Albion Valley News

GFWC FOUR LEAF CLOVER CLUB NON-PROFIT PUBLICATION

Vol. XVI, No. 1                                              ALBION, IDAHO                                               FEBRUARY 2005

FOUR LEAF CLOVER CLUB

        The program for the January meeting of the GFWC Albion Four Leaf Clover Club was under the direction of the Home Life Committee.  Marcella Mahoney, chairman, introduced Leeana Hauser who in turn introduced Joye Simpson and Gina Sutton from Minidoka Memorial Hospital.

        Joye, director of the Home Health and Hospice for MMH, spoke about the different Home Care services available and their cost, noting that the cost is usually less than putting a person in a nursing home.  She stated that the trend is to keep a person in his/her home as long as possible.  Joye also explained that Hospice is care for a terminally ill patient.

        Gina, Hospice Volunteer Coordinator, discussed what volunteers can do in the program and the various skills that can be utilized.  She asked for volunteers from the club members.      

        Lorna Caliouette, president, presided over the meeting.  The Club Collect was led by Linda Leach and the Pledge of Allegiance by Carol Amende.  The minutes of the November meeting were read by Edie Fitzgerald, secretary, and the treasurer’s report was given by Linda Leach.  A thank you letter from the Mini-Cassia Shelter for Women and Children for the club’s recent donation was read.

        A membership drive was discussed.  Lorna has PSAs to take to radio stations.  Each member was encouraged to obtain one new member during the year.

        It was agreed to hold a fundraising breakfast and Easter Hat parade on the Saturday before Easter.  The hats are to be handmade and prizes will be awarded.

        Thanks were expressed by Lorna to the committees who were in charge of the annual Christmas dinner and program for the December meeting.  She reminded all committee chairmen that annual reports were due by February 1.

        Under committee reports, Gloria West  reported on the club’s community improvement project whose theme is Community Promotion.  She stated that there will be only one sign to be placed near the museum entrance sign on the campus.  The top part of the sign is to be done in two weeks, but will not be put up until spring.  The contracts for those businesses and organizations wanting to be listed on the sign are ready except for the maintenance fee which will be set after the cost of the sign is determined.

        It was reported that the upgrade work on the city park fountain had been completed and it will now flow all winter.  Landscaping is still to be completed.  Approval was given for the removal of a large cottonwood tree in the Memorial Garden.

        Under unfinished business, Saturday, January 29 was set as a work day to sew and stuff neck pillows for the Pocatello Veterans Home.  Marcella agreed to make Garbage Soup for the workers.

        Raising dues from $15 to $20 was discussed because the General Federation will be raising dues $1 per year for the next five years.  The proposed bylaws change will be voted on during the February meeting.

        The Club voted to contribute $250 towards the Asian tsunami victims relief and place collection jars around the community.  Gloria was to check into getting a business to match what is donated.

(cont. on page 2)

HISTORY OF ALBION IN THE PAST, V. L. Powell

STUFF DONATED FOR THE CAUSE

        KEITH & LORNA ROGERS found two early program books while cleaning out her parents house-"Idaho Territorial Centennial Celebration, 1863-1963" and the "Golden Anniversary of Cassia County Fair and Rodeo, 1910-1960." They donated them to the Museum and I will use the information and pictures for Albion History. Also, I have been collecting old rodeo programs & are hard to find.

        Lorna's mother, Leone Fisher, grew up in Declo.  She is a descendant of Hyrum S. Lewis & Harriet Hunsaker Lewis. He came to Albion with his parents, James Stapleton Lewis in 1875. Lorna's father, Louis Logan Jones, had a career in the U. S. Navy, and the family traveled with him.

