Voices from the Past

The First Idaho Governor Appointees

Interviewee: W. Leigh Fullmer

19 December 1981

Tape #62

Oral Interview conducted by Harold Forbush

Transcribed by: Jessica Smith February 2009

Edited by: Jeremy Sant March 2009

Brigham Young University–Idaho

Harold Forbush: This is a tape recorded interview with my dear friend, and I say that in a sense

that I might be younger than Brother Leigh, but he’s been a man that I’ve been able to look up to.

This is W. Leigh Fullmer and Leigh is spelled L.E.I.G.H. A special spelling, and probably from

the man Richard Leigh originally, I’m guessing that. But, we, I’m privileged to be in his home,

in the home of his companion, Addie Fullmer, on this 19th

day of December 1981 here at Driggs.

And Brother Fullmer has agreed to share with me some data about the first appointees who

served this county, Teton County, back in its organization in 1915. I hope that Brother Fullmer

will be very free and liberal with his comments about these gentlemen and other items that we

might talk about because, certainly, he is a tremendous resource or information of all that period

of time, maybe between 1915 and 19…

Leigh Fullmer: I remember, I remember 1902.

HF: Isn’t that fabulous. Well, now, Brother Leigh, would you having being able to remember

1902, give me the specific date of your birth and where.

LF: I was born in [Leigh Ward], spelled exactly the same as my name in 1898.

HF: And, of course, your father was Halsey Leigh Fullmer; and we will be talking about him

in just a few moments. Now, down through the years, you have continued to reside here in

Teton Valley; I guess all of you were born here?

LF: I was born here, have lived here, been gone for a few, for short periods of work and short

periods of school, but I have lived here all my life.

HF: One of those little short periods of being away, I guess, was for the First World War.

Weren’t you there for a time?

LF: Shortly.

HF: How long?

LF: I was extracted.

HF: But, you were in business as a grocery man for how many years; from what period to

what period?

LF: I started as a little delivery boy, first, about 1913, 12 or 13. And then I, after I got back

from the First World War, I got a position at the old consolidated wagon and machinery

company, Henry Pulley was the manager, and after I’d been with them a few short years,

President Choles got me to open. In between this, however, I worked for B.F. logging and

stones, G.S. Arnold, Arnold and Choles, in the mercantile business; and then in the C.W.M. and

he got me to leave the C.W.M. and open up a grocery store for him; and that, that would have

been, I’m not sure about the date, but that would have been about 1923.

HF: As your own proprietor?

LF: Well, he owned the business.

HF: He owned the business and you managed it?

LF: He owned the business and he would come in daily, and his wife would come in

periodically, and then I operated the business and then we bought that business from him; and

that was our first home owned, or family owned store. And incidentally during some of these

years, after 1918, my wife -- Addie Harrison became my wife -- moved here. And later on after

the, during and after the First World War, she was working for C.M. Hatch & Company; and one

of his partners was his brother-in-law, [Thamus] Price. And so I finally decided the only way to

get rid of one competitor was to marry her. (Laughter)

HF: Well, I guess that was legitimate too wasn’t it?

Addie Fullmer: Worked out pretty well.

LF: And…

HF: Well, that’s great.

LF: I think it was 1926 when we became owners of the Choles Cash Grocery.

HF: And this was on the West side of Main Street?

LF: Yes, it was on the West side of Main Street.

HF: Just across the street from the, I guess the bank was erected, wasn’t it, on that time on the

east side of the street?

LF: Yes, but our store was more in the middle of the block, farther North; it was where the

Mountaineer Store is now. Later, that was owned by Chip Miller after we had left it, Chip

became the owner of it and so…

HF: Well Leigh, my fundamental purpose is to talk about these gentlemen that appear on this

picture of the first appointees. Now, we have a man by the name of Ben Jones and he

represented the first County Commissioners District of Teton County, which was the Southern

area of Teton County. This would include Victor, and Chapin, Cedron, that area. What can you

tell me about Ben Jones?

LF: Ben Jones was a very choice friend of mine. I was just a kid in those days and I was just

a boy; I played ball with the men. I was very fortunate to be able too. They either needed

material real badly or I was gifted in some, to some extent in athletics; and Ben Jones would

always come to the games where I played, he would always cheer for me and was sort of like a

dad, just a loyal, good friend.

HF: Now, was this kind of a church ball?

LF: No. There was no church ball then, there was no, no nucleus of the church except maybe

in the larger towns.

HF: Just community orientated then?

LF: Yes.

HF: Community oriented.

LF: Completely.

HF: I see. Now was this baseball or softball?

LF: Baseball.

HF: Baseball.

LF: Softball was unknown then. It was baseball and…

HF: Oh, I see. What position did you play?

LF: Almost any position. They just used me.

HF: Pitch? Catch?

LF: Yes; no, I didn’t ever, ever do much catching, my brother, Charles, did more of that, but I

played every other position on the diamond as they, as they didn’t have somebody to do it. (Cuts

out)

HF: Ben was a very loyal supporter.

LF Yes, Ben was a loyal supporter; and he was the grandfather and great grandfather of most

of the Jones in Victor.

HF: He was an original settler up here then?

LF: Yes, he was one of the early settlers.

HF: In the South end of the valley.

