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blood-thirsty Indians, who had been driven out, for the most part, by 1878.The first winter they spent in their new home the population of the town was 74 persons, 40 men, fifteen women, 16 children and 3 Chinamen.“I’ll never forget that winter. she mused. “Never was a time there wasn’t six feet of snow on the ground. Fifteen feet fell in all. It started to snow on the last night in November and by Dec. 2 we had 38 Inches on the level.“We all lived down on the flat and the men shovel 3d snow that was up to their chins. One thing, it was good Insulation for our houses when the chinks began to work loose as the logs dried out.“We had a green log house. There was only one lumber house in the town—all the rest were of green logs with dirt floors and roofs. No windows, but they wouldn’t have done any good anyway with the snow that deep. We had pole bunks for bedsteads and candle and soap boxes for seats. They were palaces to us.We had a lot of fun that winter though. Surprise parties every little while, and on Christmas (that is my birthday, too) we all got together and had one big Christmas tree. You know, I just sort of doubt if those folks up at ‘the lodgewith all their fine parties during the holiday season, have any more fun than we did that first winter in 4Sun Valley.’ ’’Sarah McCoy’s life has been that of a typical American pioneer woman. Born in Churn town in Sand Flats near Buckeye, Shasta county, Calif,, she married at the age of 15.Chuckling, she said that before her marriage she worked for $2 a wsek and saved enough to buy herself a nice trousseau.Losing one son in infancy, she raised nine children and four of her grandchildren. Eight of her grandsons and six great-grandsons served their country in World war II.3eirtg the daughter of a once prosperous rancher, life started alcng an easy path, but soon it became rough. Her father became obsessed with the “mining fever” and mortgaged his largo holdings to buy a mine in Humboldt county, Nev. Leaving home in 1862 to superintend the workings of his new mine, he never returned. Carrying mail, which included a mine payroll, he and his party were set upon and murdered by a band of roving Piute Indians.Grief-stricken and homeless, his widow took her six children the following spring and started for the mine, in a wagon drawn by an ox team.“We got into Nevada and mother took sick with mountain fever andma wjut; tijiu live vninureiApiled on the hearth. She and the baby were dead. Three of the children were scalped and one was left feeble-minded. I went to school with the three -who were stalped.All the neighborhood was afraid of a squaw-man who was almost as bad as any of the Indians. His name was Silverthome. He must have been consumed with hatred for his fellow white man, for he murdered many and always left his mark so folks would know who did it.”After her marriage, Sarah McCoy and her husband left California for Arizona. Returning from there, they went to Oregon, thence to Nevada, all by ox team, They spent the winter of 1875-1878 in Nevada, then went to Utah. After returning to Nevada they moved to Ketchum— where they stayed. Mr. McCoy died at Ketchum in April, 1926.Sarah McCoy will celebrate her 9 2nd birthday anniversary on Christmas day. She has seen “Lead-ville,” the name turned down by the postmaster-general, renamed Ketchum after its first white settler. The postoffice was established In 1880. She saw the first bar of bullion turned out of the large smelter erected by the Philadelphia Mining and Smelting company on Warm Springs creek, a mile from the town.She has hea;*d the shouts of Joy of the miners as they learned their ore went 50 per cent lead and 100 ounces in silver and seen them spend their money, as recklessly as they made it, in saloons which sprang up in the mining camp. She heard the stories of the men who took the first carload of bullion ever produced on Wood River. The shipment weighed more than 22,000 pounds and containing 154*:! ounces of silver to the ton. It was loaded on six wagons at Hailey on July 1, 1881, and transported to Blackfoot for shipment to Omaha. The lead was worth $42 per ton.She watched the town grow to a population of 2,000 pioneers and fortune seekers, with two banks, seven dally stages, two hotels, seven stores, seven blacksmith shops, three doctors, three lawyers, five restaurants, six stables, two assay offices and a weekly paper.She watched a 20-mule team, made to order and the largest In the state, pull wagons of Horace C. Lewis as they started and returned from haz-LifeA God-wml for GAS-HEARTBURN”When execoa e to much ndd causrflpaiiUui, aunoeat-utt sour stomach and hcurtbiira. doctors usually prcacrlbo the ftwust-aetlnff medic low Known lor eymntotaaacreUcf—mrfUcjncslllio those i n BelNaru Tablets. NTo laxative, D^l-nns comforfcln a jluy or return botUo to ua for doublo money baek. lt;£BEll’ANS for Acid Indigestion 25 £ui unirwuifc men permanenthomes in the narrow valley.In the summers the sheepmen from the lower country moved in to graze their flocks and ship their lambs and tourists came—to hunt and fish, and gc away again, as winter moved back to the mountain tops nearby.“But we always had a good time. The few of us who were left enjoyed ourselves almost as much as we did those first winters. We returned to being almost like one great big family.”And while Sarah McCoy watched all of this she went about her housekeeping, cooking, sewing for herself and family, making a garden and every day being a good neighbor. Many of these things she still does. She has been active in fraternal circles, is a past worthy matron of Bethany chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, of Hailey and a past noble grand of Snowdrop Re-bekah lodge of Ketchum.Each Christmas, after she has enjoyed the Christmas and birthday greetings of these two orders, she sits down and makes a bit of something useful for their kitchens where all members will use and love her gifts. Well she knows the hours of committee work.And now, since 1935, when the Union Pacific railroad picked Sun Valley as an Ideal location for winter sports and made it renowned as a summer resort, the rush of incoming people has been almost as great as it was in 1880. Grandma McCoy just smiles and says,“I have always known it was the most beautiful spot In the whole world. And Just think, I’ve spent more time here than anyone else on earth,”
Newspaper Details
Twin Falls Times News
Twin Falls, Idaho, US
Mon, Nov 01, 1948
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA, USA 06 Apr 2020
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