EDITOR’S NOTE: Portions of this story were taken from two previously published articles at EastIdahoNews.com. The links are included below.
IDAHO FALLS – The Museum of Idaho is partnering with Snake River Ferry and Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation to bring back Keefer’s Island tours for a second year.
The tour gives locals a scenic ferry ride along the Snake River and a look at the island about a quarter mile downstream from John’s Hole Bridge. The island is the home of an old log cabin that once belonged to Fred Keefer, one of two twin brothers who played a prominent role in the early days of Idaho Falls. As Idaho Falls became a thriving community, Keefer and his brother, Frank, longed for the day when it was still a small town on the western frontier.
“The Keefers played a crucial role,” Chloe Doucette, the museum’s managing director, says in a news release. “William Keefer, father of Fred, who built the island cabin, literally created the falls that gave Idaho Falls its name!”
The pair were born in 1891 when Idaho Falls was a burgeoning community on the western frontier. They preferred living off the land and they owned lots of it, including the property where Pinecrest Golf Course and Freeman Park now sit. (Keefer Street between Higbee Avenue and North Holmes is named in their honor).
Fred was a deputy for the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office for 21 years, according to his written history. He was first elected Bonneville County sheriff in 1918, which the sheriff’s office says he held for about a year. Fred became a deputy years later in 1938. He passed away in 1987 at age 96.
Frank once worked as a snake charmer and later made his living as a taxidermist. He was 85 when he passed away in 1976.
Both men are remembered as wild storytellers. Their knack for storytelling prompted both of them to write memoirs late in life.
In his book, Fred recalls some childhood experiences that may have influenced his decision to go into law enforcement.
Growing up in the wild west
He recounts an instance in his boyhood when a saloon keeper shot and killed two cowboys for repeatedly shooting out the lights in his business.
“The law enforcement officers, which were few, were not only tough, but sometimes cruel,” Fred writes.
A man from Montana who was wanted on a “minor charge” hid out in a straw stack in Idaho Falls with his partner. Fred says an officer shot one of them, put his head in a gunny sack and placed it in a downtown bar.
On another occasion, an officer reportedly shot a 16-year-old boy who had “run away from a freight outfit.” He was an orphan and the company had snagged him to do chores, but treated him badly. He hid in a barn and an officer shot him.
More than 30 pages of Fred’s memoir is devoted to his years as a deputy. Among all the cases he was involved in, he says he only used his gun twice in 21 years.
The first time happened during his first week in office. He and the sheriff (whom Fred doesn’t name but was most likely Sheriff Harry Meppen, Bonneville County’s longest-serving sheriff to date) went to a neighboring state to arrest a man on a felony charge. They picked up the 30-year-old man in a bar, who Fred says was “more than 200 pounds, half drunk and hard to handle.”
RELATED | How Bonneville County got its name and the early lawmen who protected its citizens
When they got him to the jail, he apparently refused to sign the extradition papers. They locked him up and both sheriffs later admitted they forgot to search him. A search revealed the man had nothing on him but he was now willing to sign the papers because the jail was freezing.
Fred went in the basement to wash up before they left, and the prisoner went with him because he claimed he wanted to wash up, too. That’s when the prisoner tried to escape.
“With two jumps, he landed on the bottom. How a man that size could move sure surprised me. I found him in the coal bin crawling through a coal shute. I yelled for him to stop but he kept on crawling,” writes Fred.
Fred placed his gun in the middle of his back and told him he’d shoot if he didn’t stop. He crawled back and Fred handcuffed him before bringing him upstairs and back to Idaho.
The cabin
Fred built the cabin in 1939 to keep one foot tied to the old West. Doucette told us last year he lived in it off and on for about 20 years.
“There were rumors that a cougar and some wolves lived out there with him,” said Doucette. “He had a mining claim on that land and you’re not actually allowed to live on a mining claim. (Building the cabin) was a bit of a workaround.”
Both Frank and Fred had a full-time residence in town. Since Fred wasn’t at the cabin consistently, Doucette says it was often a source of curiosity for people and was frequently vandalized.
Over time, Fred grew tired of this. In 1959, he sold it to the city for $1, on condition the property retain the name Keefer’s Island.
The Keefer family’s community-mindedness and knack for storytelling prompted them to preserve the city’s history. The brothers played an integral role in the creation of the Bonneville Museum, which later became the Museum of Idaho. That’s how the museum acquired the cabin.
Though the cabin is visible from the back of some of the restaurants on the west side of the river along Lindsay Boulevard, it’s remained untouched for decades.
The museum began offering guided tours of the island last summer. The staff is excited to offer it again and allow people to step inside an 86-year-old relic “from an era when Idaho Falls was still finding its identity.”
RELATED | For the first time, Museum of Idaho is offering tours of Keefer’s Island
Tours are scheduled for July 11, 12, 18 and 19. Each tour lasts 45 minutes and will happen on the hour between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The loading dock is at John’s Hole Bridge at 1417 River Parkway.
For tickets or additional information, click here.
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