90 John E. Rees
0)1. William H. Wallace was delegate in Congress from Washington territory when the bill was passed in 1863, organ- izing, from the eastern portion of Washington, a new territory, which was named Idaho. Mrs. Wallace was in Washington, D. C, at the time and her account of the episode, which was afterwards published in the Tacoma Ledger, is as follows: "I may refer with pride to my connection with the establish- ment of the territory of Idaho, at the expiring days of the session of Congress, 1862-3. Quite a delegation was present at Washington city who favored the division of Washington territory, which then included all of Idaho and Montana west of the Rocky mountains, extending as far south as the northern line of California and Nevada. It was an immense region and contained South Pass, the great entrance of Oregon, Washing- ton and California, by the g^eat immigrant route. The Colonel was overjoyed at the assured passage of the bill, which he had in charge and his friends who had assembled at his rooms joined with him in conferring, upon me the high privilege of naming the new territory. I answered, 'Well, if I am to name it, the territory shall be called Idaho, for my little niece, who was bom near Colorado Springs, whose name is Idaho, from an Indian chief's daughter of that name, so called for her beauty, meaning the *Gem of the Mountains.' Dr. Anson G. Henry, the surveyor-general of Washington territory, then on a visit to Washington City, was in the room. He clapped his hands upon his knees and said to me, 'Mrs. Wallace, Idaho it shall be.' The evening of the day upon which the bill was passed my husband came home and said, "Well, Lue, you've got your territory, and I'm to be governor of it' A short time after the bill was signed my husband was appointed its first governor, and at the first election held in the newly organized territory, he was selected delegate to Congress."
There were others beside Mrs. Wallace who claimed the honor of naming Idaho territory, and while their contributory suggestions may have had some influence in designating it, yet the true history of the application of the word to this particu-
