Settling in the Gentile Valley of Southeast Idaho Several sources document that the Turner family settled in what later became known as the Gentile Valley of southeast Idaho in 1877 (shortly after son Edward was born in the Washington Territory in January). Here Edward and Martha would put down roots, raise their family, and Edward J. Turner would become a prominent and successful rancher, local leader, and eventually an Idaho State Water Commissioner.
Prior to 1877 explorers and trappers had traveled through this part of Idaho for a number of years and the famous Oregon Trail passed through Soda Springs, about 16 miles from what would become the Turner Ranch. The E. J. Turner family, however, is listed as among the first to settle with the intent of staying in what later became known as the Gentile Valley. The Turners would have arrived via wagon and/or horseback and Edward would have built the family's first home from logs on the banks of the Bear River by hand. Living conditions were harsh with no established support infrastructure nearby; no stores, no doctors, etc. This would have been quite a challenge for Edward and Martha who arrived with a 2 year old daughter and an infant son.
The Gentile Valley, a smaller valley within the larger Gem Valley, is located about 5 miles southwest of today's town of Grace, Idaho (current population about 1,000) which in turn is about 11 miles southwest of Soda Springs (current population about 4,000). The town of Grace was established in 1889, 12 years after the Turner's settled nearby, and obtained it's first post office in 1894. In their early years in the Gentile Valley Edward and Martha would have had to make the 32 mile round trip to the tiny town of Soda Springs to obtain the basic necessities of life that they couldn't provide for themselves, a very long trip by horse and wagon, particularly during the winter months when there could be several feet of snow on the ground. The Turners would have most certainly hunted, fished in the Bear River, and grown fruits and vegetables in the summer to sustain themselves during the early years in the Gentile Valley. While they had some small trees and bushes on at their homestead, they would have had to haul larger trees seasonally from the mountains to use for building material and probably for heat and cooking during the winters. The Gem Valley is about 100 to 150 miles north of the population centers of Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Logan, Utah. The Bear River, with headwaters in the Wasatch Range east of Salt Lake City, flows north through Utah and Wyoming before heading west and then south through the Gem Valley, eventually flowing into Utah's Great Salt Lake. The climate in the Gem Valley is semi-arid with some, but not a lot, of rainfall and the irrigation potential of the Bear River would soon become obvious to the early settlers. In the summer temperatures can run from moderate to hot and the winter months can see 3 or more feet of snow on the ground.
Due to it's proximity to Salt Lake City, the Gem Valley would be primarily settled by Mormons as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints expanded it's influence northward. This fact brings up the question as to whether the Turners were Mormon. While I have not run into anything which specifically indicates what Edward and Martha's religious preferences might have been while in the Gentile Valley, it's pretty clear that they were not Mormon. The very name of the location where the Turners settled, the Gentile Valley, provides a clue as "gentile" is a word used by Mormons to describe non-Mormons. In the 1880's and 1890's the Turners would send their daughter Rose to a Presbyterian boarding school in Logan, Utah. Martha's 1935 Jerome, ID obituary indicates that her funeral service was held at a Catholic church (though didn't specifically say she was a member of the church). Finally, and perhaps most telling, is the fact that the Mormon operated Family History Center, famous for keeping family history records, particularly of its own church members, has no record of the E. J. Turner family. This would surely not be the case had they been Mormons in Mormon country.
Exactly what brought the Turners to the Gentile Valley is not known but I suspect that several factors were coming together which suggested to them that this area of the frontier would (and in fact did) provide significant opportunities for early settlers in the years to come. The Oregon Trail passed from east to west just to the north bringing ever increasing numbers of settlers westward. Population centers were developing to the south in Utah and the Bear River drainage provided a logical transportation route to connect these to the Oregon Trail. In 1869 (8 years before the Turners settled in the Gentile Valley) the famous Golden Spike finishing the east-west Transcontinental Railroad was celebrated about 100 miles south in Utah and the first railroad in Idaho came north from it to the town of Franklin directly south of the Gem Valley near the Utah boarder in 1874. The Turners likely knew or suspected in 1877 that the railroad would eventually come to the Gem Valley, which it did in 1884. Finally, the Homestead Act passed by Congress in 1862 had established a means of obtaining free and/or cheap land to those willing to settle certain areas of the frontier including the Gem Valley. I suspect that Edward J. Turner took a look at all these factors and saw a growing market for farm and/or ranch products to both the north and south along with the opportunity to transport such goods nationwide via railroad in the future. Having grown up on a farm, he likely had the skills and temperament to take advantage of this opportunity. The Gem Valley, while semi-arid and thus not the best place to ranch and farm, had one other major asset: the irrigation potential of the Bear River which E. J. Turner became one of the first to exploit and, in later years, one of the leaders who would harness the river and turn the Gem Valley into a major agricultural and ranching area.
