Fire on Elizabeth Jackson's homestead near Crystal, 1914

In July 1914 the Pocatello Tribune told its readers about a homestead family who had lost their house to fire. The paper placed the ranch "over on Rattlesnake," the Rattlesnake Creek country southwest of Pocatello, where the settlement of Crystal had had its own post office since 1910, and named the homesteader as Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson. The story ran in the daily Tribune on July 21 and again, word for word, in the Semi-Weekly Pocatello Tribune the next day.

The fire

The Tribune did not give a date. "Not long ago," it said, a fire had started in the kitchen of the ranch house while Mrs. Jackson's two boys were washing the dishes. The boys tried to put it out and could not. Everything the family owned was lost, the furniture with the rest.

The paper described Mrs. Jackson as a hard-working woman who had lived on the place for about three years and was homesteading it. She had two small boys and was also caring for two grandchildren. Neighbors had brought what furniture and other necessities they could spare, and the family was living in a tent on the ranch. Interested friends suggested to the paper that readers could help with a piece of furniture, bedding or the like. The Tribune added that Mrs. Jackson was a member of the Rebekah lodge, the women's branch of the Odd Fellows, and asked anyone who wished to help to telephone a Mrs. Slingerland.

The homesteader

The land notices in the American Falls Press fill in the claim. Elizabeth Jackson of Crystal had made homestead entry on February 7, 1911, for land in section 14 of township 9 south, range 34 east. In the fall of 1913 she gave notice that she would make commutation proof, paying cash for the land instead of living out the full homestead term, before Theo. Turner, the United States commissioner at Pocatello, on November 4. Her witnesses were Hugh L. Jackson, Mrs. Lillie Meitzenheimer, Ernest George and Ezra Burwell, all of Crystal. The notices do not say how Hugh L. Jackson was related to her. Her patent was issued in May 1914, as the site's account of women who proved up their own claims records.

The Tribune named neither Crystal nor the land, so the match rests on her name, her homesteading, the "about three years" on the place, which fits an entry of February 1911, and the Rattlesnake country. It is very probably the same woman. If so, the title the paper said she was "struggling" to perfect may already have been hers when the paper printed its appeal, two months after the patent was issued. The paper does not say whether it knew this.

Her claim lay among the Cherry Creek homesteads east of Crystal. In 1917 the Press placed Maurice Rossiter's homestead, in section 12 of the same township, on upper Cherry Creek, three and a half miles northeast of Crystal, and Hugh L. Jackson was one of Rossiter's witnesses in 1914. Lillie Meitzenheimer, one of her witnesses, lived on the Meitzenheimers' Cherry Creek dairy ranch next door.

Later years

The family seems to have stayed. In the fall of 1917, when Crystal sent five men to the army, Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Peter Wrensted, "both of whom have a son in the contingent," arranged a farewell dance at the Gabbert schoolhouse for three of them, John Jackson among them. John Jackson was the only Jackson among the five, so he was evidently her son; his farewells are told in the story of the draft send-offs. In February 1918 a Crystal item described Mrs. Jackson of upper Cherry Creek as a widow living alone, with her son Jack in France and Willie working in Pocatello. In September 1919 Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson was among the neighbors who surprised Mrs. Ezra Burwell, and that October she was on the committee for the Red Cross military ball at the Crystal hall, given for the returned soldiers (the valley's Red Cross). None of the later items gives her first name and Cherry Creek in the same notice, but together they very probably describe one woman.

Much is not known: when exactly the fire happened, whether the house was rebuilt, who the two grandchildren were, and whether the "two small boys" were Jack and Willie. John was old enough for the draft in 1917, so he was at least eighteen in 1914, and the papers do not explain the difference.

On this site: Crystal, Crystal, the hidden settlement up Rattlesnake Creek, and Women who proved up: Arbon and Crystal land claims.

The article as printed

Pocatello Tribune, July 21, 1914, page 8. Transcribed from the page scan.

FAMILY LOST LITTLE HOME
HOUSE BURNED ON RATTLESNAKE CREEK
Woman and Four Children Lost Everything, and Are Living in a Tent on Property Which Mrs. Jackson Is Homesteading.
Not long ago a bad fire occurred at a ranch house, over on Rattlesnake, in which the family of Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson was left in rather destitute circumstances, and the neighbors are taking much interest in the case. Mrs. Jackson has lived on the place about three years, and is homesteading. She has two small boys and in addition is taking care of two grandchildren, and is a hard-working woman who is struggling to acquire a home and perfect the title to it, but the fire wiped out all her possessions, including furniture and everything else.
The two boys were washing dishes at the time the fire started in the kitchen and made heroic efforts to quench the flames, but were not able to do so.
Neighbors have rallied to the assistance of Mrs. Jackson, and as means afforded have contributed articles of furniture and other necessaries and the members of the family are at this time living in a tent on the ranch.
It is suggested to the Tribune by interested friends that considerable help could be extended a worthy little family by contributing an article of furniture, bedding, or the like, and doubtless it would be gratefluly received. Mrs. Jackson is a member of Rebecca lodge. Anyone desiring to be of assistance on the matter should phone to Mrs. Slingerland and acquaint her with their intentions.