Son of John Gooding & Elizabeth Wyatt, married Mary Louise "Molly" Griffin.
Provided by William Yates: "Hon. Fred W. Gooding. Among the men who are justly entitled to be enrolled with the makers of the great commonwealth of Idaho and of the city of Shoshone is the Hon. Fred W. Gooding, whose more than thirty years of residence here has left its impress upon the entire Northwest. Although reared in Michigan, and surrounded by the attractions which that region affords, he early saw the great possibilities which the far west presented, and as a consequence, left his home to seek his fortune in the western states. He possessed no rich inheritance nor influential friends to assist him in establishing himself in business, but he was filled with high hopes and a laudable ambition to succeed, and a determination which shrank from no obstacles or difficulties that presented themselves to bar his progress. If his ambition was great, his rise was rapid, and in a few short years he became known as one of leading sheep men of the Snake river valley. He became imbued at a very early period with the belief that Idaho was one day to become a great commonwealth, and there has been scarcely any important enterprise projected within the past decade but what has found him in some way identified therewith. Although not among the earliest settlers, he is yet a typical pioneer, and his career forms a part of the history of Idaho, and he has watched Shoshone grow from a rough and boisterous frontier town to a metropolis of the West and a center of commercial, industrial and educational activity. With the acquirement of success along business lines, Mr. Gooding turned his attention to public matters, and in the political arena his success has been as marked and his rise as rapid. A sketch showing the steps by which he has risen from poor and obscure boyhood to a position as a leading figure in the commercial life of one of the leading states of the Northwest should prove both interesting and instructive.
"Fred W. Gooding was born May 8, 1856, in England, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Wyatt) Gooding. His father brought the family to the United States in 1867, and made his permanent home in Michigan, in which state he followed farming during the remainder of his life, and died at the age of seventy-six years. His wife, a devout Christian woman and an active church worker, passed away when fifty-six years of age, and they were buried side by side in a cemetery near their homestead. Seven children were born into their home, of whom Fred W. was the third in order of birth. One of Mr. Gooding's brothers, William, still resides in Michigan, while three are residents of Idaho: Thomas H., of Shoshone; ex-Governor Frank R. Gooding of Idaho, and Walter J. Gooding, of Gooding, Idaho.
"Fred W. Gooding started to work at the age of eight years in a lace factory, and for the sum of thirty-six cents, or the equivalent thereof, spent his forenoons at a machine, while his afternoons were allowed him to gain such knowledge as was afforded by the public school of his vicinity. These wages were regularly brought home to his mother, and in fact, it continued to be a habit to give his earnings to his parents until he reached the age of twenty-two years. Mr. Gooding was eleven years of age when the family emigrated to the United States, and here he was employed on a Michigan farm until 1879, which year saw his advent in the West. Going directly to California, he was engaged in farming for two years, at the end of which time he returned East on a visit, and during this time took a course of study in a business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. He then came West again, and on May 5, 1882, settled at Ketchum, where he spent about six years, following mines and mining, and concerning himself to a greater or less degree with the business of cattle raising. He subsequently removed to a small town known as Toponis, now the town of Gooding, where he bought a ranch and started in the sheep business, remaining there about seven years. In 1895 Mr. Gooding came to Shoshone, which has been his home ever since. Here he established the First National Bank, the oldest financial institution in Lincoln county, and with his brother, founded the firm known as the Stock Growers' Mercantile Company, which still conducts the largest establishment in the county. Mr. Gooding still retains his large sheep interests, owning about three thousand acres of sheep land and being one of the largest taxpayers in Lincoln county. With his two brothers he built the water-works in Shoshone, as well as the electric light plant, and was president of the company until his interests were disposed of in July, 1912, to kinfolk. Mr. Gooding, probably has had more to do with interesting the public in the Idaho Irrigation Company than any other individual, and as a direct result of his efforts the crops of barley and oats raised here are nearly double the size of those in any other state west of the Rocky mountains, while the Snake River valley is unexcelled as a potato growing region. It is but natural that Mr. Gooding should be enthusiastic as to Idaho's future and the opportunities offered to the ambitious and courageous, for it has been the field wherein he worked out his own success, and where his versatile abilities have had scope for full play. He is convinced that the state has the qualities that go to make a great wheat country, while from personal observation he has found that the failure of an apple crop is practically unknown. Idaho owes much to his signal services in promoting its irrigation work, and to the confidence he has instilled into the minds of other men of capital and enterprise.
