In early May 1913 two Pocatello men held a meeting with the farmers at Arbon and came home with good news. The road, the Pocatello Tribune reported on May 6, "will undoubtedly be finished this summer." It was to run from Pocatello over the Trail Creek divide into Arbon Valley, which the Tribune often still called Bannock Valley, and bring the valley's wheat and trade to Pocatello instead of American Falls or Malad. The Tribune followed the campaign from September 1912 until it stalled the next summer.
Three hundred thousand bushels
On September 10, 1912, A. A. Affleck of Arbon, "delegated to come to Pocatello," went before the Bannock County commissioners with a group of Pocatello merchants. He was almost certainly Adam "Add" Affleck, son-in-law of T. B. Evans. The district would thresh 300,000 bushels of Turkey Red wheat that year, he said; the year before, 150,000 bushels had been hauled to Michaud siding, and most of the valley's trade had gone to American Falls because of the bad roads to Pocatello. The board gave $500 for "immediate repairs to the Trail creek road," with Lyman Fargo as trustee. On September 25 the contractor reported eleven bridges finished along "the Arbon road."
Where that money went is not quite clear. In December L. B. Evans of the Arbon Commercial Club, probably Ren Evans, told Pocatello that the commissioners had promised the Trail Creek road but spent the $500 on the Michaud Creek road, which took the trade to American Falls.
The older county road over the Mink Creek divide, built about 1909, was too steep for heavy loads, and a stretch of "muck" on its summit closed it in fall, winter and spring. In November 1912 Sam G. Garbett, a former Pocatello councilman who had lately taken up a homestead in the Rattlesnake Creek district, said three places on the road were almost impassable, so the grain went round by Michaud or to American Falls.
The campaign of 1913
In March 1913 the Tribune reported a better route surveyed over the Trail Creek divide, and said settlers at Crystal, Pauline, Rattlesnake, Bannock Valley and Arbon would turn out with teams and men to build their end. But the valley now lay in the new Power County, whose commissioners were, the paper said, "not overly anxious" to help, since the roads down Bannock Valley made American Falls, their county seat, the nearest market.
Affleck was back in Pocatello for the Commercial Club's dinner on April 3, as "a committee of one" for the farmers. The valley did not all want the same road: farmers at the lower end favored Trail Creek, but most settlers on Rattlesnake Creek, around Crystal and Pauline, would rather see the Mink Creek road repaired. On April 26 the club's highway committee and the Bannock commissioners were to go over both.
The two men were A. R. Dawson, the club's secretary, and C. W. Gray, back in Pocatello on May 5; the farmers, they reported, were raising subscriptions. The paper named James Dawson, Henry Daniels and Joseph Evans, "the Commercial club committee," to cross the divide, meet the Arbon farmers at Birch Creek and bring the matter before the club. A Henry Daniels of the Daniels family homesteaded on the West Fork, but the wording leaves unclear which side the three spoke for. The American Falls Press reported an unnamed Pocatello party in Arbon on the day before Power County's commissioners arrived there on May 8, too late to have been Dawson and Gray, offering to pay part of a $10,000 road over the mountains if the valley raised the rest.
Pledges and red tape
By May 15 Pocatello had $1,000 subscribed, the farmers had agreed to give $1,000 in money and labor, and Bannock County would build its side to the Power County line. A week later the Arbon committee reported only $400 pledged, and its list was sent back with a request to raise it to the $1,000 agreed; the Pocatello committee reported $900. On June 3 about fifty businessmen put the town's pledges at about $1,200 and named committees to see the commissioners and the Fort Hall agency about a right of way.
There it stopped. "HALTS PLANS FOR TRAIL CREEK ROAD," the Tribune headed its report of June 26.
The route crossed the Fort Hall reservation, and Fletcher Burrus of the right-of-way committee had learned from Major Evan W. Estep, the superintendent, that Power County's commissioners would have to apply formally, with a survey and map. A survey had put the road, with its bridges, at $7,500, and about $2,200 had been raised or pledged. The same page reported J. H. Kowalis of Arbon, as the paper spelled the name, in town "to push the Trail creek road plan."
In late August Garbett complained again that the Mink Creek road was useless and that the new owners of the McCammon flour mill were arranging a road from Rattlesnake to their town. "Pocatello seems to be soundly sleeping," he said.
