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Clarence Darrow on Boise, 1907
As defense counsel for unionist William “Big Bill” Haywood, Darrow, in 1907, was already the nation’s most famous attorney when he arrived in Boise for the notorious Steunenberg assassination conspiracy trail. Excerpted from “Athens of the Sage-Brush” in The Literature of Idaho: An Anthology, James H. Maguire, ed. (Boise: Hemingway Western Studies Center, Boise State University, 1986), pp. 168-172.
Until entering this case I had never been in Boise. I had read of it, and knew that it was far away out West. I had pictured it to myself, but I never found an unfamiliar person or place that proved to be anything like my mental picture. Boise was approached from the east through hundreds of miles of dreary, dusty desert with no living thing in sight but gophers and sage-brush. During the trip one deliberates whether to keep the car-window tightly closed and die for want of air or raise it ever so little and be suffocated with the clouds of powdered alkali. I always did both, one after the other. Through the whole region of desert waste, a long strip of green wound and twisted its tortuous way in loops and zigzags across the desolate plain. This is the Snake River, named from the animal which Adam had in mind when he named Eve’s tempter. As we neared Boise the scene changed. The fields were fresh and green, the orchards were luxuriant, the town was resplendent with lawns and flowers, shrubs and trees; the houses were neat and up-to-date. The Snake River had been intersected with dikes, which irrigated the barren wilderness and made it a beautiful garden-spot. The landscape was most pleasing, and out beyond, a circle of mountains enclosed the little city; so that after the long, wearisome journey Boise seemed like a bright green gem in a setting of blue. It is the capital of the State, with attractive public and private buildings, and a good library. Except for the hard work, intense worry and suffering, and the bitter opposition, it was a pleasant place to visit. Boise had a pride in its town and people and culture, and could rightly be called the Athens of the sage-brush.
Getting back to the metropolis of Idaho was a great relief after the long stay in Wallace. Boise was much larger and the living conditions were better. And it was warmer, in the winter and early spring. I never did like cold weather, and therefore have spent most of my life where it has been hard to keep warm. Then, too, I was anxious to get to work on the main case. The “best people” were lined up on the other side and none too friendly toward the attorneys for the defense.