How Bingham County was formed and why its first sheriff was a ‘fearless and efficient officer’

Published at 7:00 am, June 12, 2023 | Updated at 3:04 pm, June 12, 2023

Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com

bingham and bunn 3 — Henry Bingham, left, a Pennsylvania Congressman in the late 1800s and early 1900s, is one of two possible namesakes for Bingham County. On the right is William Bunn, Idaho’s territorial governor who signed legislation creating Bingham County. | Photos taken from Wikipedia

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Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of stories about the formation of counties in eastern Idaho and the lawmen that protected them.

BLACKFOOT — Bingham County Commissioners assembled inside a crude, rundown shack on West Bridge Street in Blackfoot. The newly appointed board was gathered together in its first official capacity to begin “a workable organization of the administration of the county.”

It was January 27, 1885 and Idaho was not yet a state. But just 14 days earlier, Idaho’s 13th territorial legislature had created Bingham County. Previously part of Oneida County, which covered 9,000 square miles, Bingham County’s boundaries had been partitioned to include its present-day layout, along with what is now Bannock, Power, Bonneville, Fremont and Butte Counties.

Lewis and Clark’s expedition through the area more than 80 years earlier resulted in other groups passing through that ultimately led to colonization. In 1811, Wilson Price Hunt led a party of 65 people with the Pacific Fur Company on an expedition through the Snake River Plain.

“Hunt’s group followed the north bank of the Snake River,” the Historical Marker Database reports. “On November 21, 1811 … Hunt’s group became the first Euro-Americans to view the Boise River Valley.”

One of the stops along the way included a small settlement traders referred to as Blackfoot. A historical record points out that a wildfire in 1812 left the landscape covered with ash. People walked through the ashes and it made their feet black.

The name stuck and by the 1860s, Blackfoot had become a huge draw for those seeking a new life out west.

main street blackfoot — Early settlers plow the road for Main Street in Blackfoot. | Courtesy Wikipedia

Blackfoot’s beginnings

Frederick Stevens and Joe Warren became Blackfoot’s “first permanent white settlers of record” in 1866, according to a historical account. They reportedly filed a claim in the Snake River Valley near Blackfoot’s current location, and started farming and ranching.

In the 1870s when the railroad came through, settlers laid out a town in the railroad’s path “sprawled over the corners of four-quarter sections owned by four men,” a Bingham County history book says. The men’s names were Watson Shilling — for whom Shilling Avenue in downtown Blackfoot is named — brothers William H. Danilson and Theodore T. Danilson, as well as William Lewis.

The townsite’s location, which is now downtown Blackfoot, sat more than a mile from the Blackfoot River and the Snake River. Having access to water was essential for a burgeoning community so residents dug a ditch “that would irrigate several thousand acres,” according to the book “Idaho Yesterdays.”

“It was their plan to bring the water into town so residents could grow gardens and plant trees. The goal was finally realized in 1886 when Albert Moyes (who became one of the first county commissioners) planted the first shade trees in the Upper Snake River Plain around the Blackfoot Courthouse. Others in town followed suit and within a few years Blackfoot’s tree-lined streets had a reputation that earned the nickname ‘Grove City,'” historical records say.

blackfoot early days — A city street in the early days of Blackfoot | Courtesy Bingham County Historical Society

On that January day in 1885 when the legislature created Bingham County, Blackfoot was also selected as the county seat. Eagle Rock — known today as Idaho Falls — was in Bingham County at the time and had become a thriving city. It apparently was the original contender for county seat, but lost out in a last minute political move.

“On the night before the legislation was to be signed, men from Blackfoot bribed a clerk to erase Eagle Rock and write in Blackfoot. The measure went through without opposition and was signed by (territorial Governor William Bunn),” one article says.

Idaho Falls later became the county seat for Bonneville County when it was created in 1911.

Bingham County’s namesake

There are conflicting reports about how Bingham County got its name. Many sources claim it was named for Henry Bingham, Governor Bunn’s friend from Pennsylvania who was awarded the Medal of Honor during the Civil War. Bingham was a congressman at the time, and Bunn reportedly wanted to name the county in his honor.

But Daphne Jemmett, a former correspondent for the Salt Lake Tribune, points to courthouse records, which indicate its name was determined by a horse race from Blackfoot to Boise. It was between two people — an unnamed person from Eagle Rock and Elisha Bingham of Blackfoot.