When I first started looking into the history of the area I half expected to find references to renegade Indian tribes and range wars between cattle ranchers and sheep herders. I found neither. As near as I can tell, the Gem Valley was a pretty peaceful place, at least after 1877 when the Turners arrived. Gentile Valley Census Records I've only been able to obtain two government census records for the Turner family in the Gentile Valley, those from 1880 (3 years after the family arrived) and from 1900 (23 years after arrival). (All 1890 federal census records were lost in a warehouse fire.) These records provide snap shots of the family as the number of children grew from 2 to 5.
The census takers didn't get all the information exactly right but close enough to tell that this was the correct Turner family. Note that the 1880 census shows Martha's name as Kitty (no doubt short for Catherine). This is the only reference to this nick name that I've run into. Daughter Rose and son Edward don't show up in the 1900 record as Rose had married in 1896 and Edward, who would have been 23 when the 1900 census was taken, had also apparently left home by this time.
The 1880 census is from "Mound Valley, Oneida County, Idaho" not the Gentile Valley as in 1900. The Mound Valley is perhaps 15 or 20 miles south of the Gentile Valley and for a time this caused me to assume the Turners had lived in at least two locations. Grace, Idaho historical sources however strongly suggest that the Turners occupied the same homestead for all the years the family lived there and I ran into a reference that indicated that, prior to 1881, the Gentile Valley was considered part of the Mound Valley. [To keep everyone thoroughly confused, the same location of the Turner Ranch has been located in 3 different counties over the years. In 1880 it was considered part of the Mound Valley in Oneida County, then it became the Gentile Valley in Bannock County, and finally around 1919 it became part of Caribou County where it remains today.] A note regarding other Turners in the area: There have been, and still are, a number of other Turner families in the Gem and Gentile Valley area including, confusingly, several with the first name John. The name Turner has been quit common in the area since the early settlers arrived. The 1880 census shows a John Turner (born in 1850 in Wales) and family on the same page as the Edward John Turner family. And I've run across another by the name of John Radmore Turner (born in England) who was also an early settler of the area and who has a number of descendents still living in or near Grace, ID. I've tried to connect them to the E. J. Turner family but so far have been unable to do so. If they were related, it would have had to have been as 1st or 2nd cousins with their common ancestor having lived in England. Homestead Records and the Turner Ranch
By the spring of 2006 the government had
posted Idaho homestead record summaries on the internet. I was able to
document that Edward J. Turner and/or Martha Turner had obtained at least 1,240
acres of contiguous land from the government in 6 transactions between
1884 and 1913. The land was along the Bear River starting about 4 miles
southwest of today's Grace and extending perhaps 2-1/2 to 3 miles south along
its banks. It's possible that the Turners also obtained additional land from
private individuals but I have not looked for, nor run across, any record of this.
They clearly raised cattle on the ranch and it's possible that they grew crops
for sale in later years though I have no direct evidence of this. (They
certainly would have grown food for their own
consumption). In the early years of the ranch and before the major irrigation projects of
later years became available, the semi-arid climate allowed for a very limited
number of cattle to be grazed on available land. The Turners 1903 divorce
case file indicates that at that time they had about 240 head of cattle.
This would have amounted to only about 5 head per acre though this may be a
misleading calculation as apparently in the early days owing specific land was
more of a formality than a necessity as most land was open range and ranchers
just let their herds wander on what was mostly unclaimed public land.
An article in a 1912 edition of the Soda Springs Chieftain newspaper indicates, as a public notice regarding homesteading procedures, E. J. Turner's "...intention to make Final Five-Year Proof, to establish claim......". This was apparently in anticipation of acquiring his last 160 acres of homestead land in 1913.
