Doc Hisom
The Legend of Halverson
Cove
Center for Idaho History and Politics
Boise State University
William “Doc” Hisom became a legend to the citizens of Melba.
As fitting a legend very little truth is known about Doc, and
people filled in the details as they found necessary.
Pictured: Doc Hisom demonstrating his mining practices, c.1930. Courtesy Madge Wylie.
Doc came to Idaho sometime between 1885 and 1897. He appeared
in the 1900 Census in Idaho City. Doc stated in the Census that he
was 42 years-old, that he was born in Chicago and that his parents
came from New York.
Pictured: Doc Hisom, Robert Limbert, and others warm by a fire after a day of hunting, c. 1921. MSS 80 1317 Robert
Limbert Collection, Boise State University Special Collections.
Doc moved to Halverson Cove on the Snake River near the AdaCanyon County Line between 1897 and 1906. In 1906 his partner
William White filed a mining claim in the area. White left after an
injury between 1913 and 1917 and returned home. Doc stayed, but
held no title to the land.
Pictured: A view of Halverson Cove along the river trail that runs from Celebration Park to Swan Falls. By Joshua Bernard.
Doc Hisom is often referred to as a hermit, but he was an accepted
member of the Snake River community. Until 1921 the town of
Guffey was located just 3 miles away from Doc’s home. Although he
rarely traveled to Melba, Nampa, or Boise, Doc received a constant
stream of visitors.
Pictured: Doc Hisom and guests playing a song. MSS 80 1316 Robert Limbert Collection, Boise State University Special
Collections.
Doc performed a number of jobs and worked for many of the
ranchers and farmers in the area. He had education and training as a
veterinary surgeon, and though he never practiced formally in Idaho,
he did help neighbors with calving or to patch up a wounded horse.
Pictured: Doc Hisom and his pet goat. In the left foreground is the stand he used to milk the goat. Courtesy Madge Wylie.
Doc was also noted for his leatherworking skills. He trapped and
hunted for his own hides but would also work hides brought to him
by his neighbors.
Pictured: Doc Hisom working a leather hide. Courtesy Madge Wylie.
Local residents marveled at
Doc’s many skills. He was
proficient in sewing and
beadwork, as is demonstrated
in these gloves made for
Melba resident Wendell Chase.
Doc could also flint knap and
those fortunate enough to see
his arrowhead collection were
not able to tell those made by
Doc apart from those that he
found in the area.
Photo courtesy of Madge Wylie.
Doc’s other skills served him well. Although mining brought Hisom to
Halverson Cove, it did not pay well. Hisom once stated in an
interview with a reporter from Boise that placer mining the fine “flour
gold” along the Snake paid “$.70-1.00 a day, but not every day.”
Pictured: Doc demonstrating his sluice to a visitor, c. 1921. MSS 80 1643 Robert Limbert Collection, Boise State University
Special Collections.
The residents of Melba and the surrounding area often made trips in
the spring and summer to visit Doc Hisom with their children. Doc
showed them his house, a small two-room house made of native
stone. He also demonstrated his flint knapping and leather-working
skills and gave tours of the mining areas and his garden.
Pictured: Doc showing two boys his garden. MSS 80 1601 Robert Limbert Collection, Boise State University Special
Collections.
William Cowden of Caldwell visited Doc
when he was a child and returned in
1939 to see Doc again. Hisom adjusted
his age over time until he settled on a
birth year of 1850. He lived in his tworoom stone home, 20 yards from the
Snake River until he lost his sight in
1944. He celebrated his 94th birthday
on the river with the Halverson Family,
who farmed just above the rim from
the Cove that bears their name. The
Melba Friends Church moved him into
an apartment in town later that year.
The week of Christmas, Doc suffered a
stroke and was taken to Mercy Medical
Center in Nampa, where he died on
December 26, 1944 at the age of 94.
Canyon County paid for his burial in
Kohlerlawn Cemetery.
Photo courtesy of Madge Wylie.
The following spring, Doc’s friends gathered one last time at his
home to auction off his belongings. Among the items sold were his
sewing machine, a shotgun and numerous books. Long-time Melba
resident and personal friend of Hisom’s, Albert Parsons, received a
portion of his arrowhead collection; the rest of the collection was
donated to the Idaho State Historical Museum.
Pictured: Doc Hisom and guests eating lunch in front of his home, c. 1921. MSS 80 1320 Robert Limbert Collection, Boise
State University Special Collections.
Today nature has reclaimed much of Doc’s home. This
photograph is was taken from approximately the same place
and angle as the previous photograph.
Photograph by Michael Bernard.
An iron ring cemented into a rock…
…a broken water
wheel…
… and rock ruins leave evidence of Doc Hisom and a handful of
adventurous that attempted to make a living in this barren area.
Pictured: The remains of a rock structure that likely served as Doc Hisom’s cellar. By Michael Bernard.
Doc’s home and the other ruins lay ¼ mile from Halverson Lake and
the whole area is within the Snake River Birds of Prey National
Conservation Area.
Photograph by Joshua Bernard.
Courtesy Madge Wylie.