Arbon.
Pictures of Arbon: its buildings and homesteads, the families who lived there, and the land patents that made the homesteads theirs. On the valley map: Scouted 1892; squatters’ claims from 1893; year-round from the mid-1890s (accounts give winters from 1893–94 to 1896–97); homestead entries from 1901. 5 photographs · 8 land patents · 58 newspaper clippings.
From the history of Arbon
The pictures in the original account of Arbon. Read it ↗
View photograph ↗Plowing with a horse team
From the Arbon area history; people and place not identified.
From: Arbon ↗Buildings, homesteads and farm life
In date order; undated ones last.
View photograph ↗First home of George Arbon in Arbon Valley, 1895
Printed caption beside the photograph on a scanned page of a published local history; the archive does not name the book. Shown here cropped to the photograph.
From: Ezra Taft Andersen & Sarah Eveline “Eva” Arbon ↗
View photograph ↗The Arbon LDS meetinghouse, 2022
Photograph by Tony Webster, October 19, 2022, from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed CC BY 2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0).
Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
View photograph ↗Arbon Bible Church
The photograph on the archive’s Bible Church page (there by February 2010). The congregation dates from 1997; its building, the former Charles Allard home, from 2000.
From: Bible Church ↗Families at home
Family pictures the records place in Arbon.
View photograph ↗John C and Desina Andersen Family
John C and Desina Andersen Family
From: John C. & DeSena Andersen ↗Land patents
Federal patents to homesteads in Arbon, in date order.
View photograph ↗Homestead patent to James R. Bailey, 1907
Federal land patent signed April 19, 1907 (BLM serial IDIDAA 005257). Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)
View photograph ↗Desert Land Act patent to Edward H. Davis, 1907
Federal land patent signed May 20, 1907 (BLM serial IDIDAA 005259). Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)
View photograph ↗Homestead patent to David J. Bowen, 1907
Federal land patent signed April 17, 1907 (BLM serial IDIDAA 005256). Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)
View photograph ↗Homestead patent to George Arbon, 1909
Federal land patent signed June 10, 1909 (BLM serial IDBL 0000617). Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)
View photograph ↗Homestead patent to Andrew O. (Otto) Anderson, 1909
Federal land patent signed June 17, 1909 (BLM serial IDBL 0000618). Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)
View photograph ↗Homestead patent to John C. Anderson, 1909
Federal land patent signed May 4, 1909 (BLM serial IDBL 0000612). Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)
View photograph ↗Homestead patent to George L. Andersen, 1912
Federal land patent signed September 16, 1912 (BLM serial IDBL 0003519) for the north half of the southeast quarter and the north half of the southwest quarter of Section 26, Township 11 South, Range 33 East: a strip one mile long and a quarter mile wide, just as George described it. Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)
View photograph ↗Homestead patent to Catharine S. Anderson, 1915
Federal land patent signed April 27, 1915 (BLM serial IDBL 0003518) to “Catharine S. Anderson, formerly Catharine S. Poulson,” for the south half of the southeast quarter and the south half of the southwest quarter of Section 26: the mile-long strip adjoining George’s on the south. Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)In the old papers
Clippings of newspaper articles about Arbon, in the order they were printed. All the clippings ↗
View photograph ↗A new town called Arbon asks Malad for a mail route
Early in 1898 a delegation from Arbon, a settlement of about 100 people in Bannock Valley, came to Malad City to press for a mail route, and the Malad Enterprise wrote it up.
From: A new town called Arbon asks Malad for a mail route ↗
View photograph ↗Idaho Falls druggist’s death sends word to a storekeeper at Arbon
When the Pocatello Tribune reported an Idaho Falls druggist’s suicide in September 1907, its closing line about his brother’s store at Arbon became the oldest printed trace yet found of the Payne store.
