08/11/2025
What happened after Moses Milner sold his trail and business to Loyal P. Brown? Cody Uptmor, portraying L.P. had this to say at our living history event:
My name is Loyal P. Brown but everyone calls me L.P. I was born in New Hampshire in 1829 and came to Idaho County to mine gold in Florence. While passing through Mt. Idaho, I saw a good business opportunity, ditched the idea of panning for gold and bought Moses Milner’s toll road and tavern instead. Although Moses named Mt. Idaho, I was responsible for making it flourish.
I became the postmaster for a time and established a blacksmith shop. I replaced Milner’s tavern with a larger hotel, built a sawmill and a flour mill. You may not know that Idaho County was established as part of the Idaho Territory before Idaho ever became a state! I served two terms in the Idaho Territorial Council and was able to pass a bill in 1875, to make Mount Idaho the new county seat which helped my businesses tremendously. I donated the land for the new courthouse
I also brought the first Hereford cows to the Camas Prairie and owned 6,000 sheep. I expanded my business holdings to Cottonwood -- building a post office, blacksmith shop and hotel there too!
Sarah and I owned the Mount Idaho Hotel until my death in 1896. Mt. Idaho faded away when the county seat moved to Grangeville in 1902.
(Cody is holding an oversized image of a card from our historical pinochle deck created by Jerry Johnson which highlights characters who shaped Idaho County. We also have a poker deck of characters and both can be purchased in our gift shop.)
