MURPHY, Idaho — As part of America 250, Idaho News 6 is focusing on the Gem State's contributions to the national narrative. And if you're wondering where the West was won— look no further than Owyhee County.
Walking into the Owyhee County Historical Museum is like stepping back in time and experiencing what it was like to live throughout the pioneer days.
Museum Director Erics Garvos says the Owyhee County ranchers' and farmers' stories are America’s stories.
WATCH: Step back in time to the pioneer days during a visit to the Owyhee County Historical Museum
"Gold was discovered in Silver City. And by 1876, you know, the West was being settled, [and] we’ve got mines everywhere," noted Garvos.
The museum is about to receive a large collection of wagons, buggies, and stagecoaches that are all over 150 years old. Those same Stagecoaches and wagons allowed Americans to move west en masse before they could settle in areas like the Treasure, Magic, and Jordan Valleys.
85-year-old Mike Hanley of Jordan Valley has collected these antique modes of transportation his whole life.
"He's still working on the wagons, and he's just started working on the old buggies, and then he completely rebuilds these," said Garvos. "He's still in Jordan Valley, and now he's got over 35 items.”
At the museum, they have a collection of quarter-scale Civil War cannons, and oddly enough, Idaho played an important role following the end of the Civil War.
"After the Civil War, we got a lot of the Confederates out this way, and they started mining," explained Garvos. "That's why [we have] the town of Atlanta, named for Atlanta, Georgia.”
During their annual Outpost Days in the first weekend of June, they will have the Grand Opening of Pete Rathbone’s Wrench Collection Building. Where else can someone see every kind of wrench used throughout the history of the Western US.
Senior Reporter Don Nelson asked Rathbone, "Why wrenches?"
"My late wife liked to antique. And so on a trip, I'd let her hit one shop in the morning, one in the afternoon," recounted Rathbone. "And we're down in the mother lode country of California, and the gal noticed I was a little bit bored, and she said, 'You ought to get your husband interested in collecting. Mine collects alligator wrenches, those ugly ones over there.'”
Ever since, Rathbone has collected antique wrenches wherever he can find them.
The Owyhee County Historical Museum in Murphy is open Tuesday through Saturday.
