Archives West Finding Aid

From the Latah County Historical Society newsletter Latah Legacy Spring 1981:

"John B. Miller was born on a Latah County homestead near Bovill,a tiny town in the northern part of the county, which owes its genesis, development, and color to the logging, lumbering, and sawmilling industry that was accelerated in Northern Idaho by the coming of the railroads. John Miller spent his early years on a ranch near Bovill, and the book is rich with first hand accounts not only from his own memory, but from the memories of other pioneers who lived the history. Miller graduated from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, with a degree in geology. Thus his accounts include much geological information to complement the history told through people. He spent 40 years with Standard Oil of California in foreign exploration He and his wife Pastora, whom he met in Colombia, South America, lived many years in Belmont, California. John returned often to Idaho...for vacations, though Pastora did not see Bovill, or "ever feel the chill of snow," he said, until 1940. His love for his home state and county and continued interest in communicating history from authentic first-hand sources led him to write "The Trees Grew Tall," a book on eastern Latah County history published in 1972. The writing in this book is informed by Miller's love of history and his first-hand acquaintances. It is thorough, poetic, and vivid, bringing history alive not only through first hand transcriptions of oral interviews, but also through an extensive collection of black and white illustrations with captions that often contain anecdotes as vivid as the prose in the text."