James Moriarty Died As he Lived - Chasing That Gold!

In the 1884 article that was sent to me about James Moriarty, it stated that he was "the gentlemanly and efficient agent of Wells, Fargo & Co. in this place (Idaho City,) as well as agent of the Utah, Idaho, and Oregon Stage Company. In addition to this business he carries on a thriving trade in clothing, hats, caps, etc. He is an upright, esteemed citizen of Idaho and one of its pioneers."

We have seen that James Moriarty was searching for gold in Idaho in its very earliest days. Gold drew him from one lode to another. Now it is 1880. The days of easy placer mining have faded and have been left to the Chinese. The U.S. Census of Idaho City was taken on June 1st and 2nd. Our James Moriarty is living at 43 Montgomery Street. He is a 43 year old Express Agent - just as described in the 1884 article. He and his parents were born in Ireland. Two miners are living with him - 48 year old Daniel Casey and 27 year old Timothy Kegan are also from Ireland. All three are single.

Here is that picture of James Moriarty's business again. His is the bottom picture.

The census tells us about the neighbors - besides miners and laborers, there were: a brewer, barber, druggist, civil engineer, tailor, carpenters, general merchant, shoemaker, huckster, grocers, blacksmiths, county assessor, a seamstress, and some children. They came from:  England, Bavaria, Ireland, Prussia, Switzerland, Scotland, Upper Rhine, Wertenburg as well as New York, Missouri, Idaho, Kentucky, Washington Territory, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I keep thinking about James Moriarty - born in Caherdaniel - anyone who has been to Sneem knows what Caherdaniel is like. And look at all the places that he traveled and all the different nationalities that he met! What did he think about it all? And what did he think about the times in which he lived!

We saw that the gold rush in Boise basin spurred the development of several mining towns. 
http://boisebasinhistory.com tells us that "of all the communities, Idaho City was said to have been the bawdiest and lustiest of the Boise Basin’s offspring. A rip-roaring mining town, it became the hub of territorial commerce and almost overnight became the largest metropolis in the Idaho Territory, boasting a population in excess of ten thousand for more than two decades."

But "difficult winters and shortages of food made life treacherous. One year a food riot occurred because the spring supplies from Walla Walla had not arrived." 

"The richest claim in the Idaho City area in 1863 was owned by seven men. It contained 2,000 square feet and ran to the edge of town. Bedrock averaged one dollar per pan and as high as $9.25. Mining was done right in town. Lawsuits were numerous when houses began collapsing after being undermined. Montgomery Street panned at $16.00 a pan." This is the street where James Moriarty had his business by at least 1880! We don't know exactly when he moved into Idaho City but he was in Boise basin since 1863.

"Idaho City had two hundred merchants in 1864 and was still growing. Two new theaters were finished for the pleasure of the miners. Gambling, billiards, drinking and dancing were favorite pastimes. Most miners wore flannel shirts, a slouched hat, a large bandanna tied around their necks, pantaloons tucked into heavy hobnailed boots, and six-shooters on their hips ... Stealing horses, robbing stages, and killing were common around the Boise Basin as bands of desperadoes came into the gold camps. Vigilante Committees were formed who tried criminals in secret, and later arrested them. Their punishment was usually hanging." I wonder how much of this James Moriarty experienced!

The 1900 U.S. Census of Idaho City, taken on the 13^th of June, lists 62 year old James Moriarty, Sr. at the bottom of the page. He was born in October 1837 and is boarding with 56 year old Henry Whitney and his wife, 30 year old Geneva, – both from Maine and  renting the house but no street name is given. Their daughter Marion is 4 and was also born in Maine. James immigrated in 1863 and is a naturalized citizen.  He is able to read, write, and speak English. James is a gold quartz miner; Henry is also a gold quartz miner. The Whitneys have 3 other boarders - another miner, a blacksmith, and a steam engineer.

Further up on the census we find 38 year old Patrick and 43 year old James Moriarty – Patrick is the head of the household and James is his brother. Both were born in Ireland as were their parents. 
Patrick’s birth date was March 1862, and he immigrated in 1883 and is a naturalized citizen – he has been in the United States for 17 years. He can read and write; he speaks English. He is a gold quartz miner and has not been unemployed. He owns his house – it is not mortgaged. 
James’ birthdate is November 1853; he immigrated in 1873 and is a naturalized citizen – he has been in the United States for 27 years. He is also a gold quartz miner and has not been unemployed. He can also read and write – he speaks English. They are both single. And they are James Moriarty's nephews who immigrated from Caherdaniel.

