Anna Hansen Hayes

              Dr. David L. Crowder Oral History Project
Anna Hansen Hayes - The Early Twin Falls Tract
By Anna Hansen Hayes
November and December 1, 1975
Box 1 Folder 48
Oral Interview conducted by Randy Stoker
Transcribed by Alina Mower and Maren Miyasaki November 2005
Brigham Young University- Idaho
[ The first five and a half pages are the narrator Randy Stoker paraphrasing what Anna Hayes says. He includes occasional notes to further explain the paraphrasing.]
Introduction and first question: Drytown, Spring town and ( unintelligible) were mining camps in Snake River Canyon near twin Falls. Men who had stores at Stricker Station moved their stores down into the canyon to serve the mining camp men with food, clothing and supplies. Men’s names were Robinson, Norton, and ( unintelligible). These stores prolonged the life of the mining camps. Pretty good business.
Three women “ camp followers” with “ not very good” reputations turned out to be pretty good nurses and saved many lives in the mining camps in the canyon.
Note: She had a book kept by the late John E. Hayes ( her husband) in which she hoped to find the names of the “ camp followers.” Often she refers to this log kept by John. I later found out that this book only contained some of John’s log. This book was written by Mrs. Hayes and several other writers.
Stores prolonged the life of the camp. Also stores made sure the miners got their money for their gold dust. They sent gold out-- “ quite a little trip.” “ It paid to an extent.” A few stayed on for quite some time.
Some people homesteaded farms down in the canyon. Quite a few, “ Little farms” ( refers to a list of farms in canyon in John’s log). Some made it a permanent thing.
Note: In looking for the list of farms, she ran across a list of every woman in this part of the country. These women asked the early surveyors to the “ Leap Year Dance” held at Karaki School. John E. Hayes was included. Women signed names Mips. instead of Miss. Some of which were Briggs, Dolquists, Sawyer, (* Stricker, * Niles,… from Rock Creek). The rest lived in mining Camps 1904. List from Edith Sawyer Hanson explains the book she has referred to ( I tried to get it but couldn’t). (* Twin Falls Territory Folk history)
She had met Mr. Frank Buhl and Mr. Kimberly ( early millionaires that loaned money to develop the Twin Falls tract, along with I. B. Perrine).
Perrine hotel first called the Kimberly hotel until townspeople of Kimberly decided they wanted their community named after him. Then Perrine got the honor he deserved.
Note: Where she says “ But those were just bare facts…” she was referring to the book I was looking at, at the time.
All transportation by horse or team. People who were settled rode bicycles.
Note: I had brought a calendar we had in our home which had some pictures of early Twin Falls in it.
Picture: Dating in 1904
Picture: Moving engineers from Oregon Trail Crossing; John E. Hayes. Picture: William Jennings Bryan many people crowded around to hear him speak. She tells of a personal incident due to Ruth Bryans ( William’s daughter) red shoes and outfit.
Picture: The day when all water in Snake River was held back for irrigation. “ Shoshone Falls Dry.” Many people flocked to the site. 240,000 acres of canal irrigated land. People came from long distances in long farm wagons and buggies.
Picture of dam ( Note: correction on back of calendar).
Put into canal system March 1st 1905. Water traveled a long, long way the 1st day.
All land except foothills utterly dry. Her father had a store at Rock Creek “ a very pleasant place to live.”
Note: She goes and gets a photograph album containing John E. Hayes pictures. She then describes pictures…
1. Mr. Hayes locating Twin Falls 1903 ( calendar).
2. Center of Twin Falls ( just sagebrush) 1904.
3. Same as previous.
4. Water tank by October, 60 school age children ( taps placed around town site, pipes distributed). People took good and bad water. There was no way of separating it.
5. Clearing sagebrush for streets. $ 5 acre charged for sagebrush removal.
6. The very first buildings were engineers “ shanty’s.”
7. More sagebrush removal ( calendar).
8. Gambling tables and etc. burned in the street 1905. Shows Sheriff ( calendar).
9. Railroad Day in Twin Falls 1905. A view of Perrine Hotel celebration. Railroad to Shoshone. Many people at Twin Falls at that time. New people had to live in tents or shanty’s some of corrugated iron due to lack of lumber. Railroad was much appreciated.
