How it all began
The idea for settlement first came to Chester Call as he was traveling through the valley in 1880, in search of grazing land away from the overcrowded Salt Lake Valley. The next spring, he brought his family up to settle a small ranch. He got some friends and family, and before too long, the town of Chesterfield arose in the foothills of Idaho's Portneuf Valley.
Today, the historic town site is run by the Chesterfield Foundation and has been since 1980 when the first building, the Meetinghouse, was reconstructed. Most of the historic homes have been restored to their original state. New restorations, maintenance, and repairs are all accomplished through donations and volunteer work. If you would like to contribute to the restoration of Chesterfield, please visit our "Donate" page. If you would like to experience Chesterfield for yourself, please, come and "Visit". We look forward to seeing you!
Today, the historic town site is run by the Chesterfield Foundation and has been since 1980 when the first building, the Meetinghouse, was reconstructed. Most of the historic homes have been restored to their original state. New restorations, maintenance, and repairs are all accomplished through donations and volunteer work. If you would like to contribute to the restoration of Chesterfield, please visit our "Donate" page. If you would like to experience Chesterfield for yourself, please, come and "Visit". We look forward to seeing you!
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Memoirs
"Most of his pay would be in vegetables"
From the beginning, Chesterfield had both sheep and cattle. Those involved in these industries naturally spent a good deal of time herding, moving the flocks and herds onto new ranges with adequate forage as the seasons changed, keeping a constant vigil over the seasonal lambing and calving, branding calves, and watching over the steady growth of the new stock during the summer months.
Other work in the little settlement included clerking in stores, delivery, making bricks, and early in the present century, working in the creamery. . . . An interesting appeal for a shoemaker was published in the Deseret News in 1886:
"What we are most in need of is a good shoe-and-boot-maker-and-repairer. It would also be necessary for him to understand blacksmithing, tailoring, bricklaying, surgery, medicine and carpet weaving. With these qualifications he would be useful and busy at all seasons of the year. He must have a good, sound constitution, and great patience and power of endurance, and if he should be a vegetarian all the better, as most of his pay would be in vegetables."
It takes little imagination to realize that a shoemaker was indeed a person needed in most settlements. Clothing could be made at home, but shoes were another matter. The list of additional skills desired from the new recruit might seem ludicrous, but it is apparent that these were precisely just the skills that could be put to good use in a place far from cities . . . jacks-of-all-trades were more common then than now.
The village blacksmith-dentist was Lamoni Tolman. James Yancey remembered how one of his front teeth was broken in a fall. His father sent him to Uncle Lamoni to have the tooth pulled. Lamoni, mowing hay at the time, examined the tooth and sent James to the house for the forceps. Then he had James sit up on the mower seat, and "out came the tooth regardless of the pain."
Other work in the little settlement included clerking in stores, delivery, making bricks, and early in the present century, working in the creamery. . . . An interesting appeal for a shoemaker was published in the Deseret News in 1886:
"What we are most in need of is a good shoe-and-boot-maker-and-repairer. It would also be necessary for him to understand blacksmithing, tailoring, bricklaying, surgery, medicine and carpet weaving. With these qualifications he would be useful and busy at all seasons of the year. He must have a good, sound constitution, and great patience and power of endurance, and if he should be a vegetarian all the better, as most of his pay would be in vegetables."
It takes little imagination to realize that a shoemaker was indeed a person needed in most settlements. Clothing could be made at home, but shoes were another matter. The list of additional skills desired from the new recruit might seem ludicrous, but it is apparent that these were precisely just the skills that could be put to good use in a place far from cities . . . jacks-of-all-trades were more common then than now.
The village blacksmith-dentist was Lamoni Tolman. James Yancey remembered how one of his front teeth was broken in a fall. His father sent him to Uncle Lamoni to have the tooth pulled. Lamoni, mowing hay at the time, examined the tooth and sent James to the house for the forceps. Then he had James sit up on the mower seat, and "out came the tooth regardless of the pain."
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