By July of 2006 when I visited the Gentile Valley I had plotted the location of the Turner Ranch on a topographic map. While there I was able to find references in the Grace Public Library that gave me the specific location of the Turner home on the homesteaded land. This was consistent with my map. Finally, I talked on the phone one evening while in town with Don Gilbert, a local farmer (whose grandfather, John J. Trappett, was another early pioneer of the area and had purchased the former E. J. Turner home at some point) who currently farms some of the land formerly part of the Turner Ranch. Don confirmed the exact location of the old Turner home his grandfather had purchased and, while the home is no longer standing, indicated that the old tiny log barn still at the site was very likely an original structure built by E. J. Turner when the family first settled there in 1877. The next day I had no trouble finding the site. Later, a letter from Jay and June Turner (unrelated but longtime Grace area residents and also onetime owners of some E.J. Turner's former land) indicated that they had heard that what today appears to be an old log barn may have been the original Turner cabin (home) and that it was turned into a barn in later years after a larger home was built.
I think it likely that this was the site of the Turner home for all the years that E. J. Turner lived in the Gentile Valley but I don't know this for a fact. Newspaper articles in 1902 and 1906 indicate that Edward J. Turner lived in a place called "Cove". While I haven't been able to find a town with this name anywhere nearby (today or in the past) I have run into a historical reference that indicates that the children of nearby neighbors of the Turner home site attended school at "Cove", suggesting that it was likely nearby ("Gentile Valley, The First 100 Years", p. 10). Additionally, another known Turner neighbor, William Larkin, is also mentioned as being from Cove in one of the newspaper articles. Finally, the topographic map of the area (see above) shows a Cove Power Plant in Section 33 on or near the Turner Ranch about 2 miles down river from the home site and 1-1/2 miles south of the Grace Power Plant. If there was a school there, perhaps there was also a small village at the site and the location may have become known as Cove. It's then possible that this Cove was used to describe the Turner home's location as being the nearest named location. (Today the location of the old Turner Ranch is considered to be in Grace for general placement purposes though it is several miles outside the town limits.)
A note regarding Grace area geography: A close look at a Grace area topographic map will show a Turner Road (which runs due west from Grace), a tiny town named Turner (now defunct) on this road, a Turner Canal, and even a mountain peak with the name Turner, all within 2 to 3 miles north and a little west of the Turner Ranch. A historical source ("Gems" of Our Valley, p 42) suggests that the town of Turner was named around 1900 for a land commissioner in Pocatello named Theodore Turner. The road was likely named for the town but I have run into no information regarding who the canal and the mountain peak were named for. I suppose that it's possible that Edward J. Turner could have been involved. Rose Turner-Hine's Autograph Books
In the summer of 2006 my first cousin, Ellen Darling-Benson, loaned me our grandmother's two "autograph books" which had been passed down to her. Rose Turner-Hine grew up and lived at the Turner Ranch from the age of 2 till she first married in 1896 at the age of 21. Her autograph books contain entries made by friends and family during the period from 1886 to 1893 when she would have been from about 11 to 18 years old. These books are among the very few artifacts that I'm aware of from the Turner family's Gentile Valley days and provided some priceless information. They confirm that Rose attended New Jersey Academy in Logan, UT (about 80 miles south of the Gentile Valley), a Presbyterian boarding school. The books have entries made there between April of 1886 and late 1890. (My mother's note indicates that Rose attended for 8 years which is certainly possible.) The Turners likely sent their daughter to a boarding school since there were probably no schools, or at least not good ones, anywhere near their ranch. I think it likely that the other Turner children also attended school elsewhere but I've uncovered no record of this. Historical records indicate that the railroad arrived in the Gem Valley in 1884 so I think that Rose was probably able to take the train south to school and back as necessary. The fact that E.J. Turner could afford to send his daughter (and possibly other children) to a private boarding school suggests that he was established and financially successful by at least the mid 1880's.