LF: I don’t think…

HF: What was his business? I mean, county commissioner, that took a little of his time, but

not very much.

LF: I believe he’d run a pool hall, I believe he’d run, for a while I think he managed a hotel or

a rooming house, and he farmed considerably.

HF: Was he, had he apparently had some formal education? Did he appear to be quite a man

of letters?

LF: No, I wouldn’t say that, he appeared to be a man of experience and of personal learning

through experience, but not through school. I doubt that he had very much in scholastic training.

HF: Was he involved in church affairs much?

LF: Not very much in church affairs, no.

HF: But a real fine community man?

LF: A find, dependable, sort of a man. A man that you could sit down and talk to, differ with

and he would differ with you without any problems. He was active in there civic work in the

south end of the valley, canals and irrigation districts, this sort of thing. I think he even carried

the mail over the Jackson Pass at one time, but I’m not positive about that.

HF: I see.

LF: But I think he did.

HF: Now, we come further north in what would be considered the central or middle area, and,

I guess, that would be the district two, wouldn’t it?

LF: I think they were numbered.

HF: District two and that would be E.B. Edloveson.

LF: No, that would have been way north then.

HF: No.

LF: Oh wait.

HF: Milt Philips was…

LF: He was on the north end.

HF: Now, E.B. Edloveson…

LF: Let me say this about, about Mr. Jones.

HF: Uh-huh.

LF: He was not opposed to learning. He was active in helping to get high school in the Victor

area. They had a high school in Victor area before they had a Teton high school; and he was

active in helping to stimulate that.

HF: That’s interesting, that’s very interesting. Alright, I’ll try to keep in mind that as we go

through the, some of the questions that I present to you, perhaps will not be all inclusive and I

should ask you if there’s any other information, and I’ll try to do that. Now, when we talk about

E.B. Edloveson, what do those initials represent?

LF: Edleth, I don’t remember what the B represents, but his name was Edleth.

HF: Edleth.

LF: Edleth.

HF: Edloveson. Now, was he Jess’s father?

LF: He was Jess’s father.

HF: I see, what, what type of a frame or stature did he have; was he a big man?

LF: He was a very big man; he was a very heavy man. He ate a lot of salt with his meat.

Often, almost always, in the [meat] he would take a spoonful of sugar, it was the last helping of

everything. I knew E.B. Edloveson as I have known few men. When I -- he couldn’t drive

backwards in a train, in a wagon, in a buggy, anywhere.

HF: He had to be facing ahead?

LF: He had to be facing ahead or he got deathly sick. And when I was just a boy, not over

nine or ten years old, Edleth B. Edloveson, in those days we had to plant our seeds in the fields

in the spring, as we called broadcasting. We would, the driver would drive the team about where

they ought to go and one person would sit in the back of the wagon with a big tub between their

legs, sitting on a couple of sacks of grain, and take a handful of seed, wheat, oats, whatever it

was you were sewing, broadcasting, and throw it to the left with the right hand at the same time

grab another handful with the left hand and then follow to the right, and just throw back and

forth. And while I was that young, E.B. Edloveson came and got my father to let me come and

do his broadcasting. He would drive the buggy, the team on an old buggy without any top and I

would sew his, his spring planting; and I did that for several years for him.

HF: This could have been, oh, ten or 15 acres or so.

LF: Oh, yes, or more.

HF: Or more?

LF: Yes. It would take several days to do his…

HF: Where did he have his ranch?

LF: He lived from the Lawrence Hatch corner?

HF: Yes.

LF: Is that all right?

HF: Yeah, that’s a good place.

LF: From the Lawrence Hatch corner which used to be Daleford Hanson corner. He lived

one and a half miles straight north.

HF: Straight north, I see.

LF: On the ranch where Jess Thompson later lived, the Beards lived right close, and where

Denny Thomas now lives, was the E.B. Edloveson ranch. He also was, to me, I’m sure he

wasn’t the first, but to me he was the first dentist in this valley. He had a pair of forceps and if

we ever got, had trouble with toothache, we’d go to E.B. Edloveson and he would pull our tooth

for us; and he would take some turnips or a pound of butter, the first tooth he ever pulled from

me he charged me 25 cents for it.

HF: (Laughter)

LF: For pulling it.

HF: That’s interesting.

LF: A great community character. Now, later on he moved to Driggs and later became the

bishop of the Driggs Ward.

HF: That’s interesting. He was a spiritual, religious inclined…

LF: Yes, he was.

HF: Man.

LF: Yes he was. His wife was, she was a tremendous woman; she lived for the gospel. And I

walked with her dozens and dozens of times that mile and a half from Hatches corner then

another mile further south, south of where the present [coliseum] church house is, she would

walk that distance every week for primary. For years she was dedicated to primary and she’d

bring a bunch of us kids a hold of her hands to walk that distance to primary.

HF: Now, I’m assuming that having been appointed as a county commissioner, he would have

had leadership ability; he would have had the capacity to persuade people and have followers. Is

this so?

LF: He was a good leader. Yes, E.B. Edloveson was a good leader.

HF: Was he, did he live quite a long life as you recall?

LF: Yes, he lived quite a long life. I, it’s hard for me to think back now in perspective and

guess the age, but for that time, he lived quite a long life; and he lived, he owned the home and

lived down where Leona Grover lives now.

