Blog Post 3: Castle Rock Reserve 1950-1975

Throughout the 20^th century the city of Boise embraced its abundance of natural resources that helped the city mature. Its’ situation near the Boise National Forest, the Boise River and the expansive foothills was no coincidence. The first half of the century saw much development in the downtown core, yet as the city grew it naturally encroached further onto the foothills. As the City was expanding, the pressure of development on the Boise foothills guided the environment to what we know and love today. The Castle Rock Reserve parcel (aka. Eagle Rock) is one of the best examples of the intersection between nature and our city because it seems to have stood the test of time. Life on the parcel has been forever altered as native plants and animals are today cut off from the area. The parcel has staved off multiple attempts at development and also ecological disasters.

As mentioned in the previously published Blog 2, Castle Rock existed on the very edge of the Boise City Limits for nearly the entire first half of the 20^th Century. The land was out of sight and out of mind possibly due to the fact the State Penn was in operation just beyond the parcel at the base of Table Rock Mesa. Coston Avenue was the official city limits on maps published into the 1950’s. The street’s name led me to inquire about the possible name ‘Coston’ and why was this particular street was named that. It turns out that Isaac Coston was one of the first Boise pioneers and established the valley’s first intensive farm on his ranch just past Table Rock Mesa in 1964 (Austin, 1971). Mr. Coston also had his hand in altering the native flora and fauna in the area as he is credited with cultivating rich crops that were not native to the Idaho Climate like barley and various fruits (Austin, 1971). Pictured in figure 4  is one of the furthest houses in the city, it was situated at the corner of Mobley and Coston. Initially I figured the house must have been owned by one of the Coston’s however it turns out that none of the owner’s names through history were related to Isaac Coston. Today there are no clues as to where the farm was exactly, however the original log cabin has been moved for historical preservation purposes and can be visited in Julia Davis Park.

     The Eagle rock parcel has long been the backdrop to the historic Warm Springs neighborhood. Warm Springs Avenue and the adjacent neighborhood were once the home to Boise’s most well to do entrepreneurs and business moguls. Discovery of hot geothermal artesian wells near Eagle Rock catapulted Boise toward international recognition. The development of the streets and roadways in the east end of Boise has had inarguably the largest negative effect on native plant and animal life. As the avenues developed, entire drainages like the adjacent Cottonwood Creek were basically inaccessible for wildlife due to new roads. Post war development efforts filled in may open spaces in the city. Near Eagle Rock a new neighborhood emerged just prior to 1950, see figure 1 (Directory, 1948). According to the Boise City Directory, the entire Bacon Avenue neighborhood was entirely nonexistent before 1945. The first road that was installed was Hill View Road see figure 3. It is the first non-gridded road in the east end and also uniquely runs mostly North/South compared to other streets nearby. It is entirely possible that the view of the hill, which the street name refers to, is actually Eagle Rock.  According to the directories, the rest of that neighborhood was entirely filled in by 1964(Directory, 1964). Shaw Mountain Road was the first dirt access road that took you from near the Military Reserve to the top of Table Rock Mesa. That primitive roadway, highlighted in figure 1, was the first trail that enclosed the Castle Rock Parcel and began to direct its fate. The directories again helped in telling the story of development in the area. Only one residence existed on Shaw Mountain Road in 1950, and by 1976 there were barely a few more landowners on the ridge (Directory, 1976). Today, Shaw Mountain Road, Table Rock Road, Roanoke Drive, Shenandoah Drive, and Morningside way all parallel the north side of the Castle Rock Parcel. Though the streets were not developed during the period of study for this particular blog post, it is very easy to see how the original use of the Castle Rock Parcel by native plants and animals has drastically changed over time.

     Boise City Residents love the foothills. Any postcard of our city ought to show off the foothills in their pristine condition, tranquil and inviting. Though that was not always the case. In the late 1950s’ the foothills turned violent and muddy floodwaters attacked the entire east end of Boise. The problem started in August of ’59 when a particularly nasty wildfire swept across the sagebrush ecosystem in the Boise foothills. The entire foothill community was scorched black and devoid of any plants (Hills 1973). Less than a week after the fire was contained and put out, a torrential Idaho summer thunderstorm dumped about an inch of water across the region (When, 1960). Immediately disaster struck and water rushed off of the hillsides and down the watersheds that led directly to the Boise River, and town. Rocky Canyon Road and Cottonwood creek were transformed into raging rivers of mud and debris. The mud deltas flowed relentlessly through the Warm Springs neighborhood and deposited tons upon tons of precious topsoil from the foothills in the streets of the East End (When, 1960). The ankle deep mud inundated the sewer system and the entire city was brought to a standstill. Cleanup was grueling, especially when the hills spewed more mud toward the neighborhood a week later. Some residents measured a food of mud deposited in their driveways (When, 1960)!

     

     Ultimately the city of Boise was surprised by the power of the foothills, and they realized the threat was continuous. It didn’t take 2 months before crews were in the foothills with a plan to stave off any future floodwaters. In a bold move, thousands of feet worth of trenches were cut with heavy machinery horizontally across the hills. The trenches were massive and measured over 12 feet wide and three feet deep in places. The success of the project must be acknowledged, though today you can still see very clearly the numerous contoured trenches cut during the Boise Front Watershed Restoration Project. The restoration was not complete there however. Over 9000 acres worth of the watershed in the Boise foothills was completely stripped of vegetation (When, 1960). In the final step of the project tens of thousands of seeds were replanted, mostly by hand. Mixtures of hardy, fire resistant grasses were reintroduced along with various wheatgrasses, sagebrush species, alfalfa, winter rye, bitterbrush, and ponderosa pines in higher elevations. In the end it was estimated that over 40,000 hours of work went into the reclamation project in the foothills. The disaster, and subsequent ‘reclamation’ was regarded as a necessary evil by the public and many residents resented the new terraced look of the foothills. This was by far the most substantial ecological event in the foothills for this period.

In complete irony, The Castle Rock Parcel was again practically unaffected by this disaster! The fire did not burn the parcel, nor did any floodwaters reach a height to threaten the hillside. The reclamation project avoided the parcel and no plants were specifically reintroduced on the Eagle Rock hillside, contamination is a different story though. The one thing that this disaster did for the residents of Boise was to open their eyes to the nature that is so close to town. There was a local environmental revolution that grew from aftermath of the fire and flood of 1959.  Traces of that new environmentalism can be still found throughout Boise in citizens young and old.

Boise has had a tumultuous relationship with the nature that the city thrives near. Luckily the Castle Rock parcel has had a front row seat to the show with little consequences. I have found a new appreciation for the Eagle Rock Area, and it’s unique resilience. In the next blog we will investigate the last quarter of the century and check in to see how the parcel has dealt with more modern times.