Boyd, Joseph H. (Joseph Hyatt), 1842-1925

In 1857 Joseph Boyd sailed from his native England, bound for California. He worked in San Francisco for a short time, but in May, 1858 he headed north to join the gold rush to the Fraser River in British Columbia. Throughout the 1860s Boyd prospected in various central Idaho gold rushes. In 1871 he settled in Portland, OR, where he invested in real estate. In 1883 he traveled to Spokane Falls and entered the hardware business, which was destroyed in the Spokane Fire of 4 August 1889. He rebuilt and through the 1890s expanded his interests to include mining in the Coeur d’Alenes and river transport on the Pend Oreille River.

From the guide to the Joseph H. Boyd Papers, 1889-1919, (Eastern Washington State Historical Society/Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives)