| Show THE BANNOCK STAKE OF ZION BY ANDREW JENSON REXBURG rexburg Rex burg the largest ai mormon settlement iu ia the snake river valley and the headquarters of the bannock stake is pleasantly situated on a level tract of country lying between the base of the foot hills on the south and the south branch of the teton river riner on the north it is twenty two miles by direct road northeast of market lake the nearest station on the utah northern railway which whish is the shipping point for all the settlements situated on the forks of the snake river and it is thirty five anve miles by way of the big buttes ferry northeast of eagle ack rick the altitude of rex burg is feet above the level of the sea rexburg is divided into three ibish ople wards the townsite te embraces e eight hundred acres divided into ten acre blocks which again are divided into four lots each the streets are six rods wide see plat on page the town contains four general stores one furniture store two blacksmiths one hotel one livery sale and feed stables one meat market etc durans winter co carry a greater stock of goods than soy any other store in the forks of snake river immediately east of the town is the patent roller mill the pride of the valley it was erected in 1889 at a cost of the main building is 45 x 55 feet and four stories high built of solid rock the mill has all the improved machinery machiner and turns out as f gool a grade of flour as any mill in idaho laho it to is owned by au an incorporated company HISTORY march 11 1883 the rex burg townsite was selected by president william B preston and bishop thomas E rieke ricks it was surveyed on the and the following day by surveyor andrew S anderson into ten acre blocks with four lots in each on the of march the rexburg city canal was surveyed work was commenced on it june ath tol following lowing and water turned into it on the were hauled on the townsite preparatory to building by francis C gunnell thomas E ricko and others march 1883 1893 the Y M M 1 I A was first organized organized with E paul as president march 1883 the first house was built by bishop rieke ricks march 26 1883 rieke and cos colo ferry boat was launched on henrys henry 18 fork this ferry was continued until the bridge was built in the spring of 1890 june 3rd ard 1883 the first sunday school was organized by henry flamm with james M cook as superintendent perin and twenty members in october 1883 the first meetinghouse g in rexburg was built at a cost of about the church contributed tri buted of this amount and the balance was donated by the people on the of october the first meeting was held in the new meetinghouse oct 27 1883 the first ward conference was hold held at rexburg Rex burg W B preston presiding december 3 1883 the first day school was opened with thomas E bassett as teacher in ID september 1883 the first store was wa established by by thomas E rieke ricks A co this is ia now the rexburg cooperative store about the same time walter paul opened the first furniture and hardware store he also carried building supplies liep april 1884 the first post postoffice office was established in rexburg Rax Rex burg thomas E Be beissert issett postmaster at the first brat quarterly conference of the bannock stake held at rexburg Rex burg sunday april 1884 thoo E rick juu jun was ordained a high priest and set apart to act as bishop of rexburg Rex burg andrew 8 anderson was set apart as hi 3 second Counce councellor lor subsequently john L b roberts was set apart ai hs his first pi rat counselor in december 1884 the grist mill was dedicated this mill continued to run successfully until april 11 1889 when it was burned down after this ibis loes steps were immediately med lately taken to the present patent roller mill which commenced running november 14 1889 april ath 1885 the relief society was first organized with ann rieke ricks as president may 1886 joseph morris and C ayling were appointed acting counselors to thomas E ricks ricki jun in the absence of counselors roberts and anderson who had goe into exile because of the strict enforcement of the edmunds law this bishopric acted until the ward wat wa divided in november 1887 at the quarterly stake conference held at rexburg august 20 and 21 1887 the town of rexburg was div divided ed into three wards to be known as the lemburg first second and third wards in march 1888 hyrum rands opened the first hotel in rexburg Rex burg REXBURG FIRST WARD thomas E ricks jun bisho bishop nathan rieke ricks first counselor giliam william hill second counselor rexburg first ward embraces the evist est part of the town of rexburg Rex burg see plat on page and includes the business part of the town history when the original rex burg ward was divided into three wards thomas E 1 rieke ricks was retained as bishop of the rexburg faist ward and three months later at the quarterly conference held november william hill was set apart as acting counselor to bishop rieke ricks he was the only counselor Caunsel Caun rr the bishop had until august 1868 when nathan rieke ricks was called to act as first counselor and william hill as second counselor this WAS done at the quarterly conference held at louisville REXBURG SECOND WARD casper steiner oer bishop roman beia ge pert first counselor conrad waltz second counselor