Payette-Boise County ID Archives Biographies.....Coughanour, William Albert 1850 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 11, 2012, 12:19 am

Source: See below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

    IT would be to give an inadequate and one-sided picture of William Albert
Coughanour to mention him merely as a banker and stockman, active and successful
though he has been in these lines. While his business interests have been and
are extensive and at all times have been most carefully and wisely conducted, he
has at the same time found opportunity to assist in promoting public interests
and has done valuable service for his city and state as mayor and as senator. 

    Mr. Coughanour was born at Belle Vernon, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, March
12, 1850, and acquired his education in the common schools of that place, after
which he followed the profession of teaching for two terms. In March, 1870, he
made his way westward to Quartzburg, Idaho, where with his uncle, David E.
Coughanour, he purchased the Goldhill mine, Mr. Coughanour, however, not
securing his interest until after he had earned sufficient money to make the
investment. The company was organized under the name of the Goldhill Gold &
Silver Mining Company and during Mr. Coughanour's association with it they took
out three million dollars in gold. He disposed of his interest in 1886, but the
mine has continued to be a big producer and only recently bodies of ore which
are very rich have been opened up. 

    In 1886 Mr. Coughanour went to Boise and a year later came to Payette, where
he engaged in the manufacture of lumber for twelve years, his mill having a
capacity of twenty-five thousand feet in ten hours. The timber for this mill was
secured in the Garden valley, one hundred miles distant, and was driven down the
river to Payette. The market for lumber at that time was limited and the greater
portion of his output was sold in eastern Idaho. It was in payment of a debt
that Mr. Coughanour was forced to take this mill and thereby entered upon the
business of lumber manufacturing. A man of keen sagacity and foresight,
profiting by his milling operations, he made investment in real estate and in
this way has accumulated considerable property, including farm lands, of which
fourteen hundred and forty-seven acres are located on the North Powder river,
Oregon. Twelve hundred acres of his land are under cultivation and he has
stocked his ranch with cattle. His son is now manager of the ranch, upon which
Mr. Coughanour raised the largest range steer in the world. The animal, hay and
grass fed, weighed thirty-two hundred and thirty pounds. Mr. Coughanour also
owns ranches comprising twelve hundred acres or more in the vicinity of Payette
and thereon is engaged in raising horses, mules and cattle, having about one
hundred head of each. He likewise raises Shetland ponies and his extensive
operations in this direction have made him one of the most prominent stockmen of
the state. 

    There is no other man perhaps to whom Payette owes her up-building and
development along modern lines to a greater degree than to Mr. Coughanour. He is
the possessor of two of the largest brick business blocks in the town and is
also interested in the First National Bank building. He has likewise built and
owned a great many residences here which add to the beauty and attractiveness of
the city. In banking circles, too, he is a prominent figure and is now the vice
president and chairman of the board of directors of the First National Bank of
Payette, is president of the Lower Payette Ditch company and otherwise has
business connections with the city which have proven of great value and benefit
thereto. 

    For a long period Mr. Coughanour has maintained his residence in Payette. He
was married in 1874 to Miss Galena Bunting, of Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, and
they have two children. Emma L. is the wife of Dr. W. R. Hamilton, the present
mayor of Weiser, in which office he is serving for the second term. He is also a
past grand master of the Masonic fraternity of Idaho and is a recognized leader
in democratic circles, having served as chairman of the democratic state central
committee. The son of the family is William M. Coughanour, who has charge of his
father's ranch. 

    Mr. Coughanour is also a well known figure in fraternal circles. In 1904 he
served as grand master of the grand lodge of Odd Fellows in Idaho and since that
time has been grand treasurer. He is the seventy-sixth member of Lodge No. 310,
B. P. O. E., of Boise, which now has a membership of thirteen hundred. Mr.
Coughanour is well known to many of the most prominent and distinguished men of
the state. He is an old and fast friend of Ex-Governor Hawley and it was Mr.
Coughanour who nominated James H. Hawley for the office of governor on two
different occasions, although he was elected but once. He has in his possession
a letter from Governor Hawley expressing his friendship and stating that he very
much regretted his inability to appoint Mr. Coughanour to the United States
senate owing to the latter's lack of some of the essential requirements for that
office yet assuring him that from a point of friendship and integrity he was
really his choice. He served as a member of the governor's staff, the chief
executive giving the grounds for his appointment in the fact that "he was
invincible in peace and invisible in war." There is no feature of public
progress and improvement in the state that has not received the endorsement of
Mr. Coughanour and to the extent of his ability he has cooperated therewith. He
presented the city of Payette with an electric lighted drinking fountain for
animals, of which a life-size oxidized copper elk is the ornamental and central
figure. This gift was made at a cost of one thousand dollars and is the visible
evidence of his love for animals. It is located on Fourth street near the depot.
His fellow townsmen, appreciative of his high personal worth and ability,
elected him seven times to the office of mayor within a period of eleven years
and to the city he gave a most businesslike and progressive administration that
brought about various needed reforms and substantial improvements. In 1896 he
was elected to the fourth senate of Idaho and while thus serving promoted the
state horticultural inspection bill, while for six years he served as president
of the state horticultural inspection board by appointment of Governor
Steunenberg. While conducting his mining operations Mr. Coughanour filled the
office of commissioner of Boise county for two years. No public trust reposed in
him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree. His loyalty is one of his
most marked characteristics and he has ever fully recognized and met the
obligations and responsibilities of citizenship, while at the same time he has
fully enjoyed the privileges of being a one hundred per cent American. 


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IDAHO
DELUXE SUPPLEMENT
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY

1920


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