Area's tough reputation may have prompted settler's quick move

Today, we meet the last of the four original white settlers to stake claims on the west side of Sand Creek. We know that C.R. Martin filed a claim on 160 acres of land in what is now Sand-point, Idaho, on April 24, 1891. Addison T. Dishman witnessed his signature on the claim form. Martin’s claim is the part of the city that is now bounded by Pine Street on the north, Erie Street on the south, Ella Avenue on the west, and Fourth Avenute on the east.

For some reason, three months later, on July 9, 1891, Martin sold his claim to John R. Law and nothing more is known of Mr. Martin. He may have decided to pack up and leave the area that, at the time, was getting some poor reviews.

As early as 1884, Sandpoint had quite a reputation. W.A. Baillie-Grohman, an early traveler stated, “… obliged me during 1884 to be frequently for days at a time in Sandpoint, the nearest rail and post station, which then afforded the only approach to Kootenay. In this wretched hole, one of the “tough” towns in the tough territory of Idaho, shooting scrapes and “hanging bees” were common events.” He continued, “… I knew Sandpoint — known also as Hang Town — could hold its own for depravity.”

Things had not changed a great deal when Ella Mae Farmin came to Sandpoint in 1892. She said, “Over in this little town there were perhaps one hundred people — twenty-three saloons, and several houses of ill fame, two stores, two hotels, and one restaurant.

Strangers were seen to enter the saloons and never come out. … Altogether the town bore anything but a savory reputation.”

Teddy Roosevelt, never short on words, visited Sandpoint in 1888 and had this to say about the experience. “Sand Point is made up of between three and four dozen rude shacks and perhaps a dozen tents.

Sixty-five percent of the buildings are used for saloon and gambling purposes, with a few brothels, the latter a natural consequence of the former. The remainder may be divided up between restaurants, lodging-houses, barber shops and a few general stores. …

By 10 o’clock I concluded to go to bed, but between the bugs that had already taken possession of the bed … and the drunken yells downstairs, it was impossible to sleep.”

Nothing is known about what happened to C.R. Martin but we do know that he sold his claim to John R. Law.

Law, his wife Mary, and his daughter Gertrude, came from South Dakota to Spokane, Wash., in 1889, and started the Law Printing Co. He then went to Hope, Idaho, and started a printing business there, keeping his Spokane firm open. While in Hope, their daughter, Olive Florence Law, was born in January 1891.

When J.R. Law bought the C.R. Martin claim, he moved his family to Sandpoint. He had his home and buildings about where the playing field on Boyer Avenue, between Lake Street and Highway 2, is located. J. R. Law published The Sandpoint Journal, perhaps Sandpoint’s second newspaper. Their daughter, Ella Ruth Law, was born in Sandpoint in June 1893. John R. Law had homes and businesses in both Sandpoint and Spokane and lived in both places at different times.

Law sold portions of his claim to Antone Peterson, John B. Southmayd, and Charles E. Wilson. He platted the remainder of his land and personally sold it in individual lots. The land that had originally been claimed by C.R. Martin became Lake Park Addition, Law’s Additions, Southmayd, McKinney & Wilson’s Addition, and Peterson’s Addition to Sandpoint. John R. Law’s daughters’ names can be found in the  Sandpoint streets called “Olive Avenue,” “Florence Avenue,, “Ella Avenue” and “Ruth Avenue.”