Weldon Brinton Heyburn Idaho Senator grave

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

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

from 1903 to 1912.

Early life

Born in southeastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

near

Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania Chadds Ford is a census-designated place (CDP) in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Chester County, Pennsylvania, Chester counties, Pennsylvania, United States, comprising the unincorporated area, unincorporated communities of Chadds F ...

, Heyburn's parents were

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English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

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

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, where he became a leading citizen and president of

Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company, also known as Belknap Hardware Company or simply Belknap Hardware, located in Louisville, Kentucky, was at one time a leading American manufacturer of hardware goods and a major wholesale competitor of r ...

Career

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

Media, Pennsylvania Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation with 1.6 million residents as 2020. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolita ...

,. With the mining boom in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, he moved west to

Leadville The City of Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,602 at the 2010 census and an estimated ...

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

and continued the practice of law in

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in Shoshone County. Heyburn was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the state 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. Founded in 1891, is the second-largest mining company that produces silver in the country. This area is known as the Silver Valley (Idaho) ...

took over the Polaris in 1930, while the Yankee Boy mine became the core of the Sunshine Mine 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 consists of the upper Idaho Senate and the lower Idaho House of Representatives. Idaho is divided into 35 legislative districts, which each elect one senator and two representatives. There are no term limits for either ...

to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, 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 is often co ...

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 Pennsy ...

's call for national forests because he didn't agree with the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

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), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

on many of the

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...

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

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

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

Pure Food and Drug Act The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. ...

in 1906. In the state of Idaho, the city of Heyburn in Minidoka County is named for him, as well as Mount Heyburn, 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 average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

, 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 Re ...

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 Se ...

, 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 pro ...

, 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 "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

, is in Benewah County at the southern end of

Lake Coeur d'Alene Lake Coeur d'Alene, officially 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 rang ...

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

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

. 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 American 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 Old Right (United States)