10. Mrs. Perrine Blossom Party ( calendar). Mrs. Anna Hansen ( Mrs. Anna Hayes now) was there. It was considered shameful to expose their legs.
11. Sign on West and South side of Twin Falls noting the Oregon Trail. Sign was made by John Hayes but was torn down and never replaced. Oldest pioneers Mr. Van England and Mr. Wilson.
12. Their first house in 1908.
13. 1st picnic. Mr. Waters, agriculturist for the Twin Falls land and water company. He planted trees as fast as he could. 1910 or 1912 Mr. McCollum secretary for Company.
14. Mr. Judge Hamilton who was the first lawyer (?). Mr. Addison Smith awarded for long service to community.
15. Picture of Mrs. Hayes sitting in large juniper tree at Shoshone Falls. These large trees later died when the water in Snake River was diverted onto the land.
16. Picture of Mrs. Hayes going on a hunting trip near Lake Cleveland.
17. Picture of ladies wearing men’s clothing. A very daring thing in those days.
18. Picture of old Red ( Red Burr) who lived upstream from the Perrine bridge, the very first man to settle in the area. He had a garden and he would walk up to Rock Creek to sell his produce.
19. Goats Springs ( Hot Spring). 20. Picture of Blue Lakes Grade. Once a big waterfall going over that the horses had to go behind. Most horses didn’t like it at all.
Many small farms in bottom of canyon. Gourley Farm just below where I live was started before the town of Twin Falls. Most farms were orchards in the early years. And they had no market for their fruit.
Mr. Perrine inspired many people to raise the fruit. In 1885 he came and started orchards which yielded prize winning fruit. He came with intentions to just grow grass hay for his horses and cattle in Shoshone where Hailey is now. Mr. Perrine was a good horticulturist. Here he found how rich the soil was. By 1900 he was famous for his fruit production. This inspired many to grow fruit. But soon there was too many and thus many had no market for their fruit. Mr. Perrine was the main promoter of the trout. He spent lots of time in cities such as Chicago getting people to settle in Twin Falls.
Settlers crossed river in row boats. There were ferries at Shoshone Falls 1880 at least or possibly in 70s to serve mines. Only place in the area to cross the river. Mrs. Hayes graduated from Albion State Normal in 1904. Then she taught over there for two years preparing to teach. “ The Normal” was established in 1894. There was an LDS academy at Oakley which was the only high school in the area. Many students wouldn’t attend due to the religious management.
“ The Normal” set up a plan for students graduating and teaching where they could teach those students who had no high school education and were planning to attend the Normal. The student teachers such as Mrs. Hayes prepared them for “ The Normal.”
John Hansen ( her father) had a “ checkered” career. He came from Indianapolis to Twin Falls for the sunshine. He had been very unhealthy with chills and fever. He got well in a single summer. He began working for a man named Iverson at Cottonwood. The stage ran from 1864 and he came on the stage. When fall harvest was completed he went to Oakley where there were a few farms and he got eleven children to come to his school which he organized at the Stage Station. The school house was merely a tack house where they kept the harnesses and had only a very small window in which they obtained light. Mr. Hansen usually left the door open to let the light in. The eleven students ranged from 6 to 19 years of age and only three had ever attended school before. The school operated until October when it became too cold to leave the door open. Mr. Hansen was again out of a job. Then some of the stage drivers told Mr. Hansen to ride the stage to Stricker Station ( 30 or more miles) and perhaps he could get a job there. Mr. Hansen because of his skill as an accountant had no trouble getting a job. Mr. Hansen accompanied Mr. Riblett on the surveys, after the planting was done. The older Hansen children kept the garden and household duties while he was out on the surveys. Mr. Hansen then came back home in the fall. One fall Mr. Hansen came home from the surveys and found a letter addressed to him. Mr. Hansen had been elected as County Superintendent of schools for Cassia County and stated that he must report to Albion by the first of January. Mr. Hansen was very surprised for he didn’t even have any idea he was a candidate or even that an election had been held. Mr. Hansen was a republican. In “ the next couple of years” Mr. Hansen became the auditor and recorder in the legislation of the county until he bought the school at Albion due to his health conditions. He then worked there for many years. Mrs. Hayes was born at Rock Creek while the family was residing at Cottonwood. She was born at Rock Creek because there was a midwife there, as there was no doctors in the general area. All medical and other services were not available and the mother had to take care of all medical problems ( Mrs. Hayes wrote her second book on the hardships the woman went through. It was called Buckskin Smoke). Mr. and Mrs. Hansen were the first white couple married in the county of South Central Idaho. Many men took Indian squaws for their wives but they usually had no wedding. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen were married in 1877 under a judge because no clergymen were available.