        Sometime ago, Keith gave me an early report on the 'History of the Minidoka National Forest". Early Forest Rangers lived in Albion. The Forest Station for the "Albion Mountain Range" was where the Ross's lived. Merlin Stock -lived there, but prior to that Wallace S. AverIll was the Ranger, from 1932-1947, and lived where Bob Murphy lives today. It was the only house up there. (That reminds me Bob Murphy found an old lard bucket with Albion Meat Co. on the label & gave it to the Museum) In 1947, a dwelling owned by the forest service was moved from Shoshone to Albion; believed to be the house that was owned by the Rosses and now by Jennifer Friedrichson. We lived neighbors to that house, where the Gailey's live today, and around 1965 or 66, a helicopter landed in the yard, thinking it still was the ranger station--probably had an old map.

        In 1905 the Federal government established a system of forest reserve lands which included what was later called "Albion Mountain". The first ranger appointed for Albion Mountain was George H. Severe of Oakley, in 1907.

        The Report told of the abundance of food on the range at one time, but later it became evident the range was being overcrowded, coupled with dry years and hard winters.

        After the sheep were first brought into the country, the enmity between the sheep and cattlemen began to assert itself. In the middle '80's, a gunman shot John Blyth while the latter was herding a band of sheep near Keogh Bros.ranch on Raft River. Blyth-was left for dead but a boy found him and he was taken to a neighboring ranch where he recovered and lived until 1931.

        The report recounts the most "notorious court case" ever tried in Cassia County.  Cattlemen were attempting to enforce a 'deadline' on the West Cassia Division now known as "Deadline Ridge", west of which sheep men were not to graze their herds. . . .

        "The trial of Diamondfteld Jack climaxed the period of violent actions between the sheepmen and cattlemen and the cattlemen finally permitted the intruders, as they considered them, to range their herds without molestation." (Minidoka Forest Report)

        GEORGE AND JOANN KELLEY brought a box of newspaper clippings, pictures, cards, receipts, certificates & "100 Year Anniversary" publications that belonged to the Wheylands.  I learned about George Kelley's grandparents and great grandparents. Michael W. Wheyland was born in Salt Lake City in 1875 to James Wheyland & Charlotte Hoffines Wheyland. Mike's father was a business man in

Park City, Utah, coming there from Ireland when a very young man. He met a tragic death when Mike was 6 months old. His mother, Charlotte, met and married Louis L. Camp.  They came to Albion in 1883. Mr. Camp was a brick and stone mason and helped build several structures on the campus and in town.

        Mike Wheyland had 3 half sisters: Lottie Camp Brackenbury; Mrs. E. Lee Dewey, and Mrs. J. H. Price. He married Jessie Alcanta whose father was born in Mexico and came to Albion around 1880. They had two children, Perry Wheyland and Mary Wheyland Kelley, George's mother. She died when George was a baby and he was cared for by his grandparents until his father remarried. His father was George A. Kelley and grandfather was Sebastian Cabot Kelley who was married to Agnes Ann Bradbury Kelley. They came from Pocatello, homesteading in Albion in 1909.

        BENNIE SMYER called and reminded me that there was information about his family in the book "Bill Bailey Came Home;" and also the short history that his .mother Hattie Miller Smyer, wrote in the 1980's. Joseph R. & Mary Jane Miller Bailey & family which included Bill Bailey, came to Albion from Colorado in 1905. The Smyers descend from the mother's brother, Benjamin A. Miller.

        Others in the family were already living in Albion.  Hudson Butler and Elizabeth Butler Thompson, the children of Frances Bailey Butler Miller, by the first husband, had been writing and urging their mother & step father John Miller to come to Albion. (Doyle Butler comes from Hudson Butler) Bill Bailey said, "Dad's oldest sister, Frances, married mother's oldest brother John Miller."

        Benjamin A. Miller and Verdie Lee Rutledge Miller moved to Albion in 1907. "The 'White Front Restaurant & Livery Stable' in early Albion was managed by my parents, Mr. & Mrs. Ben Miller," Hattie Smyer wrote. ". ..where people traveling through Albion could have room and board and care for their horses."

        "While living there my father," she continued, "along with other men hauled logs from Howell Canyon area to build homes on the homesteads they had north of Albion what was known to us as 'Spring Water Canyon.' There were so many relatives on both sides of our families, we had a community of just 'kin folks'. . . . ."

