Sweet

trough sign

see Ballantine Wool wagons at trough for historic view

"Historic Sweet" (sign on south side of the Syringa Club building)

"On August 15, 1876, Andrew McQuade acquired an early homestead in Squaw Creek Valley. The property eventually became the community of Sweet. The town took its name from an early postmaster, Ezekiel Sweet.

"Following a gold rush in 1902 the town began to prosper. Merchants, ranchers and farmers were able to provide food and supplies to miners in the Thunder Mountain mining region, northeast of Cascade (Valley County). The town also supplied goods to loggers at the three to four sawmills in Dry Buck, northeast of Sweet (Boise County).

"Sweet soon had a bank, stores, hotels, liveries, a newspaper, church school, two blacksmith shops, two lodge halls and three saloons.

"Major fires in 1922 and 1925 destroyed most of the older buildings in the town. Remaining structures eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places are the Methodist Church and parsonage, the William Talley barn, Williams Saloon and the McQuade homestead."

(sign erected by the Gem County Historical Preservation Commission)

The Early Wagon Road, about 1882

"The early wagon road into Long Valley was via Squaw Creek, Sweet, and Brownlee, over Dry Buck Summit into High Valley, and on to Smith's Ferry, Round Valley, and Clear Creek. The road and ferry were built about 1882, when the need for ties for construction of the Oregon ShortLine initiated the first export of logging products from the upper Payette River. Before the Oregon Short Line built the Idaho Northern Branch railway to McCall (opened in 1915), a four-horse-team stagecoachwas operated between Emmett and Van Wyck, carrying passengers, mail, and supplies." - "History of Boise National Forest 1905-1976"

1909 newspaper description

See Kennie's article on Sweet in the "Idaho Magazine," February 2011, for more history on Sweet.

More on Sweet history

postmaster history       Ekekiel Sweet       Sweet Methodist Church      
Sweet Townsite plat       Early Sweet Street Scenes       Veterans buried in Sweet and Ola Cemeteries      

Off-site links:

Sweet Cemetery
Balsaam Fox biographical sketch at gem.idgenweb.org
gem.idgenweb.org album index



Copyright © 2008 - All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise attributed, all photos and text are the property of Gem County Historical Society

Serving Gem County since 1973.

Hours
Wednesday - Saturday 1:00pm - 5:00pm & by appointment    ::    Extended hours during The Cherry Festival in June.