I have always been fascinated by anything old, whether it’s old barns, old bridges, or old houses. When I visited Pioneer Cemetery for the first time, I was enamored. It’s beautiful, peaceful, and it’s a place that should be paid all due respect. This isn’t my first time out there. I taught myself how to use a big SLR camera loaded with black and white film for the first time right there about 20 years ago.

I have visited quite a few old cemeteries, including Gibbonsville Cemetery outside of Carmen, but there is something special about Pioneer Cemetery, also known as Boothill Cemetery. It’s located outside of Idaho City by about a mile. All of the graves are scattered about in the pine trees and sagebrush. Some of the trees are huge and intimidating. The graves seem so small and insignificant, but they are not. Every grave has its story. Some have been forgotten and have no grave markers or simply “unknown” markers in the place of the name of the occupant. Those occupants have been long lost in the annals of Idaho City history. It has a sad, but, interesting history.

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According to records, there may be over 2,000 graves located in Pioneer Cemetery. Only the first 200 graves have been identified, and most didn’t die of natural causes. When Idaho City had its Gold Rush in 1862 they used this cemetery to bury the dead. According to what I have read, it sounds like the miners were greedy bushwhackers. That is entirely possible. I tend to believe that the pioneers and miners were so far removed from everything that disease, weather, and other factors played a part in the early deaths, especially when it came to women and children. We have no way of knowing for sure. I think most of what I have read is rather exaggerated. I think some writers want to make it sound like an episode of “Gunsmoke” with gunfights in the street or a ghost story.

Children’s Graves

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European Immigrants

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Such is the case with E.L. Bretall, a native of Stelin, Prussia, Germany. He had come to Idaho City to seek his fortunes. He fell extremely ill and was coughing up blood. February of 1878 was a bad winter. The snow was deep, and getting around was nearly impossible. His partner since 1865, Damase Frenette, had tried diligently to nurse him back to health and awaited medicine that never came due to the weather. Mr. Bretall passed away on Sunday evening, February 17, 1878 at around 9 o’clock. After about 36 hours Damase made a makeshift coffin out of wheeling planks. He then placed the coffin on snowshoes and took the body about 40 yards from their cabin and buried him in the snow. This was no easy task as Mr. Bretall was a large man in stature, standing over 6 feet and very well built.

Mr. Bretall knew he was dying and asked his friend and partner to make sure he was buried in the cemetery at Idaho City. Damase promised him that he would see to it and that he did. Six men took Mr. Bretall into Idaho City, against the protests of the miners at Rabbit Creek who said it was impossible. They exhumed the body and took it through an incredibly steep ravine by using snowshoes to get his body out. It was very difficult as they had to wait for the snow to crust over on the top before they could even contemplate bringing him out of Rabbit Creek which is 10 miles out of Idaho City. He was buried on February 22, 1878, in Pioneer Cemetery. He was only 57 years old. The Idaho mountains take their toll for miners seeking gold.

There are the upper echelon graves. You can recognize them by the big headstones with the wrought iron, or wooden fences, such as Mary (E. Abbott of Wisconsin) Pinney, the wife of James Alonzo Pinney. Mary died in Idaho City at the tender age of 26 before they could even have children and James Pinney went on to become the innovative mayor of Boise. He opened the first mercantile in Idaho City, as well as the first theater. These were destroyed in two fires in 1865 and 1867.

He relocated to Boise, opened up a pretty little glass-front book store on Main Street, and remarried a year later to Mary Agnes Rogers. They had 5 children, of whom 3 lived to be adults. He was elected as the Mayor of Boise in 1881. Mayor Pinney was instrumental in placing the new city cemetery above the bench and raised money with the city council for a proper road and a bridge going to the cemetery that was situated on Morris hill above a floodplain.

There was a serious outbreak of diphtheria in 1883, and James Pinney renovated the sewer system. He also gave money to allocate sidewalks at his own expense. He also helped with the road structure in Boise making it better for automobile drivers. He loved theater and built the elaborate Pinney Theater on Jefferson Street in Boise. He was active in the policies regarding the unions and women’s right to vote. This secured his reelection as mayor. He is considered to be the father of modern Boise, and his home, which was located about 3 blocks off of Main Street at 1229 8th Street, was where one of the first sidewalks was poured. He retired from the Mayor’s office in 1907. Mayor James Pinney passed away at his theater after a sudden illness on February 14, 1914.

One death by a gunfight that was recorded in regards to Idaho City happened in Silver City, Idaho in 1868 over a claim between J. Marion Moore and Sam Lockhart. J. Marion Moore, who Mores Creek is named after, had come to Idaho City with the second prospecting party during the Boise Basin gold rush in October of 1862. He had changed his name from John N. Moore (AKA John Neptune Marion Moore) due to an incident in Mariposa, California that was under mysterious circumstances. He was very careful to conceal his identity.

While in Idaho City he became a leader in the community. He had been a council member to the Washington legislature and was watching over mining interests. He worked hard to divide the Washington Territory along the Cascade Range border which failed. In 1862 he hooked up with George Grimes, D.H. Fogus, and Moses Splawn. They met up in eastern Oregon and headed to the Boise Basin where there were Indian reports of gold being found. They headed out, and Fogus discovered a minuscule amount of gold, about 15 cents worth, in what is now Centerville. This was the beginning of the Boise Basin mines. Moore led a party and helped found Idaho City on October 7, 1862.

