Spring Valley School, and on to Deary. The only great deviation from the highway location was a more southerly route from the old Dalberg place on Bear Creek into Deary.

Arriving in the region of Deary and Bovill, the early settlers frequently sought out some of the meadow lands along the creeks. For in the meadows was a certain amount of natural hayland and pasture. This ground was ready for livestock without the vigorous axe work needed to open pastures in the forest.

In the Deary area, Nils Bjorklund, Ole H. Bjerke. John Anderson. A. M. Johnson, Dave Johnson, and the Wells brothers along with the negro Joe Wells all came in the 80's and early 90's. The Magnuson's came in 1893. Louie Peterson located a little east of Deary in 1892. The Benson family took land near them in 1895. This is not an all-inclusive list, and furthermore it covers only the area quite close to the present town.

Arthur Bjerke, a man now nearing 90 who came with his father Ole Bjerke, remembers that among the first were some Germans. They did not remain, and their identities are not known. One of them lived near the Benson Hill. Their name for the country was "the Seven Devils."

At Helmer, M. S. Perry is said to have come as a bachelor. reaching the area in 1889. The Lawrence family (James Warren Lawrence) came about a year later. In 1891. Lou Holseth occupied what later became the Hummiston place, next the home of George St. Germain, then Henry Smith, Dan Flaig. now owned by Hattie Hamilton.

These bits of information were given to me by several of the descendents, who are now the old-timers. A search for names and attempt to prove dates would turn up much more information, but it would be a partial record, at best.

Joe Burkiand, the son of Milt Bjorklund or Burkland (early spellings) and grandson of Nils, tells how things were with his grandfather in the first few years. The homestead was on Bear Creek, west of Deary. Supplies were packed in on men's backs from Genesee, by way of Kendrick. This route, partly on Indian trails, served as the main road before the Troy settlement was established. Burklund was in the area several years before he could manage to buy a couple of pack animals even more years before he owned a wagon.

Land titles at first were issued at Lewiston, by Idaho Territory.

Except for widely scattered cabins, the land east of Deary was pure wilderness until well after 1890. Some of the aspects of the area in the 90's is indicated by descriptions made during the land surveys. These cover land in four townships which meet at a corner half a mile south of Bovill.

This lies northwest of Bovill, toward Shea and Cougar Meadows. Information from Survey Book 39: survey notes by Hezekiab Johnson and Ernest P. Rands dated June 16.1892:

"The land in this township ranges from level to mountainous, and the soil over the greater portion is good agricultural land, capable of producing heavy crops without irrigation.

"The township is mostly covered with a heavy growth of white pine. white and red fir, tamarack, spruce, and cedar, suitable for the best of the various kinds of lumber. There is no surface stone in the township.

"Some prospecting for gold has been done in the northern portion of the township, but gold has not been found in paying quantities.

"The township is well watered by the North Fork of Potlatch Creek and its numerous tributaries, which have nearly all been settled upon. There are settlers upon nearly every section of the township, but as this is the season when they are outside earning their winter supplies, we were unable to procure their names."

The settlers mentioned have to include the Francis Warren family at the site of Bovill, and farther west the Erickson family; also the brothers Tom and Pete Shea. Hoyt Boyce says that Charlie Sage was the first settler at Moose Meadow. Random checks of land records in Moscow show, a little north of the Erickson Meadow, a Mary A. Dunbar title dated 1899. In section 29, north of Shea Meadow, is noted a title to Jennie H. McConnell, 1900. The oldest titles found on the upper Potlatch Collins and Cougar Meadow area -are Fred Portfors and William Stoops, both 1900; Loram Stoops, 1903; and Annie Wallen, 1904. However, Mr. Collins almost certainly homesteaded the Collins site before 1895.

A search in Moscow for titles is not very satisfying. With no personal access to the files, it is hard to recognize problems and attack them. Although one may be told the date of a title, he does not know the year of filing, or why the title was granted. But it would appear that as much as ten years may have elapsed, at times, between the time of occupation and the year a deed was granted.

Located east and northeast of Bovill. Information from survey notes by Herman D. Gordon, Ernest P. Rands. and Hezekiah H. Johnson dated September, 1896:

"This township is chiefly mountainous, and most valuable for its timber.

"The soil over the greater part of the township is a second class clay loam. In the southern part, along the East Fork of Potlatch Creek is some good agricultural land; also in sections 6 and. 7.

"These lands have been located by settlers. namely Scribner in section 31, Frye in section 32, and Bluhm in section 36. Othersettlers being away from home at this season of the year, we were unable to get their names.

"The timber over the greater part of the township is an inferior quality of pine, fir, cedar and tamarack. There is very little surface stone. . .There has been some vacant when they departed to other areas.,"

If Scribner was on Little Meadow. which seems likely, he did not prove up, for this land was granted to C. 0. Brown in 1902. John Frei and Anna M. Frei received titles on separate parts of Frei Meadow in 1903 and 1907. The name Bluhm refers to the homesteader Henry Bloom. James Malone was given land just east of Bovill in 1901. Others. names not checked. were almost certainly located east of Collins.

The report greatly underrates some of the timber.

The report covers what is roughly the northeast part of the township. between Bovill and Helmer. Notes by Lyman B. Kendall dated June 28.1899.

'This portion of the township is rolling and mountainous. with soil ranging from a rich loam to stony. The township is well timbered, with white pine. fir, tamarack and cedar. some of which is of excellent quality.

"The Potlatch Creek runs through the eastern and southern part of the township having a general southwesterly course.

"There are three settlers in section 1, and one each in sections 13, 23,24, and 27."

The settler in section 1 must have been in the area just south of the cedar yard. or in the Potlatch Canyon a little south of the town of Bovill. Sections 23 and 24 include the Jim McGary Meadow. G. R. (Russ) Lawrence and his wife took land there in 1892 or 1893. according to their son. Floyd. They sold this to Jim MeGary. In section 23. a title is shown in the name of Mary E. Lawrence. Floyd's mother, dated 1907. Jim McGary is recorded as the first owner of his homestead in Section 24. ownership given in 1905. The Eustler place. at the Potlatch Forks. in section 23, was originally settled by a man known as 'One-eved" Carlson.

The notes do not mention the Hog Meadow area. where at least three titles were recorded before 1901. The first of these was to William D. Haynes in 1897. The others were to Eli Hopkins and John Berg. Josh Lamphear came from Genesee in 1898. The Galloway brothers. Bert Acre, and George Donner were other early ones.

Notes by Lyman B. Kendall. dated August 3, 1895. Remarks refer only to west half of the township. This is the hilly country southeast of Bovill. The Horse Ranch is included. and also McGary Butte.

"This township is mountainous except a small body of land averaging about 2 chains in width along the Potlatch River which is covered with a high growth of salt grass. The soil of the balance of the township is third rate. and is covered with a dense undergrowth of small pine. fir. and cedar. with many varieties of buckbrush and brier.

"White pine. red and white fir. tamarack, cedar. spruce. and hemlock timber are found in nearly every section. Over 70 percent of the timber. . has been killed by fire of recent origin.

"The township contains a large number of abandoned mining claims containing but a small amount of workings. . .these having been proven to be too refractory to warrant further expense.

"There is one settler in section 16."

Fire-scarred timber is certainly common in this area. But the implied recent date of the fire is a little surprising considering the remembered size of regrowth in the early part of this century.

Section 16 lies on Ruby Creek, just west of the County Line. One might suppose the settler was a miner.

The quoted remoarks of the surveyors are matter-of-fact comments, aimed toward evaluation of the land. They are good comments. History has sustained them on many counts.