Weiser City (Old Town)

When Weiser City was formed, it saw a quick building boom and the fast arrival of the ‘Wild West.’

On Oct. 2, 1879, the Idaho Tri-weekly Statesman reported: “Mr. Sol Jeffreys has donated five acres of land to Washington County, lying on the stage road on the banks the Weiser River, for the county seat of said county, and Mr. A.L. Rinearson has surveyed and platted the land. It embraces 16 lots and is laid out so that the lines run north and south, and east and west, with a street around the block 103 feet wide. It is a very handsome faced land and a pleasant location for a town.”

“Mr. Morehead is building a grist mill a little below the townsite which he will have in operation this fall. The area below and above the county seat has a large area of good agricultural land, sufficient for 100 good farms, and in less than five years it will all be taken up and improved.”

In April 1881: “Editor Statesman: Thinking, perhaps a few words from this point might be of interest to your many readers I send you this sketch: Weiser City, the county seat of Washington County, is finely located upon the classical banks of a small mountain river bearing the same name. Though boasting but a small population at present, it is certainly destined, at no distant day, to be a place of no mean importance, as it is surrounded by, and in the midst of, the finest agricultural country to be found anywhere within the boundaries of ‘The Gem of the Mountains.’ And when ‘the good time coming’ comes (the railroad and Iron Horse) Weiser City, if not the ‘hub of the universe,’ will certainly be second to no town in Idaho, except of course, your own Boise City.” In October 1881, little Weiser City saw a building boom, with a courthouse, schoolhouse and “several other new buildings in process of construction.” The town also experienced its first acts of violence that month, when “a shooting scrape” and the capture of a horse thief took place.

In February 1882, little Weiser City joined the ranks of other “Wild West” towns when John Smith shot and killed James Johnson in Cox’s saloon. The Statesman wrote that both the defense and the prosecution had written to Boise for the best lawyers available. Well-known Boise attorney Thomas Cahalan “went down on Sunday’s stage, but as both sides wrote him we cannot say whether he will prosecute or defend.”

In February 1882, Thomas C. Galloway wrote to the Statesman: “Our county contains in proportion to population as many pure, respectable, and intelligent men and women as any other county in Idaho, yet a few reckless and evil disposed persons have apparently ruined our reputation, made the execution of the law a farce, the security of life and the protection of property uncertain and brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. “True, we started wrong. Our county seat was located and the first election carried by fraud and free whisky; hence, many of the best citizens have been indifferent to sustain law or creating and fostering a healthy public sentiment, until now, feeling that the schemers have met their just reward, come boldly to the front and with one voice demand peace, order, and safety. They repudiate and denounce the acts of the lawless and refuse longer to be imposed upon by a few thugs living in Weiser City. All the assaults, drag-outs, knock-downs, dirk-carving and pistol practice of which we have heard so much, has been intimately connected with one or the other of the whisky mills in Weiser City.”

From Idaho Statesman – June 12, 2020