Idaho (Other Keyword)
1-14 (14 Records)
Like other western American railroad towns, Sandpoint, Idaho, saw an influx of thousands of Chinese workers during railroad construction in the twilight of the 1800s. Most workers moved on as construction of the railroad continued down the line. Examination of a Chinese laundry excavation provides an interesting snapshot of the lives those workers who stayed and made Sandpoint their home. This business was also a residence and the collection provides an opportunity to study both the private and...
The American Falls obsidian source: near, far, or unknown? (2015)
Harris’ 2011 Master’s thesis sourced obsidian artifacts from the Kyle Canyon Spring site (10-BT-8). Obsidian source characterization suggested a large circulation range for the prehistoric people using site 10-BT-8, with strong emphasis placed on the American Falls obsidian source. This result was unexpected, given that it is 120km from 10-BT-8 and a nearer, arguably higher quality obsidian source is only 50km away. In my thesis, I concluded that the people occupying 10-BT-8 over the last 3,000...
"Artifacts and Advertisements and Articles, Oh My": Life and Culture at the Hotel Pend d’Oreille (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Exploring the Recent Past" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Often historical archaeologists are left with only a few pieces of the historical puzzle of the past. Using archaeological artifacts, historic advertisements, and news articles- I hope to illuminate part of the history of the Hotel Pend d’Oreille. The Hotel Pend d’Oreille operated in the early 1900s in the railroad town of Sandpoint, Idaho. There were...
Checking In: An Examination of the Pend d'Oreille Hotel (2018)
In 1910, people traveling eastward or westward on the Northern Pacific Railroad, would have had an opportunity to get off the train at Sandpoint, Idaho. These travelers may have been lured in by the promise of jobs in lumber, the picturesque lake with mountains surrounding the town, or the "stories" told about this "party" town. Whatever their reason for choosing Sandpoint, one of the first businesses to greet them was the Pend d’Oreille Hotel. Situated adjacent to the railroad tracks it was...
Examining Child Mortality in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Northern Idaho (2018)
This poster documents infant and child mortality in northern Idaho during the late 19th and early 20th centuries using historic cemeteries as a starting point for data collection. This project involved locating and photographing the oldest headstones associated with children and infants interred in Idaho’s Moscow Cemetery. The sample was limited to children and infants under 11 years old who died prior to 1921. By examining Moscow Cemetery’s headstones, the project researchers were able to...
Exploring The Merchandise Of The Pon Yam Store In Idaho City: What Do We Tell The Public About Chinese Olives And Dracontomelon? (2015)
The Boise National Forest and the Idaho City Historical Foundation formed a partnership to restore the Pon Yam Store to its original character as a nineteenth century Chinese merchant’s shop, and adapt the building for use as a museum and research center. An opportunity to excavate under the floor boards in the store by FS archaeologists and volunteers provided a look at artifacts not usually found in archaeological sites due to a lack of preservation. Firecrackers, incense sticks, and...
"I Feel Like Taking Their Heads Off": Children in Fort Boise (2018)
The archaeology of children has been an increasingly visible part of historical scholarship in recent years. However, there are places where they are still not visible. Work by the University of Idaho on the former grounds of Fort Boise (in Boise, ID) has provided an opportunity to explore the archaeology of children in a most unexpected place - a military fort. Excavations in multiple contexts on the former grounds of the fort have resulted in the recovery of many children's items dating from...
Idaho Gold: An Analysis of the Ophir Creek Brewery, a nineteenth century Chinese Community (2017)
In 1860 gold was found in Pierce, Idaho. By 1870, the population of the Boise Basin alone reached 3,834 individuals, 46 percent of whom were Chinese. Many immigrants settled in Placerville, Idaho. Between 2002-2003 archaeologists at the Boise National Forest conducted excavations at the Ophir Creek Brewery. This work discusses excavations at the Ophir Creek Brewery, a part of town occupied by many of the Chinese immigrants. Analysis of the archaeological materials recovered from the Ophir Creek...
Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille Story (2017)
Lake Pend Oreille is located 30 miles north of Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho and has many intriguing aspects including the diverse human occupancy and uses of the lake and its surrounding area. The Native American, early European, and WWII naval training station presence demonstrates a varied and long history. The primary focus of this presentation are the Farragut Naval Training Station and Pend Oreille City history and material culture, in addition to the Native American's interaction with...
Identity and Isolation: The Material Realities of an (almost) Isolated Household in Sandpoint, Idaho (2015)
A great deal of archaeology conducted on Chinese immigrant communities in the United States has documented the persistence of an array of traditional cultural practices after arrival. Recent work in Sandpoint, Idaho has identified a Chinese household/business whose material world contrasts with what many other archaeologists have previously reported on. What was identified was an amalgamation of continued use of Chinese goods with the incorporation of an array of western habits, particularly...
The Inspiration of Landscape in the Works of Vardis Fisher (2013)
Vardis Fisher, an Idaho native, was a mid-Twentieth Century prolific writer of novels on Western Americana, as well as histories, articles and poetry. Fisher was born and grew up in rural southeastern Idaho, surrounded by mountains and wide open spaces. Almost all of his writing career was spent near Hagerman, Idaho, on property overlooking a large lake, fed by waterfalls emanating from a basalt cliff face. He and his wife, Opal, built a house there and fully landscaped the property, in...
Material Culture And The Archaeology of Western Identities (2015)
While the popular perception of the American west is one of material hardship and deprivation, the reality of life in the west was frequently quite different. Excavations at several locations in Idaho have indentified a material world where people were enthusiastically striving for Victorian ideals of gentility. In one sense this is to be expected as aspirational consumption in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was clearly an integral part of American society as a whole. However,...
Out on the Porch: Evidence of Play on Idaho’s Frontier (2015)
The ideal child of the 19th century was seen and not heard, and today the lives of these children are often overlooked in the documentation of the past. They did, however, have a lasting impact on their surroundings in the American West. Recent excavations of a surgeon’s quarters at Fort Boise reveal insights into some of the earliest evidence of play in the state of Idaho. Artifacts unearthed from below the home's porch include toys and educational materials dating to the turn of the twentieth...
Rediscovering Pend Oreille City, a Forgotten Town in Northern Idaho (2018)
Pend Oreille City was a steamboat landing town and one of the earliest settlements in North Idaho. From roughly 1866 to 1880, it served as a waypoint through the Idaho panhandle for travelers during early Euroamerican settlement of the region. As with many frontier towns, Pend Oreille City faded. In recent years, local interests have driven efforts to rediscover the site and appreciate its role in Idaho territorial history. The CLG grant offered the opportunity to collaborate with the University...