From: Idaho Falls druggist’s death sends word to a storekeeper at Arbon ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon’s dry farms thresh 35,000 bushels in 1907
In November 1907 two Arbon men told the American Falls Press that thirty-two families had threshed 35,000 bushels of grain, and named the best wheat fields and varieties.
From: Arbon’s dry farms thresh 35,000 bushels in 1907 ↗
View photograph ↗Sixteen wagons carry Arbon wheat to the railroad at Michaud
In November 1908 sixteen Arbon teamsters hauled a carload of sacked wheat to the railroad at Michaud switch, and the American Falls Press printed every driver’s name.
From: Sixteen wagons carry Arbon wheat to the railroad at Michaud ↗
View photograph ↗County crew starts a $300 shortcut from Arbon to American Falls
In November 1908 Wilson Barnard’s crew began a $300 wagon road from Bannock Creek over the foothills to American Falls, meant to cut ten miles or more from the haul of Arbon’s wheat to market.
From: County crew starts a $300 shortcut from Arbon to American Falls ↗
View photograph ↗Four men drive out to view the Arbon road and walk home by dawn
In May 1909 a banker, a miller, an editor and a county commissioner set out by automobile to look over a proposed road to Arbon, and when the car gave out at Rattlesnake gulch they walked back to American Falls through the night.
From: Four men drive out to view the Arbon road and walk home by dawn ↗
View photograph ↗Mrs. Jennie Price of Arbon carries the Republican nomination for county treasurer
In 1910 a homesteading woman from Arbon won the Republican primary for Oneida County treasurer, in a year when only women sought that office, and lost the fall race to Cora Dudley of Malad.
From: Mrs. Jennie Price of Arbon carries the Republican nomination for county treasurer ↗
View photograph ↗On a stormy night, Arbon votes to join Power County
Arbon Valley voted three times between 1908 and 1911 to leave Oneida County for a new county around American Falls, and saw two bills fail before Power County was finally made in 1913.
From: On a stormy night, Arbon votes to join Power County ↗
View photograph ↗Winter flood drowns three Arbon children and takes the Bannock bridges
A January rainstorm in 1911 drowned three Arbon children and took the bridges on Bannock Creek; that spring Oneida County put new bridges to a bond vote.
From: Winter flood drowns three Arbon children and takes the Bannock bridges ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon talks of a townsite, with the village already taking shape
In 1911 Arbon had no town, but its newspaper columns told of a hotel, a store, a dance hall, a village blacksmith and butcher, and talk of laying out a townsite.
From: Arbon talks of a townsite, with the village already taking shape ↗
View photograph ↗Lower Arbon votes on one district and a school on Tom Evans’ place
In June 1911 the lower Arbon valley voted on merging its school districts and building on Tom Evans’ place, and by 1913 a Central school stood on Evans land as both schoolhouse and community hall.
From: Lower Arbon votes on one district and a school on Tom Evans’ place ↗
View photograph ↗Over the Moonshine divide, a shorter road for Arbon wheat
In 1911 the county surveyed a road from American Falls over the Moonshine divide to Arbon, and in 1912 American Falls cash and Arbon labor built a short cut, probably on that line, that drew the valley’s wheat away from Pocatello.
From: Over the Moonshine divide, a shorter road for Arbon wheat ↗
View photograph ↗Nine threshers follow forty headers through the Arbon wheat of 1911
In 1911 the American Falls Press watched Arbon’s wheat go from July guesses to steam threshers to wagon trains at the railroad, and an editor saw in six lines how far the valley had come.
From: Nine threshers follow forty headers through the Arbon wheat of 1911 ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon’s dry-land alfalfa wins the paper’s blue ribbon
In September 1911 the *American Falls Press* awarded Arbon’s dry-land alfalfa a blue ribbon in print, the high point of the valley’s part in Farmers’ Day, the farm show American Falls held each fall from 1908.
From: Arbon’s dry-land alfalfa wins the paper’s blue ribbon ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon settler heads home to Kentucky as an immigration agent