"One of the greatest enterprises with which Mr. Gooding has been identified is the Good Roads Commission, of which he was appointed president and chairman by Governor Hawley. The state legislature appropriated $80,000 to be used in this district, and the commission is bent upon bringing to perfection one hundred miles of Highway, such as will not be surpassed elsewhere in the West. Mr. Gooding has long been an advocate of this feature of development work, and might well be "Good Roads" Gooding, so often is his name mentioned in connection with the road building enterprise of the State. It was mainly through his activities that the appropriation was finally made by the state, and the appointment by the governor to the first place on the commission came as a distinct recognition of his honest ambition to further the best interests of the people and the state. The other members of the commission, which is one of the greatest importance to Idaho, are A. J. Newman, secretary and treasurer of the commission, and concerning whom mention will be found at length in a sketch under his name, and William Wallace. All are men of the highest integrity and moral stamina, and in every way fit to have charge of so momentous a problem as that they have in charge at the present time.
"As a young man Mr. Gooding identified himself with the Republican party, and its candidates and principles have always received his hearty support. While a resident of Logan county he was elected county commissioner and upon the forming of the new county of Blaine received the appointment to a like position. When Lincoln county was first created, he was made the first assessor, and was elected in the following year by a large majority. He was first sent to the state senate in 1901, and when he was returned to that distinguished body in 1910, was made president pro tem, a capacity in which he served for the term of two years. For many years he has been connected with the school board, for six years being chairman of that body, and he has also served in the city council and mayoralty chair of Shoshone. In all of his official capacities he has shown the same ability, the same judicial mind, the same capacity for hard work that has characterized all of his personal dealings. It may be said that Mr. Gooding takes his greatest pleasure in strenuous labor, and his infrequent vacations are spent in long, rough tramps through the woods with his gun and dog. Essentially a man of the West, he delights in the spirited, stirring work that is typical of the westerner. Mr. Gooding became a charter member of the Idaho Wool Growers' Association, of which he was president for two terms, and also served three terms as president of the national body.
"On December 11, 1884, Mr. Gooding was married at Ketchum, Idaho, to Miss Mary L. Griffin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Griffin, of that city, and two children have been born to this union: Edward G. and Alta E. Mr. and Mrs. Gooding are members of the Episcopal church. Fraternally, Mr. Gooding is connected with the Masons, the Elks, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and has filled all the chairs in the two latter named orders, being the oldest ex-chancellor commander created in the state. From what has been stated herein it will be readily seen that Mr. Gooding has led a busy life, and his capacity for work has rarely been equalled by any public man in the state. His attainments are of a very high order, and there is scarcely a subject which lies outside the range of his study and observation. It is to such men as he that Shoshone, the county and the state of Idaho owe their rapid advancement and most enlightened development". [History of Idaho: a narrative account of its historical progress..., Volume 3 by Hiram Taylor French (1914)]
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Provided by William Yates: "Hon. Fred W. Gooding. Among the men who are justly entitled to be enrolled with the makers of the great commonwealth of Idaho and of the city of Shoshone is the Hon. Fred W. Gooding, whose more than thirty years of residence here has left its impress upon the entire Northwest. Although reared in Michigan, and surrounded by the attractions which that region affords, he early saw the great possibilities which the far west presented, and as a consequence, left his home to seek his fortune in the western states. He possessed no rich inheritance nor influential friends to assist him in establishing himself in business, but he was filled with high hopes and a laudable ambition to succeed, and a determination which shrank from no obstacles or difficulties that presented themselves to bar his progress. If his ambition was great, his rise was rapid, and in a few short years he became known as one of leading sheep men of the Snake river valley. He became imbued at a very early period with the belief that Idaho was one day to become a great commonwealth, and there has been scarcely any important enterprise projected within the past decade but what has found him in some way identified therewith. Although not among the earliest settlers, he is yet a typical pioneer, and his career forms a part of the history of Idaho, and he has watched Shoshone grow from a rough and boisterous frontier town to a metropolis of the West and a center of commercial, industrial and educational activity. With the acquirement of success along business lines, Mr. Gooding turned his attention to public matters, and in the political arena his success has been as marked and his rise as rapid. A sketch showing the steps by which he has risen from poor and obscure boyhood to a position as a leading figure in the commercial life of one of the leading states of the Northwest should prove both interesting and instructive.