“The contender to reach Boise first … would have the honor of selecting the county seat and having the county named for him. The winner was … Bingham, a native of Riverside, Utah who homesteaded Blackfoot in 1883,” the report says.

But regardless of who it’s named after, Bingham County today is one of eastern Idaho’s booming counties. With a population of 48,706, it’s the eighth largest county in the state.

bingham county map — Maps showing the location of Bingham County in eastern Idaho. | Courtesy photos

An unarmed sheriff who ‘always brought in the man he sought’

Shortly after the formation of Bingham County, Bunn appointed Sam Taylor as its first sheriff.

It’s not clear why he was selected, but information provided by Bingham County historian Leslie Mickelsen shows this wasn’t his first time in public office. He served as Eagle Rock’s mayor and was on the school board. He also served in the state legislature.

Taylor apparently served two terms as sheriff and “rarely wore a gun.” A 1933 history of Eagle Rock describes Taylor as a “fearless and efficient officer” who “always brought in the man he sought.”

“It is said that his reputation for fearlessness and it being known among the desperadoes that the sheriff always went unarmed gave him a measure of protection which some other officers did not enjoy,” according to Eagle Rock historian Eldora Shoemaker Keefer.

sam taylor pic — A photo of Sam Taylor obtained from the Bingham County Historical Society

‘A bold dash for liberty’

The Idaho Sheriffs Association highlights two occasions when Taylor’s prisoners broke jail in his absence. The first one happened on Sunday, July 2, 1887. Frank Williams and Alex Woods were being held for murder, and were weeks away from being hung. Two others, identified only as Harrington and Nickerson, were awaiting a trial for horse stealing.

The four men held several people captive in the sheriff’s office for several hours before “walking down the east steps of the courthouse and (making a) bold dash for liberty.” Around 7 p.m., Williams, Harrington and Nickerson escaped on horseback towards Eagle Rock. Woods headed south towards the Blackfoot River and was caught a short time later, according to the report.

Several men saw the other three prisoners on the run and formed a posse. Sheriff Taylor arrived in town at that point and sent a telegraph to Eagle Rock “for parties to go out in certain directions” while he boarded a train in pursuit.

Records show the chase lasted through the night. The fugitives were eventually caught on the banks of the Snake River about 25 miles above Eagle Rock.

“Here they were held at bay by those gallant ranchmen until reinforcements came from Eagle Rock and vicinity, and the fugitives finding no means of escape, surrendered at an early hour Tuesday morning,” Taylor wrote, according to the ISA. “Harrington … was wounded in the foot when the party was first corralled, but Williams was the first to … surrender.”

TaylorsBridge pic — The Eagle Rock bridge built by Sam Taylor’s cousin, Matt Taylor, who operated a ferry across the river. Sam lived in Eagle Rock, where he owned a livery business. Prior to becoming the sheriff of Bingham County, he served as Eagle Rock’s mayor, a member of the school board and a legislator. | Courtesy Museum of Idaho

Another jail break

An appeal to the Supreme Court delayed Williams and Woods’ sentences, and they attempted a second jail break the following year.

On July 14, 1888, they reportedly jumped a guard with his own knife when he brought them dinner. They saw a judge sitting quietly in the hallway and put him in the cells below “at the point of a pistol.” Another man avoided capture by rushing into his office and locking the door.

The man in his office jumped out the window to sound the alarm when the prisoners escaped. A posse found Williams about two hours later “in a cluster of willows on the banks of the Snake River.”

“Sheriff Taylor (who was at his home in Eagle Rock when the jail break occurred) received a telegram (on July 28) from an officer (in) Bozeman, Montana informing of the arrest of a Negro answering the description of Alex Woods,” the historical account says.

Woods was hung on Aug. 18, 1888 three minutes before 2 p.m. The date of Williams’ hanging was not specified.

Taylor left office in 1889 and moved to Henry Creek, Oregon, where he owned a horse ranch. His animals carried the “SI” brand for many years and “were celebrated far and wide for their stamina and speed.”

Taylor was living in Ontario, Oregon at the time of his death sometime in the 1930s. It’s not clear how he died or how old he was, but Keefer’s history says he was “a very old man.”