When G. S. Randall of Arbon went home to Somerset, Kentucky, in December 1911, he went as a man who had made good, and the papers then follow the Kentucky families who came to the valley, stayed and left.
From: Arbon settler heads home to Kentucky as an immigration agent ↗
View photograph ↗A doubting father from Kansas comes around on Arbon vegetables
Told by the old-timers that nothing would ripen at his altitude, Arbon homesteader G. S. Butler ended up supplying them with potatoes and won over the Kansas father who had predicted his failure.
From: A doubting father from Kansas comes around on Arbon vegetables ↗
View photograph ↗Pocatello merchants press for a Trail Creek road to win Arbon’s wheat
In 1912 and 1913 Pocatello’s businessmen and the Arbon farmers pledged money for a road over the Trail Creek divide, until a reservation right of way and a shortfall of cash stopped it.
From: Pocatello merchants press for a Trail Creek road to win Arbon’s wheat ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon hears the Short Line is surveying a branch down Bannock Valley
In June 1913 a man from Arbon brought word to Pocatello that Short Line engineers were surveying a branch railroad over the Malad divide and down Bannock Valley.
From: Arbon hears the Short Line is surveying a branch down Bannock Valley ↗
View photograph ↗From Arbon, B. W. Rice counts the grain and the farmers who grow it
Writing from Arbon the day after a divided Fourth of July in 1913, B. W. Rice sized up the valley’s grain and named its farmers one by one, and within days two Congregational churches were organized there.
From: From Arbon, B. W. Rice counts the grain and the farmers who grow it ↗
View photograph ↗Santa comes to the Central school with gifts for 125 Arbon children
On Christmas Eve 1913 Santa Claus brought presents, candy, nuts and oranges to 125 children at Arbon’s Central school, and dances and sleighing parties filled the holiday week.
From: Santa comes to the Central school with gifts for 125 Arbon children ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon homesteaders prove up, and neighbours vouch for neighbours
From 1909 to 1914 the land-office notices in the American Falls Press tracked Arbon Valley homesteaders turning claims into titles, with neighbours standing witness and contests over claims nobody lived on.
From: Arbon homesteaders prove up, and neighbours vouch for neighbours ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon votes down the county road bonds
In January 1914 the new Power County asked its voters for $125,000 in road bonds, with a trunk road promised from Arbon, and the valley turned them down.
From: Arbon votes down the county road bonds ↗
View photograph ↗Skis, surprise parties and barbed-wire telephones in Arbon, 1914
At the end of a snowy winter in 1914, an American Falls store’s monthly paper carried the Arbon news, almost certainly from Mrs. E. A. Logan, and the American Falls Press reprinted it.
From: Skis, surprise parties and barbed-wire telephones in Arbon, 1914 ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon boosters vote a right of way for a railroad on posts
In the spring of 1914 Arbon farmers offered a right of way and $1,000 a mile in bonds to a promoter whose grain cars would hang from a single rail on posts, but no line was ever reported built.
From: Arbon boosters vote a right of way for a railroad on posts ↗
View photograph ↗Power County goes dry, and the count waits on Arbon
Power County voted to forbid the sale of liquor on May 20, 1914, 698 to 626, with Arbon going dry by three votes and Crystal by two, and the official count held up a week waiting for Arbon’s returns.
From: Power County goes dry, and the count waits on Arbon ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon farmers join the Equity and hope for an elevator of their own
Arbon Valley dry farmers joined the Farmers’ Society of Equity in 1913, and for four years the cooperative talked of a grain elevator for the valley that the papers never show being built.
From: Arbon farmers join the Equity and hope for an elevator of their own ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon homesteader recalls digging through the snow to pitch his tent
