History of Kuna

Kuna, circa 1938.

Kuna—and the surrounding area—is part of the Snake River Plain that stretches for miles across southern Idaho. The vast sagebrush desert was originally home to Native Americans like that of the Shoshone, Bannock and the Northern Paiute tribes who utilized the land as hunters and gatherers. Their way of life helped preserve much of the native beauty and wildlife still enjoyed. Today this land, on which Kuna sits, is still the “ancestral, cultural, traditional, and unceded territory of the Shoshone, Bannock, and Northern Paiute people.”[1] 

The first non-Native Americans in the area were fur trappers who arrived in 1811. Numerous people made their way west through Idaho and into Oregon along the Oregon Trail that followed the Boise River to the Snake River bringing settlers to the area as early as the 1840s. However, Southern Idaho's hot, dry, dusty climate discouraged many early pioneers from settling in the area. The discovery of gold in the Boise Basin in 1862 and the Owyhee Mountains in 1863 brought thousands of miners, farmers, and businessmen to the area. In order to transport tools from Boise to Silver City, a major mining community, a stage route was created called the Silver Trail. It ran 15 miles southwest of Boise to 15 Mile House—the first settlement in what is now Kuna—where people would stop to rest, change out horses, and get food.

In 1881 Union Pacific started building the Oregon Short Line Railroad westward and in 1882 the construction of the O.S.L railroad reached Idaho Territory[2]. In 1882, the railroad established a work camp of 100 people at the stage station where the road to Silver City  crossed the railway right of way and was given the name “Kuna.”[3] The first train took passengers in 1883.[4]  During the years 1883 to 1887, supplies for Boise City, Idaho City, Placerville, Centerville, and Silver City, were transported by freight wagon from the railroad at Kuna. A settlement grew up around the station consisting of at least three warehouses, a depot, and a post office.[5] In September of 1887 the Idaho Central Railroad began service from Nampa to Boise City connecting with O.S.L at Nampa and people no longer needed to use Kuna for their freight and stage connections.[5] After the Kuna railroad station had been abandoned, the settlement closed down, and the area remained primarily uninhabited due to the lack of irrigation. All that was left behind was a sign with the name “Kuna” and the remaining evidence of a diphtheria outbreak, a graveyard containing 11 graves.[6]

It wasn’t until a family picnic that the idea of a Kuna townsite would begin. Fremont Teed and his wife, Lucy Teed, went on a picnic to Indian Creek with D.R. Hubbard and his wife Rosalia Hubbard. It was there that Mr. Hubbard made a remark about the quality of the soil and jokingly suggested Teed take a claim and start a townsite.[7] The following day Teed went to Boise and found it was the last day to file a claim. On November 4th, 1903 Teed filed a claim for 200 acres under the Desert Land Act of 1877 for fifty dollars. The Teed family consisting of Fremont, Lucy, and their three children Hazel, Currie, and Ryle moved to what is now Kuna on May 15, 1905. Water for stock and human consumption was hauled in barrels from the Snake River and later from an 8-foot well, dug in the bed of Indian Creek near Mora one and a quarter miles east.[8] The Teeds also reopened a post office in Kuna in 1905 with Fremont Teed as the Postmaster.

 Even then, Kuna remained sparsely populated until 1909, a period called “Seed Time” by some of the first Kunans.[9] This period of time in the History of Kuna is referred to as “Seed Time” by Lucy Teed because this was the year in which many of the “permanent citizens located and established their own particular lines of business and instituted many extensive improvements."[10] The first of many changes was the opening of the New York Canal at the “diversion dam east of Boise” on February 22, 1909.[11] Irrigation water was now available in the Kuna region. Additionally, in January of 1909 D.R. Hubbard and Company began to advertise lots in the Idaho Daily Statesmen, “We will sell 200 lots at $100 each. These lots may be sold at Auction to the profit of the buyers.”[5] Before the auction had even taken place 144 of the lots had been sold. By the end of the year many tents could be seen at the Kuna townsite, later to be replaced with buildings.[12] 1909 proved to be a turning point in the development of Kuna where many of the first buildings were erected, residents settled, and infrastructure was created. Development moved quickly following “Seed Time.” A number of businesses and buildings had gone up in 1909, including the Kuna Savings Bank, the Kuna Hotel, and Fiss Mercantile and in 1910 many other staples of the community would continue to be built. 

Within years a community had flourished from a sparsely inhabited area to a village that held events such as “Karnival Days” wherein farmers could sell their crops and had a community band that played at the park. With a growing community, the village felt the need to be incorporated to ensure the residents had access to water. Incorporation would certify that Kuna could get a water system through bond funds and on September 15, 1915 the village was incorporated. A 400 foot well was drilled, and a 40,000-gallon water tank was erected for Kunans. An agreement with the Electric Investment Co. would see the installation of a high-tension transmission line thus making the pumping of water, streetlights, and electrical current to residents’ homes a reality. In 1916 the population of Kuna had grown to 250 people and continuing growth would see that number get bigger and bigger. In 1920, the Kuna City Council adopted an ordinance to pour sidewalks. In just ten years Kuna had gone from a largely uninhabited area full of sagebrush to an incorporated town with a thriving community. 

References:

[1] “A Brief History of Boise.”

[2] Mark C. Spence, For Wood River or Bust: Idaho’s Silver Boom in the 1880s, (Moscow, ID: University of Idaho Press, 1999), 56.

[3] “Oregon Short Line Railway (OSLRy) (1881-1889)”, Utah Rails,  Accessed August 20, 2024, https://utahrails.net/up/oslry-1881-1889.php

[4] Arthur R. Hart, 15 Mile House Became City of Kuna, Idaho History Museum, 2.

[5]Dave Lyon, “Kuna Historical Society and a Brief History of Kuna,” Kuna Historical Society: Kuna Compass, accessed August 27, 2024, https://www.kunahistoricalsociety.org/KHSNewsletter2016Mar.pdf

[6] Kuna Joint School District No. 3, The Settlement of the Kuna Region, 4-5.

[7]Sharon Fisher, Images of America: Kuna, (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2012), 58-59.

[8]Lucy Teed,  The History of Kuna, 1916, Written History, From Kuna Historical Society, archived by Stephen R. Teed, 1998, 5.

[9] Teed, The History of Kuna, 10.

[10] Teed, The History of Kuna, 10-11.

[11]  Kuna Joint School District No. 3, The Settlement of the Kuna Region, 7.

[12] Kuna Joint School District No. 3, The Settlement of the Kuna Region, 11.