The autograph books contain invaluable information which proved very useful in connecting E. J. Turner to his Wisconsin parents and siblings. Two entries made in Idaho and signed "your uncle, F. H. Turner" indicate that E. J. had a brother in the area. Subsequent research found that Frederick Hugh Turner, E.J.'s younger brother from Wisconsin, had also settled in Idaho. Fred was married to Harriet Elizabeth Sanderson in the Gentile Valley in 1881. 1900 and 1910 census records show that he was living with his wife and children (Dottie, Rex, Walter, and Adelbert) in Idaho Falls, ID which is located farther north in the state. Brother Frederick would be a witness at E. J. Turner's second marriage in 1911 in Pocatello. In addition, the autograph books contain an entry dated August 24, 1892 in the Gentile Valley and signed by "Your aunt, Emily A. Turner" after she commented on her visit to the Turner Ranch. Emily A. Turner attended Milton College at the same time E. J. did. Finally, the autograph books contain some of the only handwriting samples for E. J. and Martha Turner that I've run into. I believe Martha's handwriting also appears on the backs of the 2 photos of siblings Rose and "Eddie" that I've included on this page (click on the photos to see the back). The inscriptions on the photos, if in fact in Martha's handwriting, suggest that Rose was called Rosa by her mother.
The Janesville, Wisconsin Connection
A combination of the Milton College records, autograph book entries, and evidence in the form of the few surviving Turner photographs, some of which are labeled by the photographer as taken in the Janesville area of Wisconsin, led me to suspect that this was probably the general location of E.J.'s childhood home. Using this information I was subsequently able to find his parents, John and Margaret Turner, along with many of his siblings 5 miles east of Janesville in Harmony Township, Rock County, WI in 1870 and 1880 census records. This same evidence suggests that the Gentile Valley Turners had a strong and ongoing relationship with their Wisconsin relatives. Many of E.J.'s siblings either visited and/or settled in Idaho. Surviving photos of Martha and Rose (as a young child) taken by different photo studios in the Janesville area suggest that E.J.'s family made more than one trip to visit his Wisconsin parents and/or siblings. Such visits would have became much easier after the railroad reached the Gem Valley in 1884. The fact that E.J.'s family could afford to travel and have formal photographs periodically taken again suggests, along with his ability to send at least one daughter to boarding school, that E.J. was financially successful. The photo of Rose Turner at left was taken by Janesville, WI photographer Chas. F. Turner. While her father, Edward J. Turner, had a brother named Charles who grew up in the Janesville area, a biography of the photographer found on a Wisconsin genealogy website shows that Charles F. Turner was not Edward's brother as he was born to other parents. If it is assumed that Rose is about 9 years old in this photo, it would have been taken in about 1884, around the same time the railroad extended to the Gem Valley. While researching E.J.'s parents (John and Margaret Turner) in Wisconsin I learned from Margaret's probate papers filed in 1893 a year after her 1892 death which show the locations of the estate's heirs that most of E.J. siblings had also ended up living in Idaho by then including Emily A. Turner (Idaho Falls), Sarah L. Brown (Shoup, ID), Frederick (Idaho Falls, ID), and Arabella M. Shane (Idaho Falls, ID). The only other surviving sibling, Charles Turner, is shown as living in another state, he being in Leola, South Dakota. (E.J.'s other 2 brothers, George and Walter, had apparently passed away by 1893.) With E.J.' father having died in 1885, his mother in 1892, and all his surviving siblings no longer living in Wisconsin by 1893, I would expect that E.J.'s lifelong connection to Janesville would likely be severed or at least seriously curtailed around this time. My newly discovered cousin Dick Turner has told me that it's been passed down his branch of the family that E.J. Turner may have been elected to a territorial council tasked with obtaining statehood for the Idaho Territory. I've found no hard evidence of this but Idaho became the 43rd state in 1890 so E.J. Turner's possible involvement in the statehood effort would have likely taken place in the later 1880's after he'd lived in the Gentile Valley for about a decade, more or less. Written Histories and the Last Chance Canal
