Wet or dry: how Arbon and Crystal voted on liquor in 1914

On May 20, 1914, the voters of the new Power County decided whether the sale of liquor would be forbidden across the county. The county went dry by 72 votes, and the two Arbon Valley precincts were among the closest in it: Arbon voted dry 28 to 25, and Crystal 16 to 14. The American Falls Press followed the campaign and the count, which had to wait for Arbon.

A question for the whole county

Idaho's local-option law let a county vote, as a single unit, on whether to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquor as a beverage. The valley had voted on it before. On May 25, 1910, while Arbon was still a precinct of Oneida County, that county voted itself dry. The Press headline read "Oneida County in Dry Column. Votes Four to One Against Saloons," and the paper called the outcome "a foregone conclusion." The complete returns were 1,968 for prohibition and 561 against. Arbon appears in the table of precincts, but in the digitized text its figures cannot be told apart from the others'.

In 1913 Arbon and Crystal became part of the new Power County. In April 1914 the Press printed a district court opinion in a suit by the village of American Falls against the only saloonkeeper the new county had licensed, whose saloon stood across a bridge from the village. The court held that the saloon was a nuisance and that "Power county is a unit," four-fifths of which had been dry territory when the county was created. The commissioners had already ordered, on April 17, a special election for the whole county. The Press urged everyone to vote:

An election is to be held in Power county on Wednesday, the 20th day of May, for the purpose of settling for all time the question as to whether or not the county shall be wet or dry whether or not saloons shall operate within the county. Every citizen of the county should make a special effort to express his or her views by voting upon this very important question even if it requires some little sacrifice of work or business.

The campaign

On April 30 the Press announced that J. A. Maples of Texas, known as "The Texas Cyclone," would "open the local option campaign in Power county," speaking in American Falls on the Monday and Tuesday nights. It went on:

His addresses are perennial flows of eloquence and irresistible logic, and his beautiful spirit makes him friends wherever he goes.
Everyone interested in the carrying of Power county against the saloons should attend these meetings.

No report of meetings in the valley itself has been found. On election day Arbon precinct voted at the schoolhouse in District No. 12, probably the Central school, also known as Green Top, and Crystal precinct at the schoolhouse in District No. 14.

Waiting for Arbon

The next day's Press was headed "County Is Dry by Small Margin." The election, it said, had been "rather a quiet affair." The surprise was in town: the American Falls precinct, expected to go dry by about fifty votes, had gone wet by fifty-nine, while Rockland went dry by more than two to one. Seven of the nine precincts were in and the drys were ahead, but Arbon and Crystal had not reported.

The paper recalled that at the Oneida County election, which it placed five years back (it was four), the old Arbon precinct had covered both of them, and "it is said that the vote went about four to one dry." On that reckoning the valley would only add to the dry lead. Others, who claimed to be in touch with the valley, expected the two precincts to go wet, and some seemed confident of "a majority for the wets that will be great enough to overcome the lead which the prohibitionists now have."

The county commissioners met as a canvassing board on Monday, May 25, and adjourned because "the returns from the different precincts were not all in." On May 26 they adjourned again, because the returns from Arbon precinct had still not come. On May 27 they canvassed the vote.

The count

Arbon precinct voted 28 for prohibition and 25 against, and Crystal 16 for and 14 against. Across the county the total was 698 for and 626 against. American Falls, Pleasant Valley, Prosperity and Little Creek had gone wet; Rockland, Fairview, Landing, Crystal and Arbon dry. The board declared it unlawful to sell or dispose of intoxicating liquors as a beverage in Power County. Together the valley's two precincts added just five votes to the dry majority: the lead grew, as the paper had expected, but by nothing like four to one.

Fewer valley voters turned out than in the county's road-bond election that January, when Arbon cast 148 votes and Crystal 42. In May, Arbon cast 53 and Crystal 30. The papers do not say why. Among the election judges the county paid that summer were David B. Ripley and John Payne, probably D. B. Ripley of the east-side ranch and the Arbon storekeeper John Payne, George Arbon's son-in-law (see the Arbon family). The bills do not say which precinct either served.

After the vote

Liquor still turned up in the valley's news. On June 19, 1914, the Ogden Daily Standard reported that two suitcases "alleged to have been stolen" from C. E. Pellum of Arbon at the Ogden Union depot on the night of Wednesday, June 17, had been found that morning by Patrolman James Hearn, in a clump of weeds behind a machine shop. "One of the suit cases contained a quantity of whiskey and the other the personal effects of Mr. Pellum."

In September 1915 the South Arbon correspondent of the Press wrote that Lett Robinson had been "requested to contribute $50.00 to the county fund": he had been caught bootlegging, arrested and fined $50. Several others in the valley, the writer added, were "thought to be conducting the same sort of business, but so far have been lucky enough to keep out of sight of the officers." No other report of the case has been found.

By then the question had passed beyond the county. On December 30, 1915, the Press wrote that "Saturday morning every saloon door in Idaho will be closed." Statewide prohibition began on January 1, 1916.

