Bank Note from the First National Bank of St. Anthony & signed by A.K. Steunenberg, Pres.

I am tossing a few items up on the blog this morning that I have been holding off on with the intent to include more details and facts. However, the demands and stress of work, my mothers illness and other life issues have drained my time, focus and energy a bit. As I have been doing recently, I will post these items and come back and fill in more details later as time allows. Click on the pictures for enlarged and clearer views.

Saint Anthony, ID - $10 1882 Brown Back Fr. 490 The First NB Ch. # (P)5764
A very scarce bank which issued large notes only, with this $10 Brown Back new to the census. It's quite well worn, but fully intact, with decent color for the grade and clear pen signatures. Any Idaho Brown back is a rare item indeed (the census lists just six $10 Brown Backs extant from the whole state, with this the first reported from St. Anthony), and, despite its Very Good grade, it should realize somewhere in the neighborhood of...

--From Heritage Auctions

It sold for$4887.50 in 2005.

I posted a small pic of the above note over in the left hand column sometime ago but want to get this larger version posted too for better viewing. This was courtesy of our friend Greg Davis and his very interesting website, Idaho National Bank Notes. No, this one is unfortunately not in Greg's collection but he has a scan of it from the online catalog of Heritage Auctions. The above example was the first bank note that I had seen with A.K. Steunenberg's signature. We often talk about the Caldwell Bank & Trust founded by A.K and Frank Steunenberg but have not explored to any great degree the other banks in which the brothers, and mostly A.K., had a hand. This one comes from The First National Bank of St. Anthony.

Al Steunenberg (grandson of A.K. Steunenberg) has a $5 bank note, also from the First National Bank of St. Anthony and signed by A.K. It is stored away in a box and we are going to see if we can't rustle it up sometime soon and get a few scans. I will probably be urging Al to get the note out of the cardboard box, conserved, maybe have Greg give us an appraisal and get that baby locked away in a a nice big safe! The best I can do now is this old photocopy below that was recently found among Steunenberg papers at the COI Archives.



From Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas
Continuing on page 38….
“In 1894 as well, A.K., with John Rice, James Ballantyne, and others, founded the Commercial Bank. A decade later, when Frank was brought in as president, it became the Caldwell Banking and Trust Company. Spurred by A.K.’s zeal, the brothers established other banks in St. Anthony, Paris, and Glenn’s’ Ferry, Idaho and in Wallowa and Vale, Oregon, which eventually yielded the governor banking stock worth $12,000.”
--Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas

The McDaniels moved to Ontario in 1904 but came back to Wallowa to establish a bank . He was associated in business with Ex Governor of Idaho Frank Steunenberg of Caldwell (my understanding is that A.K. served as bank president. jr). Mr. McDaniel was the cashier and the bank was chartered and opened on November 23, 1905. It was called the Stockgrowers and Farmers National bank. It had an original capital of $20,000, but soon acquired a surplus of $60,000 making it the largest bank in the county.
From Wallowa County, Oregon (C.T. McDaniel)