In 1914 Ed Hooker told the Pocatello Tribune how he had shoveled down through several feet of snow and ice for a tent site when he came to Arbon Valley, where he homesteaded until 1917.
From: Arbon homesteader recalls digging through the snow to pitch his tent ↗
View photograph ↗Logs piled at the mill promise a building year in Arbon
A pile of logs at John Payne’s sawmill in the spring of 1915 told Arbon’s correspondent a building year was coming, and the paper’s columns followed the canyon mills and the new houses through the season.
From: Logs piled at the mill promise a building year in Arbon ↗
View photograph ↗Two Smith sisters pass through the South Arbon news of 1915
Elmira and Delone Smith, daughters of the Summit homesteader E. G. Smith, turn up again and again in the South Arbon column of 1915, and their obituaries carry the story on for seventy years.
From: Two Smith sisters pass through the South Arbon news of 1915 ↗
View photograph ↗South Arbon man held at Malad is cleared of a West Virginia murder
Jailed at Malad in 1915 on a forgery charge, L. E. Howell of South Arbon was suspected of an old West Virginia killing until two officers from that state came west and said he looked nothing like their man.
From: South Arbon man held at Malad is cleared of a West Virginia murder ↗
View photograph ↗Dayton family reaches Arbon by wagon, and neighbors stop a fire at Knox Canyon
A family from Dayton, Washington, came into Arbon by wagon after losing horses to poison on the road, in the same week that neighbors plowed fire guards to save 1,500 bushels of sacked grain near Knox Canyon.
From: Dayton family reaches Arbon by wagon, and neighbors stop a fire at Knox Canyon ↗
View photograph ↗A washboard, a mule and a high school: Arbon’s literary society takes the stage
Through the stormy winter of 1915–16, neighbors at the north end of Arbon Valley crowded into the Central school on Tuesday nights to recite, read, play music and debate everything from mules to a high school for Arbon.
From: A washboard, a mule and a high school: Arbon’s literary society takes the stage ↗
View photograph ↗First vehicle out of Arbon after a winter of three-foot snow
Storms buried Arbon Valley in about three feet of snow in early 1916 and cut its new telephone line; in February the paper reported the first vehicle out since winter began.
From: First vehicle out of Arbon after a winter of three-foot snow ↗
View photograph ↗A wreck mars Arbon’s first fair, and Allard answers a critic
Arbon’s first community fair, held at the Central school on May 10, 1916, had a band, exhibits and speeches until a borrowed car overturned, and a few weeks later William Allard answered an unsigned critic of the day.
From: A wreck mars Arbon’s first fair, and Allard answers a critic ↗
View photograph ↗John Payne, the mayor of Arbon that no one elected
An American Falls paper made pioneer John Payne the mayor of Arbon in fun, and over the next two years its columns showed a retired Short Line engineer at work as dry farmer, sawmill owner, justice and would-be county commissioner.
From: John Payne, the mayor of Arbon that no one elected ↗
View photograph ↗A Kansas bride at Arbon, and the sale that took her husband home
Married at Pocatello in the spring of 1915, Ida Featherston likely played the organ for a new Arbon Sunday school, died at her valley home in May 1916 and was sent home to Kansas for burial, and that fall her husband sold out at the valley’s first farm auction.
From: A Kansas bride at Arbon, and the sale that took her husband home ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon neighbors hear a car at the gate, and it turns out to be an aeroplane
In the first week of September 1917 the Arbon correspondent of the American Falls Press told of an aeroplane that neighbors saw or heard crossing the valley after dark, a dozen years before any flight over Arbon was put on record.
From: Arbon neighbors hear a car at the gate, and it turns out to be an aeroplane ↗
View photograph ↗Two Lusk brothers of Pauline marry two Bailey sisters of Arbon
Six weeks after he was drafted in 1917, Park Lusk of Pauline had been promoted twice, and the papers went on to follow him, his brother Dave and the Bailey sisters they married through war, a young wife’s death and the obituaries of the 1950s.