The Grace (Idaho) Public Library has 3 books which contain limited information about Edward J. Turner. (All are out of print but I've been able to purchase used copies of two of them on the internet.) Each book approaches the history of the area in a different way and mentions E. J. Turner due to his being one of the first settlers in the area in 1877 and also because of his significant contributions to, and leadership roll in, the construction of the Last Chance Canal in the very late 1890's and early 1900's. The Last Chance Canal turned the semi-arid Gem Valley, in which settlers could barely irk out a living, into a highly productive agricultural and ranching area. Today the canal continues to irrigate some 35,000 acres of the Gem Valley and is the life blood of the local economy. Edward J. Turner is credited with being among the first area settlers to make attempts at irrigation. It's not hard to understand why. His relatively flat homesteaded land along the banks of the Bear River lent itself to having water diverted from the river to irrigate the fertile nearby soil. It's easy to visualize small dams being constructed to push water out of the river and onto the immediately adjacent land and I'm sure that E.J. was easily able to do this on a limited basis, perhaps an acre or two at a time, very soon after settling in the Gentile Valley. It is recorded that he built and/or attempted to build several larger canals to irrigate portions of his ranch but these were apparently eventually abandoned. The book The Last Chance Canal, referring to early efforts made by E.J. Turner and another settler reads: "The failures of the Turner and Egbert canals in the later 1880's and early 1890's were bitter disappointments, but this did not stop the efforts to irrigate." and a paragraph later "In considering these early irrigation efforts, the important points are the high priorities assigned to such activities and the never-say-die determination of the Gem Valley settlers. They refused to give up". Over time it became obvious that the best way to effectively irrigate his and other valley land would take a group effort involving many local settlers and would be a major undertaking. In the mid 1890's John J. Trappett (who would eventually purchase the Turner home decades later) settled in the area and history records that he and E. J. Turner were the two visionaries who primarily led the effort to organize the valley settlers and build the Last Chance Canal. The construction of the Last Chance Canal was a long a arduous process and a major undertaking for a group of settlers with no training in civil engineering projects and without the aid of automated construction equipment. The canal was mostly constructed using manual labor provided by the settlers themselves in exchange for stock in the company and/or very poor wages. Working conditions, particularly in the winter, were horrible. Wood was cut and hauled from the hills which boarder the valley, earth and rocks were moved, and flumes built. Several failed attempts at building this major canal were made before it was finally successful. It is recorded that the name was chosen by John Trappett because, if it's final attempt was not successful, many settlers would have to pack up and leave the valley. A diversion dam was built a couple of miles northeast of today's town of Grace and a canal was built to direct the water above and away from the river's natural path so it could be delivered via other canals to valley farms and ranches.
On February 14, 1899 the effort to make the final attempt at building the canal was incorporated under the name "The Last Chance Canal Co.". There were perhaps 60 or so initial stockholders many of whom received their stock entirely in exchange for the physical labor they had already contributed to the effort. Edward J. Turner was one of the original 5 Board of Directors members and was chosen as the first President of the corporation, a position he held till 1904. (John Trappett had been president of the effort before its 1899 incorporation.) E.J. thus ran the company during the period in which the canal was finally successfull. Water first started flowing into valley fields in 1902 and the last major part of the original canal was completed in 1904. In 1901 money had again run low and the company was forced, for the first time, to borrow funds (from a Utah company). Also, a Salt Lake City contractor was retained to finish some of the more complicated work. In his capacity as President, E. J. Turner would have orchestrated these actions. I suspect that when the first attempts at building the Last Chance Canal were made E.J. Turner was probably working with a pick and shovel like everyone else. By the time it was complete, however, he was likely mostly acting in the capacity of negotiator, bureaucrat, and business executive.
The book "Gems" of Our Valley indicates that "Directors were paid in those days $2.50 per meeting; the president was paid $50.00 per year; and the secretary was paid from $100 to $125 per year until about 1920 when his salary was raised to $300". The Last Chance Canal became famous throughout the West because of the fact that it was built with virtually no government technical assistance or government money and because of the very limited amount of private funds that had been borrowed compared with the magnitude of the undertaking.