rexburg second ward embraces the south southwest west part of the town of rexburg Rex burg many of the residents are of german descent and only a very few outsiders reside in this ward the meeting house situated south of the second ward public square is a log building feet and was built by donation in 1888 the relief society is the on only 1 lf separate society so far organized a all the other usual ward bp be ing connected with the first ward up to date at history Hi sTOBY when rexburg was divided into three wards ward at the quarterly conference held at rexburg Rex burg august ustel 21 1887 casper steiner was ordained bishop of rexburg second war J and at the next quarterly conference headst held at roxburg november 27 1887 roman and conrad waltz were ordained high priests and set a part bartto to act as fl farst rot and second cou counselors rise to bishop steiner Sl einer no change in the bishopric his has occurred as yet THIRD WARD timothy J winter bishop robert archibald first counselor john it paul second counselor this ward embraces the northwest part of rexburg Rex burg no separate sunday school or any other organization have been organized organ aed yet neither has any ward house been erected preparations however are being made to build one in the near future HISTORY the boundaries of the rexburg third ward were agreed upon at the stake conferee Confer epee ce held at rexburg in august 1887 and timothy J winter was chosen as bishop but he being absent at them the time did not receive his ordination until april 1888 when he salt lake city and was there ordained by apostle apostola franklin D richards soon afterwards robert Archib archibald aldand and john R paul were ordained and set apart to act as his bis counselors those three still compose the bishopric of the ward RIGBY WARD george albert cordon bishop dau dan iel stoddard robbins first counselor josiah call second counselor goun rigby ward consists of all the saints living on their respective quarter sections in a tract of country lying cast of louisville ward the boundaries of the ward are as follo follows wp commencing at the northwest corner of section IS township 4 nort of range 38 east and running thence south louth to the township line between townships 3 and athe ace east along said line to snake river thence along snake boake river to the month of the dry bed of forms its northern boundary line tars includes about fifty square miles of country the south end of the ward embracing the east half of range 39 3 east township 4 north is organized into a separate branch known as the cedars branch where meetings and sunday schools also aye are held regularly the same as in rigby bigby proper jesse T dark clark presides over the branch I 1 which consists of about a dozen families the intended townsite of rigby surveyed in 1886 consists of luo acres being the southwest quarter of section 18 township 4 north of range 39 east it is 25 miles by way of the big buttes ferry south southwest wt of rexburg Rex burg or 14 miles in a straight line it is also six miles by road southeast of louisville and 17 miles northeast of eagle rock it is surrounded by rich level lands covered heavily with sage brush but under cultivation produces very good crops water for 11 irrigating purposes if is conveyed to the lands through a canal which taps the dry bed of snake river about 3 miles from the town site all the people reside reide on their farms asyet as yet but intend to build on the townsite as soon as it is entered as such and title can be secured to it history that part of the snake river valley now included in the rigby ward was first settled in 1883 by william W parks parka william H jones peter allen alien william bery and others lu in 1885 a branch organization was effected with daniel S rob bins as president and named Rigby in honor of william f V rigby counselor in the stake presidency the new branch was placed under the jurisdiction of the louisville ward and continued thus until may 22 1886 when a special meeting vas held at rigby at which apostle Apost john leJohn W taylar i and other prominent men were present on that occasion george acorson was ordained a will high priest and bishop and set apart to preside over the rigby ward then organized daniel S robbins was ordained and set apart as his bis first and josiah call as his bis second counselor this bishopric still stands unchanged in 1886 ward meeting house a small log building hiet feet was erected near the townsite towa site A postoffice post office was established in 1889 SALEM WARD george henry burriston harris bishop david nielsen first counselor augustus weber belnap second counselor salem ward embraces an area of country containing about thirty square miles lying on both sides of the north teton extending west and north to henrys henry s fork of snake river east to the wilford ward and south to rex burg the country is level and productive duc tive and is irrigated from the north teton and henrola fork of snake river there are three irrigating canals within the limits of the ward namely 1 the salem irrigation canal 2 the consolidated farming canal and 3 tito the teton lelan islan I 1 canal from the latter considerable laud land belonging to rexburg is watered the land within the limits of the salem ward is all taken up