HF: After moving to town.

LF: After moving to Driggs.

HF: I see.

LF: And was living in Driggs and then finally moved down there. But I would guess he lived

to be approximately between 65 and 70, and that was a pretty good age in those days.

HF: Now, what final comment would you have of this man; in character, personality or his

community affairs?

LF: He has always been very special to me because he sold to Doctor Keith, who was the

only lady doctor that I could think of that was here permanently to serve as a doctor in this

valley, he sold her a team that was noted all over this valley because of its great ability to travel

snow roads, dirt roads and draw and continue to trot fast, eight, ten miles without breaking or rest

of any kind; and they rode sway and bally. And Doctor Keith drove them for years.

HF: Sway…

LF: And bally.

HF: Bally. S-W-A-Y; I guess.

LF: I think so and they mayor was mere was called Sway because she had a big sway back

and the other one was Bally because of its bally face.

HF: That’s interesting.

LF: And Doctor Keith lived right where Raymond Christensen’s home was just east of the

banks.

HF: That’s what I understood. Coming now to commissioner number three, representing the

third district, was M.E. Phillips; and, of course, we know his first name was Milton.

LF: Right.

HF: Right? And I don’t know about the second initial. Milton E. Philips.

LF: That’s right.

HF: And, what, do you remember him well?

LF: Very well. He was another special friend, very special friend. He lived straight north of

Tetonia just before you get to Badger Creek. And he was, he was a good stockman, he raised

and kept on his place most of the year quite a large band of sheep. He was a good cattle raiser

and pastured quite a lot of cattle. He was one of the first to be semi-successful in dry farming on

the hills north of Tetonia, between north Tetonia and Badger Creek area. He was a mild

mannered, very quiet disposition, tall, slender, dignified; everything about him was inspiring and

elevating. He didn’t participate in church activities. He sent his boys on missions for the

Mormon Church. Education was his life.

HF: And he was a man of letters wasn’t he?

LF: Oh yes, very well, very well educated. He was from Kaysville area in Utah, had a good

education and he was a very successful farmer. He got out canals from Badger Creek and other

places. He was just a tremendously successful progressive individual and his family [kindly

spoke of] this part of his life.

HF: Now, of course Max and John were his sons.

LF: That’s right.

HF: And two outstanding young men.

LF: Oh, yes they were.

HF: They definitely were, weren’t they?

LF: And his wife was so dignified and mild of character, and she was a lady of letters.

HF: He would have been considered to have a real leadership capacity then, wouldn’t he?

LF: Yes, he did have real capacity. He didn’t exert it as much as he might have done because

he lived quite a distance from larger centers and he was a tremendous worker, but there home

was neat, their buildings were all neat and painted; he was just a progressive man.

HF: And all this be speaks the reason why he was probably chosen as a county commissioner.

LF: Oh, I think so. He was chosen, would have been, could have been, would have been

chosen. He served as a senator at one time.

HF: Later, representing the county?

LF: Yes, representing this county.

HF: I see; anything else about M.E. Philips?

LF: Honest, when you talked to him if he disagreed with you, it was so sweetly and mildly.

He was just an inspirational man to be around.

HF: I became acquainted with him personally when he would come in and visit with President

William A. Strong.

LF: He married William A. Strong’s sister. He was William A Strong’s brother-in-law.

HF: Yeah, that’s right, I remember that now. That’s interesting. Alright, now we come to

another one who was the clerk to the county commissioners, clerk of the district court, and who

was the auditor and recorder and his name was W.F. Robertson. You know his name?

LF: Yes. No, I can’t tell you what his name was; I’m sorry. It’s been too many years, I’m

just not sure.

HF: Was it, Fin…

LF: Finley. W. Finley

HF: Robertson.

LF: Mm-hmm.

HF: What type of an individual was he according to your recollection?

LF: I knew him real well but I was from the north end of the valley, the extreme north almost,

and he was from the extreme south and that was a long distance for a saddled horse or a buggy to

travel, we didn’t do it every day. But he also was in the mercantile business. He run a store.

HF: There in Victor? Did he?

LF: At Victor and later at Driggs.

HF: Probably…

LF: He was a clothier and he was a progressive sort of man, but he wasn’t…

HF: Maybe he competed one of Dewey, George Dewey’s, competitor’s maybe?

LF: Um, or a partner.

HF: Or a partner to him.

LF: Yes.

HF: To George Dewey.

LF: To George Dewey and B.F. Blogen and that group of men who are in business together;

he may have been one of that partnership businesses.

HF: You know it’s amazing Leigh, there were some outstanding leadership in the southern

end of the county in those years.

LF: There’s been great leadership in this entire valley and it’s scattered over the world today;

tremendous leadership.

HF: Now, did he continue to serve after his initial appointment for quite a while, do you

recall?

LF: I can’t tell ya how long he did continue to serve because he was still serving in the court

house when I went into the service in 1918 and I remember this so vividly, and this is not for,

this is not for criticism nor scandal, but I have to sell a load of grain -- that’s when I met my wife

-- I was bringing a load of grain to Driggs to sell to get enough money to go to join the army; and

they didn’t, wouldn’t even give you transportation into the army. After I got in the army I was in

uniform, quarantined, I was just as vividly in the army 24 hours every day as I could be or

between two and three months, and we only got a dollar a day then, but I didn’t get a pay check

for three months. Never did get a thing out of the first three months I was in the army, didn’t

even recognize that I was in the army because his office failed to get my induction papers into

the service department. That’s a reason I remember so well that he was still there. I’ve always

felt that that was unfortunate for me.

