The Payette River Valley was originally in Boise County, Washington Territory, with county seat at Bannock City (Idaho City). Bordering on the north was Idaho County, on the southeast, Alturas County and Oneida County, east of that which, for the most part, was southwestern Wyoming. Idaho became a territory March 3, 1863, chopped off from Washington and Oregon territories. Montana territory was separated from Idaho in May, 1864.
The Second Territorial Legislature met in Lewiston and Ada County was formed, which included the Payette River Valley.
About 1868, the U.S. Government surveyed Idaho and established boundary lines. Later came section lines.
For 27 years the Payette River Valley was part of Ada County. In 1894, Canyon County was created and the Payette River Valley was part of that County for 26 years. A county seat had to be decided upon. Payette citizens offered $20,000 and a block of land.
A. B. Moss, W. A. Coughanour, Tim Driscoll, the Geisler Brothers, Jack and Carl, John McGlinchey, David Chase, William Ireton and others went to Caldwell to lobby their choice for the county seat. Caldwell won out, disappointing the Payette citizens. When they went to the train depot to return home they were met by "Caldwell rough-necks" who pelted them with rotten tomatoes, lettuce and cabbage. This incident caused bad feelings for many years.
For the next 10 years Payette Valley citizens appeared before the legislature lobbying for creation of a Payette County. Finally Bill No. 108 was passed to give the people the right to vote on the question of creating a new county. The House passed the bill with 59 in favor and four against. The bill in the Senate passed unanimously.
Early in 1917, the citizens of the affected area voted, by a majority of two-thirds, to establish Payette County. Those working on this bill included Carl Geisler, who was chairman of the County Division Committee for six months, Tom McCumpsey, chairman of the Third House at Boise, Gus Ingalls of New Plymouth, who worked hard on what he considered was the right thing to do even though many neighbors thought otherwise. Other New Plymouth residents who worked hard were Mr. Walther and Mr. Cogswell.
Milt Nesbeth, at Falk's Store, was a strong supporter of this bill as was L. C. Moore from Big Willow. Lloyd Pence deserved credit for hard work on the county division.
William Sterm's daughter, Katherine, drove all over the area to drum up support, as did Mrs. Ben McIntyre, who rode her horse to ranches in remote areas.
John H. Norris, a secretary of the County Division Committee, planned and directed the campaign. On February 28, 1917, Payette County came into being.
Governor M. Alexander appointed the following county officers: J. H. Hanigan as sheriff, J. H. Hollenbeck as treasurer, O.E. Bosson as assessor, W. A. Cloud as auditor and recorder, B. Ledman as probate judge and Monroe P. Smock as prosecuting attorney and Fay Sutton was appointed school superintendent. County commissioners appointed were B. F. Tussing, Carl G. Geister and Walter Burke.
During 1917, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was promoting the King Hill Irrigation Project between Glenn’s Ferry and Twin Falls. It proposed pumping water to, and opening up for farming, about 15,000 acres of land. Promoters were out in full force advertising the advantages of the region. Real estate agents were doing a lot of business. Mr. H. C. Taylor, a real estate agent in Payette, decided to go to King Hill and make his pitch for people to locate in the Payette River Valley. He handed out descriptive literature at the King Hill opening which irritated the local promoters. He was informed that he couldn’t do that because this was their territory. But he kept it up. That night he was warned again by a visitation of the committee to his quarters. In a few minutes the deputy sheriff paid him a call and warned that if any more circulars were handed out there would be severe consequences. That didn’t stop him the next day. That night he was taken from his quarters by three men who marched him down to the railroad station where they put him aboard the train back to Payette. (Taken from a story by May Gilmore in the Independent-Enterprise in November 1957).
County Description:
Payette County has an area of 403 square miles – about 20 miles wide, 20 miles long – and is the smallest county in Idaho. Estimates are that about one-third of the people live in Payette. Elevation is about 2,147 feet about sea level. The Payette River flows through the center of the county and is fed by Big Willow and Little Willow creeks. It joins the Snake River on its western boundary which is also the state line between Idaho and Oregon. The eastern boundary in Gem County, northern boundary is Washington County and Canyon County borders on the south.
The mild climate is similar to that of southern Washington, Gem and Canyon counties. Summers are hot, conductive to growing all kinds of fruit including peaches, apricots, pears, plums, prunes, apples, nuts and melons. Farm crops include alfalfa for hay and seed, clover for seed, corn, onions and potatoes for food and for seed, mint, sugar beets and many other vegetables for seed. All crops are irrigated. Annual precipitation is 12.72 inches, and winter snowfall averages 19.8 inches. The county has an average of 183 frost free days from about April 20 to October 20. The average minimum temperature in January is about 20 degrees and the average daily maximum temperature in July is 91.4 degrees.
The main line of the Union Pacific Railroad runs from Oregon through Payette and Weiser in Washington County. U.S. Highway 95 runs through Payette County, south to north and connects Mexico with Canada. Interstate 84 comes from Boise and eastern points, across the southwest corner of the county to Ontario, Oregon and west to Portland, Oregon.