Eight Mile
Information comes from Treasured Tidbits of Time Volume I by Jens Patrick Wilde and is a condensed version
Eight Mile is located in the extreme north western corner of Bear Lake County. It derived its name from the fact that it was eight miles from the nearest town of Soda Springs. It is believe that the first settlers arrived in 1868 and in 1872 there were six families living there.
After Paris was established as the county seat in 1875, the settlers of Eight Mile rode to Paris on saddle horses along the west side of the river and filed there claims and deeds becoming the first part of the county to officially establish ownership of the lands. Among those who were first to do so were Jim and George Miller, John and Billy Glausner, Harvey Higley, Hyrum and Charles Foster, James and Orem Munro, Lee Simmons and Peter Thomson.
A post office was established in 1887 with Hyrum Durney serving as the first postmaster. Two years later the post office was closed and a mail route was established from Soda Springs. A school was established in 1888 and operated for 18 years before it burned down. Although the population of Eight Mile was never large, there were as many as 25 students attending its school in one year. In the 1952 consolidation Eight Mile students started going to Soda Springs schools.
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Montpelier Examiner, Thursday, 21 May 1931, page 1
EIGHT MILE GRADUATES
Hamp, Blanche
Foster, Mary
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The LDS Church was established in 1876 with Delbert Root as the first presiding Elder under the direction of Bishop Henry J Horne of Paris. Two years later Hyrum Foster became the presiding elder until the ward joined the Soda Springs Stake.
At one point in its history Eight Mile was the key lumbering area in Bear Lake. Several sawmills operated and one was steam powered by a locomotive that was hauled overland by Mormon freighters from the Missouri River. This sawmill was one of the first in the area and cut much of the lumber that built the original Soda Springs. Today that engine is a part of the Franklin Idaho museum. A ranger station was established by the Forest Service and today it operates as a guard station.
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