Page:The Pacific Monthly volume 21.djvu/146

112 had a curiosity to sift down some of the al- most incredible stories told about this new- land, and his report is doubly interesting because of his great authority on all topics pertaining to the land. He says in part: "You may say for me that Southern Idaho is the ideal place for the young man who is looking to make a start in life. Every acre of irrigable land is worth, in yield or income, three times as much as the best land in Illinois and Iowa. I am for Iowa, but if a man is to move. Southern Idaho is the place to go, and for the young man, full of wonderful opportunities.

"Why, I talked with men out there who went there three years ago with little or nothing and are now worth $10,000 to 130,000.

"I don't enthuse easily (I can't afford to. In my experience it has been neces- sary to school myself against it), but when I see such marvelous productiveness as is seen on every hand in these irrigated dis- tricts I cannot help it.

"Land out there that sold three years ago for $2 5.50 an acre is now held at from $100 to $500 an acre, and when it changes hands it changes on this basis.

"The Carey Act is, in my estimation, the greatest land act ever passed for the benefit of the- American farmer. The state guarantees everything. The improv- ing of the tract is all under state super- vision and the state guarantees that the company platting the tract will have suf- ficient water developed to irrigate the land you buy. The soil is a rich lava deposit, which varies from fourteen inches to four feet in depth.

"I examined in a great many places — dug down and found that the hard pan was a thin strata which crumbles and becomes a part of the soil after crops have been planted and water put upon the land, and underneath the hard pan is another strata of rich soil. This soil retains all of the rich fertility which is the accumulation of ages — there has never been the rains we have, to leach the soil and carry away any of these elements that go to make the most productive soil.

"There the farmer is his own weather prophet — ^If he wants rain, it rains, and It rains where he wants It to. There are no cold spells which usually accompany rains In this country — and the growth does not stop for an instant.

"The farmer plana his work from one year's end to another and knows Just what he will do each day. In this way one can secure a much larger yield from a certain acreage because there Is never any waste time. There are no idle seasons in the Snake River country. The cool nights and hot days make the best kind of grain — hard kernels and full hends.

"The climate being dry there Is no dan- ger of blight or any of the other diseases common to^fruit, grains and vegetables In

a more moist climate. Trees make a growth in three years equal to ours in five years as the growing season there is much longer.

"The diversity of crops appealed to me as strongly as anything I saw. The Twin Falls irrigation farmer, for instance, is not dependent upon any one crop. He doesn't have to wait until the end of the season to get his money because there is some- thing seasonable and salable at all times of the year. He raises fruit, wheat, al- falfa, oats, vegetables, hogs, cattle, sheep, in fact, everything grown in the temperate zone.

"There are no weeds. It takes moisture to grow weeds, and in this country there is no moisture except where you put it. The land that is irrigated is cultivated in such a thorough manner that weeds do not get a start. This is particularly noticeable in the remarkably clean seed that comes from this section.

"I found the people of Idaho hardy, thrifty, intelligent citizens. There is a good fellowship out there that makes you feel at home at once, and I, talking to lowans who have taken up their residence there, was curious to find out how they got started — the farming being some dif- ferent from what they were used to — but they told me that what they didn't know their neighbors were willing to tell them, and that is the spirit that builds empires."

Miscellaneous Idaho Items.

About twenty miles southeast of Ameri- can Falls is the beautiful little valley of Arbon, with 150,000 acres of very desir- able land open for dry farming. The valley is about ten miles wide and thirty miles long, and the altitude is near 5,000 feet. There is a small settlement of some forty families near the lower end, but otherwise it is open, according to a news note, from American Falls.

Word comes from Boise that a tract of 9,000 acres near Snake River, and imme- diately opposite the town of Grand View, is to be reclaimed by the Crane Falls Power & Irrigation Company, of Cleveland, Ohio. Contracts have already been let for the construction of a 3,000-kilowatt elec- tric plant at Crane Falls, on Snake River, which will transmit power for the neces- sary pumping plant. The plant Is expected to be in operation by September 1, 1909. The land that will be reclaimed Is all filed on, so the company will not operate under the Carey Act.

Official reports for the Minidoka Gov- ernment reclamation project, which when completed will recover a total of 160,000 acres, show an expenditure to date of $1,780,818.41. This completes the gravity system on both sides of the Snake River and will afford Irrigation for between 76,000 and 80,000 acres, making a total