For close to twenty years many Arbon Valley families bought their groceries, flour and gasoline at the store Ed and Esther Davis kept near their ranch at Arbon. The American Falls Press mentions it from 1914 to 1921, and Esther Davis's obituary says the couple kept a store there until 1931.
Edward H. Davis and Esther Arbon, a daughter of George Arbon, married in 1892 and settled in the valley in 1894. They were among its first families. Their family history places the Davis ranch one mile west on Church Road, where it meets Bailey Road, with the store across the road to the west. Arbon was in Oneida County until 1913 and in Power County after that; the new county's seat was American Falls, home of the American Falls Press.
When it opened
The accounts disagree on when the store opened. The Davis family dates it to 1910. The site's entry on the first stores says the records show Ed Davis selling groceries from his home by 1912–13 and opening his general store about 1915. In March 1917 Mrs. E. A. Logan's history of the valley said Davis had "a fine general, up-to-date merchandise store, which he opened up about two years ago." Yet three years before that, in Arbon items the Press printed on April 2, 1914, the store was already being called new:
Mr. Ed. Davis, proprietor of the new store opened lately, is progressing well and is busy freighting out supplies to his many customers. Davis' store and the Noble Kowallis store have in a fine stock of supplies and keep busy handling most of the trade of the valley.
The Noble Kowallis store was John Noble's store at Pauline, at the north end of the valley, still known by the old partnership's name.
Freighting the stock
The papers show the stock being hauled in from Malad and Pocatello. In August 1915 Davis was "keeping busy these days freighting out supplies to his store, there being a large demand for groceries here at present, as every one is busy harvesting." By late November he had "a fine display of Christmas goods."
The Arbon columns of June 1916 followed the trade from week to week. Eddie Davis, probably the couple's eldest son, came back from Malad with a load of flour and other merchandise for the store, and the column added a notice for travelers: "Should you be motoring through Arbon valley and run short of gas the same can be had at E. H. Davis' the Arbon merchant." Two weeks later "our live merchant" had gone to Pocatello for "another big load of merchandise." The next week he left again, "with two four-horse outfits for merchandise for his store." In July 1917 a Pocatello bottling works sent out a truck load of pop for the Noble and Davis stores.
Mrs. Davis at the counter
The store was a family business. In the fall of 1917 the Press's roving farm writer, who signed himself the Pilgrim, called Ed Davis "the rancher-merchant of Arbon valley." The Davises farmed and kept livestock as well as the store. Two weeks later the Pilgrim wrote about Esther:
Mrs. E. H. Davis is one of the busiest women in Arbon valley. Besides attending to the household duties, she attends to the general store when Mr. Davis is absent. Just about the time she gets a good start at the housework in comes some rancher to buy a supply of goods at the store, and the housework has to take a back seat.
She also kept a flock of 100 chickens, he went on. That summer her 60 laying hens gave about three dozen eggs a day, and the sale of the surplus added "a considerable item to the ranch each week."
A landmark
By then the store served as a landmark. Mrs. Logan's 1917 history placed the Valley View school "about three miles south of the Central school, near E. Davis' store." When the Pilgrim visited farms that November, he located D. V. Roberts's quarter section and Sam Roderick's ranch by their distance west of the Davis store. In the spring of 1918 Roberts advertised his "160-acre dry farm, half mile west of E. H. Davis' store." In April 1921 the Arbon column still placed "the Valley View school near the E. H. Davis store" when its teacher, Mrs. Ballaine, resigned. That June several farmers met at the store and at the Arbon farm to help poison squirrels, though no poison arrived.
In the pages read for this post, the store was reported shut only once. In the fall of 1918, when influenza was going through the valley, the Arbon column of November 1 reported:
The Davis store is closed until the family of E. H. Davis recover from their seige of sickness.
The same column named other families down with influenza, and it reported that the family of E. H. Davis were "all taking turns with the 'flu'," with two or three of them in bed at a time, while Ed Davis was away hunting big game in Wyoming. It did not say when the store opened again.
Until 1931
The Press pages read for this post say nothing more of the store after 1921. Esther Davis's obituary in the Deseret News of April 6, 1954, fills in the end. It says the couple made their home at Arbon and kept a store there until 1931, and later lived at Tyhee, north of Pocatello. Ed Davis died in 1945. Esther died in a Pocatello hospital on April 5, 1954, after a long illness. No newspaper report of the closing has been found, and how the store ended is not known.
The article as printed
American Falls Press, November 6, 1917, page 3. Transcribed from the page scan.
ALONG THE HIGHWAYS
Gleanings by the Pilgrim In His Wanderings Here and There.