        Hattie said she thinks it was the winter of 1918 or '19, when the flu was so terrible, they had moved to her father's mother's home located at the property later owned by Doyle Butler, but the house was torn down. .. "I had it (flu) first and recovered and was able to keep our wood stove burning and food cooked for the other five, not knowing when one or maybe more of them would die. A neighbor, Mrs. Smith saved my father's life as he developed pneumonia. I remember so well Tiny Snodgrass, a large handsome man who owned a hardware store. . he would come both morning and night to call and see how we were..." 

        Hattie and Ernest Smyer, were the parents of Bennie and Norman Smyer.

        The SUN DIAL, now displayed in the Museum was recovered lately by Randy Brackenbury- a large round marble stone that sat on top the rock structure between the Sr. Citizens & Museum. It was made & donated to the college in honor of the Albion students who served in WW I.

-Resident Deputy Sgt. Robert Nay reported that he had fourteen hours of patrol last month, wrote two reports, served eight civil papers, and had three hours of foot patrol last month;

-Chief of Police Bruce Bristol reported that he wrote twenty-nine citations and one report last month;

-Sharon Mills reported that the Albion Campus Foundation is moving along slowly with fund raising; she stated that they are visiting other cities and civic groups to obtain support;

-Mayor Danner gave each of the councilmen the architectural study report from INEEL, noting that it pointed our some issues that need to be addressed;

-the paperwork for the $50,000 Gem Community Improvement Grant from the Department of Commerce was reviewed and signed; it was noted that the next step is to obtain quotes on the work; it was announced that in February staff from the Department will discuss with interested parties long range strategies for fund raising for the campus property;

-Mayor Danner reported that two other groups are interested in the campus property, but he was not certain if they will submit written proposals;

-on behalf of several concerned citizens, Lee Woodland asked about what was happening with the city park in regards to restrictions being imposed by the Department of Parks and Recreation because of a grant from the department; she was informed that the issue would be discussed under new business;

-Councilman Don Bowden reported on several electrical issues with BPA;

-Councilman Kelly Forsgren reported that he had the culvert on West Street inspected and was told that it was not an emergency yet; the estimate to fix it was $30-50,000; it was noted that the city will try for a $100,000 transportation grant in November;

-Councilman Rick Mahoney reported that he and the mayor had checked with the Department of Water Resources about the city’s water rights and found them to be in order; he reported on quotes he received for piping the city irrigation water from the point of diversion, both in the old channel and cutting a new one in a straight line; he also reported about the progress on the Drinking Water Protection Plan;

-in discussing the Parks and Recreation grant for the playground, it was decided that the city needs to clarify just what the department means in regards to jurisdiction of the park; the council members stated that they want to keep both jurisdiction and the grant money, but will give up the money if keeping it requires the city to give up jurisdiction of the park;

-Attorney Kerry McMurray informed the council that only the portion of the Memorial Garden property with a clear title can by transferred to the city at this time;

-the mayor was authorized to sign the electrical transmission rate agreement with BPA;

-it was noted that there is no record of a job description for a part-time maintenance person;

-it was agreed to send Certificates of Appreciation to INEEL, ATC Communications, and the AIR Committee;

-a meeting of the Gem Community Action Team was tentatively set for Wednesday, January 26 at 6 p.m. in the Fire Station Conference Room; accomplishments in 2004 and proposed projects for the 2005 Gem Community Action Plan will be presented; the Plan must be forwarded to the Idaho Department of Commerce by March 1;

-it was noted that $40,000 has been donated towards renovation of the former Masonic Hall into a community center;

-it was agreed to supply a letter of support to the Albion Highway District regarding the application of magnesium chloride to unpaved roads in the valley;

-referring to a recent letter in the SIP regarding his not living in Albion, the mayor reiterated that he maintains a residence in the city, but that if his not living here is a problem he would step down; the council members were in favor of his remaining as mayor, noting the amount of hours he spends on the job;

-an executive session was held to discuss personnel matters.