Katherine Caroline Wilkins (May 15, 1857 – October 8, 1936) was a horse breeder around the start of the 20th century known as the "Horse Queen of Idaho." She was the only American woman at that time whose livelihood was based solely on the trade. The Wilkins Horse Company at Bruneau's Diamond Ranch supplied thousands of horses for customers all over North America.
Early life
Kitty Wilkins was Western born and raised. Her parents, John R. and Laura (Smith) Wilkins emigrated by wagon train to Oregon City, Oregon not long after their marriage in 1853. According to regional historian Adelaide (Turner) Hawes, who knew Kitty personally, the couple's first child, “Burt” (Elbert or Albert), was born on the trip west.
Within a few years, the family moved to Jacksonville, near Medford, Oregon, where Katherine Caroline was born in 1857. Between July 1860 and May of the following year, they moved to California. There, in Placerville, Kitty's brother Samuel was born. They next moved to the booming town of Florence, Idaho. Mrs. Wilkins was reportedly the first woman in that isolated mountain gold camp. Kitty and her siblings surely had few playmates outside the family.
For the next several years, the family moved often. That included stops in Washington Territory and then Boise City, Idaho. In the late 1860s, they seemed to alternate between Boise and points in Eastern Oregon. Then, in late 1869, John bought the “long-established” City Market on Main Street in Boise. Starting on December 6, he began advertising “the largest variety and best meats that can be procured in the Territory.”
Unfortunately, just a month later, a fire swept along the block and totally destroyed the City Market, along with eleven other businesses. John soon sold the now-empty lot. It's not clear where the family lived for the next few years. Still, they had the resources to send Kitty to school at the Sacred Heart Academy in Ogden, Utah. From the Academy, Kitty continued her education at the Notre Dame Convent school in San Jose, California. She learned to play the piano, after which her parents bought her a fine “Weber” piano.
In 1876, prospectors discovered a silver lode bonanza near the old gold mining town of Tuscarora, Nevada. That set off a huge rush into the area, swelling the population from about 150 to around 3,000. The rush soon drew John's attention. From a regional newspaper, we learn that “J. R. Wilkins of Idaho is building a new hotel in Tuscarora.”
Kitty seldom spoke of her life in Tuscarora. Being young, attractive, and talented – and given the times – she surely attracted more than her share of young male suitors. The venture prospered, but some time in 1879, the new hotel burned down. The structure was a total loss, yet the family was not at all destitute. Not only did John continue with other ventures, but Kitty, at least, was able to spend the following winter in San Francisco.
Horse Queen of Idaho
During his years in Tuscarora, John Wilkins became interested in the Bruneau Valley, in Idaho, and the high rangeland to the south. By the spring of 1880, he had a fair holding of cattle and horses foraging there. Although he pursued other mining ventures in Central Idaho for a while, he also built up his herds in southern Idaho. Thus, in June 1885, he established a ranching station near what is now Murphy Hot Springs, on the Jarbidge River less than two miles from the Nevada border. By then, the Diamond brand of the Wilkins Company was well known, not only in Idaho, but in midwestern horse markets.
In June 1887, a newspaper “Brevity” reported that Kitty and her brothers had “shipped two carloads of horses to the Omaha market” from Mountain Home. The family had discovered that Kitty not only had a special knack for horse-raising, she was also an astute and effective marketer and salesperson.
Some newspapers called her a “cattle queen.” However, in 1887, Kitty told an interviewer, “That is incorrect. The Wilkins Company of Idaho own[s] both horses and cattle, and this is how the mistake originated, but my own specialty is horses.” In fact, the article headline called her “A Horse Queen,” and she was known by the label for the rest of her life. At least one clever writer took it further to call her the “Queen of Diamonds,” based on the company brand.