Mrs. Hayes wrote her first book on Hedvig and Lollie ( calendar picture). Hedvig and Lollie were two little Danish girls that came to America with their father ( Lawrence Hansen). They had lost their mother and their little brother. The two little girls of seven and nine and their father went to Indianapolis where they met Mrs. Hayes’ aunt Mary or Mrs. Hayes mother’s sister. Mrs. Hayes’ aunt married Lawrence Hansen.
Windows were not available in the early days so the people just put bars in the windows and covered them with muslin. Most cabins had dirt floors. Building material was very scarce and the only way to build was with logs. The early Mormons on the east side beyond Oakley and Elba were the first in the area to use bricks. Most men’s clothing and articles were available in the store but very few supplies for the women. Women used to put their foot on a piece of paper and trace her foot size and sent it away to such places as Sacramento. She explains the picture of Hedvig and Lollie ( calendar picture).
She tells of her train ride from Minidoka to Shoshone when she was eleven or twelve years old. She told me that she was going to Doctor Alby’s place. I asked her while turning the tape if doctors were very common or hard to find. She tells that more doctors became available as she grew up. The people tried the best they could to make their cabins a comfortable place to live in spite of the limited resources. People who had dirt floors had to water them down and sweep them daily. Mrs. Hayes however always had a wooden floor, which was considered quite aristocratic. She tells of the time when she was about four years old and a solar eclipse took place when she lived in Cottonwood. There was a scarlet fever in the family so Mr. Hayes put a big tub of hot water at the door so the family could watch it. She tells of the excitement and how the chickens went to roost and the cows came in when it grew dark. Mr. Hansen taught the children well about such things. She tells of a “ vacation” the family took in their wagon so they could watch the trains go by. All the early trains had to stop at Minidoka and get water. Mr. Hansen was always concerned with his family. He also knew English well even though he was from Denmark. He taught his family to speak good English and didn’t allow slang in the family. He lived to be about 70 years old. Early families heated their homes and cooked their meals by the use of a fire place. Mr. Hansen had to walk three miles to his job and would bring food home for the family. She tells of a big dinner they had for their first wedding ( 1877 Mr. Hansen and Mrs. Hansen to be). The people would borrow food such as potatoes in the spring and then would pay them back in the fall. Eggs were very scarce. She tells a story of how she went to Pat Garatie’s place to borrow some potatoes. She tells of the big meal and how they prepared for it.
She tells of the homestead laws. Her uncle Lawrence Hansen rode a hundred miles to Silver City the county seat to obtain his title to his land he homesteaded. Very little trouble with the law or Indians in that area. She tells of the first cheese factory at Cottonwood. Food such as cheese was welcomed by people traveling the Oregon Trail. She tells of an incident when the Indians stirred up over the Nez Perce War and were going through that area of Cottonwood when John and Anna were there. So it was unsafe and they were told to get all their belongings that were possible and leave and go to Ten Mile, a fortress in Utah. When they returned everything was burned except their cabin because the sun dial near it frightened the Indians because they believed the Sun God had something to do with this cabin. She tells of the time Judge Hamilton went to get a Christmas Juniper tree for the town and brought back a huge sagebrush. The sagebrush was put in the school that was built by October for the 60 children in Twin Falls ( calendar picture).
Deep dust in the streets, ankle deep. On 18th of December 1909 first hard freeze— the same night Mr. Hayes’ twins were born. They had the first house with electric heat and the transformer and their pipes froze that night. They were given first priority but there were very few plumbers and electricians. In the early times the horses were very scared of the first automobiles. Mrs. Hayes saw her first automobile in 1908.
