Weldon Brinton Heyburn Idaho Senator grave

Weldon Brinton Heyburn (May 23, 1852October 17, 1912) was an American attorney and politician who served as a

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from

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from 1903 to 1912.

Early life

Born in southeastern

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near

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, Heyburn's parents were

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He attended the public schools there, including the Maplewood Institute in Concordville and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. His brother, William Heyburn (1861–1939), eventually moved west to

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

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, where he became a leading citizen and president of

Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company The Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company, also known as the Belknap Hardware Company or simply Belknap Hardware, was at one time a leading American manufacturer of hardware goods and a major wholesale competitor of retail sales companies Se ...

Career

Heyburn studied law under Edward A. Price and was admitted to the bar in 1876 and commenced practice in

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,. With the mining boom in

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, he moved west to

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, where he practiced law for several years. In 1883, Heyburn moved to the Silver Valley of

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

and continued the practice of law in

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in Shoshone County. Heyburn was a member of the

Idaho Constitutional Convention The Idaho Constitution Convention drafted the Idaho Constitution in 1889 in preparation for the Idaho Territory to become a U.S. state. History Background On April 2, 1889, outgoing Territorial Governor Edward A. Stevenson, who had successfully p ...

in 1889.

Polaris Mine

On August 30, 1884, Heyburn staked the Polaris discovery, northeast of, and 26 days before, the Blake's discovery of the Yankee Boy and Yankee Girl ore bodies. After his death in 1912, a nephew mined some ore from the Polaris in a limited fashion.

Hecla Mining Hecla Mining is a gold, silver, and other precious metals mining company based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Founded in 1891, it is the second-largest mining company that produces silver in the country. This area is known as th ...

took over the Polaris in 1930, while the Yankee Boy mine became the core of the

Sunshine Mine The Sunshine Mine is located between the cities of Kellogg, Idaho, Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, Wallace in northern Idaho. It has been one of the world's largest and most profitable silver mines, having produced over 360 million ounces of silver ...

in 1918.

Politics

Heyburn was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for election in 1898 to the 56th Congress, losing to

Silver Republican The Silver Republican Party, later known as the Lincoln Republican Party, was a United States political party from 1896 to 1901. It was so named because it split from the Republican Party by supporting free silver (effectively, expansionary monet ...

Edgar Wilson. In January 1903, Heyburn was elected by the

Idaho Legislature The Idaho Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the 43rd State of Idaho and is bicameral, consisting of the upper chamber of the Idaho Senate and the lower chamber of the Idaho House of Representatives. The state of Idaho ...

to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

, defeating Democrat James Hawley, 50 to 17. Boise attorney

William Borah William Edgar Borah (June 29, 1865 – January 19, 1940) was an outspoken Republican United States Senator, one of the best-known figures in Idaho's history. A progressive who served from 1907 until his death in 1940, Borah voted for A ...

was the runner-up for the Republican nomination, 28 to 22, and won the other Senate seat four years later. Others in the race were former Governor and Senator George Shoup, and Judge D.W. Standrod; both dropped out and gave their support Heyburn was re-elected by the legislature January 1909, and was chairman of the Committee on Manufactures ( 58th through 62nd Congresses). During his career, he opposed

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsyl ...

's call for

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because he did not agree with the

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controlling vast amounts of land in

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He also fought

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Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

on many of the

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ideas, such as an 8-hour work day and child welfare laws. The largest man in the Senate, Heyburn had collapsed on the Senate floor after delivering a speech in March 1912, and been in ill health for most of the year prior to his death at age 60 in

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, on October 17. He was interred at Birmingham-Lafayette Cemetery in Birmingham Township, Pennsylvania.

Legacy

Heyburn is best remembered for introducing the bill which became the

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in 1906. In the state of Idaho, the city of Heyburn in Minidoka County is named for him, as well as

Mount Heyburn Mount Heyburn, at is one of the many peaks in the Sawtooth Range of central Idaho. Mount Heyburn is located in Custer County and within the Sawtooth Wilderness portion of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The town of Stanley is located ...

, a jagged peak in the Sawtooth Mountains. The mountain tops out at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

, and overlooks

Redfish Lake Redfish Lake is an alpine lake in Custer County, Idaho, just south of Stanley. It is the largest lake within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The U.S. Forest Service has developed some facilities for hiking, camping, and water sports on ...

in the

Sawtooth National Recreation Area The Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) is a national recreation area in central Idaho, United States that is managed as part of Sawtooth National Forest. The recreation area, established on August 22, 1972, is managed by the U.S. Forest S ...

, just south of

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in Custer County.

Heyburn State Park Heyburn State Park is a public recreation area in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is located almost entirely in Benewah County, with a small portion extending into southern Kootenai County. The park was founded in 1908 and is the oldest state or p ...

, the Northwest's oldest

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

, is in Benewah County at the southern end of

Lake Coeur d'Alene Coeur d'Alene Lake ( ), is a natural dam-controlled lake in North Idaho, located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. At its northern end is the city of Coeur d'Alene. It spans in length and ranges from 1 to wide with over ...

. It was created in 1908; Senator Heyburn had attempted to secure it as a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

. The legislature named it after Heyburn in 1911, while he was still

References

External links

*
Memorial addresses after Heyburn's death from Congress

– Weldon Brinton Heyburn (1852-1912), Papers, 1889-1911
Idaho Summits.com
- photo of Mount Heyburn
Weldon B. Heyburn, late a senator from Idaho, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1914
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyburn, Weldon B. 1852 births 1912 deaths 19th-century Idaho politicians American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law American people of English descent Burials at Birmingham-Lafayette Cemetery Colorado lawyers Idaho lawyers Idaho Republicans Pennsylvania lawyers People from Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania People from Leadville, Colorado People from Wallace, Idaho Republican Party United States senators from Idaho University of Pennsylvania alumni 19th-century American lawyers Members of the Idaho Constitutional Convention 20th-century United States senators