History Corner

On October 25, 1876 two ox-drawn wagons slowly made their way up the roadless valley to the present site of Council. In one wagon was George and Elizabeth Moser and their three youngest children. Fourteen-year-old Emily drove the second wagon, accompanied by her brother, Anderson, who had just turned eleven.

Just after they crossed a small creek that ran between two small hills, the trail forked. They took the western fork that led toward the Weiser River. Around 200 yards along this trail, they found a suitable camping spot. This was about where the railroad depot would later be built, near the west end of Moser Avenue. They decided the place where the trail forked would be a good place to establish a home. The fact that much of the area was a jungle of brush indicated that there was good farm land underneath.

Winter would be coming soon, and there was an overwhelming amount of work to do in order to survive it. The family had a few groceries and 35 cents. Building a cabin and a collection of firewood for the winter was a top priority. Once those jobs were underway, George also found work at Indian Valley in order to buy winter food supply. Wild game added to that supply.

When the Mosers arrived in the Council Valley, there were a few single men living in the area. The best known was Henry Childs who lived a mile or so up Hornet Creek. One source indicates the presence of Dan Gage who lived somewhere toward the northern part of the valley, and a man named Vanderford some place south of Gage’s place. All three of these men survived, at least in part, by trapping.

It is because of Henry Childs that Hornet Creek got its name. According to one account, the summer that the Mosers arrived was a bad one for hornets. After one particularly bad hornet encounter that Childs had with these pests that summer, he apparently complained to his new neighbors, the Mosers. From that time on, the creek along which Childs had settled was called Hornet Creek. For a short time, the whole Council area was referred to as “Hornet Creek” since it was the location of the confluence of that creek with the Weiser River.

The Moser’s first cabin was erected just west of where the trail forked. Judging from old photos, it appears that they built a second cabin near the same spot. One of the measures the Mosers took for extra income was to house travelers who came trough on the trail, so a second cabin might have made more room for guests.

In one old photo, it looks like one of the Moser cabins may have stood right in the middle of what is now Moser Ave. This seems to be because the original westward fork of the trail angled northwest from the fork, instead of the way Moser Avenue now aligns east and west. The fork in the trail seems to have been right about where the northwest corner of the town square park is today. Subsequent roads (Hwy 95 until the bypass) and streets seem to have maintained the basic path of the trail and the fork.

The Moser homestead encompassed most of what would become the west side of Council, including the town square, Courthouse hill and the land on which the schools now stand.

Although copper had been discovered in the Seven Devils Mining District in 1862, the few claims that had since been filed were not being developed yet, so travel on the Hornet Creek branch of the trail was probably relatively infrequent. The northern fork continued to be heavily used by pack trains supplying the gold fields near Warren.

According to William Shaw: “The Mosers had the first stove in Council Valley. Used to cooking in a fireplace, they had no idea how to use a stove. Mr. Moser built a fire in it – in the oven. Of course when the oven door was closed, the smoke poured out, filling the cabin. Sure that this was not the thing to expect, Mr. Moser turned to his wife. “My God, Mother, get the children out. She’s gonna’ ‘splode!”

After surviving that first winter of 1876 – 77, the Mosers established a garden. One of the vegetables they planted was a set of small cabbage starts. After planting them, they propped up a few boards to shade the tender young sprouts from the hot sun.

By early summer 1877, a few other settlers arrived to make homestead claims in the Council Valley.

One day in June, mail carrier Edgar Hall came riding down the north fork of the trail with alarming news. The Nez Perce Indians had murdered settlers along the Salmon River, and it was feared that the hostiles would come south and kill every settler they encountered.

The Mosers gathered a few personal items and fled south to Indian Valley for safety in numbers. It would be interesting to know if they took their livestock, or if they were left to fend for themselves. At Indian Valley they found panicked families gathered at postmaster William Monday’s house. Before long the settlers built two forts in the Indian Valley / Salubria area where they spent much of that summer anticipating a murderous attack at any moment.

The settlers sent a letter to the Territorial governor, Mason Brayman, asking for guns and ammunition. George Moser was one of the men who signed it. In part, the letter said:

“We the Citizens of Ada County Weeser + Hornet Vallies do Request that Immediate assistance be Furnished us in the way of Arms and ammunition. Our last Mail brings us the Intelligence that the Indians have murdered 14 of our citizens on Salmon river and have made threats against this Portion of our Country + we know not what Hour they will be upon us.”

Among the 27 men listed in the letter as having guns were Zaddock Loveless, Wm Lovelace Loveless, George Moser, Robert White, James Harrington, and Wm R Ryal Harrington. Most of these were listed as living at “Hornet.” Other men were listed who would soon settle in the Council area, or would play a roll in its future: Thomas Price, Rufus Anderson, Calvin White, Andy Kesler and Andy Bacon.

Also among those gathered at Munday’s house was the family of Alex and Martha Kesler, and Alex’s brother, Andrew (listed as Andy Kesler). They had arrived in the Salubria Valley about a year earlier, and would soon move on to the Council Valley.

Continued next week.

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