An ever-shifting history

Nov. 13—In 1864, the gold mining town of Florence in southwestern Idaho County had peaked with a population of about 9,000 and its heyday as a gold mining mecca had begun to fizzle.

Newcomers were moving in, bringing with them women and children. In an attempt to shed its image as a lawless Western outpost — and being the county seat at the time — the citizens of Florence decided to organize a school.

That was the beginning of nearly 160 years of education in Idaho County and, because of its sprawling geographical size and remote communities, school systems throughout the county have shifted shape many times.

The school laws of the Idaho Territory were modeled after those in California and went into effect in 1864. These laws provided for a state superintendent and county school superintendents. They also provided for districts having an assessment roll of $150,000 or more to become independent with the power to handle their own school business.

The duties of the school board were to provide a schoolhouse, set the term, employ a certified teacher and set the school levy, which could not exceed 10 mills, which is a tax of one or more tenths of a cent on each dollar of assessed valuation.

The school at Florence was the first in Idaho County. Up until then, according to an early pioneer: "The town was filled with the worst element of the Pacific Coast and thieves and gamblers from the East. The saloons and gambling houses were wide open night and day and a man was killed nearly every night."

By the end of May 1862, vigilante committees and public opinion had reduced the amount of lawlessness. The newer arrivals had brought with them wives and a few children.

Maj. Frank Fenn, son of one of the first trustees elected for the Florence school district, recalled the school's beginning:

"It was necessary to provide a schoolhouse and engage a teacher. The first was easy but the second was difficult. There were many people in the camp competent to serve as teacher but all were bent upon gold mining and refused to quit the game for the less alluring occupation of school teaching.

"Mrs. Statira E. Robinson (the wife of a Florence businessman) ... was a professional teacher and the trustees decided that she should be the instructor in the new school."

The miners of Florence took up a collection to pay for Mrs. Robinson and her two young children to travel from their home in Ohio to Idaho — a trip routed from the East Coast through the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco, and from there by water to Portland, Ore., and on to Lewiston. There the Robinson family rode in a wagon to Mount Idaho and from there to Florence by saddle animal, a distance of about 30 miles.

The next school to be built was at Mount Idaho, 6 miles southeast of the present town of Grangeville, in 1867. The school began in an old log building in the town and was followed by rural schools springing up throughout the county as pioneer settlers built their homes and worked their homesteads. Townships developed schools as their communities grew.

In 1888, there were 18 regular organized school districts in the county with 660 children enrolled. Public money for county schools totaled $2,070.78.

By 1901, it was reported that there were 3,061 school children and 62 organized school districts within Idaho County. Six of these districts employed more than one teacher: Grangeville had eight; Cottonwood, three; Denver, Mount Idaho, Stuart and White Bird employed two each.

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Funding for the early schools came primarily from tuition paid by the parents of the students. It was not uncommon for the tuition payment to be made in farm produce or room and board for the teacher.

Donations of lumber, hauling, other labor and grounds also were often contributed. Since there were sawmills at Westlake, Keuterville and Grangeville, schools there were usually built with lumber, not logs, as had been the case with earlier schools.

To raise money for windows, hinges or a bell, the women of the districts often held dances or basket socials. Students usually bought their own books and pie socials were organized to earn money to buy extras, such as a globe and maps.

In 1874, Sue McBeth, a Presbyterian missionary, arrived in Kamiah to prepare Nez Perce men to become ministers. She briefly left the area during the War of 1877 and returned two years later with her sister, Kate McBeth. They opened a school for women designed "to lift the standards of all the women." In 1885, Sue McBeth transferred to Mount Idaho and taught Native American students until her death in 1893.

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Religious schools also were established in the county. Catholic schools were built in Keuterville, Cottonwood, Greencreek and Grangeville. Historical records indicate that the private religious schools and public schools worked together cooperatively.

Religious sisters from what is now the Monastery of St. Gertrude moved to the area from the motherhouse in Colton in 1905 to open a Catholic school for the children of area settlers.

The Camas Prairie Chronicle of Cottonwood reported on Dec. 8, 1905: "The Catholic sisters' school opened here Wednesday morning with an attendance of 54 students. This is the first sisters' school ever opened in Idaho County and under proper conditions we can expect to see it enjoy exceptional growth in the next few years."

In 1927, St. Gertrude's opened a boarding and day school, which eventually became St. Gertrude's Academy. It operated until 1971 when the building that is now Prairie High School transferred to the public school district and the sisters closed that chapter in their ministry.

In 1877, the Rev. J.D. Flenner, representing the Columbia River conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, came to Grangeville to start a church and an academy. A former rural school at the Aram ranch consolidated with the academy "and both worked together in harmony for the cause of education," according to Idaho County history.

"When the funds accorded the public school as a district school became exhausted its students had recourse to the academy. At one time the same teacher worked at both institutions."

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By the 1920s, Idaho County had 82 common school districts and three independent ones. In 1948, the Idaho Legislature passed a School Reorganization Plan that consolidated many of the rural schools and established the same number of mills for each district throughout the state.

Reorganization was completed in 1956 and the first division of funds was made. School District No. 242 at Cottonwood formed in 1954. The remaining schools of the county were collected into Joint School District No. 241 that included schools in Grangeville, White Bird, Riggins, Elk City, Kooskia and Powell.

But rivalries and resentments have always run high in the cobbled-together district, with talk of secession going back decades. In 2007, Riggins and White Bird made good on their threats and split off to become Salmon River School District No. 243.

Salmon River's departure from what was left, which is now the Mountain View School District headquartered in Grangeville, was an emotional undertaking. When voters in Joint School District No. 241 went to the polls in November 2016 to decide the fate of the deconsolidation, the proposal passed with 69% in the overall district and 72% in Riggins.

The following April, Salmon River patrons passed a $515,000 levy for the new school district with 76% approval.

Now the Mountain View School District faces another possible hurdle. The district, which currently includes schools in Grangeville, Kooskia and Elk City, has had chronic problems persuading voters to support levy proposals.

Recently there was a proposal to split Kooskia and Elk City from the Grangeville-based district and realign with the Kamiah School District. The rationale is that the schools along the Clearwater River have more in common than with the Camas Prairie. The distance from the Kooskia schools to Grangeville is more than 20 miles and only 8 miles away from Kamiah.

A configuration of Kamiah-Kooskia-Elk City would create a school district more even with the size of the Grangeville schools, supporters say.

But it's far from certain what the outcome will be. School boards in Kamiah and Mountain View will discuss the proposal within the next month and forward petitions asking for the deconsolidation to the Idaho State Board of Education.

Eventually it will become the voters' call.

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Sources: "Pioneer Days in Idaho County"; "Idaho County Voices — From the Pioneers to the Present"; Idaho County Free Press; Lewiston Tribune.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.