On February 23, 1914, 10 years after the
canal was finished and E.J. Turner relinquished his position as President, a
banquet was held in the town of Grace to celebrate the paying off of the
indebtedness incurred to complete the project. Hundreds of people
attended and E.J. Turner was one of the featured speakers. A detailed
report on the event appeared on the front page of the Soda Springs Chieftain
newspaper on February 26th. It read in part:
Starting in 1917, the year after E.J.'s death, and till 1920, the Last Chance Canal Company was involved in a major lawsuit in which various interests in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming fought over Bear River water rights. John Trappett testified extensively about the early days of the canal. The founders of the canal apparently did things correctly when it came to making claims to river water because it came out of the lawsuit with pretty much all the water the valley could use. The "Bear River Water Case" and it's resulting "Dietrich Decree" set early legal precedent still in use today for determining water rights involving more than one state. While E.J. Turner was not around to be involved in this legal battle, he was certainly involved in establishing and negotiating many of the precedents cited and formalized in it's rulings. The Last Chance Canal would continue to evolve and be upgraded and expanded as necessary till the present day. The book The Last Chance Canal records: "When considered as a whole, by 1919 the Last Chance system consisted of 'about 90 miles of main canals and 127-3/4 miles of laterals'." Also, "It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of irrigation to the Gem Valley. The effects of the Last Chance on the lives of the people indeed have been dramatic."
The Position of Idaho Water Commissioner A sentence in his 1903 divorce case file (more below) reads regarding E.J. Turner "That in addition to the above the defendant holds, for a period of some six years, the position of Water Commissioner in the State of Idaho with a salary of about $1,800 per year". When I first read this in 2006 I searched for information regarding this position at the Idaho web site but found almost nothing. I exchanged emails with the Idaho State Archives but this also didn't come up with anything regarding whether the position even existed much less whether E.J. Turner had ever held the position. Then in 2012 as I was updating this I again contacted the Idaho State Archives (Division of the Idaho State Historical Society) and this time they apparently had more information available to them and they could confirm that in fact E.J. Turner had in fact served as an Idaho Water Commissioner. The Seventh Biennial Report published by the Idaho Secretary of State for the fiscal years 1903-1904 show that E.J. Turner had a "Date of Commission" of April 6, 1903 for a 6 year term expiring on April, 6 1909 as "1st District" Water Commissioner. There were apparently 3 water districts established at the time as there are also Commissioners shown for the 2nd and 3rd Districts. The information sent by the State Archives suggests that these 3 Water Commissioners were the first appointed under a new state law as, in order to set up overlapping appointment terms in the future, each original commissioner under the law was initially appointed to a different term length with E.J. Turner having received the first appointment and longest at 6 years and the others receiving 4 and 2 years terms respectively. When the initial terms expired, each new appointment would then be for a 6 year term. This possibly suggests that E.J. Turner may have technically been Idaho's first Water Commissioner, the State of Idaho having existed for only 13 years and still working to set up government functions that hadn't been in place before statehood. The State Archives indicated that the 1905-1906 Biennial Report apparently didn't contain anything regarding Water Commissioners but that the 1907-1908 version shows only one statewide Water Commissioner position and it wasn't held by E.J. Turner. The 1907-1908 report covered a few years before his term was to expire so possibly the state had redefined the positions by rolling 3 commissioners into one and E.J. Turner's roll was eliminated. There is another possibility however............ Dick Turner had mentioned in our conversations that he believed that E.J. Turner had had been elected or appointed to a position that he subsequently had to resign from because he wasn't technically a U.S. Citizen (probably having been born in Canada). In an effort to see if this may have been the Water Commissioner position I asked the Idaho State Archives if the position was elected or appointed and whether U.S. citizenship was required. They indicated via email that the position was appointed by the Governor, confirmed by the Senate, and that U.S. citizenship was in fact required. The archives could provide no proof but I suppose it's possible that E.J. Turner could have resigned this position due to his not being born a U.S citizen. I have no information as to exactly how long E.J. Turner held the position of Water Commissioner but since the the 1903-1904 Biennial Report was published after Sept. of 1904 E.J. Turner must have held the position for at least a year and a half at a minimum and possibly could have held it up to perhaps 4 years by which time the 1907-1908 version no longer shows him.