"Fred W. Gooding was born May 8, 1856, in England, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Wyatt) Gooding. His father brought the family to the United States in 1867, and made his permanent home in Michigan, in which state he followed farming during the remainder of his life, and died at the age of seventy-six years. His wife, a devout Christian woman and an active church worker, passed away when fifty-six years of age, and they were buried side by side in a cemetery near their homestead. Seven children were born into their home, of whom Fred W. was the third in order of birth. One of Mr. Gooding's brothers, William, still resides in Michigan, while three are residents of Idaho: Thomas H., of Shoshone; ex-Governor Frank R. Gooding of Idaho, and Walter J. Gooding, of Gooding, Idaho.
"Fred W. Gooding started to work at the age of eight years in a lace factory, and for the sum of thirty-six cents, or the equivalent thereof, spent his forenoons at a machine, while his afternoons were allowed him to gain such knowledge as was afforded by the public school of his vicinity. These wages were regularly brought home to his mother, and in fact, it continued to be a habit to give his earnings to his parents until he reached the age of twenty-two years. Mr. Gooding was eleven years of age when the family emigrated to the United States, and here he was employed on a Michigan farm until 1879, which year saw his advent in the West. Going directly to California, he was engaged in farming for two years, at the end of which time he returned East on a visit, and during this time took a course of study in a business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. He then came West again, and on May 5, 1882, settled at Ketchum, where he spent about six years, following mines and mining, and concerning himself to a greater or less degree with the business of cattle raising. He subsequently removed to a small town known as Toponis, now the town of Gooding, where he bought a ranch and started in the sheep business, remaining there about seven years. In 1895 Mr. Gooding came to Shoshone, which has been his home ever since. Here he established the First National Bank, the oldest financial institution in Lincoln county, and with his brother, founded the firm known as the Stock Growers' Mercantile Company, which still conducts the largest establishment in the county. Mr. Gooding still retains his large sheep interests, owning about three thousand acres of sheep land and being one of the largest taxpayers in Lincoln county. With his two brothers he built the water-works in Shoshone, as well as the electric light plant, and was president of the company until his interests were disposed of in July, 1912, to kinfolk. Mr. Gooding, probably has had more to do with interesting the public in the Idaho Irrigation Company than any other individual, and as a direct result of his efforts the crops of barley and oats raised here are nearly double the size of those in any other state west of the Rocky mountains, while the Snake River valley is unexcelled as a potato growing region. It is but natural that Mr. Gooding should be enthusiastic as to Idaho's future and the opportunities offered to the ambitious and courageous, for it has been the field wherein he worked out his own success, and where his versatile abilities have had scope for full play. He is convinced that the state has the qualities that go to make a great wheat country, while from personal observation he has found that the failure of an apple crop is practically unknown. Idaho owes much to his signal services in promoting its irrigation work, and to the confidence he has instilled into the minds of other men of capital and enterprise.
"One of the greatest enterprises with which Mr. Gooding has been identified is the Good Roads Commission, of which he was appointed president and chairman by Governor Hawley. The state legislature appropriated $80,000 to be used in this district, and the commission is bent upon bringing to perfection one hundred miles of Highway, such as will not be surpassed elsewhere in the West. Mr. Gooding has long been an advocate of this feature of development work, and might well be "Good Roads" Gooding, so often is his name mentioned in connection with the road building enterprise of the State. It was mainly through his activities that the appropriation was finally made by the state, and the appointment by the governor to the first place on the commission came as a distinct recognition of his honest ambition to further the best interests of the people and the state. The other members of the commission, which is one of the greatest importance to Idaho, are A. J. Newman, secretary and treasurer of the commission, and concerning whom mention will be found at length in a sketch under his name, and William Wallace. All are men of the highest integrity and moral stamina, and in every way fit to have charge of so momentous a problem as that they have in charge at the present time.