HF: Was he a large man?

LF: No, he wasn’t.

HF: Small?

LF: He was, about average size, around a hundred and six, fifty five, sixty pounds, not real

small or really large; not tall, just an average man.

HF: Self-educated would you say?

LF: Yes, I’d say self-educated.

HF: And he had quite a wide experience being in business.

LF: Yes, he had had a lot of experience.

HF: Well now…pardon?

LF: He didn’t belong to the LDS church, nor did his wife.

HF: Did he have a family?

LF: Yes. He had a family; we had some of his family here to see us a year ago. They still

come back once in a while.

HF: That’s interesting. Well now, this next man headed the office of superintendent of public

instruction or superintendent of schools. This particular position was very important in those

days, but it’s been abolished, I think about 1950 or something like that, when they had the school

reorganization and these men didn’t have to -- you know, in those days they coordinated all of

the little district schools and so on, superintendent. We’re going to be talking about Ezra C.

Dalby, D-A-L-B-Y, I think. What do you recall about Mr. Dalby?

LF: Mr. Dalby was one of the most inspirational men to listen to or talk to that I have ever

been acquainted with, and I’ve met a lot of outstanding leaders. He was a, he was an outstanding

public speaker; he was an outstanding thinker, and supervised his school like, people today

wouldn’t believe that school could be run like that. Not dictorial, but with love, and concern,

and consideration, and never would give up trying to help students; and right while he was

having charge of the high school he was also studying law and was admitted to the bar before he

left that.

HF: Now, I think you had previously commented that you took your high school under his

supervision as it were.

LF: Four years.

HF: Four years.

LF: I had the privilege of going to high…

HF: What years would those be, Leigh?

LF: It would have been from 1914 to ‘18.

HF: 1914-18

LF: ‘16, ‘17.

HF: Now the high school, did they have a high school up here as early as 1914? Pardon me

for asking that, I’m not sure.

LF: Yes, they did.

HF: They did.

LF: Yes the first high school was in 1916 (Phone ringing).

HF: Perry Suel was one of those wasn’t he?

LF: And Perry Class, there was only three of them. E.B. Edloveson… (Cuts out)

HF: Now under the direction of super, he, he was quite progressive I guess, wasn’t he?

LF: Very.

HF: In introducing various subject matters and sports activities.

LF: May I quickly add this? He told me that he didn’t decide to finish his high school until

he was 27 years old; and then went back to school and finished his high school (Cuts out) and

was admitted to the law.

HF: Well, that’s something. Now, Leigh, we had commented off the tape that you and your

brother; younger, older?

LF: Older.

HF: B.J., played some basketball up here and, before you went into the service, I guess.

LF: Yes.

HF: And that on one occasion you went down to Ricks College. Was it called Ricks College

then?

LF: Ricks Academy.

HF: I’m not sure.

LF: No, it was Ricks College by then.

HF: I think, I think it was; I think it was called Ricks College by then and played in

competition with President, what’s his name?

LF: Marion G.

HF: Marion G. Romney who was one of the counselors to our prophet at this time. Isn’t that

something?

LF: [Brian] and Brother Romney were each playing forward on the same team, they played

right close to each other; and I saw each one of them reach out and help the other one up off the

floor several times that night.

HF: Well, that’s something.

LF: He was a lovely competitor.

HF: Well this Dalby was a tremendous man too, wasn’t he? And his name previously had

been Christensen.

LF: If I understand, yes. He came from Mexico; they came from Mexico with the Romney’s

and other people who were driven out of there.

HF: He was probably about 19 when Poncho Villa was really rampaging that area. And that

was, that could have been as early as 1912, or even earlier than that, I’m not sure.

LF: Well, it was just the beginning of the First World War, the first evidences of it in this

country was beginning down on the border with Mexico.

HF: We come next to an interesting person; I suppose we should say that, the treasurer of the

county, a man by the name of Charles Charington. Do you recall him?

LF: Very, very well.

HF: Oh.

LF: Yes, he was also a clerk in our stake at one time and he was a typical Englishman. He

was in the store where I was working as a boy and I remember a man said, “Mr. Charington, how

long have you been in this country?” And as soon as the man had gone out, he turned to Bert

Choles and he said, “Well, how could he tell I was from England?”

(Laughter)

LF: And he was right from England; very well educated, fine, aggressive man. Small and

wirery, just like a streak of lightning.

HF: Had a family at the time, did he?

LF: Had a family, I don’t remember, I can’t recall…

HF: Do you remember…

LF: Right now much about his family except they were here.

HF: The Charington name in our, in our area has it.

LF: No. I don’t think any of his people ever stayed here; and I’m not sure where he went, I

think he went to Salt Lake.

HF: Now, when you talk about him being from England, of course, he had a buddy and that

was Bert Choles, also from England.

LF: But, they came at different times.

HF: Cheerio, cheerio.

LF: Yes.

