A spring malady: Arbon Valley farmers buy cars, 1915

In the spring of 1915 the farmers of the Arbon Valley began buying automobiles. Between May and November the valley columns of the American Falls Press named ten valley men with cars of their own, among them the local Ford agent, and in June counted about fifteen cars in the valley.

Before then, the cars that turn up in the valley's news had mostly come out from town. The earliest on record, as the site's first automobiles entry tells, carried an American Falls party out to a meeting in the valley at the end of 1910. At the end of June 1914 DeWitt Brown drove Dr. Noth's car out to Arbon to fetch the doctor's brother, Herman Noth, when their mother died.

After the frost

The summer of 1914 had been a hard one. On July 2 the Press ran the headline "FROST GOT WHEAT CROP." E. Keeler, over from Arbon, reported frost damage a couple of weeks earlier and believed no more than a third of the Bannock Valley acreage would be harvested. Early in July Bishop Joseph N. Arbon and T. B. Evans came over from Arbon to ask the county board of equalization to lower the valuation of real estate in their part of the county, because "the recent frosts destroyed practically all of the wheat crop." The paper's account fits the June frost that George Andersen remembered in his memoir.

The next spring was wet. "The spring rains continue and the crops are looking fine," the South Arbon correspondent wrote at the start of June 1915. "They are a month earlier than usual."

A spring malady

The Arbon column of May 6, 1915, put a name to it. The correspondent reported that several Arbonites were "contemplating buying new cars this year," and it seemed "to be a spring malady." Some farmers were looking through auto supply catalogues and studying the question of tires and upkeep. The same column noted: "Marsdon Tallon is agent for the Ford car in this vicinity." He was probably the M. V. Tallon of later records.

A week later, Ed Davis had "learned how to crank his new automobile" and had been out sightseeing on Sunday. By May 20 he had driven to Malad on business: "He made the trip in his new car." Malad City, the seat of Oneida County, to which Arbon had belonged until Power County was formed in 1913, lies to the south, and several of the new cars came from there.

The South Arbon column, which carried the news of the Summit and Highland neighborhoods at the south end of the valley, reported on June 3 that Roy Smith "has gone to Malad to get a new Ford," and that W. A. Nunnelley had gone to Stone, near the Utah line, in his new car. The same week the Arbon column said that "Jerry Baker recently came back from Malad with a new Ford."

On June 17 the South Arbon correspondent reported that a Mr. Howell, probably the teacher L. E. Howell, had just come back from Pocatello with a Ford. The column went on:

Jerry Baker and W. T. Ferguson purchased new cars and have been in Malad after them this week. There are about fifteen in the valley now, and there will be several more by fall if we are not visited by another big frost as we were last year.

It is not clear whether "the valley" meant the whole valley or only the south end, or whether the two reports of Jerry Baker's car describe one purchase or two. The same column added that Vance D. Walker "has recently bought a new motorcycle."

What the cars were for

The columns show the cars in use at once. In June Marsdon Tallon took Mrs. John Bullock and her daughter, Mrs. Jess Ellis, to Pocatello in his car. Late in August, when Lorenzo and Chloa Bailey's son Bard fell suddenly ill with appendicitis, he was taken "immediately to the Pocatello General hospital in the car of Jerry Baker." His appendix had burst before they reached town, and he was operated on a few minutes after they arrived. Bard Bailey lived until 1984, as the Bailey family history records.

In the fall the cars carried families south to Cache Valley in Utah, where the Jenson family, among others, had come from. On October 7 the South Arbon column reported that Joe Jenson (spelled Jensen in the first item) had bought a Ford, and that he and his family had gone to Logan, "making the trip in their new car." Two weeks later J. P. Sorenson took his family, with Mrs. Laura Hardman and her little daughter Cloteal, to Mendon in his new car. In November, "Albert Swenson has purchased a new Ford."

Roads, bridges and wagons

The roads had not caught up with the cars. Roads out of the valley crossed the Fort Hall Reservation, and in June the Arbon column complained that the bridges on the reservation over Birch creek and Michaud were in very poor condition: "Many of the bridges are out completely, which makes travel very bad, especially with loads." Late that month good-roads boosters motored out to inspect the valley, and the column explained: "Pocatello wants Bannock valley trade and they want to improve the road between there and Arbon."

One evening in October, L. E. Howell set out for Pocatello with Joseph Swenson, Miss Elery Andrews and Miss Dorothea Neilson. Going "at about 20 miles," he ran off a bridge, and the car upset in about two and a half feet of water. All four escaped unhurt. The paper did not say which bridge it was. It went on:

They did not even have a match to build a fire so they had to walk all night to keep from freezing. The next morning they got some men with teams and got the car out and managed to get it to Pocatello where they got it repaired. One axle was badly bent and the top about riddled.