The $1,800 per year pay mentioned in the divorce case file was a good annual salary for any full time position in those days and thus suggests that the Water Commissioner position may have been time consuming with a high degree of responsibility attached to it. (In 1906 a competent accountant earned about $2,000 per year and a dentist around $2,500.) It's easy to speculate that E.J. Turner's considerable experience with the Last Chance Canal qualified him for the position and it may very well be that he knew more about water issues than anyone else in his part of the state at the time. I've found no information as to what the position of Water Commissioner in Idaho in the early 1900's may have involved. Today the State of Colorado does have positions with this title who I'm told work for the Colorado State Engineer and report on and monitor their respective water districts regarding water usage. They are charged with making sure each consumer of water, whether it be municipalities, ranches, farms, etc. use the amount of water their water rights entitle them to. Finally, I note that the formal photo of E.J. Turner which appears in the "Introduction" section of this biography was taken in Boise, the Idaho state capital, which is hundreds of miles west of the Turner's Gentile Valley home. Given the travel time and expense to get there, I doubt that E.J. would have traveled to Boise simply to have his picture taken as there is evidence that there were photographers much closer in Utah. This causes me to wonder if he may have been in the state capital on business relating to his position as Water Commissioner and, while there. had this formal portrait photo taken in his capacity as a state official. This of course is pure speculation. E.J. Turner's Handwritten Speech Dick Turner indicated that he had a speech handwritten by our common ancestor which had been handed down his branch of the family. He was kind enough to mail me a copy. It was most certainly written by E.J. Turner as the handwriting matches known signed handwriting samples included in his daughter Rose’s surviving autograph books. The speech isn't dated nor does it indicate what event it was given at. After reading it I suspect it was presented in Boise, ID at a ceremony associated with a significant event like a state fair. I'm guessing that E.J. traveled the several hundred miles to Boise and gave the speech in his capacity as a state Water Commissioner sometime shortly after his appointment as such in 1903. The speech wasn't business or political in nature as in it's 17 pages he talks entirely about Idaho's natural wonders, beauty, and resources comparing it to other parts of the United States and other areas of the world. It's clear that E.J. was extremely well read and educated in world geography and history, particularly for someone who grew up on the Wisconsin frontier and spent his adult life on the Idaho frontier. The speech is well written (if perhaps somewhat long winded) and it's lack of corrections suggests that E.J. probably composed several rough drafts before hand writing the final version for presentation.
Edward J. Turner's Reputation E. J. Turner is still remembered today by area residents who descend from other early settlers. Prior to my July 2006 visit to the area I had heard indirectly through a local genealogy volunteer via e-mail that a current local resident, Jay Turner, who descends from one of the other unrelated Turner settlers, had said that he recalls E.J. Turner by reputation as being a major contributor to the area and prominent local citizen. During my phone conversation with Don Gilbert while in Grace it was clear that he knew about E. J. Turner by reputation and he said that he was "well spoke of and a man of money" (I wrote down Don's exact words). Don would be in a position to know even though he was born in 1930, 14 years after E.J.'s death. He is the grandson of John J. Trappett, is current owner of some of the land formerly part of the Turner Ranch, and himself served as President of the Last Chance Canal Co. for a number of years. The book The Last Chance Canal Company quotes John Trappett, during a 1918 deposition for the lawsuit and regarding the early efforts to build the Last Chance Canal, as saying "We [had] nothing, only our home, that is all we had. Only Edward J. Turner of the original organization was considered to be a 'man of property'." My cousin Dick Turner has told me that, while in college (probably in the mid to late 1940's), he ran into someone who had known his grandfather (E.J. Turner) and described him as a "gentleman rancher". Being referred to as a "man of property" , a "gentleman rancher", and a "man of money" (over a period of almost 90 years) suggests that E.J. Turner was a successful rancher (businessman) as well as successful in his capacity with the Last Chance Canal. I have no proof but have to wonder whether he may have arrived in the Gentile valley in 1877 with a nice nest egg from his days in Virginia City to use as seed capital to start and expand his ranch.
