To replace William Wallace, his first Idaho appointee, Lincoln made a curious choice. "Caleb Lyon of Lyonsdale" he called himself to avoid possible confusion with other Caleb Lyons. He need not have bothered, for in 1864 only one man with that name could boast of national — even international — notoriety. Avant-garde poet, art critic, diplomat, author, politician, orator, raconteur, engineer — Caleb was the Leonardo of his day, or so he seemed to think. He could spin endless yarns about himself to the delight of his audiences, but fame was not entirely his own doing. "A natural born genius," "one of the most thoroughly read men in light literature that we have," "a striking figure in modern civilization," "one of the oddest figures in Idaho's history" — these were some of the superlatives that flowed from the pens of journalists and biographers of his era. Even his worst critics had to concede that the new governor of Idaho was no ordinary politician."  This is how Idaho's Second Territorial Governor was characterized by historian Ronald Limbaugh in Rocky Mountain Carpetbaggers.

Governor Lyon was born in Greig, New York, December 7, 1822.  A graduate in 1841 from Norwich University, he traveled the world widely and was appointed United States Consul to Shanghai, China, in 1847.  Instead of attending to that duty, he moved to California and acted as Chairman of the Constitutional Convention and designer of the 1849 state seal.  He was elected to the New York Assembly in 1850, and State Senate in 1851.  From 1853 to 1854, he was a member of the U.S. Congress from New York.  His major achievement as Governor of Idaho Territory was negotiating a land treaty with the Shoshoni Indians.  Appointed in 1864, he left Idaho in 1865.  Lyon died on Staten Island, New York, on September 8, 1875.