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• 1 media/WB Morris Foot of Bench_77-22.19.jpg 2020-01-20T17:37:53-08:00 Morristown 48 Developing the Bench plain 2022-11-22T08:00:33-08:00 03/03/1877 Late Frontier

  Morris Mills and Morris Canal

  In 1871 Mr. William B. Morris, a thirty-something married man from Pennsylvania, became Boise's superintendent for Northwestern Stage Lines, the freighting business owned by John Hailey. Upon moving to Boise, Morris purchased the old mill and distillery outside of Boise, built by the Issaac brothers a decade earlier. It was south of the river, along the old Boise-Kelton road, known today as Boise Avenue. 

  In 1877, Morris filed a notice of intent to divert water away from the Boise River and into a canal that he had, for the most part, already completed.  That same year, he purchased more than 17,000 acres of land under the auspices of the 1877 Desert Land Act, which provided land at the reduced rate of $.25 per acre (the lowest price of 'public' land had been fixed at $1.25 per acre.)  The price reduction came in exchange for the buyer investing in reclamation projects. By 1888, Morris’s canal delivered water as far as Five Mile Road. These projects opened up previously “uninhabitable” spaces to ranching and farming, thereby attracting the emigrating masses. 

  Morris purchased a considerable amount of land south of Boise, along the river bottoms and up on the Bench.  Boise historian Hugh Hartman said Morris kept 50 men,19 horse-teams, and cattle on the land.  Employee housing developed near the canal, including a boarding house, and together the whole area was called “Morristown.” 

  Before the canal was completed the Bench was occupied by wagons, freight and stage, sagebrush, and jackrabbits. After Morris’s canal delivered water to the area, families were able to homestead, and many went about dividing their land with newcomers who hoped to settle down. 
  
  Addendum: Morris Probate Record

  Morris died in 1878, he and his wife, Lavinia, had no children of their own.  Mrs. Morris moved to Rome, Italy after his passing, and was buried there after her death, in 1920. William Morris was buried in what was once the Masonic Cemetery, but is known today as Pioneer Cemetery, in Boise, Idaho.
  
  ©Angie K. Davis 2020

  Return to Timeline 1870-1900

  Points of Interest: Township 2 North Range 3 West | Morristown | Morris Hill Cemetery | Boise Depot | Appendices