Monthly Archives: August 2024
Sometimes, towns get their names in unusual ways. That is exactly how the town, now ghost town of Bayhorse, Idaho got its name. In the Yankee Mining District, about 40 miles east of what would later become the boom towns of Bonanza and Custer City. Bayhorse was founded, a bit unconventionally in 1864, when a few small gold veins were found, and a small camp began. That all seems normal for gold strikes, but from that came an unusual tale of how the settlement came by its name. The most popular story is that area prospectors met a miner digging between Clayton and Challis with the help of two bay horses. That doesn’t seem unusual either, but when asked who the miner was, they couldn’t remember the name, so they said, “The man with the bay horses.” The name stuck.
The actual date of the founding of Bayhorse is recorded as 1877, although active development of the town did 
not begin until 1880. While Bayhorse stared out as a gold mining town, the gold was really not the mainstay of the town. Though prospectors continued to comb the area for the next several years, sometimes finding small amounts of gold, it wasn’t until 1872 that the Bayhorse area began to attract numerous miners. Then, three men by the names of WA Norton, Robert Beardsley, and JB Hood discovered a rich vein of silver, and the focus of the town shifted.
In 1882, the town increased its smelting capabilities, and soon began producing $300,000 worth of silver over the course of the year. That figures out to $9,240,441.18, in 2024. The town had grown to 300 residents by 1885, and the town had a mill, three stores, a hotel, a restaurant, a meat market, a lodging house, and five saloons. I always find the number of saloons to be rather comical, though common. That same year, the town built a refinery, which allowed the mining industry to issue silver bars. By 1900, the town had extracted over 
$10 million in total ores, including silver, lead, and copper. That amounts to $308,014,705.88 today.
In 1976, the entire community was added to the National Register of Historic Places, making it officially a ghost town. In 2006, the town property was purchased by the state of Idaho and opened to the public in 2009 as part of the Land of the Yankee Fork State Park. The ghost town has several preserved ruins of houses and mining equipment that are still visible on the main dirt street. There are also charcoal kilns that are still intact, that were used to make charcoal to smelt the ore from the mines. In all, it’s an interesting little old ghost town.
The Abenaki people were a tribe of Indians with a number of names…or at least meanings for their names. They were also known as the Abnaki, which was pronounced OBB-uh-nah-kee. This people spoke Algonquian, and called themselves Alnôbak, which meant “Real People.” That was probably the closest to describing the actual essence of the people. Another version of their name was Abenaki, which means “people of the dawn.” The Abenaki were a linguistic and geographic grouping, rather than a single tribe, which would explain the various meanings of their tribal name. The Abenaki people were made up of numerous smaller bands and tribes who shared many cultural traits. The Abenaki people called their homeland Ndakinna, which meant “our land” and extended across most of northern New England, southern Quebec, and the southern Canadian Maritimes.
While the Abenaki people included a number of tribes, they were classified into two geographic groups, the Western Abenaki and the Eastern Abenaki. The Eastern Abenaki population was concentrated in portions of New Brunswick, Canada, and in Maine, east of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Some of these tribes included the Kennebec, Maliseet, Penobscot, Ossipee, Mi’kmaq, and the Passamaquoddy. The Western Abenaki lived in the Connecticut River Valley in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Some of those tribes included the Pennacook, Pequawket, Sokoki, and Winnipesaukee.
Before the entrance of the Europeans, the Abenaki (excluding the Pennacook and Mi’kmaq) were estimated to have numbered approximately 40,000 people. Unfortunately, when they came in contact with the Europeans they were exposed to numerous diseases and ailments such as typhus, influenza, smallpox, diphtheria, and measles, and with no prior immunity to these things, these outbreaks often resulted in a 75% mortality among the tribes.
Those things didn’t slow down the immigration, and as the settlers continued to populate New England, many 
of the Abenaki retreated north into Quebec, Canada. The ones who stayed decided to join with the Wabanaki Confederacy to fight the European encroachment upon their lands. This brought them into a total of six Indian Wars, including King Philip’s War from 1675 to 1678, King William’s War from 1688 to 1697, Queen Anne’s War from 1702 to 1713, Lovewell’s War from 1722 to 1725, King George’s War from 1744 to 1748, and the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1763. These long years of war and disease, took a heavy toll of the Abenaki people, leaving less than 1,000 Abenaki remaining after the American Revolution. The descendants of those 1,000 Abenaki people live on two reservations in Quebec and are scattered around New England.
