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.

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 hesitant 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 I started the blog over a decade ago and I do apologize for the many links that are no longer active and some formatting changes by Blogger that scrambled a few posts.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

Old Hams

W6WFV
William-Six-William-Frank-Victor (My Uncle Cal)
Silent Key Cal Steunenberg
Today we generally use the NATO phonetic alphabet, adopted in 1956. I remember Uncle Cal always using the Western Union phonetic alphabet. Of course, his radio days started well before 1956 (WWII in the Pacific) and continued well after. See: CQ, CQ, CQ

John's Call Sign: KJ6DOV
Kilo-Juliet-Six-Delta-Oscar-Victor (getting old in years but still a newbie to Ham Radio)

Getting the Message Through- A Branch History of the U. S. Army Signal Corp.

Current & recent history reads (not always up-to-date but will leave it here for now).

Current: The American West by Dee Brown.
Recently Finished:
Colonel Roosevelt by Edmond Morris
Desert Angels by Patrick Simpson.
Among those on deck:
Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour by Joseph Persico.
Been done a while:
The Corpse on Boomerang Road by Maryjoy Martin.
Pinkerton's Great Detective - The Amazing Life and Times of James McParland by Beau Riffenburgh
Guadalcanal:The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle by Richard B. Frank.
The Fall of the Philippines by Louis Morton. Too much like a textbook. Tossed aside.
The Pacific by Hugh Ambrose.
Flyboys by James Bradley.
I would recommended this to everyone to get a real sense of not only the heroism, but the horrible atrocities of war. Bone chilling in parts.
Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Leckie. A boot to beach account of the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific and the brutality of the Japanese Army (as instilled in them by their emperor & government).
Americans at War by Stephen E. Ambrose.
The Story of American Railroads by Stewart H. Holbrook.
Ghost Soldiers - The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides. I did it again! Buried this book somewhere and haven't been able to finish it off. Update: Found it, started over. Finished awhile back. A riveting account of the rescue of the remaining soldiers from the Bataan Death March that were left behind when the U.S. Military retreated from the Philippines. Yes, MacArthur did return but a unit of specially selected soldiers (what would become Army Rangers) slipped in behind enemy lines to extract the surviving prisoners and save them from further slaughter at the hands of the Japanese.

SOME PAST READS: (History Related):

The Bomber Boys: Heroes Who Flew the B-17s in World War II by Travis L. Ayres
Up front and personal accounts of the amazing B-17 crew members. Reads like a narrative that you won't want to put down.
The Rifle Story: An Illustrated History from 1756 to the Present Day. by John Walter. This is not an easy read though may be more so for those with a very good existing and broad knowledge of historical arms. I slugged my way through the technical aspects and found myself perking up when specific rifles and historical periods of greater interest were discussed. The book will remain a valuable part of my reference library for researching specific rifles.
Fire and Fury, The Allied Bombing of Germany 1942-1945 by Randall Hansen. The allied bombing of Germany that specifically targeted city and civilian centers was horrendous. This book traces the planning and carrying out of the bombing and differing views and struggles between the U.S. and British military authorities and politicians. Primary responsibility is placed squarely on the Brits for specifically planning and targeting civilian and historic city centers. The U.S. was certainly not immune from causing civilian deaths but had a very differing view. The U.S. strongly opposed the British strategy and instead carried on precision bombing raids (as precision as it could be in WWII) primarily targeting war supporting industries and not civiian centers (Berlin being an exception). I at least like to believe that to be the case.
The Triangle Fire by Leon Stein (here is a nice website at Cornell Univ about the fire & victims).
Done. Will move down to books list soon. A tragic and pivotal event that changed working conditions and labor history for the better depite continued resistance from controlling interests.
From the book:
"The idealistic stand of the shirtwaist strikers attracted new celebrity support from the far left. At a rally in Philadelphia, a thousand strikers heard from William "Big Bill" Haywood, the notorious leader of the Western miners' union, an advocate of violence to overthrow the capitalist order. "I tell you girls," Haywood said, "that the Western miners are hearty admirers of your courage and fighting qualities. And I assure you that if any of you want to get married, all you will have to do is insert an ad in Miners' Magazine." After the laughter faded, Big Bill turned serious. "For every girl that is slugged in this strike a cop ought to be sent to the hospital."
Jack Kennedy - Elusive Hero by Chris Matthews.
Mathews, unapologetically partisan on his news program, sets that aside in this view of the elusive Kennedy. Depends heavily (as it should) on Kennedy's most trusted insiders (Ted Sorenson, Ken O’Donnell, etc.).
The Outlaw Trail: The Story Of Butch Cassidy by Charles Kelly.
Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell (2011).
An American Requiem by James Carroll.
The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat by Earl J. Hess.
The Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges.
1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs - The Election that Changed the Country by James Chace.
Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium
by Dick Meyer (not exactly history but a comment on contemporary society.
Clarence Darrow for the Defense by Irving Stone. Continuing to dust off a few Darrow books.
Haywood Trial Transcript. I have read sections of it, opening/closing arguments, etc. but attacking the whole thing now since it is online. Don't like sitting and reading that long off the computer screen so debating about printing out over 5,000 pages!
Confederate Agent by James D. Horan. Can't seem to hook me in. Bored so far. Will put it away and try later.
Lincoln - The War Years & the Prairie Years by Carl Sandburg (I keep plugging away at this in between other books).
Resist Not Evil by Clarence Darrow. A quick read. Can't say as I disagree with Darrow but his view is a bit too Utopian, particularly in today's world. However, many of the principles remain very worthwhile goals but on a more realistic scale.
Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas. Doing another cover to cover read. Probably my third time through. Done. I have to say I enjoyed it as much or more and picked up many new bits of information that were missed before.
Easy Company Soldier by Sgt. Don Malarkey with Bob Welch. Unabridged audio book for listening in the car. Some amazing stories from a first hand account by Sgt. Malarkey. We don't teach enough of this stuff in schools or to all aspiring U.S. Citizens. Should be required.
The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer by Jeffry D. Wert. We all know about Custer's last stand at the Little Big Horn but this covers his whole life and particularly his role as a leader in the Civil War.
Band of Brothers - E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler's Eagles Nest by Stephen Ambrose
Way Out In Idaho compiled by Rosalie Sorrels. I'm reading song lyrics and & historical snippets. Singing a few too but not within earshot of anybody.
Why They Kill by Richard Rhodes (not exactly history but there is a connection). Now finished after losing the book for a few weeks. Happens at this age.
Nothing Like It in the World by Stephen Ambrose. An excellent history of the building of Central and Union Pacific railroads which opened up the West. The story of engineering feats, hard labor, greed and the race that ended in Promontory, Utah.
The Victors - Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II - by Stephen E. Ambrose. Although I can't forgive Ambrose for his failures to properly reference and quote other authors (after all we have Anthony Lukas as a standard), he still stands as an outstanding if not tarnished history writer and I do enjoy his books.
Dynamite-The Story of Class Violence in America by Louis Adamic. I finally found and purchased a very good copy at a good price of the 1934 revised edition, 3rd printing, May 1934. A great read.
The Big Burn-Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan. A reasonably quick but fascinating read about the beginnings of the US Forest Service, Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot and the fire known at the Big Burn or Big Blowup that ravaged Idaho, Montana and Washington
The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror by Beverly Gage. A sometimes lesser known event that was pivotal in the struggle between capitalism and labor. Several references to the assassination of Governor Steunenberg and of course Big Bill Haywood.

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