IDAHO. 



487 



Relating to the location and recording of mining 

 claims. 



Regulating inclosures. 



To prevent the sale of oleomargarine, butterine, etc. 



Regulating roads, highways, and thoroughfares. 



Concerning chattel mortgages. 



To regulate partition fences. 



To provide ior auctioneers. 



Establishing district courts in each organized dis- 

 trict. 



For the relief of insolvent debtors. 



Relating to Territorial revenue. 



To protect owners of saw-logs, etc. 



To repeal an act changing time of meeting of Legis- 

 lative Assembly. 



To protect the rights of married women. 



Relating to the incorporations of towns and vil- 

 lages. 



Amendatory to the reapportionment law. 



Amending the general school law. 



A supplemental act relating to the creation of Bing- 

 ham County. 



Amendatory to the law regulating the distribution 

 of water for irrigation. 



Amending the revenue law. 



To provide a punishment for a false assay, etc. 



To create a prison commission for the Territory. 



To provide for the revision and compilation of the 

 statute laws of Idaho. 



To amend the law touching scab on sheep, etc. 



Amendatory of the law relating to conveyances. 



Under the Capitol bill, the money is to be 

 raised by issuing bonds drawing 6 per cent, in- 

 terest, to run twenty years, with the privilege 

 of redeeming them after ten years. The sum 

 of $80,000 is to be expended in the erection of 

 a Capitol building on the Capitol Block in Boise 

 City, and $20,000 in the erection of an insane 

 asylum at Blackfoot, in Oneida County. Chief- 

 Justice Hays decided, at the August term of 

 court in Cassia County, that the election law 

 which disfranchises the Mormons and disquali- 

 fies them from sitting on juries is valid and 

 constitutional, sustaining the opinion of ex- 

 Chief-Justice Morgan. 



Population and General Character. The Gov- 

 ernor, in his report to the Secretary of the In- 

 terior, dated Oct. 26, estimates the population 

 at 75,000. He classifies the area as follows : 

 "That which may be considered suitable for 

 agricultural purposes in their present state, 

 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 acres; that which is 

 capable of being reclaimed by irrigation with 

 the available water now flowing in the streams, 

 from 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 acres; the nat- 

 ural pasturage or grazing lands will reach 

 fully 5,000,000 acres, though a very consider- 

 able area of the land designated and described 

 as agricultural lands is well adapted and is at 

 present used for grazing; there are about 10,- 

 000,000 acres of timber-land, and about 8,000,- 

 000 acres of mineral land. It is quite safe to 

 estimate 5,000,000 acres of mountain, desert, 

 and volcanic formation, entirely unfit for any 

 use except that designed by nature, but being 

 utterly destitute of mineral, timber, or vege- 

 tation of any nature which can be made trib- 

 utary to the wants of man or beast." 



Agriculture and Stock - raising. More than a 

 third of the population are engaged in farming 

 and stock-raising. 



The crops of the year did not much exceed 

 half of those of 1884 in average yield, except 

 in a few localities, though, owing to the prog : 

 ress of settlements, the total product of wheat, 

 barley, oats, and rye was greater than ever be- 

 fore. The crops are more than sufficient to 

 supply the home wants. Corn is not success- 

 fully raised. Hay gives a fair yield. Fruits 

 grow well. The following are the chief ag- 

 ricultural counties : Ada, Cassia, Idaho, Bear 

 Lake, Nez-Perce, Oneida, and Washington. The 

 lands still open to settlement are very extensive. 

 Settlement is retarded in some quarters by lack 

 of Government surveys, settlers on unsurveyed 

 lands having only precarious rights. 



The live-stock interests of Idaho are steadily 

 advancing in comparative rank and importance 

 among the resources of the Territory. During 

 the year the losses from exposure and from dis- 

 ease combined did not exceed 2 per cent, of 

 the herds that thrive summer and winter upon 

 the open ranges. It is estimated that fully 

 400,000 head of horses and cattle annually graze 

 in the Territory, the aggregate value of which 

 would equal nearly $15,000,000. The number 

 of sheep probably exceeds 200,000 head, and 

 the wool-clip for the year approximates 1,000,- 

 000 pounds, the average price received by flock- 

 owners ranging from twelve to thirteen cents 

 a pound. The number of swine is not great, 

 perhaps not exceeding 40,000 head, but is in- 

 creasing. The exports of live-stock from ship- 

 ping-stations on the Oregon Short Line Rail- 

 road in Idaho, during the year 1885, aggregate 

 1,800 car-loads, or 36,000 head of horses and 

 cattle. The imports by the same line, includ- 

 ing improved breeding-stock, amounted to 200 

 car-loads, or about 4,000 head. 



Mining. On this subject the Governor says : 

 " The mineral resources of the Territory con- 

 stitute, if not its chief, one of its greatest in- 

 terests, and to the extent to which the gold- 

 and silver-bearing lodes are worked the mining 

 interests are in a very prosperous condition. 

 New and rich mineral districts are being dis- 

 covered and explored, prospected, and worked 

 with great success. Among the most noted 

 gold and silver districts may be mentioned the 

 Wood river mineral belt, extending up and 

 down that stream for more than sixty miles. 

 The ores taken from the mines on Wood river 

 are mostly silver smelting-ores, running in sil- 

 ver from 100 ounces to 350 ounces, and carry- 

 ing a per cent, in lead from 45 to 76. The 

 great Salmon river basin continues its output 

 in gold and silver as in former years. The 

 new mining district, known as Lava district, is 

 fast coming to the front. The district known 

 as the Saw-tooth contains rich and extensive 

 silver-mines; but the shortness of the season 

 and the severity of the winters have retarded 

 the working and development of the mines in 

 that camp. From the most reliable data at 

 hand, it may be asserted that there are now- 

 over 200 dividend-paying mines in the Terri- 

 tory. As the work of development and ex- 



