s r e m m u S at the Lake PHOTO BY APRIL THOMAS WHITNEY
MCCALL’S ALLURE BEGAN 100+ YEARS AGO
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BY APRIL THOMAS WHITNEY
he first non-Native people to brave unpredictable weather and rugged terrain in the West Central Mountains were gold prospectors, fur trappers, and fishermen. By the late 19th century, rumors swirled about a remote sparkling lake, packed with fish, lined by tall green grass, and framed in by towering pines and granite-peaked mountains. Those early tales told by trappers and miners piqued the interest of a man named Thomas McCall, a recent arrival to the Boise Valley. Visions of a magnificent lake and rich agricultural land to the north inspired McCall to take a month-long wagon trip with his wife and children. It was May 1889 and Idaho’s winter was hanging on to the snowy, steep slopes and turning the dirt trail to deep mud. Imagine the pioneering family’s reward when they finally arrived at the shores of the pristine blue waters of Payette Lake.
A squatter who had homesteaded near the lakeshore eagerly traded his substantial cabin and 160 acres of land for McCall’s wagon, team, and harness. McCall then acquired a small sawmill and began transforming giant Ponderosa pines into a sizable homestead not far from where the modern-day Hotel McCall now sits. An early example of the entrepreneurial spirit that shaped the American West, McCall’s settlement soon included a hotel, school, post office, and saloon. For Tom McCall, however, becoming a hotelier was a necessity more than a deliberate business venture. In those days, very few souls braved the wilderness and winters at the north end of Long Valley, but as word spread about rich mining districts, unannounced guests arrived with such frequency that the McCalls found their cupboards bare and their spare beds full. As described in a turn-
of-the-century railroad publication called The Idaho Magazine, “At last, in pure self-defense, Mr. McCall was forced into the hotel business, and the mansion-like McCall House is the flowering of the evolution of the hotel business around Payette Lake.” By 1900, the Idaho Statesman was already extolling the vacation virtues of the area. “PAYETTE LAKES, one of the most beautiful spots in Idaho, with magnificent scenery, trout fishing, and game of every description – an ideal outing place – now has a hotel…where all comers can be comfortable while enjoying a summer vacation filled with unalloyed pleasure. The lake, on the banks of which the Hotel McCall stands, is a lovely expanse of water, with its 10 miles of glistening surface. It affords opportunities for boating and fishing such as cannot be secured anywhere in Idaho.”
www.idahomemagazine.com
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