HF: Well that’s, that’s interesting. Did he farm, do you suppose? Or was it…

LF: No, he didn’t farm. He was, he was just the neatest, cleanest, just to swipe a little bit of

dirt on his hands and he couldn’t stand it. He was just a neat, meticulously careful man. But

never had experience in much in the outdoors and he worked as book keeper for different

businesses, and in the county, and I think he worked in the village in record work.

HF: I see. Another fellow, and we’re going to be talking about three Sams, or Samuels, and

this first one was the coroner; and his name, we’re going to be talking about was Samuel Kunz,

K-U-N-Z. I’m sure that this gentlemen was from the, from the Cedron area. What can you tell

me about him?

LF: He came from, he came from the…

HF: The Harris and Montpelier area.

LF: Harris and Montpelier area first. He was, he was the father of all of the Kunz’ who are

here, practically. He was a very large man and he was a very close friend of mine. He use to

come into the store and would wait for me -- in those days we would wait on our customers

instead of our customers waiting on us -- we would gather up everything they wanted, they

would tell us what they wanted and we’d write it down; and we would gather them up and have

them in boxes, or what not, for them to take home and he would always come in and wait on me,

and I appreciated that. He was a very mild mannered man. He came here in the, for the dairy

industry in the first place; most of his family turned out to be trappers and fishermen and

outdoorsmen.

HF: And I would imagine he was a man of, through his experience, he had acquired those

through his living experiences.

LF: Living experiences. He was a great cheese maker.

HF: Oh, is that right?

LF: Yes, he was a great cheese maker. Many of our people made their own cheese in those

days, we did our own.

HF: Hmm, that’s interesting. Now, Jim’s a …

LF: Is his son.

HF: Is a son?

LF: And Sam, the older than Jim and older than Mildred and Older than Walter, they were all

sons of Sam.

HF: All Samuel? I see.

LF: Incidentally some of them are from other mothers, brothers and sisters.

HF: In those days, I imagine, the sheriff of the county was a very important officer trying to

enforce -- oh, of course, they didn’t have too much in the way of traffic always then, but -- they

probably had individuals who would come up here trying to evade enforcement in the lower

valley, and hide out maybe; and I’d imagine there’s quite a lot for the sheriff to do.

LF: There was a lot for the sheriff to do and he had to do it even on a saddled horse, in a

sleigh or, a buggy, or on skis; and he’d have to make long trips on skis, a lot of times; a lot of

pilfering, a lot of individuals taking advantage of other people.

HF: Cattle wrestling, a little bit, I imagine.

LF: Yes. Especially horse wrestling.

HF: Yes.

LF: Because they could ride them from here into the Jackson area, just in a few hours and we

had a lot of that going on.

HF: We’re talking about Sam R. Evans. What type of an individual was he as you recall?

LF: Gee, I’d be ashamed to say he was anything, but just a fine man; I used to go with his

daughter. (Laughter) He was a large man. He served as the sheriff and was liked by a lot of

people beside the sheriffs; he was not liked so much by a few others.

HF: Leigh, was he, did he have his residence in the immediate Driggs area?

LF: No, he lived -- are you familiar with the old Spencer Little home, in Clawson? It was

originally the Joe Henry home just south, a half a mile south of where the Clawson church house

is now. On the right hand side of the road there use to be a large windmill standing there.

HF: I see.

LF: That’s where Sam Evans lived while he was sheriff; and I lived, we lived within just a

fourth of a mile of his…

HF: So coming into work every morning here in Driggs as he would meet over the old drug

store or that’s where the court house was, I think, at first.

LF: That’s right.

HF: He had, what, about a half hour ride or so on a horse?

LF: Well, it took more than that; it’s, it’s five miles, just over five miles. The Lawrence

Hatch corner to the drug store corner is just six miles. So, he, he had to ride five miles or over,

but usually in those days someone like him coming would also bring their children to school and

that would entail them bringing the neighbors children to school; and then for a while the

neighbor would bring them to school and bring a load as they came.

HF: So it’d either be a wagon or a big white top buggy sort of thing.

LF: Yes that’s right; or a sleigh in the winter.

HF: Mm-hmm. Now, you had commented that you went with his daughter Leona, Leona

Evans.

LF: Yes.

HF: And…

LF: And she is…

HF: She…

LF: She is Eddington now.

HF: She is an Eddington now, had married C.I, Charles I. Canfield, C-A-N-F-I-E-L-D.

LF: That’s right, who was a banker.

HF: Who was associated with the first security bank system?

LF: Uh-huh.

HF: And so on, and a very close friend of mine at the University of Idaho.

LF: Oh.

HF: When we were up there. Now, where there any other comments about Sam Evans?

LF: He was a rather large man; Sam Evens was a rather large man. He was, he very easy

going with his children, not at all demanding.

HF: I don’t believe any of his decedents continued to reside up here, did they?

LF: No, there’s no one even related to them. Brady is in Salt Lake and Leona, I think, is in

Bountiful.

HF: Yeah.

LF: Is it Bountiful?

HF: Uh, no, no, I think its south of Salt Lake.

LF: Well, I wouldn’t know.