After this, he headed back to Washington to serve his second term as a council member from Walla Walla and Shoshone counties. He fought again to have the Washington mining districts separated from other territories. This pushed the Idaho Territory annexation ahead in March of 1863

Moore moved back to southern Idaho and was expanding his Boise Basin mining business building up capital for other ventures. The Owyhee quartz mines had been established, and Moore was making a fortune. He began financing his money into mines in the Owyhees along with his old friend Fogus. By the spring of 1864, they had a controlling interest in two very promising quartz mines in the Owyhees, the Morning Star Mine, and the Oro Fino Mine. They were keeping a staff of miners and made money hand over fist. It was very lucrative for the partners.

Things eventually soured, and Fogus was placing his investments elsewhere. By 1866 their debts outweighed their income. They fell into bankruptcy on August 14, 1866, and couldn’t pay their bills. It had failed miserably and threatened collapse to all who lived in the Owyhee vicinity. These were dark times.

In 1867 the mines bounced back and returned into production with a purchase from the miners of the property from Moore and Fogus. Moore was busy with his mine on War Eagle Mountain at this time at Ida-Elmore properties. He helped negotiate the sale of the Morning Star and Oro Fino Mines. They were having a battle over ownership about a ledge with Golden Chariot, which was owned by Hilary “Hill” Beachy and George Grayson, which was located at a different locale, but in the same silver vein. There was open fighting in and above the mines between both companies involving the miners. Things were exploding, and both camps were armed at all times. A bitter mining war ensued between a strike-breaker Sam Lockhart and J. Marion Moore. It would not end to anyone’s benefit.

The Owyhee War

At this point, the Governor stepped in to try to end the violence and the disputes. He said it was an embarrassment to the state and it had to stop regardless. It was unconscionable the way that both parties were behaving and not in good faith.

They thought they had the dispute settled by then-Governor David W. Ballard, who had ordered a cessation of all violence at the mines on March 28th. He threatened them with punishment if they did not desist according to the law. Ballard Dispatched 150 Army troops from Fort Boise that were due to arrive on April 5th to alleviate the conflict. Deputy U.S. Marshal Orlando “Rube” Robbins left Boise immediately to serve the papers. He arrived on March 29th and by that Monday the Golden Chariot and Ida-Elmore had come to terms and reached an agreement. They signed deeds and drove stakes into the properties setting the line.

When Chief Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court, John R. McBride, arrived on April 1st he thought things were calm and there seemed to be rejoicing. It didn’t last. That night in April, Moore got into a drunken brawl with Sam Lockhart over a mining claim in Silver City.

Moore had been eating dinner at the Idaho Hotel with friends when heated words were exchanged between Lockhart and Moore. They had both been drinking when they got into it. Moore, who was armed only with a cane, was shot in the chest outside of the hotel and stumbled over in front of the local Oriental restaurant where he died 3 hours later. His friends Ben White and Jack Fisher shot at Lockhart. Lockhart was shot in the arm in front of the Idaho Hotel in Silver City. Unfortunately, this all happened on April Fool’s Day. It would be curious to find out who the bigger fool was?

About 1,000 friends attended Moore’s funeral in Idaho City. Lockhart died from the amputation of his arm after gangrene had set in causing blood poisoning. He passed away on 7-13-1868.

Not all of the stories of the graves are as interesting as the ones I just shared with you, however, each grave has its story, and many have been lost to time. I love it up there with the moss growing from the wood on the grave fences, the intricate wrought ironwork around some of the graves, the beautiful marble work of some of the headstones, some that are barely legible over 100 years later.

There are unusual markers on some of the headstones that tell you that a Mason or an Odd Fellow is buried there. They are marked with a compass or three interlocking oval circles. Thank you to Danielle Lewis at Boise Valley Monument for clearing up the Odd Fellows Symbol for me.

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There are new graves going in all the time. One of the really pretty ones that I found was this headstone carved with a Celtic Tree of life and the Celtic knotwork caught me by surprise. It’s very intricate and very well carved. Kudos to the monument maker!

There’s also the unusual headstones that either don’t have any markings or are unique. I had to do some research to understand the headstone for Jacob U. Hidy. I found out that the insurance company paid for the headstone that they designed themselves. They put the name of their insurance company on it. Carved on the headstone are the Latin words, “Dum Tacet Clamat”, which translates to, “Though silent, he speaks.” It was called a WOW stone and was made by the insurance company. At the bottom, it says, “Here rests a woodman of the world.”

The insurance policies were offered by Woodmen of the World Insurance, and the gravestones were quite elaborate at one time. The widows never paid a dime for the headstones, but the company was allowed to put whatever they wanted on the headstones. At one time they were quite elaborate and looked much like natural logs and trees. This one is an example of the simpler headstones before they began scaling back due to it being cost-prohibitive.

By far, one of the most unusual unmarked headstones I found was this one that was carved out of a tree and looks like a person holding a poker hand. I concluded that the person buried there liked poker or was a gambler. There wasn’t a marker, so I had no way of knowing who was buried there. Nevertheless, it is a cool grave marker!

Pioneer Cemetery is quite beautiful. It is well cared for by the Idaho City Historical Foundation. They gladly accept donations to aid in the upkeep of the cemetery. If you go to see the cemetery, please be respectful. People have vandalized the cemetery. They have taken some of the wrought iron fencing and some of the headstones. The wrought iron fences and gates were all made by The Stewart Iron Works, now located in Kentucky. Linda Ackerson, from Stewart Iron Works, tried hard to help me find out information about how the beautiful wrought iron fences and gates got to Idaho City, unfortunately, that information is long lost to the annals of Idaho City history.

Vandalizing a cemetery is wrong on so many different levels that I don’t even know where to start. This is by far one of the most unique cemeteries I have ever seen. I hope it stays intact for years to come.