but can be bought very cheap as more settlers are wanted the warl ward has a good sunday school and all other usual ward organizations and only a few non mormons cormons Mor mons reside there the townsite of salem cont contains airs acres and Is part of section 5 in township 6 north of range 40 east boise meridian it is situated on the so called teton island three miles north of rexburg and twenty five miles southeast of market lake baake the nearest j iway ailway point most of tile the settlers vi live ve on their farms and only a few have built on the townsite as yet the teton island is formed by the forking of the teton river at a point between the town sites of teton and Wilfor Wll tf while the north branch takes a westerly course to henrys fork the south branch takes a southwesterly direction toward the same stream thus forming a kind of delta containing about thirty square miles of good and level farmin farming and grazing lind most of this folonis belongs to tile the salem ward while the south side of the island is owned by the rexburg farmers Hi His roBY salem first began to be settled and land claimed in the spring of 1883 the first house being built and occupied by john M brancon on in t hie I 1 to southwest quarter of keenion 10 in township 6 north of range 40 east from that time forward the land was very eagerly sought after and in a short abort time nearly all was claimed and the respective owners commenced to build with the intention of becoming cerui permanent anent settlers in n j july tily 1884 presidents thomas E ricks and william B preston selected the tow tobnette nette te and named it salem in honor of the ancient salem mentioned in the bible and the people were advised to build on the site as soon as they had bad proven up on their land in february 1886 a log meeting house was erected on the townside town tow sile nelle b by donations previous to this meetings and sunday schools had been held in private houses at a quarterly conference held at rexburg Rex burg november 23 1884 a ward organization was effected at salem with george H B harris who had bad formerly merly been a member of the high counsel as bishop he acted without counselors until january when james henry wilson was ordained a high priest and set apart to act as his first counselor Coune elor and ion on february ath following follow ing da via nielsen was set apart as his second counselor at this time there were 61 amentt ers of the church in the ward may mabil 11 ll 1890 counselor Wilson having removed from the ward was honorably released from his big poe tion and augustus W belnap was or dallied a high priest and set apart to act a second counselor to bishop harris harrip counselor nielsen being promoted to the position of first counselor february 7 1885 the salem sunday school was first organized with arvis arvia C dille as superintendent subsequently a relief society which is now one of the most prosperous in the stake was organized with martha M ward as president TAYLOR WARD william priest bishop charles W wadsworth first counselor the taylor ward consists of thirteen SC fa 4 i s 11 ciza CD CT CO CD ann n III 1 i J a 0 H IZ 0 F ia 41 ta f 16 IT 1 E ya 4 a rw 1 2 0 a es I 1 aa I 1 w r 21 20 19 fa VJ T r f 0 30 1 l ta 3 65 ba ual v n 1 Y 1 1 I ha 43 42 4 40 39 9 37 AN AH fl to W wl E F 5 j 4 X C 7 r F 48 I 1 49 41 5 50 0 0 X r M lr tze sec 5 e VA be OR vt i 53 B wa W owr 0 ito as i 81 5 4 c CK R 13 ft 0 ot R 5 0 0 ar rt im ED lov 0 V S W ae c 30 7 see sec 31 see sec 32 I 1 jye id I 1 plan of rexburg Bex Rex burg bingham county idaho the townsite embraces parts parl of sections Sec tiona 19 20 and 30 of township 6 north range 40 east boise mer jeredian edian the full blocks contain ten abreo divided into four lots each the streets are six rods wide references section lines of government survey ward boundary lines A first ward meeting home B second ward meeting house home C third ward meeting house D tithing office K F post poat office F rexburg operative cooperative co store the pioneer store of the town G J durans winter co mercantile house established in 1885 H henry flamme general merchandise and implements I 1 paul tte k kloutz store established tn in ima 1883 J roxbury press office and consolidated implement cos cols off offices tees K rexburg house tuo the first hotel in the upper tipper snake river valley hyrum II 11 rum rands hands proprietor I 1 L cuy city mont meat market M music store F S brannvall proprietor watchmaker and Jew jeweler elci C E H kidby blacksmith shop N city Black blacksmith h shop J brenner prop 0 0 livery feed sale stables paul IV whit hit nev lloyd proprietors P I 1 residence of pres pree thos E ricks sen 0 do B bishop those ricks rick juu jun a R do R ishop bishop casper steiner elner St 8 do R bishop timothy T do 10 I 1 henry fenry flamm esq IT do 14 F rank frank S bramwell esq efi V do 10 Cli charles arjes 1 I durans esq W do Sur surveyor byor A S andersen X do jacob esq esl CMor mormon morill families and embraces a tract of country containing about seventy square miles most of w which lich is goo good prairie land at this h s can be irrigated by water conveyed from snake river iver through tm the eagle rock and willow creek canal As only a few settlers so 40 far have located here there is room for hundreds of |
