Ola Forest

Took a little drive through the Boise National Forest to the Ola Valley and found the beautiful Squaw Creek winding through the valley and this... more

by Robert Bales

Title

Ola Forest

Artist

Robert Bales

Medium

Photograph - Photo

Description

Took a little drive through the Boise National Forest to the Ola Valley and found the beautiful Squaw Creek winding through the valley and this beautiful forest. The valley has many alfalfa fields surrounded by mountains and foothills.

The town of Ola has many wonderful places to visit while enjoying the valley and enjoying history. Here is one very interesting story about the town.

The first post office in this area was "Upper Squaw Creek", established in September 1875, by Carroll Baird. Baird homesteaded along Squaw Creek, less than half a mile west of the present-day site of Ola.

Nellie Ireton Mills writes that the Bairds built their cabin where the old Indian trail crosses the creek. The trail was also used by miners and others taking the short cut to, or from, Oregon and the Boise Basin. Prior to the 1875 post office, the mail was delivered by pack horse and snowshoes along the Brownlee Trail from Horseshoe Bend (Boise County) to Warren (Idaho County).

Six weeks after the post office was established, Bairds' bachelor neighbor to the north, Fred Hoffman, was appointed postmaster, a position he held until the post office closed the end of January 1877, when mail was sent to Cascade (Valley County). Mills writes that first wedding in the community was between Fred Hoffman (aka Huffman) and school teacher Ella Drake on March 6, 1879.

When the post office was re-established in July 1882, Baird chose the name of Ola, "for an old Swede that happened along." For a time, up until the late 1980s, the post office was housed inside the Ola General Store. While the store closed its doors at about 1987–1989, the Ola General Store has now re-opened its doors. A small one-room building was built on the property across the street of Ola School Road, on the "Matthew House" homesite, named for Ola blacksmith Archie Matthews. At that time the "Post Mistress" Elaine Waldner resided there, making it easy for her to work. The Matthew house was also the childhood home of boxer Harry "Kid" Matthews. Harry Matthews fought in the 1940s and 1950s. Among his most notable fights were a loss to Rocky Marciano, and a win over Ezzard Charles. In 1992, the Matthew House was purchased by Idaho Country Gospel singer/songwriter/author/preacher Jered Lyle Wilson, who recorded the 1979 winner of the Idaho Gospel Song Festival song titled "Life Means More", and won the annual songwriting contest sponsored by the Idaho Songwriters Association in 1992, with the song titled "What's The Use In Dreaming". However, his most popular song may be the 1988 C&W single titled "Roll On 18 Wheels", which received nominal airplay.

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Uploaded

January 20th, 2022