HF: But any way -- I can’t think of the place right now, around Cottonwood down in that

area. Now, I would guess that you knew quite a lot about the assessor. The assessor, the first

assessor of Teton County; Halsey Dean Fullmer; and I’d appreciate you sharing what you’d like

about your father.

LF: I think the assessor come near living, teaching, and believing in the golden rule and the

teachings of the Savior to do unto others as you’d have others do unto you, than any man I have

ever been closely associated with. I know there are other good men in the world, but he was the

epitome of forgiveness, tolerance, mildness. I think he tried to invest a little money into almost

every under taking, under taking in this valley; including at least two or three saw mills, two or

three trash machines, a fish hatchery, everything that, that needed a boost he was for because he

thought it would be good for the future and wanted his children to get a decent education, both in

school and in church.

HF: Did he, did he have any training for some of the duties of the assessor and evaluating

lands and using, you know, legal descriptions?

LF: Yes, before we were, before we were a county here, he was appointed by the governor of

the state of Idaho as deputy assessor for this area.

HF: For all of Freemont County.

LF: NO, not all of it.

HF: Just…

LF: Just for this part of it.

HF: Okay, of Freemont, I see, as a deputy?

LF: Yes, as deputy assessor.

HF: Okay, yeah, okay, okay.

LF: And in the days of a horse and buggy, an assessor just couldn’t get over the counties we

had they were so large then.

HF: Yeah, of course, the county seat at that time was in Freemont, in Freemont County was in

Saint Anthony and I suppose since that county covered as far south as Jefferson County and

north, you know, up to the Montana line…

LF: That’s right.

HF: And east…

LF: In Wyoming right?

HF: And east up to the Wyoming line and your father was the, was the deputy up in this

valley.

LF: In this valley.

HF: In this Teton Valley district.

LF: Yeah, it was the Teton basin, known as the Teton basin.

HF: That district.

LF: Yeah.

HF: I see. Where was your farm? Didn’t he have a ranch or a farm?

LF: Yes, we farmed. We homesteaded one mile north of the, of the

(Women): Hi.

LF: of the side Ricks farm, which is later the Alfred Hanson farm, which is now the Lawrence

Hatch corner. He farmed just one mile north of there; and that’s where I was born. And so in

this hundred years I’ve lived, I’ve never gotten more than five miles from where I was born.

HF: Well, I appreciate the comments you made about your father. Running along here, we

have a couple more.

LF: May I say something real quickly?

HF: Uh-huh, you bet.

LF: He was very active, physically.

HF: Was he?

LF: He was a small man, but he was wirery. I would take a broom stick and stand on a, on a

box out by our house, side of our log house, and he would walk, I’d hold one end of the broom

against the wall just above his head and he would walk under it back up four steps and jump over

it. And he did that hundreds of times; if we ever wanted, if we ever wanted to play mumble pig,

if we wanted to wrestle or run foot races, it made no difference, we always had a competition in

our father.

HF: And he could do these and he was probably in his 40’s then wasn’t he?

LF: He was, he was in his 60’s.

HF: When he could do those things?

LF: Before he quit outrunning us kids. He was a fine, active man, though he was small.

HF: And he was very active in religious circles too?

LF: Always was very active in religious circles.

HF: Yeah.

LF: The year he was 80, the year he became 80, I took him down on the river; we were

allowed three geese, he got his three geese and his nine mallard ducks, the year he was 80.

Tremendous shot.

HF: Did you acquire your love of sports, outdoor life, fishing, hunting, and logging from your

father? Do you feel?

LF: I’ve never thought of it that way, but we had to; we did it all the time. But I was too little

to handle any of the mean horses on the farm, he’d say well go out and get an elk, we need meat.

And, I had the privilege of doing the hunting for the family, I guess. I guess, it probably was

because of him, I just grew into it. But I’ve certainly loved it all my life.

HF: I can’t think of a man who has loved sports and outdoor life more than you, in this valley.

I don’t know.

LF: Well, Addie has been the same way. We’ve tried to support our high school, grade

school; we try to support them in athletics as much as we could, this last year we haven’t been

able to do that so much. We can’t drive there and back after each ball game. *END OF FIRST

TAPE* 47:07

*BEGINNING OF SECOND TAPE*

HF: The interview with W. Leigh Fullmer concerning the early appointees of Teton County.

Next, Brother Fullmer, we’d like to move on to the probate judge; and I, I’ve heard a lot about

the Swanners, I never did notice this man but I have come to know his, his son, Sterling; Sterling

Swanner, I think.

LF: Yes. Yes.

HF: Down in Rigby. But what can you tell me about Samuel Swanner?

LF: I could talk all day about Samuel Swanner.

HF: He was one of, oh, the polygamist chasers, wasn’t he?

LF: Yes. I believe he came here as a U.S. Marshall in the first place.

HF: I think he was one of Fred T. Dubois’s…

LF: Dubois

HF: Deputies up here.

LF: I think so; and Fred T. Dubois and Mr. Swanner were both, both very, very anti-Mormon.

And yet Mr. Swanner lived among them, the Mormons here, I think he never had a good chance,

I don’t think we were very good teachers, but he was a, he had been a drummer in the army

before he came here. And Sam Swanner was one of the best drummers I have ever listened to.