Another Cattle Venture "Gems" of Our Valley makes one more mention of E.J. Turner's contributions to cooperative efforts to improve the economic lives of area residents as well as his own. In April of 1904, only months after leaving his position of Last Chance Canal president, E.J. Turner and 6 other area ranchers "incorporated the Gentile Valley Land and Livestock Company for the purpose of acquiring land and grazing their cattle in Grays Lake. For many years about 3000 head of cattle were trailed from the Gentile Valley to Grays Lake in the spring , and back in the fall or early winter. It was a long, hard four-or-five day trail in the spring when the baby calves were so slow to move; a much shorter, three-or-four day, but much colder trail when the cattle came home". A descendent of this company still operates in the area for the same purpose though apparently it now hauls the cattle back and forth by truck. The book goes on to say: "In the early days there were practically no fences between Soda Springs and Idaho Falls, so the fall round-up would take about two weeks, with 20 or 30 riders working from daybreak to dark............ After the railroad came through in 1884, most of the cattle were marketed in Omaha, Nebraska. They were paid for in gold, which was usually kept in a buckskin bag or pouch, put under the mattress when the owner slept, or sometimes buried in the ground for safekeeping." The Turner Stock Brand and Miscellaneous Mentions of E. J. Turner The following is part of a list of area stock brand owners published in a 1906 issue of the Soda Springs Chieftain newspaper:
As near as I can tell it reads: "on left thigh of horses, on left hip of cattle, swallow fork and under bit both ears E J Turner, Cove, Ida". The start of the article reads "Stock Brands. Parties finding strays bearing any of the following brands will confer a favor by sending a card to the owner. These cards are run for all who pay $1.50 in advance for a years subscription to the Chieftain." (This suggests that the telephone had not reached the area by 1906). I find it pretty easy to find a "J" and a "T" in the brand but the "E" is a little more obscure, I suspect facing downward from the top.
I uncovered a mention of Edward J. Turner in the March 30, 1902 edition of the Idaho Daily Statesman (Boise City, Idaho). It indicates that he had been selected as a "trial juror" to serve "in the term of the United States court which will begin at Pocatello April 14". Interestingly, a Fred Turner from Idaho Falls was also selected for the same jury. This was very likely E.J.'s brother, Frederick Hugh Turner, who 1900 census records show to be living in Idaho Falls.
The Divorce When I first started researching the Turners I found a 1910 census record showing Martha (age 55) as head-of-household living with daughter Lillian (age 26) and son Fred (age 16) in Weiser, Idaho which is located in the far western part of the state, hundreds of miles from the Gentile Valley. No mention of E. J. Turner was included and he doesn't show up anywhere in the 1910 census. For a long time I had thus assumed that E.J. must have passed away sometime between 1900 and 1910 and that Martha had moved from the Gentile Valley after his death. This theory began to crumble when I discovered the published records regarding E.J. which indicate that he was still around the Gentile Valley as late as 1914 and that he had acquired the last of his homesteaded land there in 1913. I finally began to consider the possibility of divorce even though this was not a common occurrence in those days. I started looking around for such records and in the late summer of 2006 the Idaho Public Archives and Research Library of the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise came up with Edward and Martha's 1903 divorce case file. After 30 years of marriage, Martha filed for divorce on November 9, 1903 claiming she had been "treated in a cruel and inhumane manor" and that Edward had "caused and inflicted grievous mental suffering". No infidelity was alleged and only one very minor instance of physical abuse was claimed. Martha initially asked for $75 per month in "maintenance" to support herself and the 2 remaining minor children. Edward countered through his attorney by making a filing in which he agreed with the basic facts claimed by Martha, indicated that they were not sufficient to make the case for divorce, and then said he also wanted a divorce. It's pretty clear from the legal documents that the attorneys for both parties negotiated a mutually agreeable settlement and presented it to a judge for final approval. The judge dissolved the marriage on December 14, 1903 and the only financial settlement provided for Martha was a one time lump sum of $2,000. Edward kept the ranch. I find the custody arrangement that was agreed to for the 2 minor children somewhat interesting. Edward was given sole long term custody of Percy (age 15) and temporary custody of Frederick (age 9) for about 9 months at which point Martha would get sole custody of him. I suppose its possible that Percy may have shown a preference for staying with his father in the Gentile Valley and that arrangements were made in the settlement for Frederick to stay in school for the rest of the current year while Martha used the time to establish herself elsewhere. What the real cause of the divorce was isn't clear from the case file however in the end both parties apparently agreed that a divorce was in everyone's best interests. During the period of perhaps 6 years prior to the divorce Edward was, in addition to running the cattle ranch, heavily involved in leading the difficult efforts to complete the Last Chance Canal. Also, he had been fulfilling the duties of a state Water Commissioner for a little over 6 months. Edward had likely been working long hours under considerable stress and his marriage may have simply suffered because of it. He may not have been easy to live with during this period.
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