William B. Morris Property at the Foot of Bench
1 media/WB Morris Foot of Bench_77-22.19_thumb.jpg 2020-05-01T10:13:38-07:00 Angie K. Davis 02665190113c9c0d9cdadb4ac2dc76d0c4f44efb 36140 2 View of the Morris property south of the Boise River, looking north. Original lithograph published in W.W. Elliott & Co.'s Illustrated History of the Idaho Territory ( Idaho State Archives 77-22.19) plain 2020-05-01T10:14:41-07:00 43.59895,-116.18006666667 Angie K. Davis 02665190113c9c0d9cdadb4ac2dc76d0c4f44efbThis page is referenced by:
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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.
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.
Addendum: Morris Probate Record
©Angie K. Davis 2020Return to Timeline 1870-1900
Points of Interest: Township 2 North Range 3 West | Morristown | Morris Hill Cemetery | Boise Depot | Appendices
