A herd district for Arbon Valley, July 1918
In July 1918 the Power County commissioners took up a petition from Arbon Valley residents for a herd district, and with no one objecting, created it on July 27.
From the Old Papers
Stories of Arbon Valley retold from the newspapers that reported them: the American Falls Press and other papers of the homestead years, and later ones. Each quotes the paper and links to the original page.
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Community blog · 2010–2020 · original publication order · stories from the old papers added since 2026
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Half a million bushels and no railroad: the 1918 wheat haul
In 1918 Arbon Valley expected nearly half a million bushels of wheat with the railroad 25 to 35 miles away, and its call for motor trucks reached the national trade press.
The Red Cross War Fund Night at Arbon, Pauline and Crystal, 1918
On May 20, 1918, Arbon, Pauline and Crystal opened the Red Cross war fund drive, with a cake auction at Arbon and Crystal's quota met in a single night.
No doctor within forty miles: influenza at Arbon, autumn 1918
In October 1918 the Spanish influenza reached Arbon Valley weeks after its only doctor had left; the American Falls Press followed the sick, the dead and the helpers week by week.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Perry Lusk and T. B. Evans on the Power County board, 1922–1925
How the Arbon Valley's seat on the Power County board passed from Ed England to Perry Lusk of Pauline in the 1922 Democratic sweep, and then to T. B. Evans.
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.
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.
The Gem State oil well beside the Arbon school, 1923–1929
For five years the Gem State Petroleum Co. drilled for oil beside Arbon's Central school, drawing crowds of visitors in 1924 and reaching about 3,000 feet by 1928.
When Arbon Valley schoolchildren wrote the news, 1923–24
In 1923–24 the American Falls Press printed news written by pupils of Arbon Valley's country schools, spelling and all, and the Pauline pupils sent the first items.
Crystal will be almost deserted: the winter of 1923–24
In late 1923 Crystal's schoolchildren wrote in the American Falls Press that their settlement would be "almost deserted" that winter, then reported who moved away.
By grain rack and on foot: the county superintendent's 1923 visit
In October 1923 Power County's school superintendent, Mrs. Cora Darling, spent two weeks among the valley's country schools, sometimes riding between them on a grain rack.
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.
Mail, grain and the Mink Creek road to Pocatello, 1924–1929
In the mid-1920s the valley's mail road to Pocatello ran by Crystal and Mink Creek, and the papers followed its tax complaints, a stage wreck and a county's plea for road money.
Signing up the cows: Arbon Valley's cheese factory plan, 1924
In 1924 Ren Evans signed up 23 Arbon Valley farmers and 213 cows for a cheese factory backed by Ernest Brog of Driggs, but whether it ever made cheese is unknown.
The State's Elk at Crystal and the Hired Elk Puncher, 1927–1928
Elk the state planted near Crystal multiplied and raided Arbon Valley haystacks; a Crystal rancher complained in 1927, and in 1928 a cowboy was hired to herd them off the farms.
Naming the orphan range between Arbon and Rockland valleys, 1928
In January 1928 a newspaper reported that a national survey of place names had found the mountains between Arbon and Rockland valleys nameless, and two Power County old-timers chose a name.