History Corner

‍Early Mesa people

Among the early developers at Mesa was Tom Green who was employed by Mesa Orchards when the trees were first planted.

Augustus “Gus” Keckler (born 1875) arrived in Idaho in 1910. It was said that he was “prominent in the development of the Mesa orchard.” He and his wife, Bertha, owned acreage and a home at Mesa.

Not long after 1910, William J. Brown and his wife, Elsie owned and operated an orchard at Mesa until 1960.

Clyde Rush came to Mesa in 1910 and purchased 40 acres there. In 1912 he built an 8 or 9-room “old English mission style” home for his family about a quarter mile west (and slightly north) of downtown Mesa. The house was ahead of its time, being wired for electricity and had indoor plumbing. He became somewhat of a leader among the orchard owners and was involved in management of the orchards to some extent. He moved to Boise in 1940 and became a civil engineer for the Interstate Commerce Commission. He sold his Mesa land sometime after 1942 and died in 1974.

Myderse Van Hoesen said: “ Jude Gray did excellent work in bringing the Orchard into production. He was before 1919 the Postmaster at Mesa, did all of the buying for the store and the numerous operating supplies for the Orchard, and sold and shipped the fruit. I recall that during this period the jack rabbit became and orchard pest, particularly in the winter when they would girdle the trees just above the snow line. Jude Gray started raising Beagle Hounds, as they could tire out and run down a jack rabbit, and he raised some prize specimen of Beagles. I can almost still hear them yelping profusely on a rabbit chase. I presume they scared to death about as many rabbits as they caught, but they kept them under control.”

1912

In April 1912, 97% of the Weiser Valley Land & Water Company was owned by five people: H. H. Harrison and James Gaunt of New York City; J. A. Wavle of Cortland, New York; Judah P. Gray of Mesa, Idaho; and David W. Van Hoesen of Cortland, N.Y. Van Hoesen was the President of the company, Gray was Vice President and General Manager, and C. K. Macey (formerly from Boise, now living at Mesa) was the Secretary/Treasurer. Van Hoesen, Gray, Macey, Harrison and G.L. Swendsen (an engineer from Boise) composed the Board of Directors. Swendsen directed much of the company’s construction projects and was said to have “planned and constructed some of the most important irrigation systems in the West.”

The company was still struggling to pay bond holders.

By 1912 another ambitious fruit growing effort was starting on the slopes north east of Council, east of highway 95 between Orchard Road and Mill Creek Road, which became known as the “Orchard District.” The power house behind this project, called “The Council Valley Orchards”, was C.E. Miesse (pronounced Mee-see) of Chicago. Miesse had been the president of the Weiser Valley Land and Water Co., but had resigned. Now, as president of the “Council Orchard Company” he was overseeing the planting of 17,000 peach trees, 2,000 pear trees, and the addition of 13,000 apple trees on land that a short time earlier had grown nothing but “sage brush, rocks and a tangled mass of shrubbery.”

The district developed rapidly, and soon had a population that supported its own school. The “Orchard School” was on the south east corner of the intersection of Mill Creek road and Missman road.

Since newly planted fruit trees would not yield a crop until they had acquired some degree of maturity both the Mesa and Council orchards adopted the successful practice of growing potatoes between the young trees. Asparagus was another crop grown in this way at Mesa. Asparagus plants kept sprouting up for years after the company had stopped planting them.

Continued next week

Guided tour

I’m a little surprised that more people have not purchased my guided tour of the Seven Devils Mining District and many places between there and Council. For only $10 you get half a day, or more, of being at the places where history happened, while I tell you stories about those places. It makes a great road trip when out of town folks come to visit.

It only requires a smart phone, a free app and then the purchase and download of the tour. No cell service is needed! As you reach each spot along the way, my narration of what happened there is automatically triggered. You can also use the “virtual tour” feature to listen to the tour and see photos of the locations without leaving home.

The tour begins at Council, goes up Hornet Creek to Bear, then through Cuprum, Decorah (site), Landore (site), past numerous mines, and ends at Sheep Rock, which has just about the best view of Hells Canyon that you can drive to. (If this spot is not on your bucket list, it should be.) Right about now the road to Sheep Rock should be just about clear of snow. (Check with the Forest Service if you go before July1st.)

The tour is for sale at the museum, or you can contact me. The best way is by email: dalefisk70@gmail.com.