Our History

While Cool Springs Community Church is really only in its infancy, it does have some interesting history behind it.

In April of 2004 my wife, Debbie, and I began to prepare to open a new church in Kuna. We spent most of our lives living in the Seattle area so we began to do some historical research on our adopted home town. In my reading I learned that Kuna might have disappeared into the annals of Idaho Ghost Towns, were it not for a man named Arthur Foote and the plans he engineered to dam up the Boise River and irrigate thousands of desert acres.

Kuna, I learned, was the place where the first railroad decided to end service. One might think Boise would be the natural termination point but at the time, topography and expense dictated the railroad to end southwest of Boise. The little community which sprung up at "the end" of the railroad line became Kuna. In fact, that is how Kuna derived its name. “Kuna” is a Shoshone Native American word, which means “the end”.

Folks traveling by train took a stagecoach from Kuna into Boise to make their connections. Years later when the railroad extended the termination point to Boise, Kuna nearly died out and probably would have had not Foote’s irrigation plans been developed.

Arthur and Mary moved to the Boise in 1884. Boise was the supply base for the silver boom up the hill in Idaho City. While he was keenly interested in the silver boom, Arthur observed the great potential of the surrounding desert. He thought if only the water in the mountains north of town could be channeled to the desert south of town it could transform the entire area. During the next twelve years, Arthur mapped the best routes for a series of canals that would bring life giving water and wealth to the entire area.

Arthur estimated it would take a million dollars to build the necessary dams, canals and dikes. Try as he might he was not able to acquire that kind of backing. It was not until 1906, under Teddy Roosevelt’s administration, that the Bureau of Reclamation took on this aggressive civic project. They used the exact plans Arthur designed twenty-five years earlier. Lucky Peak Dam and New York Canal are the fruition of Arthur’s dream.

During the time the Foote’s lived in Boise their financial health was stressed. The new venture was expensive and it put a great drain on their personal finances. Fortunately, Mary was, by now, a critically acclaimed author and illustrator. Her articles and illustrations about the West were in high demand back east and she was able to modestly support the family.

Despite her success they had to give up their home in town and move out to the country. Their country home was located near what is now Lucky Peak Dam. The foundation of their home can be seen in Foote State Park.

I had never heard of Arthur and Mary Foote before coming to Kuna and wondered if I was related to these pioneers. I began to research Arthur’s family and my own to see if they would intersect at some point in history. I went back eight generations from Arthur Foote and nine generations from Emory Foote, my great-grandfather, and discovered they both descended from Nathaniel Foote who immigrated to the United States in 1634. This revealed, to my amazement, that Arthur Foote is, indeed, my ancestor. I think most people wonder if there is someone famous in their ancestry.

You may wonder how this story relates to starting a new church in Kuna. Here is where the story turned for us. The Bible uses natural and physical descriptions to help us understand spiritual truths. Jesus often used simile when He taught. For example, just as yeast is to dough so is sin to our lives – they both work their way throughout the host.

Water is another favorite metaphor of Jesus. The Bible teaches that just as water refreshes a thirsty man so the words of Jesus refreshes spiritually thirsty man's soul. Just as water brings life to the desert so does the word of God bring life to whole communities of people. In the last book of the Bible Jesus says, “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” Jesus means that those who follow His words will have eternal life.

My wife and I wondered what name we were to call this new church God wanted to start here in Kuna. While I was thinking about Arthur and his contribution to Kuna I looked out my window and God gave me a “sign” – literally. I saw the street sign across from our home, which read “N. Cool Springs Ave”, and I knew I had the name of the church – Cool Springs Community Church. God has a very good sense of humor.

We feel it is God’s providence that just as Arthur and Mary Foote were instrumental in bringing natural life giving water to Kuna and the surrounding area, Debbie and I have come, 120 years later, to join all the other churches in helping to bring the life giving “water” of the words of Jesus to the greater Kuna area.

We are excited to be part of this growing and vibrant community. We want to work along side the churches already established in this oasis to make Kuna the best place in the world to live.

Dale Foote, Pastor