With professionals and all, he was a tremendous drummer. He would also be chosen, invited,

even into the church holding celebrations, they would invite Sam Swanner to come and lead the

parade. He looked dignified in his army hat with a feather and, he may just think, he just made

you think of George Washington.

HF: That’s interesting.

LF: He was a well built, tall, slender man, dignified in appearance. He would, at one time he

came and joined the high school band and played the drums for us. He gave me some drummer,

some lessons on drums and I played the drums in the music department. And I’ve always been

regretful that because of his real firm desire to lineate himself from, from the church, yet he

would come to church activities and participate at times. But I still have a picture of him leading

the parade down Main Street here when there were no sidewalks, I mean, just a dirt road in 19, I

think 1908 or 9, leading the parade on the Fourth of July.

HF: I think I have that, maybe a picture, one or two like that on [spot] or something.

LF: Probably so. And he, he served well in a lot of ways.

HF: I don’t think he served too long as a probate judge though, did he?

LF: No, he didn’t.

HF: Because I think he was succeeded by, by…

LF: Mike Burns.

HF: Mike Burns. Michael Burns.

LF: I think the first election, if I remember correctly, the first or second election of Teton

County and he was [deputy then].

HF: Mm-hmm. Mike Burn married my mom and dad here at Driggs in 1919.

LF: 1919?

HF: Uh-huh. And, he was, Mike was the magistrate or, excuse me, was the probate judge at

that time.

LF: Well, he had been their neighbor also over on the west side on [the Chapin] area of the

river.

HF: Now, oh, was that where, was that were Swanner was from?

LF: No, he was from down on, he lived right on the bank of Lee’s Creek; the place that Ray

Sorenson now owns.

HF: Okay, just before Leigh’s Creek dumps into the river.

LF: Yes. I was thinking of Judge Burns and your folks both living in the Chapin.

HF: Well, my folks lived, my folks lived over in Bates.

LF: Yes.

HF: But my grandfather lived over in Cedron and so on.

LF: And that was all about the same area at that time.

HF: Pretty much.

LF: Bates, Cedron and Chapin.

HF: Chapin.

LF: Chapin.

HF: Yeah, that was pretty much in that same area. But Swanner…

LF: Well, earlier because that’s where the post office was, was at Mike Burns’ place.

HF: Right. Yeah. Well, now, Sam Swanner did leave a family, some family, but none of

them of course reside in this area now.

LF: Well, Logan Cardin is, I think a great grandson.

HF: Logan Cardin is?

LF: The [daughter] of Sam Swanner.

HF: Is that right?

LF: Now, [be careful] I haven’t thought of this, but Ada Cardin was a Moffit; and Mrs.

Moffit, as it goes through my foggy brain, her mother who died when she was really young, it

seems was a daughter of Sam Swanner. Check [with Willis Moffit.]

HF: Well, that’s interesting.

LF: And you’ll find the straight of that, but it just comes to me right now after so many years

that she was a Swanner.

HF: The final one we want to consider here…

LF: But his son that you spoke of, Harold, had been recognized…

HF: Sterling?

LF: Have been recognized throughout this state because of his great ability as a mechanic, his

honesty, his dependability, and state highway work.

HF: Well, Sterling Swanner. I guess that’s what he does. I know, I’ve learned of him

through, he joined the Old Time Fiddlers.

LF: I think, well his dad use to fiddle.

HF: Did he?

LF: Sam use to fiddle as well as drum. But Sterling I think is retired. I don’t think he’s

working anyway.

HF: He might not.

LF: He might be, I’m not sure.

HF: The prosecuting attorney was Benjamin W. Driggs and he was one of the earlier Driggs’

that came up here with his, was it his older brother, Dawn C?

LF: I think Dawn C was younger. Here again I said think, I’m not positive, but I think he was

younger, he always seemed younger to me; at least younger in spirit.

HF: Who were some of the other brothers?

LF: Well, Leland.

HF: Leland was one.

LF: Polis was one, and Dawn C., and B.W., they’re the only four I can think of right now.

HF: Mm-hmm. What type of an individual, physically, was Dawn?

LF: He was more of a large man.

HF: Ben? Ben.

LF: He was B.W., Benjamin W., was slow of action, not too well coordinated. His brother

Dawn was just a sparking jewel; he just sparkled all the time. There was this difference in them

like there is in many times in brothers. I will always be indebted to B.W. Driggs for his history

of this valley. To my knowledge, he is the only one that ever tried to write the complete history.

It has its mistakes in it, but I’d like to protect this particular man, though I’ve said many times, I

think he was the, he sought glory, he sought recognition and this sort of thing, but he did have a

desire to leave a history. Before that history was published, some people have criticized him

because of this history. Before it was ever published, he would publish a chapter or a section of

it in our local paper every week and he invited criticism, he invited correction. He said, come

and help me to make this thing; and now those of us who didn’t do anything, (cough), I’m sorry,

feel free sometimes to criticize him when it was our own fault. We should have helped him to

make the corrections; and he was very fair. He had proof readers to help him, he did everything

he could to get the people of the valley help him make a correct history. And I’ll always be

indebted to him for that.

HF: I have sincerely felt that he was a good, had a nice style. He was…

LF: He certainly had ability.

HF: Yes.

LF: Yes he did, he had ability.