My grandniece, Elliott Stevens is six going on sixteen, and she loves riding anything with a motor. Recently, she drove her Papa Mike Stevens’ ranger at the lake over the Independence Day fun. She didn’t want to get off. She was totally in her element. She regularly drives her dad, Garrett Stevens’ 4-wheeler with him, and she drove Papa Wes Smiley’s 4-wheeler last weekend. Of course, her daddy or one of the grandpas are with her, but make no mistake, Elliott is the driver. She wouldn’t have it any other way. She always wants to drive Garrett’s truck on dirt roads. Elliott may have ten years left before she can get a license, but she can drive now!!
Driving isn’t the only grown-up thing Elliott likes to do. She is really getting into tech stuff too. Like most kids these days, Elliott is very good at the challenging games on her tablet. She is very smart. She loves her school which is a self-directed learning center called Wildflower. She is flourishing there!! Elliott is very mature for her age and understands more than she should for a six-year-old. 
Elliott is the best big sister. Sometimes it’s hard for her, because her little sister, Maya looks up to her so much and Maya will do anything Elliott will do, and Maya will do it way more than Elliott. That means that anything Maya imitates that Elliott has done, needs to be a “good example” rather than things done in anger or impulse. Hard as it can be sometimes, Elliott tries to set a good example for Maya, and that can be a big responsibility for a six-year-old girl. For the most part, Elliott is a good example, and she is the guiding person for Maya…even more so than their parents, Garrett and Kayla. Maya absolutely loves Elliott, and Elliott is her role model, whether Elliott means to be or not. Elliott has also been a great help in the tasks they have been doing recently to get our house fixed up, so they can sell their home. Elliott is her daddy’s little helper for most tasks. She is a little girl, and her “help” does slow Garrett down a little, but he tries to have the patience to let her help and learn. She is so interested in everything, and she will learn with patience and practice.
Elliott very much into gymnastics. She has gymnastics class every week, and she also has a bar at home. After 
watching her “hero” Simone Biles perform at the Olympics this week, Elliott couldn’t stop doing gymnastics tricks. She has liked Simone Biles for a long time. She even did a school project on Simone last year. After Elliott watched some highlights last night, and she was bouncing all around doing hand stands and stuff. Her parents thought it was so funny. She was talking about Simone Biles with her mom, and she said, “She is the best in the world, but the smallest one on the team!” Yes, she is, Elliott. Today is Elliott’s 6th birthday. Happy birthday Elliott!! Have a great day!! We love you so much!!
When someone reaches a landmark birthday, like the big 7-5, I guess it’s up to them what kind of a celebration they want to have. Some people want a big celebration, while others like my brother-in-law, LJ Cook, didn’t want a lot of pomp and circumstance or even gifts. His daughter Susan Griffith says that for her dad, that makes sense, because she can imagine he has everything he’s ever wanted at this point, which is where we all hope to be someday. Susan doesn’t think her wants will ever end, but I’m sure they will.
Over the years, LJ, like most peopke his age, has accumulated many life stories to pass on to his kids. It is a 
parent’s job to teach their kids about values, life, relationships, and family history. LJ is getting very good at that. He still has many stories his girls, Machelle Moore and Susan Griffith have never heard before. Of course, after 75 years of life, some of them are pretty “colorful” and maybe not fir publication. Susan has noticed that the older version of her dad seems to have lost his “filter.”
Many people, as they get older, tell people exactly what they think. Something most of us would like to do at times, but he is to the point where if they are doing something he doesn’t like, they simply need to be told about it. He’ll tell anyone exactly what they need to know, in no uncertain terms. Of course, people aren’t always open to that one. He likely tells my sister-in-law, Debbie Cook things she wishes he wouldn’t either, but then I think most men do that, especially as they get older.