From: Two Lusk brothers of Pauline marry two Bailey sisters of Arbon ↗
View photograph ↗Ten cents, two cows and a greased pig built the Bailey ranch at Arbon
J. R. and Annie Bailey reached Arbon with ten cents, two cows and some debts, and by 1917 a farm writer found them on 560 acres, with a greased pig still part of the family lore at their golden wedding in 1940.
From: Ten cents, two cows and a greased pig built the Bailey ranch at Arbon ↗
View photograph ↗In Mendon, the Arbon Andersens kept coming home to their mother
Sophia Andersen never lived in Arbon Valley, yet from 1917 to her death in 1939 the papers show her Arbon sons, daughters and grandchildren making their way back to her house in Mendon, Utah.
From: In Mendon, the Arbon Andersens kept coming home to their mother ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon bids up a cake as the valley opens the Red Cross drive
On one May night in 1918, Arbon outbid the speakers from American Falls for a Red Cross cake while Pauline heard four speakers and Crystal raised its whole quota before going home.
From: Arbon bids up a cake as the valley opens the Red Cross drive ↗
View photograph ↗Charles Bailey filed first on the Arbon floor, and stayed four years
Charles A. Bailey of Wellsville made the first homestead entry on the Arbon floor in 1901, proved up three years later and died in 1905, and his widow Grace took their children home to Cache Valley.
From: Charles Bailey filed first on the Arbon floor, and stayed four years ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon farmers organize to keep the sheep out of their canyons
In the spring of 1920 Arbon’s farmers incorporated a range association to keep the migrating sheep bands off their canyons and hills, and by midsummer a deputy was riding the ranges and sheepmen were standing trial at Pauline.
From: Arbon farmers organize to keep the sheep out of their canyons ↗
View photograph ↗Newlywed Elmer and Susan Ward move out to their Arbon farm
Two months after their Malad wedding, Elmer and Susan Ward moved out to their Arbon farm in May 1920, starting a life split between town and valley that the papers followed until all three of their surviving children called Arbon home.
From: Newlywed Elmer and Susan Ward move out to their Arbon farm ↗
View photograph ↗Pauline votes the League ticket as Arbon stays Republican
Under a foot of snow in November 1920, Pauline voted the Nonpartisan League ticket that ran its own Jack McCool for county commissioner, Arbon held to the Republicans, and Crystal’s returns tipped the county’s Senate count by a single vote.
From: Pauline votes the League ticket as Arbon stays Republican ↗
View photograph ↗Snow buries Arbon’s harvest, and the valley waits out a long winter
Snow fell on Arbon Valley before the 1920 threshing was done, and through a long winter the Arbon column of the American Falls Press kept track of the stranded grain, the families who left for town, the dances of those who stayed and a spring that kept turning back to snow.
From: Snow buries Arbon’s harvest, and the valley waits out a long winter ↗
View photograph ↗In six inches of dust, American Falls beats the Arbon Bears
For a few summers in the early 1920s Pauline, the Arbon Bears and the South Arbon Cubs played ball against each other and against American Falls, most memorably on a dust-deep diamond at the 1921 oil celebration.
From: In six inches of dust, American Falls beats the Arbon Bears ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon road district loses its cash in a bank failure as the big wheat crop rolls
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.
From: Arbon road district loses its cash in a bank failure as the big wheat crop rolls ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon post office moves to the Bailey farm, and nearly closes
In 1922 the Arbon post office left its building by the Central school for J. R. Bailey’s home and came within weeks of closing, the latest turn for an office that had followed its keepers since 1898.
From: Arbon post office moves to the Bailey farm, and nearly closes ↗
View photograph ↗In the 1922 thaw, Ed Snyder splits the Arbon mail route