"As a young man Mr. Gooding identified himself with the Republican party, and its candidates and principles have always received his hearty support. While a resident of Logan county he was elected county commissioner and upon the forming of the new county of Blaine received the appointment to a like position. When Lincoln county was first created, he was made the first assessor, and was elected in the following year by a large majority. He was first sent to the state senate in 1901, and when he was returned to that distinguished body in 1910, was made president pro tem, a capacity in which he served for the term of two years. For many years he has been connected with the school board, for six years being chairman of that body, and he has also served in the city council and mayoralty chair of Shoshone. In all of his official capacities he has shown the same ability, the same judicial mind, the same capacity for hard work that has characterized all of his personal dealings. It may be said that Mr. Gooding takes his greatest pleasure in strenuous labor, and his infrequent vacations are spent in long, rough tramps through the woods with his gun and dog. Essentially a man of the West, he delights in the spirited, stirring work that is typical of the westerner. Mr. Gooding became a charter member of the Idaho Wool Growers' Association, of which he was president for two terms, and also served three terms as president of the national body.
"On December 11, 1884, Mr. Gooding was married at Ketchum, Idaho, to Miss Mary L. Griffin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Griffin, of that city, and two children have been born to this union: Edward G. and Alta E. Mr. and Mrs. Gooding are members of the Episcopal church. Fraternally, Mr. Gooding is connected with the Masons, the Elks, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and has filled all the chairs in the two latter named orders, being the oldest ex-chancellor commander created in the state. From what has been stated herein it will be readily seen that Mr. Gooding has led a busy life, and his capacity for work has rarely been equalled by any public man in the state. His attainments are of a very high order, and there is scarcely a subject which lies outside the range of his study and observation. It is to such men as he that Shoshone, the county and the state of Idaho owe their rapid advancement and most enlightened development". [History of Idaho: a narrative account of its historical progress..., Volume 3 by Hiram Taylor French (1914)]
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Son of John Gooding & Elizabeth Wyatt, married Mary Louise "Molly" Griffin.
Provided by William Yates: "Hon. Fred W. Gooding. Among the men who are justly entitled to be enrolled with the makers of the great commonwealth of Idaho and of the city of Shoshone is the Hon. Fred W. Gooding, whose more than thirty years of residence here has left its impress upon the entire Northwest. Although reared in Michigan, and surrounded by the attractions which that region affords, he early saw the great possibilities which the far west presented, and as a consequence, left his home to seek his fortune in the western states. He possessed no rich inheritance nor influential friends to assist him in establishing himself in business, but he was filled with high hopes and a laudable ambition to succeed, and a determination which shrank from no obstacles or difficulties that presented themselves to bar his progress. If his ambition was great, his rise was rapid, and in a few short years he became known as one of leading sheep men of the Snake river valley. He became imbued at a very early period with the belief that Idaho was one day to become a great commonwealth, and there has been scarcely any important enterprise projected within the past decade but what has found him in some way identified therewith. Although not among the earliest settlers, he is yet a typical pioneer, and his career forms a part of the history of Idaho, and he has watched Shoshone grow from a rough and boisterous frontier town to a metropolis of the West and a center of commercial, industrial and educational activity. With the acquirement of success along business lines, Mr. Gooding turned his attention to public matters, and in the political arena his success has been as marked and his rise as rapid. A sketch showing the steps by which he has risen from poor and obscure boyhood to a position as a leading figure in the commercial life of one of the leading states of the Northwest should prove both interesting and instructive.
"Fred W. Gooding was born May 8, 1856, in England, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Wyatt) Gooding. His father brought the family to the United States in 1867, and made his permanent home in Michigan, in which state he followed farming during the remainder of his life, and died at the age of seventy-six years. His wife, a devout Christian woman and an active church worker, passed away when fifty-six years of age, and they were buried side by side in a cemetery near their homestead. Seven children were born into their home, of whom Fred W. was the third in order of birth. One of Mr. Gooding's brothers, William, still resides in Michigan, while three are residents of Idaho: Thomas H., of Shoshone; ex-Governor Frank R. Gooding of Idaho, and Walter J. Gooding, of Gooding, Idaho.