Well up against the eastern foothills of Arbon valley, about [illegible] miles southeast of Arbon postoffice, Harry Van Horn is farming a ranch of 320 acres. This year he had 120 acres in Turkey Red which has given a yield per acre above the average of the valley and the quality of the wheat has been pronounced by the threshers to be of the best handled by them. At this writing threshing was in progress and the yield could not be ascertained. Up to the time of heading this year this ranch has been free of mustard, but since the grain was cut a growth of the pest has made its appearance and Mr. Van Horn intends to eradicate [illegible] resorting to spring seeding. On this ranch, which lies at an altitude of 5250 feet an orchard of 20 trees, containing apple, pear, plum and cherry trees, was set out three years ago last spring and some cherries were picked this year. The sweet corn planted in the garden gave plenty of roasting ears. A dairy herd is being established and the production of cream and butter will be an important feature on this ranch when fully developed. The flock of Brown Leghorn and Rhode Island Red chickens is another revenue produced on this ranch. Van Horn believes in diversification as the best way of successfully conducting farming operations.
J. N. Arbon this year threshed 4696 bushels of winter and spring wheat, the yield being fully up to his expectations for an adverse year. He plans to put in a large acreage of spring wheat next year, fall seeding having been curtailed owing to the prevalence of mustard and other weeds and the urgent need for their elimination. Mr. Arbon has been a farmer in this valley ever since he came here with his father, George Arbon, in 1892, and combines livestock raising with his farming. However, the growing of cereals and alfalfa hay is the main endeavor of this pioneer of the valley.
Mrs. E. H. Davis is one of the busiest women in Arbon valley. Besides attending to the household duties, she attends to the general store when Mr. Davis is absent. Just about the time she gets a good start at the housework in comes some rancher to buy a supply of goods at the store, and the housework has to take a back seat. Besides all these duties Mrs. Davis has charge of a flock of 100 chickens, and they require some care, too. During the summer she had only 60 laying hens and an average of three dozen eggs were gathered each day, the sale of the surplus adding a considerable item to the ranch each week.
Over the Mink creek divide stands a lone pine tree, visible from any point of Arbon valley north of Pauline. On a clear day it looms up quite plainly from the foothills on the west edge of the valley and points the way to the Mink creek pass. When in the years to come the airship service is established and automobiles and Fords have been relegated to the rear the lone pine tree on the divide will be the pilot's guide. Did any one say that airship service is a long way off? Well, most of us will remember when we used to scoff at all who talked of horseless carriages. We do not scoff at them now. This old world keeps a-moving and progress is the order of the day.
L. M. Anderson, one of the group of Anderson brothers who are pioneer farmers of Arbon valley, enlisted as a volunteer in the United States army six months ago is now stationed at San Diego, California, a member of [illegible] Co., 21st U. S. infantry. He likes the service and the training he is receiving, and report has it that his regiment is about ready to sail for France. When the last letter was received from Mr. Anderson about the middle of October, he stated that he was in charge of a bunch of mules belonging to the machine gun battalion.
E. T. Anderson, whose ranch is located five miles south of Arbon postoffice, has nineteen stacks of wheat ready for the thresher, and expects to reap a yield fully up to the average of the valley this year. At the end of October quite considerable amount of threshing remains to be done and hauling of grain to the platforms and to the railroad will continue well into the winter.
It has been noticed that every school house in Arbon valley is provided with a flag pole in the yard, but so far Old Glory has not been seen flying at the top of the pole in any school yard. This is not due to neglect of the teachers, however. The atmosphere is of a very emotional nature up Arbon valley way and with little provocation begins to surge and surge, until the gentle zephyrs have grown into a formidable blast which will whip to pieces anything made of cloth. The only way to keep a flag flying here is to get one of the kind made of steel netting.
Farley Van Horn, who has a homestead just across the Oneida county line, will leave on November 5 for American Lake, Washington, to join the national army. The young man was called to go earlier, but was given time to get in his crops. He is eager to go into the army and to do his bit in the service of Uncle Sam. The young man is a son of Mrs. Kate Van Horn of Arbon valley.
On this site: the Davis family, the Arbon area, the valley's schools, a family memory of Ed Davis bringing groceries to the snowbound Nunnelleys in the winter of 1909–10, and the later store at the Mink Creek crossroads, kept by the Daniels and Evans families.
Sources
- American Falls Press, April 2, 1914, page 11
- American Falls Press, August 12, 1915, page 4
- American Falls Press, December 2, 1915, page 3
- American Falls Press, June 8, 1916, page 8
- American Falls Press, June 22, 1916, page 8
- American Falls Press, June 29, 1916, page 6
- American Falls Press, March 29, 1917, page 7
- American Falls Press, July 27, 1917, page 5
- American Falls Press, October 23, 1917, page 3
- American Falls Press, November 6, 1917, page 3
- American Falls Press, November 16, 1917, page 3
- American Falls Press, April 26, 1918, page 4
- American Falls Press, November 1, 1918, page 5
- American Falls Press, April 8, 1921, page 2
- American Falls Press, June 17, 1921, page 2
- Deseret News, April 6, 1954, page 32
- Edward Henry Davis & Esther Rebecca Arbon, family history, on this site
- The first store, Stories, on this site