|
Oneida County was formed in 1864. The name, an Indian word for a member
of an Iroquoian tribe once in New York State, was chosen by the legislature
because some of the early settlers were from Oneida, New York.
Soda Springs was designated to be the county seat. Brigadier-General
Patrick Edward Connor had laid it out the previous summer, 1803.
With three companies of soldiers, and some families of Morrisites, he
established Fort Connor, and created the first hotel and general store.
However, treaties with the Bannock and Shoshone Indians in the fall of
1863 brought about by the presence of troops made travel along the Oregon Trail
safe for the first time. As immigration dwindled,, the strategic importance of
the military post declined. A bill
of the Territorial Legislature passed on January 5 1866 moved the county seat to
Malad City. For two years the
county government was maintained in the upper level of Connor’s adobe hotel in
Soda Springs.
The valley was visited between 1818 and 1821 by Donald McKenzie, a
French-Canadian, and his party of trappers associated with the Northwest
Company. Legend says that the name
“Malade” was given to the largest stream by some of these trappers, either
because they were made sick by drinking the alkaline water, or because they ate
food that was tainted by the water. The word is French for bad water, or
sickness.
Jim Bridger, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company may have passed through
the valley in 1832 as a guide to Captain Benjamin Bonneville. The first colonists to pass through, in 1885, were a group of
LDS missionaries going to establish Fort Lemhi. An early freight road crossed
the Malad valley and went to the Bannock valley, but after settlement began the
Portneuf rout was used by way of Marsh Valley.
Much traffic still continued to cross the Malad valley. One of the
best-known roads was the Oneida Wagon Road, from Malad to Blackfoot. It was
operated on a toll basis by William Murphy, and later by H.O. Harkness.
Old settlers still recall the bandits who repeated robbed the stage of god
being shipped to Salt Lake City from the Mines in Montana.
In 1854 the Waldron family, LDS converts from England settled the lower
valley, and probably helped in building the old Malad Fort near Portage, Utah.
However Indian hostilities around 1860 drove them back to Utah. No
further attempt to colonize was made until 1864, when seven men and boys from
Utah began to irrigated farming community where the present Malad City now
stands. Benjamin Thomas built the first house, made from willows and mud. His
son David was the first white Child born in the settlement.
By 1886 Malad City was the fastest growing village in eastern Idaho.
The first
Cemetery was on Hungry Hill, but was moved because it was polluting the water.
Early stores, besides that of Henry Peck, were operated also by A.W. Vanderwood,
Joseph W. Morgan, and the LDS Church. The building for the business of the LDS
church still stands to this day as the Evans Co-OP.
|
The Flood - The
collapse of the Deep Creek Dam
|
|
An Interview with Arthur Williams 1987 by Oren Jones
I don't know exactly when the
Deep Creek Dam washed out, April 1907, or 1908, but it was just before I
was married. My wife and I come down Saturday night to the dance.
 After the dance I took her home. I came back down that way when I
see water coming over the top of the dam.
I think a badger dug a hole, and
the water soaked through; it didn't go over the top. They said there
was two or three badger holes in the dam that was left. That's what
started it, a badger dug a hole in it. There was little streams of
water coming out. I rode over a little further. I knew it
would go out. I could see it was starting to crumble. I rode
down and woke up Aunt Ruth and Cy and told them it was coming. They
got out. they had a lot of pigs. I went on down. My brother
Sam had a broken leg and was on crutches. We got the cows and horses
out, but couldn't do a thing with them pigs. By that time here was
the water coming, so I got right on my horse and went down. I
stopped at Oliver Brigger's house. Ruth was living in the Tom
Brigger house. I woke them up. Ruth Richardson said Alec was over on
the creek gathering wood. I hollered on him to get out, the water was
coming. he just got out in time with the team and wagon. there was
so much brush it would backup and then break through.
I woke Will Henderson up. They had lots of
cows to get out. then when I got down to Dave Thomas, they were up
early milking and got their cows out of the corral, then went down all the
way, waking people up. 
When I got in the city, I met DL,
who was coming from his home to the old co-op store. As I rode down
the road he said, "Start hollering that the Deep Creek reservoir is
coming." When I got down to the big bridge by the Chivy garage,
right there I started hollering that the water was coming. You ought
to see the people running. They went way up on the hill there. It
didn't widen out very far. it would have done a lot more damage than
it did; it split in two parts; part went down the old creek bed, and the
other went straight down. If it had come at the same time, it would
have filled every store in town. It filled all the basements on the south
side of town anyhow. It was quite the thing all right.
 Building the Dam (above)
|
| Would you like to add something? Send it
to our web
administrator |
|
