Quite Possibly the first
Boise Meat Market?



"The Founding Fathers of Boise,"
by Hugh H.Hartman, pub 1989, page 52

"Gess & Co's Meat Market made up of "G.W. Gess, G. W. Williams, and H. C. Branstetter, are all old residents, and well known to the people. The two former are farmers and cattle raisers, residing in the valley, while "Clay" does the office work, and once in a while, during the absence of Jim Hastings, commander of the block, carves out steaks and chops for their numerous customers. They have plenty of good fat cattle, are always purchasing more, and intend to keep nothing but the best of meats."

The old photo above was passed down to me by my grandmother. Had I not trimmed away the edges, it would have obviously revealed that this old picture postcard was made from another much older photograph. The newspaper ad was found in the "1875 Idaho Weekly Statesman", copy of which I purchased, in hopes of finding exactly what I found!

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