Herbert R. McDowell was born 7 December 1915 in the Boise Valley. When he was six years old he moved with his family from Pearl, Idaho to Warren, Idaho. In 1936, he married Bessie Ellen Carpenter and they lived in Warren while Herb worked in the Rescue Gold Mine. Throughout the 1940's they lived in Bayview, Idaho, and Portland, Oregon before returning to Warren where Herb had purchased a ranch at Big Canyon. In 1951, he sold the ranch and purchased a farm at Culdesac, Idaho. He and his wife would remain in Culdesac until his death 26 January 1998.[1]

Herb had an interest in the history of his hometown Warren, which led to him interviewing residents of the area throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1997, Terry Abraham and Priscilla Wegars borrowed 15 reel-to-reel tapes from the McDowells and converted those that were relevant to Idaho history into audio cassettes.

Warren, Idaho was established in 1862 when James Warren and 17 miners discovered gold.[2] In 1869, miners in Warren voted to open the district to Chinese immigrants allowing them to buy claims or lease the rights to placer operations. Up until that point, exclusionary laws prohibited Chinese miners from owning and working claims. In the following years, around 1200 Chinese individuals moved into Warren to rework the already mined placers.[3] Between 1870 and 1900, Chinese workers and miners were the majority in the area, outnumbering other ethnic groups at a ratio of 3 to 1.[4]