Harry Orchard Items at the Idaho Pen

A couple more items coming up from the depths of the blog picture section to now become regular posts. This way they can be more easily found using the archive listing or search tool.

This is the inlaid game board made by Harry Orchard while at the Idaho Pen. He had a lifetime to hone his skills doing such things. Those that he brutally murdered did not. This was shown to us during our November 2007 visit through the courtesy of Rachelle Littau, Interpretive Specialist with the ISHS.

If I remember Rachelle correctly, the shoe molds and leather were found down under the Idaho Pen in what I refer to as the "hole." It is suspected that they were used by Orchard to make shoes, a skill he developed during his long stay at the pen. Ironic that he would become a shoemaker , the same craft practiced by a number of Steunenberg's both in this country and back in Holland. Most notable was Will Steunenberg, brother of the governor, who had a shoe shop in Caldwell. Those were the days when shoes really were made in the USA. Whether Orchard's or not, these were an interesting find along with the game board. We appreciated the special showing arranged by Rachelle during our visit to the pen.