"Fred W. Gooding started to work at the age of eight years in a lace factory, and for the sum of thirty-six cents, or the equivalent thereof, spent his forenoons at a machine, while his afternoons were allowed him to gain such knowledge as was afforded by the public school of his vicinity. These wages were regularly brought home to his mother, and in fact, it continued to be a habit to give his earnings to his parents until he reached the age of twenty-two years. Mr. Gooding was eleven years of age when the family emigrated to the United States, and here he was employed on a Michigan farm until 1879, which year saw his advent in the West. Going directly to California, he was engaged in farming for two years, at the end of which time he returned East on a visit, and during this time took a course of study in a business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. He then came West again, and on May 5, 1882, settled at Ketchum, where he spent about six years, following mines and mining, and concerning himself to a greater or less degree with the business of cattle raising. He subsequently removed to a small town known as Toponis, now the town of Gooding, where he bought a ranch and started in the sheep business, remaining there about seven years. In 1895 Mr. Gooding came to Shoshone, which has been his home ever since. Here he established the First National Bank, the oldest financial institution in Lincoln county, and with his brother, founded the firm known as the Stock Growers' Mercantile Company, which still conducts the largest establishment in the county. Mr. Gooding still retains his large sheep interests, owning about three thousand acres of sheep land and being one of the largest taxpayers in Lincoln county. With his two brothers he built the water-works in Shoshone, as well as the electric light plant, and was president of the company until his interests were disposed of in July, 1912, to kinfolk. Mr. Gooding, probably has had more to do with interesting the public in the Idaho Irrigation Company than any other individual, and as a direct result of his efforts the crops of barley and oats raised here are nearly double the size of those in any other state west of the Rocky mountains, while the Snake River valley is unexcelled as a potato growing region. It is but natural that Mr. Gooding should be enthusiastic as to Idaho's future and the opportunities offered to the ambitious and courageous, for it has been the field wherein he worked out his own success, and where his versatile abilities have had scope for full play. He is convinced that the state has the qualities that go to make a great wheat country, while from personal observation he has found that the failure of an apple crop is practically unknown. Idaho owes much to his signal services in promoting its irrigation work, and to the confidence he has instilled into the minds of other men of capital and enterprise.
"One of the greatest enterprises with which Mr. Gooding has been identified is the Good Roads Commission, of which he was appointed president and chairman by Governor Hawley. The state legislature appropriated $80,000 to be used in this district, and the commission is bent upon bringing to perfection one hundred miles of Highway, such as will not be surpassed elsewhere in the West. Mr. Gooding has long been an advocate of this feature of development work, and might well be "Good Roads" Gooding, so often is his name mentioned in connection with the road building enterprise of the State. It was mainly through his activities that the appropriation was finally made by the state, and the appointment by the governor to the first place on the commission came as a distinct recognition of his honest ambition to further the best interests of the people and the state. The other members of the commission, which is one of the greatest importance to Idaho, are A. J. Newman, secretary and treasurer of the commission, and concerning whom mention will be found at length in a sketch under his name, and William Wallace. All are men of the highest integrity and moral stamina, and in every way fit to have charge of so momentous a problem as that they have in charge at the present time.
"As a young man Mr. Gooding identified himself with the Republican party, and its candidates and principles have always received his hearty support. While a resident of Logan county he was elected county commissioner and upon the forming of the new county of Blaine received the appointment to a like position. When Lincoln county was first created, he was made the first assessor, and was elected in the following year by a large majority. He was first sent to the state senate in 1901, and when he was returned to that distinguished body in 1910, was made president pro tem, a capacity in which he served for the term of two years. For many years he has been connected with the school board, for six years being chairman of that body, and he has also served in the city council and mayoralty chair of Shoshone. In all of his official capacities he has shown the same ability, the same judicial mind, the same capacity for hard work that has characterized all of his personal dealings. It may be said that Mr. Gooding takes his greatest pleasure in strenuous labor, and his infrequent vacations are spent in long, rough tramps through the woods with his gun and dog. Essentially a man of the West, he delights in the spirited, stirring work that is typical of the westerner. Mr. Gooding became a charter member of the Idaho Wool Growers' Association, of which he was president for two terms, and also served three terms as president of the national body.