Mrs. Hayes then notices a picture I have of her when she was on the intramural sports basketball team from the Albion State Normal School. She states that the Shoshone Ferry ( calendar picture) was mainly to aid the mining camps along the river. Later a ferry was put in near Thousand Springs in 1876.
Mrs. Hayes recalls seeing the huge sturgeon taken from the river when she was 6 or 7 years old and in primary school. She remembers that it was longer than a wagon box. When asked about the Diamond field Jack incident she kind of got off on a story she read in another book but she recalls seeing him in the Albion jail which she passed to and from school every day.
When I asked about Stovepipe Sam she knew very little but she showed me some of Mr. Walgamotts original books which was quite a neat experience. She showed me several pictures in the books some of which were the first wedding of John and Anna Hansen, and of Diamond field Jack. She recalled seeing the gallows being built and the incidents when the hanging was called off at the last minute several times.
I didn’t know I was supposed to write this word for word until now, so now I will start instead of writing all over. When asked about her schooling Mrs. Hayes says:
AH: Well I think mine were a little bit odd because my father had taught me to read and I read everything I could get my hands on and I could read anything. There were two rooms: the big room and the little room. They were the same size, but the big room was for the older children, and the little room was for the little ones. They didn’t like me in the little room because I read everything and I knew my arithmetic and all of these things so they put me in the big room. And here I was with all of these, some of them 18 or 19 years old, and both of my sisters were in the big room. I was quite charmed after I got over the timidity because that’s when I learned the beautiful thing of diagramming sentences and how they are broken down. Oh, I thought that was lovely. And long division, oh, I thought that was beautiful how all these figures set out. So I seemed to really get through okay even with these big children, because of my ability to read.
I was sent to Shoshone when I was about ten or eleven to take care of Doctor Alby’s baby and this was my first train ride. From then on I went to school in Shoshone and I would be in what we call now as being Junior High School. It wasn’t ever called junior high but you had certain kinds of work to do before you got to go to the high school. But I got into high school on the edge some way, I don’t quite know how. But I did graduate from Shoshone. Their system at Rock Creek wasn’t for me so I went to Shoshone. So I didn’t have the usual type of little children’s learning because I learned it before I was six. I had to learn, I made up my mind. Oh, there were letters on the kitchen stove and [ I] had to know how to read them. But that’s where I learned to read. I went to Rock Creek when I was five or so just to visit and the teacher had all the students gather around her, so that they could all be together. She asked me to go join the others. Pretty soon she asked me to go join the others. Pretty soon she asked me, “ Can you spell cat?” And I said yes, C- A- T, cat. E- L- E- P- H- A- N- T, elephant without being asked ya know, just a regular smarty. And the teacher was smart enough to just not pay any attention to it. She just went on with her lesson, but you see I had an advantage with a father like that that could answer almost anything or anything you wanted to know and this more or less distorted my education because I couldn’t have finished a four year course before eighteen if it had been a normal school. It wasn’t normal, it wasn’t normal at all.
< End of 1st Interview>
RS: This is an oral history. I am Randy Stoker and I am interviewing Mrs. John E. Hayes. The General Topic will be her life and memories of the early times. This is the 2nd recording I have taken and today is December 1st 1975.
I asked her to explain the story of the development of the Twin Falls Tract and what her husband and father had done to help it come about.
AH: Mr. Bickel was chosen to be chief engineer and John E. Hayes was his aid at Helena Montana, and they worked many surveys out up there. In fact, they were working on the border of the U. S. and Canada, together so when Mr. Bickel was called to be the chief engineer for the project he asked John Hayes to be his aid. So Mr. Bickel was asked to come to Twin Falls to look at the possibilities of the irrigation project, at Milner. He was asked to come in December of 1902 to see if the great sum of water could be directed onto the 240,000 acres. They had to make an agreement with the state of Idaho by January 1, 1903. And so when Mr. Bickel came down he asked John to come with him. They came about the middle of December or perhaps a little later due to the cold snowy weather. Mr. Bickel stayed long enough to get John started on the survey over across the river near Shoshone. The dam site was then called the Cedars because it had been surveyed before in 1902 as the Cedars. But at the Cedars he was to go with Bickel to help, but Bickel couldn’t stay for over a few days, due to work demand in Helena, and that’s why John did this initial survey at Cedars. It was later called Milner because Mr. Stanley Milner at Salt Lake was really the one who put this all together. John went ahead and Mr. Bickel came every few days to check on it. They were then ready by the 1st of January 1903 to have the conference with the state of Idaho. Because the land was Carry Act land. On January 1st the Twin Falls Land and Water Company met to decide exactly what was to be done.