James Moriarty was killed on January 19,1906 by a snowslide from the roof of the Boulder Quartz Mill in Elk Creek. I inserted the obituary from the Idaho World newspaper for James Moriarty but it is so faded that it is difficult to read. So I  transcribed what I can read. The paper is dated “Idaho City, Monday, Jan.22, 1906” and states: “James Moriarty, Sr., was killed last Friday at the Boulder Quartz mill on Elk creek, eight or ten miles north of this place, by a snowslide from the roof of the mill building. At about 9:30 Friday morning James Moriarty, Jr. started to shovel and finding the snow wet and heavy concluded to postpone the work, and told his uncle, James Moriarty Sr., who was also there ready to begin work that the snow was not in good condition for shoveling. The nephew then went into tunnel where his brother Patrick was at work. When they came out at noon and saw that the snow had slid from the roof of the mill building, and learning from their sister, Miss Kate Moriarty, who was at the boarding house, that the old gentleman was not there, they knew the fate that had befallen him, and they and Miss Moriarty proceeded to dig through the snow for the body. They ran several cuts through the hard snow, which was almost as compact as ice, and worked three hours before uncovering the body. Death was evidently instantaneous. The snow around his face had not melted so it was evident that he did not breathe after being buried. The body was covered to the depth of three and a half feet, but a very short distance from the body, toward the mill, the depth was much greater.

“Snow had been shoveled from this building every winter for many years by the Moriartys, and this is the first time the snow has ever slid from the roof.  Mr. Moriarty had evidently been shoveling but a short time when he was carried down by the slide. The body was almost touching one end of the ladder.

“James Moriarty, Jr. came to town for assistance, arriving at 12 o’clock that night. A crew of men, with horses, started out Saturday morning with the intention of breaking a trail from the Thorne camp to the creek for the purpose of bringing the body out that way, but this plan was abandoned. A toboggan with snowshoe runners was made at Thorne’s camp and a party of 13 men with snowshoes hauled the body down the creek to the Basin road, to a point a little over a mile from this place. They reached town at 1 o’clock yesterday morning.

“Mr. Moriarty was a native of Kerry county, Ireland, and was 76 years of age. From the old country he went to Australia and New Zealand and from there to Fraser, in British Columbia, in the early sixties. He arrived in Boise Basin in the spring of 1864, and engaged in placer mining at Centerville. After that he worked placer ground at Placerville and on Granite Creek. In 1874, when a resident of Granite Creek, he was elected Auditor and Recorder of this county, serving two years. He was appointed Deputy Auditor by Mrs. Kate Gorman, the present incumbent, and served for some time. He was for many years employed in the express office of Wells, Fargo, and Co. at this place.

“Mr. Moritrty was a charter member of the A.O.U.W. of this place. (Ancient Order of United Workmen collected $1 from each member in order to pay $500 to dependents of a deceased member.)

“He leaves a niece and two nephews at this place – Miss Kate, James and Patrick Moriarty, a nephew Ed Moriarty, of Connecticut, two nephews, brothers of the above named, in Ireland, and a sister, Mrs. Sullivan, in Ireland, who is the mother of Mike Sullivan, formerly of this place, and now a resident of Mexico.

“Mr. Moriarty was a man of very kind disposition and sympathetic nature, charitable and liberal even beyond his means.

“He was a proprietor of a boarding house at Silver Mountain in the early days of that camp, and no man without money was ever refused a meal. Many a miner and prospector would have gone hungry but for the kindness of Mr. Moriarty. He acquired the reputation of being altogether too liberal for a successful hotel man.

“The funeral took place at 12:30 today from town hall. A short biographical sketch of Mr. Moriarty was given by E.W. Barry, who also read the Catholic burial service. The hall was filled with friends of deceased.” 

Imagine how excited I was to receive this obituary!! My mother, father, and I were screaming with surprise as we read it! If only I could find one like this for everyone else! And Kate, James, and Patrick are our cousins that Father Edward Moriarty talked about in his letter. I have more information on them but that is a story for another time. Do you see how you can drive yourself crazy with genealogy?

So that is the story of James Moriarty of Cahirdaniel who was a 1^st cousin to our Michael Moriarty who settled in Loughane. No wonder some of us have the travel bug!!