LJ and Debbie have enjoyed camping for many years and have taken many trips. They especially love the Big Horn Mountains, near their home. Debbie tells me that once when they were camped at their favorite spot, they were watching the elk all afternoon. Debbie told LJ that it looked like the elk were getting closer and closer. They were in the airstream camper, and the elk couldn’t figure out where the shininess was coming from. Of course, it was the siding on the camper The elk just kept getting closer and closer. It was such a cool thing, and even when it was dark, they could still see the elk moving around. Those are the kind of days you just treasure forever. Today is LJ’s 75th birthday. Happy 75th birthday LJ!! Here’s to many more. Have a great day!! We love you!!
My nephew, Sean Mortensen is an extraordinary sportsman. He excels at everything from boating to snowmobiling, and he has taught his daughter, Jadyn Mortensen, and partner, Amanda Reed to do these things too. They are fearless people, and very capable in almost any sport. While he enjoys water sports in the summer, I think that he rather prefers winter sports. To Sean, there is little that compares to landing in a blanket of deep powder with the snowmobile he just raced up the hill. Of course, there is more to such activities than that, because if a racer doesn’t know what is under that powder, he could get hurt. Now don’t ask me how they stay safe, because I don’t know and maybe they don’t know either. Maybe it’s all just instinct. And maybe we will never know.
Sean and Amanda have been together since high school, and they are the parents of a beautiful daughter 
named Jadyn, who is in college now. Theirs was a made in Heaven romance, and they have never looked back. They have enjoyed their life and making friends together. They are very social people and have made a great many friends along the way. He and Amanda also love to hang out with a great group of friends on the weekend for some fun…and really goofy times. When they go to the lake, they often have an impromptu fishing contest to see who gets the biggest fish. You never know what fun they will have when these friends get together!!
While Sean and his family are fun loving people, they are not just fun loving. Sean is the owner of Triangle 
Heating and Air, LLC, and he has worked very hard to make his business a success. The company has had great reviews across several rating sites and is listed as A+ on the Better Business Bureau. That is as good as it gets, and a real credit to Sean as the owner. When he isn’t working, he can be found taking care of their home and their toys, because their toys are what they enjoy doing. Hard work and heavy labor are great, by all work and no play…well you know how it goes. Today is Sean’s birthday. Happy birthday Sean!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My niece, Jadyn Mortensen is a dynamic person who is full of life. She is early in her college years right now and was given a scholarship for her rodeo abilities. She is an amazing barrel racer, and while the competition is fierce out there, she still manages to win in many of her races. Recently, she barrel raced at the county fair, and took fifth place. She has been riding horses and performing since she was just a little girl, and she has loved every minute. Her horses have been like family to her.
Jadyn is also a great all-around athlete and sports fanatic. She likes skiing, snowmobiling, 4 wheeling, boating, hiking, swimming, and much more. That girl is always on the go. Plus, now that she is going to college, she is deep in her studies at the University of Wyoming, majoring in mechanical engineering. Jadyn is a very capable person. On her first day of work last summer, she changed a tire on the truck, and she and her coworker performed more 
inspections that people who had no issues to slow them down…lots more. Jadyn has proven herself to be a great all-around employee and person. Nothing can hold her back. The sky’s the limit.
Jadyn has always been a beautiful girl, inside and out. She has a sweet nature and a heart of gold. She is the only child of my niece, Amanda Reed and her partner, Sean Mortensen. Jadyn has always been a part of “the gang” of friends Amanda and Sean had. She was never excluded or left with a sitter. She was a bid part of the group and was always welcomed at their events. Jadyn grew up around all of her parents’ friends…rather like having a boatload of aunts and uncles, not 
to mention their kids, so that was like having a boatload of cousins. It made for a wonderful support team and way of life.
Jadyn is a happy girl who always wears a big smile. She has a bubbly personality, and people just naturally like he. She is very social and doesn’t have a shy bone in her body. She has also always seemed more grown up to me that whatever age she was at the time. Maybe it was because she was always spending time around a variety of people of all ages. I think that is a big part of what makes Jadyn a great person. Today is Jadyn’s 20th birthday. Happy birthday Jadyn!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