At the conference it was agreed between them that there should be 3,000 second feet of water from the Snake River for the South Side of the Snake River and they also agreed that 400 second feet should be held for the north side of the Snake River. So the north side could have water for its 32,000 acres. Later on the north side acquired more water. So it was agreed ( correction January 4, 1903) that the land should be sold for 50 cents an acre. And the water for that land would be $ 25 an acre for their water right. This included the building of the dam, which was slightly more than a million dollars. It was settle with all peace that to prove ownership they were obliged to use water on one- tenth of the acreage they had bought and they must plant a crop and water it that crop and remain living on the land. Otherwise they could not file ownership of their land. This was mainly basic for the whole tract, because some of the people who were lucky enough to get their land in 1903 got to have a land drawing and then some of them were lucky enough to draw before the water got there on March 4th 1905. The whole project was then ready for use. A conference on March 3rd decided that the Land and Water Company would pay the engineers for the surveys and canal building. This closed the deal and prices for the land. The main canal would carry 4,000 second feet. And that’s a River! Of course it had to water 230,000 acres of land. The town of Milner was established in 1903 for the people working on the dam and canals. But the 1st thing done was to build a bridge at Milner.
< Interruption>
I probably should have said that the first land sale was in July 1903, but that one didn’t receive much sales, but in July 1904 at Twin Falls they sold thousands of acres. They drew numbers and if you drew an early number you could almost choose anywhere you wanted. So after many people had drawn, those who didn’t draw were then left over. And most got 80 acres, but most bought more land. Some farmers paid all their indebtedness with their very first crop and there was not one south side farm that failed. There were some who failed on the north side however.
When Twin Falls was just becoming a town I didn’t know John Hayes then, but I had heard from him most of the things. Mr. Hayes received a letter from Mr. Bickel while he was on the Oregon Trail Crossing at Rock Creek where he had his camp ( Calendar picture). Mr. Bickel told Mr. Hayes to go and find the metropolis for the whole area. And to do it as soon as possible, so John even used his Sundays working on it. And he arrived at this spot on August 3rd 1903. When he put down a flag at what is now Twin Falls City Center, Mr. Bickel reminded him that he needed a section 16 or section 36 for a school section. And John chose section 16 which was at a very picturesque spot on the edge of Rock Creek. And he wrote to Mr. Bickel and told him of how it would make a lovely lake if it was dammed off, and they could have boating and fishing and everything. But the people privately began buying this land and made fish hatcheries out of them. Mr. Bickel came and was pleased with John’s work, and thought the site was alright. Now the name Twin Falls came from the members on the Twin Falls Land and Water Committee or Frank Buhl, Mr. Kimberly, and Mr. Milner. And they were very eager to save that name because they were afraid someone would take it.
One night the daily stage driver of the stage between Rock Creek and Shoshone stayed at Rock Creek, and John was also there getting supplies when he overheard the stage driver say that there was going to be a town over there. John was very excited and stayed up and wrote Mr. Bickel a letter telling him of the news that someone was going to have a “ Twin Falls” where Kimberly is now approximately. When Mr. Bickel finally got the letter he was very upset so he sent out a rider to go to the camp near Filer and Buhl and get John to go to Blue Lakes just as fast as he could. There Mr. Bickel was waiting for him and told him that the town must be done at once because they could not afford to lose that name. There were two men who wanted to buy land down there, Mr. Detwiler and Mr. Day. It was quite a wild time. So they got these two men to help him hurry and lay out the town at dawn. They crossed the river by rowboat and climbed the perpendicular cliff canyon wall with all their instruments.