The cars carried people, but horses still hauled the grain. In November the South Arbon column reported that Frank Sorenson had lost a horse at Malad, where he had gone with "a four horse load of grain." In December the North Arbon correspondent wrote that the roads in parts of the valley were so muddy they were "almost impassable for cars." The site's story of the first trucks takes up the hauling from 1918.

The article as printed

American Falls Press, June 17, 1915, page 1. Transcribed from the page scan.

SOUTH ARBON NEWS
Miles Larsen is quite ill and had to be taken to his home at Mendon, Utah, where he could receive proper medical attention.
Victor E. Randall was at the W. A. Nunnelly home last Thursday and from there went to Malad to buy a team of horses. Mr. Randall has been in Kentucky the last year and a half and has decided that he would rather live in the west so he is going to settle down to business now.
Mr. W. W. Harvey is drilling a well for Frank Burkes.
The school closed here Friday, June 4th.
S. A. Cram was thought to be on the road to recovery, but his eyesight began to fail and he is almost totally blind and had to be taken to Malad for medical care. The physicians do not know what is the exact cause of his illness. Some think it is an infection from wood tick bites. His neck has been swolen like mumps and his face and one side of his body have been partially paralyzed. His many friends wish him speedy recovery.
Mrs. Douglass Blain, from the Sunbeam country, is visiting relatives at this place.
Miss Loretta Walker from Mendon, Utah, is here visiting her brothers, George and Gerald.
Mr. Nunnelly has had to close his saw mill for a few days on acount of heavy rains in the mountains. There were several loggers in the woods last week who will resume their work again as soon as the roads dry.
Tracy Lee took a load of hogs to Malad last week for Lucien McLarry.
Miss Maudie [illegible] from St. John, Idaho, has been visiting friends here the past week.
Mrs. Edna Peticord was a caller at the home of Mrs. Emmett Lee last Wednesday.
Mr. Guy Benson treated his school pupils and all those who wished to attend a picnic Friday, June 11, at the Frank ranch in the mountains. All had a delightful time. Ice cream and other good things were had to eat.
The ball team from here played the Sheep Creek nine, Saturday, the 11th.
Joe Jensen is going to Nevada this week on business.
The people of the Highland church are arranging for a Children's Day program on the 27th of this month, beginning at 8 p. m. All are cordially invited to attend.
There will be preaching services at the Highland Congregational church next Sunday, June 20, at 11 a. m. Mr. Robert Sturges officiating. There will not be any services other than Sunday school held on Sunday, the 20th at Central. Mrs. Emett Lee is in charge of the program at Highland Sunday school.
Mrs. Gus. Bramstadt spent Sunday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Smith.
Mrs. [illegible] Hatfield and baby [illegible] are expected to arrive from Dayton, Washington in about a week.
The roads between Arbon and Malad are in splendid condition owing to the amount of good road work.
The farmers are glad to see it turn warm again after having so much rain and cool weather.
Mr. John Gardner has finished his spring work on his homestead and has returned to his home in Mendon, Utah.
Mr. Ammon Sorenson has leased the farm belonging to Henry Sorenson and has begun work on it.
Mrs. Phil Hatfield writes from Dayton, Wash., that her daughter, Mrs. Harve Fletcher is somewhat improved and that they will return to Arbon soon as she is able to make the trip.
Mrs. Lee Van Horn and Miss Irene Nunnelley were the guests of Miss Amy Johnson a couple of days this week.
Mr. Cram is improving and is home from the hospital.
Mr. and Mrs. J. [illegible] Richards intend to visit the Panama Exposition about the 1st of June.
L. E. Howell has just returned from Pocatello where he purchased a Ford car. Jerry Baker and W. T. Ferguson purchased new cars and have been in Malad after them this week. There are about fifteen in the valley now, and there will be several more by fall if we are not visited by another big frost as we were last year.
Mr. Pearl Lee is much improved and is able to walk around with a cane.
Whooping cough and mumps are raging in the Sheep Creek and Holbrook neighborhood but they have not reached this part of the valley.
Tom Stott and Emmett Lee have bought some springs and are going to pipe the water down to their farms.
Mr. [illegible], the agent for the National Grocery Co., of Denver, has been through this part of the country and has received several orders here and also in Malad valley.
Vance D. Walker has recently bought a new motorcycle.
Arch Lindley and wife from Rockland, are visiting relatives here.
The little four-year-old son of J. M. Baggett, of Holbrook, got a finger cut off one day this week. He and some more children were playing with a buggy when the accident occurred.

On this site: the first automobiles entry follows the valley's cars into 1917. See also the Jenson and Davis family histories and the Summit area history.