When “Sheepherder Bill” Borden made the paper, it was rarely good news. In 1902, the June 27 issue of the Idaho Statesman ran the following blurb, which was typical of the mentions about the man: “Bill Borden, better known as Sheepherder Bill, was in police court yesterday on the usual charge of being drunk. He was fined and costed to the amount of $5 and not having the coin, he will languish in the Bastille.”
Borden was a well-known miner in the Thunder Mountain region. He was also well known as a packer, carrying the heaviest backpacks of mail between Warrens and Thunder Mountain. And he was well known as a moonshiner. In his youth he was an ordained minister. Did you notice anything about sheep in all those well-knowns? Why he was called “Sheepherder Bill” is a minor mystery.
It was bad news, again, in July of 1905. It seems that Borden and a man named Barnum were curious about whether or not a piece of fuse was still good. One of them lit it and, yes, it was good. The burning fuse was tossed unartfully away, landing on a box of dynamite. The resulting explosion killed Barnum, and badly injured Borden. The first reports of the incident listed, “Sheepherder Bill, rock blown into side; probably fatal.”
The second report, a couple of days later, credited Mrs. Carl Brown with saving his life.
The best news I found about Borden in early papers was a story in the Statesman in 1907 when he was said to have found a “rich gold find mysteriously near Meadows.”
The bad news held off for a number of years, but the final report was of Sheepherder Bill’s death by a second explosion. His homemade still had blown up inside his cabin in 1932. He had perished in the resulting fire.
Borden was a well-known miner in the Thunder Mountain region. He was also well known as a packer, carrying the heaviest backpacks of mail between Warrens and Thunder Mountain. And he was well known as a moonshiner. In his youth he was an ordained minister. Did you notice anything about sheep in all those well-knowns? Why he was called “Sheepherder Bill” is a minor mystery.
It was bad news, again, in July of 1905. It seems that Borden and a man named Barnum were curious about whether or not a piece of fuse was still good. One of them lit it and, yes, it was good. The burning fuse was tossed unartfully away, landing on a box of dynamite. The resulting explosion killed Barnum, and badly injured Borden. The first reports of the incident listed, “Sheepherder Bill, rock blown into side; probably fatal.”
The second report, a couple of days later, credited Mrs. Carl Brown with saving his life.
The best news I found about Borden in early papers was a story in the Statesman in 1907 when he was said to have found a “rich gold find mysteriously near Meadows.”
The bad news held off for a number of years, but the final report was of Sheepherder Bill’s death by a second explosion. His homemade still had blown up inside his cabin in 1932. He had perished in the resulting fire.
Sheepherder Bill in 1897 on skis, carrying his famous backpack. Bill Patterson, storekeeper and postmaster is to his right. Photo courtesy of the Idaho State Historical Society digital collection.
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