Payette-Boise County ID Archives News.....Quartzburg founder caused stir by erecting family mansion December 15, 1980 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/idfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Patty Theurer seymour784@yahoo.com March 12, 2006, 2:37 am The Idaho Statesman December 15, 1980 The Idaho Statesman Boise, Idaho Monday, December 15, 1980 Quartzburg founder caused stir by erecting family mansion By Arthur Hart The town of Quartzburg has practically vanished from the face of Idaho, yet it was once a lively and bustling place. Its reason for being was the rich quartz deposits found there, especially in the famous Gold Hill Mine. Today’s photograph recalls one of the founders of Quartzburg, David Coughanour, a native of Pennsylvania of Dutch descent, who arrived in Boise Basin in 1863. When Coughanour got there, most of the excitement was over placer gold discovered in 1862. Thousands of miners and fortune hunters had crowded into the little boom towns of Bannock (later Idaho City), Placerville, Centerville and Pioneerville. After the rich Gold Hill discovery was made, Coughanour, James H. Hawley and others laid out the town of Quartzburg. In 1874, Coughanour, who was superintendent of the Gold Hill mining company, was in charge of a major building project. New workshops and outbuildings “substantial in structure and beautiful in appearance,” were built. The Statesman’s correspondent was especially intrigued by the house Coughanour built for himself, show in the photograph above. “When completed, it will be one of the finest in the territory,” he wrote, “and quite an ornament to Quartzburg.” “Mr. Coughanour being a bachelor, the erection of such a mansion looks rather suspicious, and various rumors afloat, for but sure the cage must have a bird, and the bachelor fraternity will have the Christian’s consolation that their loss will be somebody’s gain.” Coughanour did indeed marry shortly thereafter, and his bride moved into the finest house in town. When the photo above was taken, in about 1885, Coughanour’s large frame house still shone with fresh white paint. The shade trees in his fenced and terraced yard were tall enough to be of some use in summer, and there is evidence that life in a prosperous mining camp had its compensations. Although the people in our photo are not positively identified, the woman and two children on the steps may belong to the bearded man who holds the little boy’s hand. The man probably is Coughanour. A second woman, unidentified, peeks out form behind the man. Of special interest in the center of the picture, silhouetted against the house, is a Chinese man in a white apron. Another person, presumably a domestic as well, peeks over the latticework on the porch. In the 1880’s there still were many Chinese people in Boise Basin. Some still worked in the mines, but many worked as cooks, housekeepers or gardeners. A few ran their own small businesses in the towns. William Coughanour, nephew of David, came west in 1870 and went to Quartzburg, where he worked with his uncle in the Gold Hill Mine. He eventually took over as manager and superintendent and made his own fortune before moving to Payette soon after its founding. The Coughanour name was more widely known in Idaho in the later years for the accomplishments of William than for those of David. David Coughanour died Aug. 2, 1904, in the town he had started 40 years before. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/id/payette/newspapers/quartzbu325gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/idfiles/ File size: 3.8 Kb