L.W. Foster Photograph Album

Collection

Identifier: P2024-16

Staff Only

Content Description

4" x 6.75" black and white photograph album titled "Snap Shots". Contains 72 2"x3" photographs, mostly of the construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company, and some images of Missoula, University of Montana campus, St. Maries, and Avery.

Topics and locations included in the album: St. Maries (Idaho), Alberton (Montana), Missoula (Montana), Avery (Idaho), Adair (Idaho), Stetson (Idaho), railway workers (including Japanese workers) from the Missoula Division, University of Montana campus, steamboats, and rivers.

Please note: see the Idaho State Archives' Statement on Harmful Language at: https://idahostatearchives.libraryhost.com/.

Dates

Creation: March 1913 - July 1913

Biographical / Historical

Leslie Wyatt Foster, Sr, (L.W. Foster) was born on January 24, 1891, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After completing high school, Foster was appointed a second lieutenant in the University of Minnesota ROTC “Corps of Cadets”. He traveled to Idaho/Montana in 1913 and photographed part of the construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul Railway through the Bitterroot Mountains. He enlisted as a Reserve Officer in Minnesota and was a supply officer for the 339 Machine Gun Battalion from 1918-1919, serving in France during World War I. After he returned from war, Foster graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in dentistry. Due to lung issues, Foster moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, and served as a dentist in the United States Army. Foster died in Talihina, Oklahoma, on October 29, 1954, of a heart attack. Foster was posthumously awarded the United States Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award in 1954 by Douglas McKay, United States Secretary of the Interior.

- Information provided by the donor.