No report has been found that the Trail Creek road was built in 1913, or that Power County asked for the right of way. In 1916 the club named a committee to look again at a wagon road of about forty miles by the Trail Creek route, and in 1919 a state highway from Pocatello to Arbon was designated.
On this site: the American Falls side of the 1913 road season and the railroad that never came.
The article as printed
Pocatello Tribune, May 6, 1913, page 1. Transcribed from the page scan.
MARKET MAKERS FOR POCATELLO
Proposition to Build Road Form Arbon Valley Heartily Approved by Farmers.
A R. Dawson, secretary of the Commercial club, and C. W. Gray, returned yesterday, from Arbon, Idaho, where they held a farmers' meeting in regard to the road over the divide by the way of Trail creek. The farmers were interested in the matter and are taking an active part towards getting up subscriptions and the road will undoubtedly be finished this summer, making it possible for the farmers to market their grain in Pocatello.
Arbon Valley is one of the richest valleys in the state and the result of the completion of this road means a farmers' elevator in Pocatello, and thousands of dollars worth of business to the town. American Falls wants the road, but the farmers in that locality are more favorable to Pocatello, citing that they can get better prices here. If the farmers are in favor of Pocatello the business men should do all in their power to assist them in getting the road.
A committee was appointed among the farmers to represent them at the Commercial Club business meeting and lunch, Thursday, the 8th. James Dawson. Henry Daniels and Joseph Evans, the Commercial club committee, will leave in the morning over the divide, meeting the Arbon farmers at Birch creek, and will look over Pocatello to take the matter up before the club.
Short talks were made at the meeting by A. D. Dawson, C. W. Gray, and Messrs Allard, Afflick and Carvallis.
When seen this morning at his office on North Main street Mr. Gray had the following to say about that splendid farming country and the people over there:
"I was greatly surprised to find such a large valley and more surprised to find that nine-tenths of the land has already been filed upon by bona-fide settlers. They are ready and anxious to do anything which will bring them within closer touch with the people and City of Pocatello. Arbon Valley is about six miles wide by thirty miles long—has 180 square miles or 115,200 acres. There is a strip of this land just the other side of the divide which belongs to the Indians but most of it has been leased by white men. This land is only five miles from Pocatello and the farthest portion of the Arbon coutry is about 30 miles, which means, with the aid of the new road over the divide, that Pocatello will be brought in direct touch with this wonderful fertile valley. The soil is the very finest, it is dark to black sandy loam and there are practically no rocks. The altitude is from 400 to 1000 feet higher than Pocatello which assures us that the dry farms there will yield big returns. A dry farm to be successful must be above a certain altitude and of course not too high, which exactly fits the description of Arbon Valley. The drinking water is as good as we have here in Pocatello. I was surprised to learn that they can get excellent water in wells from twenty-five to sixty feet deep. The people are boosters, they work together and were out to a man when we had our meeting because they are all anxious to do anything which will better their conditions. They are good neighbors and their business is a mighty big thing for Pocatello."
Sources
- Pocatello Tribune, May 6, 1913, page 1
- Semi-Weekly Pocatello Tribune, May 7, 1913, page 1
- Pocatello Tribune, September 11, 1912, page 8
- Pocatello Tribune, September 23, 1912, page 5
- Pocatello Tribune, September 25, 1912, page 8
- Pocatello Tribune, November 26, 1912, page 1
- American Falls Press, December 26, 1912, page 1
- Pocatello Tribune, March 22, 1913, page 4
- Pocatello Tribune, April 4, 1913, page 8
- Pocatello Tribune, April 14, 1913, page 8
- Pocatello Tribune, April 25, 1913, page 1
- American Falls Press, May 15, 1913, page 1
- Pocatello Tribune, May 17, 1913, page 1
- Pocatello Tribune, May 23, 1913, page 5
- Pocatello Tribune, June 4, 1913, page 8
- Pocatello Tribune, June 26, 1913, page 1
- Semi-Weekly Pocatello Tribune, June 28, 1913, page 5
- Pocatello Tribune, August 27, 1913, page 1
- Salt Lake Tribune, October 1, 1916, page 14