HF: To write and; I, I know that when we wanted to revise it a lot, a few years ago, his son,

Byron, urged that we not, not do too much to upset what his father had done and so on. But, I, I

surely wish that I had a copy of his book; they’re just so scarce. I had a copy, of course, and the

flood took it away and it was lost completely. But you don’t see many of the copies of that book.

LF: No, there isn’t. There are not many copies of it. We’re fortunate to have one that’s been

almost thumbed to death.

HF: You bet.

LF: Almost beyond repair.

HF: This man was, do you feel that this man was quite a community minded individual?

LF: Yes, I think he was community minded, I think he had a desire. He didn’t have the kind

of ability that Dawn C had.

HF: Right.

LF: Dawn C was a tremendous leader. He was just a, he inspired people when he talked to

them. He was inspirational to look at and his brother Benjamin didn’t have all of those qualities

HF: Inaudible, I see.

LF: And those particular qualities, but he had them in other ways and Benjamin, I thought,

never was a leader, but I thought he always wanted to be. And I felt that he breathed this in his

history even because of him having instigated, and suggested, and been the instigator of so many

things that he would like to have been a great leader, which maybe he was robbed of just a little.

HF: Sort of had to be in the shadow of his brother.

LF: Well, brothers too. His older brother, there was the English professor.

HF: Howard.

LF: Howard [Orem] Driggs.

HF: Yes.

LF: Yes.

HF: He went to New York and was at the New York University as an English professor back

there and some of his writings are still used.

LF: Still using them.

HF: Yeah.

LF: He was tremendous; it was in a family with a lot of ability.

HF: And, I guess, another brother was King Driggs.

LF: King Driggs in whom…

HF: From whom the King Sisters descend…

LF: Ah.

HF: And so, with, that man that writes a lot of good things, what was his name? I can’t

remember. Do you know who I’m talking about, the one who authored the Saturday warrior?

LF: Lex?

HF: Lex Azizoradi, or something. He married, I think, into that family.

LF: Uh-huh.

HF: If I recall. Well, do you feel, do you have the impression that Ben W. served as the

county attorney for quite a few years?

LF: Oh yes, he was for quite a few years. I think he was the only attorney in the county for

quite a long time.

HF: Then, I guess Whitican, Whiticine, may have served after him.

LF: Yes, he served after him. I’m not, I’m not positive.

HF: Where did [Adelstein] come in then?

LF: [Adelstein] was later. He came, [Adelstien] use to be one of our customers in the store;

and so he was, he was still later then that.

HF: Do you, do you know as to whether, who wanted to perhaps find an address? Some

people of [Adelstien].

LF: I don’t where you’d get the address, but I would think that Byron Driggs would be as apt

to as anyone. If Henry Flam was here, he could tell you.

HF: I see.

LF: Because [Adelstein] use to go to there place for quite a while.

HF: I see.

LF: And he lived up above, up above the bank building when those apartments were opened.

And that was…

HF: Was he single then?

LF: No, he was married. His wife didn’t spend a lot of time here.

HF: Uh-huh.

LF: She would, they were, I think they were from, from, Pocatello. You might find someone

that, he might even be there yet.

HF: Oh no, I…

LF: He could still be living.

HF: You think so?

LF: He could be, yes. I don’t think he was any older than I was, then I am, yes, then I was.

HF: Mm-hmm…

LF: When Mr. Whitican passed away, he had a white cat -- and it would come into the buffet

and eat with him -- and when he passed away, that white cat came up missing. He had told

someone they could have the cat, so they said. And I can’t remember who that someone was and

that cat was gone while he was out to, we didn’t have an undertaker here then, I think it was

William Hanson who came and took the body out. Yes, I’m sure it was now; I remember

something he told me. And when the body was brought back, it was taken, the funeral was held

and was taken to the cemetery, there was that white cat at the cemetery. And it hadn’t been seen

since he had passed away. Until they took the body away and was there when he passed away

and he was there when he left and someone was suppose to take it. And when he was buried, it

was there at the cemetery. And they never, to my knowledge, no one ever saw it again after that.

HF: What I’m going to have to do is, is do some research about [Adelstein] and Whitican and

actually when he became the county attorney. Now, of course you knew Atchley, Mr. Atchley.

LF: Very well I knew him, but you’re missing somebody in there.

HF: Am I missing?

LF: Yes, Mr. Wilkey.

HF: I am, aren’t I?

LF: Yes.

HF: I had completely forgot about Wilkey.

LF: R.S. Wilkey.

HF: The foregoing interview with W. Leigh Fullmer and some comments by his wife, Addie,

was conducted at his home in Driggs, a very snowy day on the 19th

of December 1981. My son

Kirby was with me. And this interview was graciously consented by Brother Fullmer, a man

probably in his early 80’s; and he signed, executed a consent form that we could use this

interview in furtherance of historic preservation and promoting history, make copies of it, and

transcribe it into the printed form to promote history in, and it’s preservation, in the Upper Snake

River Valley of Idaho. The master of this particular interview is held by the Upper Snake River

Valley Historical Society Incorporated here at Rexburg, Idaho and a copy or copies of this tape

may be obtained by writing to the historical society here at Rexburg; P.O. Box 244. And for a

small charge, such copy or copies may be made available to those requesting. Thank you.

*END OF SECOND TAPE* 17:34