When the spring thaw of 1922 left Arbon’s roads too rotten for a team, rural carrier Ed Snyder split his route with his stepson, part of more than twenty years the Snyders gave to the valley’s mail.
From: In the 1922 thaw, Ed Snyder splits the Arbon mail route ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon surprises Mrs. T. B. Evans, its telephone central since the start
In 1923 Arbon’s telephone patrons threw a surprise party for Susannah Smith Evans, who had kept the valley’s post office, store and switchboard, led its Red Cross and registered its voters.
From: Arbon surprises Mrs. T. B. Evans, its telephone central since the start ↗
View photograph ↗Oil rig beside the Arbon school draws crowds, then drills on for five years
In 1924 the Gem State Petroleum Co. set what was billed as Idaho’s biggest oil rig beside Arbon’s Central school, and for five years the valley watched it bore toward oil that never came.
From: Oil rig beside the Arbon school draws crowds, then drills on for five years ↗
View photograph ↗Lusk steps aside, and an Arbon pioneer runs for the county board
Perry Lusk of Pauline took the Arbon Valley’s seat on the Power County board in the Democratic sweep of 1922, then declined to run again in 1924, leaving the pioneer T. B. Evans to contest it.
From: Lusk steps aside, and an Arbon pioneer runs for the county board ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon Navy man Jesse Keeler buried at Pocatello with Legion honors
Four years after he went into a veterans’ hospital in Washington, Arbon homesteader and Navy volunteer Jesse Keeler came home to Pocatello for a funeral with taps and a Legion salute.
From: Arbon Navy man Jesse Keeler buried at Pocatello with Legion honors ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon’s former postmistress and mail carrier answer in federal court
In October 1925 the woman who had kept the Arbon post office was arraigned at Pocatello over $419.06 in missing funds, and the man who had carried the valley’s mail was fined $100 for turning mail sacks into grain bags and saddle blankets.
From: Arbon’s former postmistress and mail carrier answer in federal court ↗
View photograph ↗A Horse Island girl takes the school beside the Arbon oil well
In the fall of 1925 Lila M. Wade of Horse Island had charge of District 12’s school at Arbon Center, beside the oil well, and nearly seventy years later her obituary remembered her in Arbon’s one-room schools.
From: A Horse Island girl takes the school beside the Arbon oil well ↗
View photograph ↗Derrick falls at the Arbon well, and five men walk away
In 1926 the Gem State well at Arbon drew crowds, blew gas through its plug, was said to carry helium and lost its derrick; by autumn the company was in receivership.
From: Derrick falls at the Arbon well, and five men walk away ↗
View photograph ↗Jerry Hatch packs the Arbon mail through the winter of 1928–29
When snow closed the reservation road in the winter of 1928–29, carrier Jerry B. Hatch carried the Arbon mail on his back, and a Crystal woman rode the last miles home beside it on a mail horse.
From: Jerry Hatch packs the Arbon mail through the winter of 1928–29 ↗Family albums from Arbon
The families the valley map places in Arbon.

Arbon family
George Dennis Arbon, Joseph Nicholas Arbon, Joseph George Arbon and 1 more

Andersen family
Sophia Larsen Andersen, Andrew Andersen, Andrew “Otto” Andersen and 17 more

Bailey family
James Richard Bailey, Annie Leishman Kerr Bailey, Lorenzo Hawkins “Ren” Bailey and 2 more

Davis family
Edward Henry Davis, Esther Rebecca Arbon Davis, Edward “Eddie” Arbon Davis and 1 more

Ward family
Joseph W. Ward, Jesse Nicholas Ward, Julia Ann Moon Ward and 2 more

Bowen family
David John Bowen

Gibbons family
John Aaron Roby Gibbons

Payne family
John Henry Payne

Allard family
William Allard

Evans family
Thomas Bowen Evans, Susannah Smith Evans, Lorenzo Bowen “Ren” Evans and 4 more

Swim family
Frank William Swim, John William “J. W.” Butler, George Stahl Butler
Help put names to these pictures.
Many of these photographs still need names, places and dates. If you know who is in one, open it and choose “Help identify this photograph”. If your family keeps photographs of the valley, the archive would love to see them.