"On December 11, 1884, Mr. Gooding was married at Ketchum, Idaho, to Miss Mary L. Griffin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Griffin, of that city, and two children have been born to this union: Edward G. and Alta E. Mr. and Mrs. Gooding are members of the Episcopal church. Fraternally, Mr. Gooding is connected with the Masons, the Elks, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and has filled all the chairs in the two latter named orders, being the oldest ex-chancellor commander created in the state. From what has been stated herein it will be readily seen that Mr. Gooding has led a busy life, and his capacity for work has rarely been equalled by any public man in the state. His attainments are of a very high order, and there is scarcely a subject which lies outside the range of his study and observation. It is to such men as he that Shoshone, the county and the state of Idaho owe their rapid advancement and most enlightened development". [History of Idaho: a narrative account of its historical progress..., Volume 3 by Hiram Taylor French (1914)]
---------------------
Provided by William Yates: "Hon. Fred W. Gooding. Among the men who are justly entitled to be enrolled with the makers of the great commonwealth of Idaho and of the city of Shoshone is the Hon. Fred W. Gooding, whose more than thirty years of residence here has left its impress upon the entire Northwest. Although reared in Michigan, and surrounded by the attractions which that region affords, he early saw the great possibilities which the far west presented, and as a consequence, left his home to seek his fortune in the western states. He possessed no rich inheritance nor influential friends to assist him in establishing himself in business, but he was filled with high hopes and a laudable ambition to succeed, and a determination which shrank from no obstacles or difficulties that presented themselves to bar his progress. If his ambition was great, his rise was rapid, and in a few short years he became known as one of leading sheep men of the Snake river valley. He became imbued at a very early period with the belief that Idaho was one day to become a great commonwealth, and there has been scarcely any important enterprise projected within the past decade but what has found him in some way identified therewith. Although not among the earliest settlers, he is yet a typical pioneer, and his career forms a part of the history of Idaho, and he has watched Shoshone grow from a rough and boisterous frontier town to a metropolis of the West and a center of commercial, industrial and educational activity. With the acquirement of success along business lines, Mr. Gooding turned his attention to public matters, and in the political arena his success has been as marked and his rise as rapid. A sketch showing the steps by which he has risen from poor and obscure boyhood to a position as a leading figure in the commercial life of one of the leading states of the Northwest should prove both interesting and instructive.
"Fred W. Gooding was born May 8, 1856, in England, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Wyatt) Gooding. His father brought the family to the United States in 1867, and made his permanent home in Michigan, in which state he followed farming during the remainder of his life, and died at the age of seventy-six years. His wife, a devout Christian woman and an active church worker, passed away when fifty-six years of age, and they were buried side by side in a cemetery near their homestead. Seven children were born into their home, of whom Fred W. was the third in order of birth. One of Mr. Gooding's brothers, William, still resides in Michigan, while three are residents of Idaho: Thomas H., of Shoshone; ex-Governor Frank R. Gooding of Idaho, and Walter J. Gooding, of Gooding, Idaho.
