Idaho Meanderings

This blog contains history, photos, etc. related to Idaho from the late 1800's/early 1900's. My mother, Brenda Steunenberg Richards, was born in ID. Much of it pertains to the assassination of my great grandfather, Gov. Frank Steunenberg, the trial of Bill Haywood & grew out of the 100 year commemorations of those events. Along the way I toss in a bit of the Wild West, old guns, radios, military, etc. Your comments are welcomed. If using my images, please just ASK. Thank you.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

2007 Blog Flashback - Governor Steunenberg Commemorative Medal & other items circa 1900

As I wind down on the 8th year of this blog, I am going to start going back to the beginning and do an occasional flashback of interesting items that may have become buried and forgotten.

I haven't discovered and recovered any significant family specific items such as these since 2007. A significant and very pleasant surprise at the time. Let's take a look back.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Never Know What Might Pop Up On eBay

All of the items mentioned below on my blog were purchased by me as a lot on eBay.

In Memoriam - 1/3/1906

The Idaho Magazine - 2/1906

Steunenberg brothers cabinet photo

Four letters from Harry Orchard

Commemorative medal given to my great grandfather in 1900

I find a lot of items related to our family and Idaho history but to find these personal mementos that at one time belonged to my great grandfather, great grandmother and their children was quite a surprise. Typically items such as this would have been retained and preserved. I suspect these got separated somewhere in the course of death, divorce, relocation, estate sales and perhaps even theft. I am always saddened when I see things of a very personal family nature going to the highest bidder and was afraid the same was going to happen here. Love it or hate it, eBay is now the world's garage and estate sale and anything is possible. I had to pay a price but was delighted that I was the high bidder on this one and these items were able to find there way back to the family.

As a side note, many of the documents related to the Steunenberg administration and Coeur d’Alene mining issues are at the College of Idaho archives.

Other sites of interest include:

If you haven't been to the site yet, your will want to check out Assassination: Idaho's Trial of the Century. (Many more links of interest are listed here under "resources"). I recommend supporting public television by purchasing the DVD of the program. It was a lot of fun to contribute and I even got a few seconds of on screen fame!

Idaho Legal History Society (some repeats from my blog). The logo you see is of Governor Steunenberg.

Bill Haywood Trial

Idaho State Historical Society

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Idaho Meanderings Update

Although still posting and checking this blog from time to time, I am not as active as I was in its earlier years. I have ventured out a bit into some Facebook History groups but will have to see how that goes. The jury is still out. However, please do not hesitate to comment, contact me directly or to pass along historical notes of interest. I started the blog over a decade ago and I do apologize for the many links that are no longer active and some formatting changes by Blogger that scrambled a few posts. I try to update pages when I am linking or utilizing them for other sites but correcting every link is a near impossible task. Enjoy the history.

GUNS, WARS, MILITARIA, WILD WEST, GUNSLINGERS

Lawmen (?). Guarding/ protecting the star witness.

True West. "A Case for Murder" "Mass bombings, revenge and labor upheaveals come to a head at a murder trial 100 years ago"-Mark Boardman
The West. The Regeneration of Harry Orchard. Oct. 1969
The American West. The Bomb at the Governor's Gate. Winter 1965
The American West. Portrait for a Western Album-"Big Bill" Haywood: Champion of Western Miners. Sep/Oct 1979
Old West. The Middle Years of Bob Meldrum. Spring 1970
Frontier Times. Wyoming's Mysterious Badman (Bob Meldrum). Winter1961
Frontier Times. Martial Law in the Coeur d"Alene. Nov. 1971
American History Illustrated. The Lion & the Fox-The Story of the Big Bill haywood Trial. April 1978
American Heritage. Shootout in Burke Canyon. Aug. 1971

Hallicrafters S-40A

QUOTES

"If you destroy the labor unions in this country, you destroy liberty when you strike the blow, and you would leave the poor bound and shackled and helpless to do the bidding of the rich."
Clarence Darrow

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."
Robert F. Kennedy

"History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days."
Winston Churchill