Where the wheat went: the 1923 buying war at Schiller
In October 1923 rival buyers bid up wheat at Schiller, the valley's railroad siding, and into the spring teams and trucks hauled the crop there, 26 miles from Pauline.
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News, observations, announcements, and remembrances from the original Arbon Valley community blog.
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Community blog · 2010–2020 · original publication order · stories from the old papers added since 2026
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Mrs. T. B. Evans of Arbon, at the post office and switchboard
Susannah Smith Evans, Mrs. T. B. Evans in the papers, kept Arbon's post office and telephone central, led its Red Cross and registered its voters.
Rain, weeds and 29,008 sacks: Arbon Valley's wheat harvest of 1922
Spotty fields, a rainy harvest, a new combine, town men with cold feet and a warehouse count corrected from bushels to sacks: Arbon Valley's wheat year of 1922.
A lantern in the pothole: the Saulsberry still at Sunbeam, 1922
In September 1922 Power County officers found a copper still at Sunbeam, caught a young Kentuckian running it, and charged him with his uncle, a Pauline farmer.
A Summit homestead that became an Idaho Century Farm
J. Parley Sorensen of Mendon received title to a Summit homestead in 1914; his descendants the Thompsons farm it still, and in 2024 it was recognized as an Idaho Century Farm.
Gwen and Lucille Hardman's Arbon ranch, 1913–1941
Gwen and Lucille Hardman of Mendon married in 1913 and homesteaded a dry farm at Arbon; after Gwen died in 1937, Lucille and their son Russell kept up the summers on the ranch.
Ed and Hannah Snyder and the Arbon rural mail route
Hannah Evans, a widowed Arbon homesteader, married Ed Snyder in 1915; by 1920 the Snyders were carrying the valley's rural mail, a route Ed's obituary says he held for 23 years.
Who kept the Arbon post office, 1898–1922
The papers follow the Arbon post office from D. J. Bowen's cabin through the Evans, Bailey, Leavitt and Keeler years to the summer of 1922, when it nearly closed.
Frank Kulock and the Pauline blizzard of February 1922
On February 11, 1922, Frank Kulock froze to death near his home west of Pauline, coming back with the mail in a blizzard that left Pauline nearly snow-bound.
Arbon's road money, a bank failure and the wheat haul of 1921
In 1921 Arbon Valley's own highway district lost its cash in a Pocatello bank failure, just as a big wheat crop had to be hauled to the railroad over bad roads.
Eight pupils, three families: the Armstrong school, 1920–1925
In 1921 the Press pictured District No. 6, a one-teacher school between Pauline and Crystal with eight pupils from three families, whose children later sent in their own news.
Good crops, falling prices: Arbon Valley's hard years, 1920–1925
From 1920 to 1925 the American Falls Press followed Arbon valley farmers as good wheat crops met falling prices, scarce credit, failed banks and tax deeds.
Oil at the Toyn ranch: Arbon Valley's first oil test, 1921–1922
In June 1921 Arbon Valley celebrated its first oil test on the Toyn ranch with two days of barbecue and ball games; the papers followed the well's shows and promises into 1922.
Six inches of dust: Arbon Valley baseball, 1921–1924
The Arbon Bears and the Pauline nine played American Falls and each other, from a dust-deep diamond at the 1921 oil celebration to a 25-to-3 loss in 1924.
Grandpa Arbon dies: the man the valley was named for, 1921
George Arbon, oldest of the first settlers and the man Arbon was named for, died at Malad in March 1921, and the American Falls Press printed his life story.
St. Patrick's Day near Pauline, 1921: the shootings and two trials
On March 17, 1921, W. H. Ball shot a neighbor near Pauline and a deputy sheriff at his cabin; two Power County juries acquitted him that year.
Snow on the unthreshed grain: Arbon's winter of 1920–21
Early snow caught Arbon's 1920 harvest in the fields, and the Arbon column followed the stranded grain, the moves to town, the winter dances and a late spring.
From the Bailey place to the auction: the McLarrys, 1918–1922
Lucien McLarry of Dayton, Washington, moved onto the Parley Bailey place at Arbon in 1918; in 1920 his horses and combine went to auction, and by 1922 the Bailey land was in court.
Pauline votes the League ticket: the valley in the 1920 election
In November 1920 Pauline voted the Nonpartisan League ticket, which ran Jack McCool for county commissioner, while Arbon voted Republican and Crystal's returns swung the Senate count.
Arbon Valley joins the wheat pool, 1920–1921
In 1920 Arbon Valley farmers pledged about 80 per cent of a promising crop to the new Wheat Growers Association, then watched the price of wheat fall through the autumn.
The Ripleys' farewell: an Arbon ranch family leaves for Oregon
In May 1920 the valley turned out at Central Hall to bid farewell to the David B. Ripley family, who had sold their east-side ranch and were leaving for Oregon.
The Wards between Malad and their Arbon farm, 1915–1986
The papers follow the Ward family between Malad and their Arbon Valley farm from 1915 to 1986, when all three of Elmer and Susan Ward's surviving children were of Arbon.
Miss Wall's year at the Central school, 1919–1920
One teacher, one school year: the Arbon columns of 1919–20 followed the Central school through thrift verses, debates, a smoking stove, a volleyball court and four graduates.
Keeping the sheep out of Arbon's canyons, 1920
In 1920 Arbon farmers formed a range association to keep the sheepmen's bands out of the canyons; a deputy rode the ranges, and sheepmen were arrested and tried.
Poison day in Arbon Valley: the war on ground squirrels, 1918–1921
How Arbon Valley's farmers joined Power County's strychnine campaign against ground squirrels, set a poison day in 1920, and lost horses to the bait.
Charles and Grace Bailey's four years at Arbon, 1901–1905
Charles A. Bailey made the first homestead entry on the Arbon floor in 1901 and died in 1905; his widow Grace took their children home to Wellsville.
Arbon Valley's Red Cross in the First World War, 1917–1919
The women of Arbon and Crystal formed Red Cross societies in 1917 and, with Pauline, sewed and knitted for soldiers; in 1919 the Red Cross gave a welcome-home ball at Crystal.
The Snyders' dinner for Crystal's service men, 1919
When the last of Crystal's soldiers were home from the war, W. C. and Cora Snyder gave them and their families a Sunday dinner at their home in September 1919.
A new road in a dry year: Arbon Valley, 1919
In 1919 Arbon Valley's new highway district began work on the Bannock Creek road while drought took the grain, and by August road work was being counted on as relief.
B. O. Kelley and the Bannock Creek bridge at Pauline, 1918
Early on December 23, 1918, B. O. Kelley, hauling Pauline wheat for the Zaring Grain Company, drove his truck off the Bannock Creek bridge at Pauline and was killed.