The article as printed

American Falls Press, May 28, 1914, page 12. Transcribed from the page scan.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Amercan Falls, Idaho, May 25, 1914.
The board of county commissioners of Power county, Idaho met this day as a canvassing board but adjourned until May 26, as the returns from the different precincts were not all in.
ANDREW MAY, Chairman.
Attest: Paul Bulfinch, Clerk.
American Falls, Idaho, May 26, 1914.
The board of county commissioners met as per adjournment of May 25, 1914, as a canvassing board but as the returns from Arbon precinct were not yet in, they adjourned until May 27th.
ANDREW MAY, Chairman.
Attest: Paul Bulfinch, Clerk.
American Falls, Idaho, May 27, 1914.
The board of county commissioners of Power county met this day as per adjournment of May 26, for the purpose of canvassing the returns of the special election held May 20, 1914. Commissioners May, Sparks, and Winter being present and the following proceedings were had to-wit:
The returns of the precinct judges of the various precincts were canvassed and found to be as follows:
American Falls precinct: Yes 254, no 313, defaced 2.
Pleasant Valley precinct: Yes 33, no 52, defaced 0.
Fairview precinct: Yes 31, no 13, defaced 1.
Rockland precinct: Yes 255, no 115, defaced 5.
Prosperity precinct: Yes 3, no 27, defaced 0.
Landing precinct: Yes 53, no 41 defaced 6.
Crystal precinct: Yes 16, no 14, defaced 0.
Arbon precinct: Yes 28, no 25, defaced 0.
Little Creek precinct: Yes 25, no 26, defaced 0.
Total: Yes 698, no 626, defaced 14. Making a majority of 72 votes for Yes.
The above returns of the various precincts having been canvassed by this board of county commissioners and found to have a majority in favor of the proposition, it is, therefore, declared unlawful to sell or dispose of intoxicating liquors as a beverage in Power county, Idaho.
Whereupon, the board of county commissioners adjourned as a canvassing board and met as a board of county commissioners and the following proceedings were had to-wit:
We, Walter S. Sparks, Adolph Winter and Andrew May, being the persons who constitute the board of county commissioners of Power county, Idaho, being in session as a board of canvassers, to canvass the vote of the local option election and upon the completion of the same do find that the returns of an election heretofore ordered, to-wit: An election to determine whether or not the territory in district No. 6 should be established as an independent school district, find that the returns from said election have been made to the clerk of the board of county commissioners.
Now, therefore, we, all being present, consent to the calling of a special meeting for the purpose of receiving the said votes from the judges of the election of school district No. 6 and for the purpose of determining the result of said election and for the appointment of trustees therein, providing the said returns of said election show that the people decide the creation of an independent school district and that thereafter the following proceedings were had, to-wit:
We, the board of county commissioners, find, pursuant to the report of the judges of said election, to-wit: An election held in the territory comprising district No. 6 to determine whether or not the same should be created into an independent school district, find that there were 60 votes cast—58 in favor of the creation of said district and two against.
Now, therefore, it is ordered and declared that the said territory comprising district No. 6 with boundaries as follows, to-wit:
Commencing at the southwest corner of section 18, township 11 south range 30 E. B. M.; running thence north along the range line dividing ranges 29 and 30 to the northwest corner of section 6, township 10 south, range 30 E. B. M.; thence east to the northeast corner of the NW¼ of the NW¼, section 5, township 10 south range 31 E. B. M. thence south to the southwest corner of the SE¼ of the SW¼ section 29, township 10 south range 31 E. B. M.; thence west to the southwest corner of the SW¼ of said section, township and range; thence south to the southeast corner of section 18, township 11 south, range 31 E. B. M.; thence west to the point of beginning to-wit: The southwest corner of section 18, township 11 south, range 30 E. B. M be and the [illegible] hereby is created and established into an independent school district to be known as Rockland Independent School District No. 2 Power county, Idaho, and the following persons are appointed as trustees for the respective terms set opposite their names, as follows, to-wit:
B. B [illegible] and Marintha Allen until the next school election.
W. P. Fifield and H. B. Sanders one year.
J. F. Hautsinger and M. E Walker two years.
Or until their successors are elected and qualified.
RESOLUTION.
Whereas, the law provides that all the officers of Power county shall maintain office at the county seat keeping said offices open from 9 a. m. until 5 p. m. of each official day
Whereas, a number of the officers do not conform to the law,
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the following order be entered upon the records of Power county, and that [illegible] so notify the officers, as follows: That all officers which the law provides shall maintain offices at the county seat and that such officers shall keep the offices open between the hours of 9 a. m. in the morning and 5 p. m. afternoon, shall so maintain their offices, and that upon their failure, the clerk is hereby directed to [illegible] monthly warrants.
Whereupon the board adjourned
ANDREW MAY, Chairman.
Attest: Paul Bulfinch, Clerk.

On this site: the histories of Arbon and Crystal, and, for the Prohibition years, a moonshine still on Bannock Creek and the Summit history, which remembers a still in Bull Canyon.