"Fred W. Gooding started to work at the age of eight years in a lace factory, and for the sum of thirty-six cents, or the equivalent thereof, spent his forenoons at a machine, while his afternoons were allowed him to gain such knowledge as was afforded by the public school of his vicinity. These wages were regularly brought home to his mother, and in fact, it continued to be a habit to give his earnings to his parents until he reached the age of twenty-two years. Mr. Gooding was eleven years of age when the family emigrated to the United States, and here he was employed on a Michigan farm until 1879, which year saw his advent in the West. Going directly to California, he was engaged in farming for two years, at the end of which time he returned East on a visit, and during this time took a course of study in a business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. He then came West again, and on May 5, 1882, settled at Ketchum, where he spent about six years, following mines and mining, and concerning himself to a greater or less degree with the business of cattle raising. He subsequently removed to a small town known as Toponis, now the town of Gooding, where he bought a ranch and started in the sheep business, remaining there about seven years. In 1895 Mr. Gooding came to Shoshone, which has been his home ever since. Here he established the First National Bank, the oldest financial institution in Lincoln county, and with his brother, founded the firm known as the Stock Growers' Mercantile Company, which still conducts the largest establishment in the county. Mr. Gooding still retains his large sheep interests, owning about three thousand acres of sheep land and being one of the largest taxpayers in Lincoln county. With his two brothers he built the water-works in Shoshone, as well as the electric light plant, and was president of the company until his interests were disposed of in July, 1912, to kinfolk. Mr. Gooding, probably has had more to do with interesting the public in the Idaho Irrigation Company than any other individual, and as a direct result of his efforts the crops of barley and oats raised here are nearly double the size of those in any other state west of the Rocky mountains, while the Snake River valley is unexcelled as a potato growing region. It is but natural that Mr. Gooding should be enthusiastic as to Idaho's future and the opportunities offered to the ambitious and courageous, for it has been the field wherein he worked out his own success, and where his versatile abilities have had scope for full play. He is convinced that the state has the qualities that go to make a great wheat country, while from personal observation he has found that the failure of an apple crop is practically unknown. Idaho owes much to his signal services in promoting its irrigation work, and to the confidence he has instilled into the minds of other men of capital and enterprise.
"One of the greatest enterprises with which Mr. Gooding has been identified is the Good Roads Commission, of which he was appointed president and chairman by Governor Hawley. The state legislature appropriated $80,000 to be used in this district, and the commission is bent upon bringing to perfection one hundred miles of Highway, such as will not be surpassed elsewhere in the West. Mr. Gooding has long been an advocate of this feature of development work, and might well be "Good Roads" Gooding, so often is his name mentioned in connection with the road building enterprise of the State. It was mainly through his activities that the appropriation was finally made by the state, and the appointment by the governor to the first place on the commission came as a distinct recognition of his honest ambition to further the best interests of the people and the state. The other members of the commission, which is one of the greatest importance to Idaho, are A. J. Newman, secretary and treasurer of the commission, and concerning whom mention will be found at length in a sketch under his name, and William Wallace. All are men of the highest integrity and moral stamina, and in every way fit to have charge of so momentous a problem as that they have in charge at the present time.
"As a young man Mr. Gooding identified himself with the Republican party, and its candidates and principles have always received his hearty support. While a resident of Logan county he was elected county commissioner and upon the forming of the new county of Blaine received the appointment to a like position. When Lincoln county was first created, he was made the first assessor, and was elected in the following year by a large majority. He was first sent to the state senate in 1901, and when he was returned to that distinguished body in 1910, was made president pro tem, a capacity in which he served for the term of two years. For many years he has been connected with the school board, for six years being chairman of that body, and he has also served in the city council and mayoralty chair of Shoshone. In all of his official capacities he has shown the same ability, the same judicial mind, the same capacity for hard work that has characterized all of his personal dealings. It may be said that Mr. Gooding takes his greatest pleasure in strenuous labor, and his infrequent vacations are spent in long, rough tramps through the woods with his gun and dog. Essentially a man of the West, he delights in the spirited, stirring work that is typical of the westerner. Mr. Gooding became a charter member of the Idaho Wool Growers' Association, of which he was president for two terms, and also served three terms as president of the national body.
"On December 11, 1884, Mr. Gooding was married at Ketchum, Idaho, to Miss Mary L. Griffin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Griffin, of that city, and two children have been born to this union: Edward G. and Alta E. Mr. and Mrs. Gooding are members of the Episcopal church. Fraternally, Mr. Gooding is connected with the Masons, the Elks, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and has filled all the chairs in the two latter named orders, being the oldest ex-chancellor commander created in the state. From what has been stated herein it will be readily seen that Mr. Gooding has led a busy life, and his capacity for work has rarely been equalled by any public man in the state. His attainments are of a very high order, and there is scarcely a subject which lies outside the range of his study and observation. It is to such men as he that Shoshone, the county and the state of Idaho owe their rapid advancement and most enlightened development". [History of Idaho: a narrative account of its historical progress..., Volume 3 by Hiram Taylor French (1914)]
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Bio by: Darlene
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