UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. (IDAHO.) 



715 



section of which, as large as the State of Penn- 

 sylvania, was very little prospected until this 

 year, during which there has been an immense 

 influx of prospectors. The Thunder mountain 

 district has been now extended until it covers half 

 a dozen important mineral sections, in which fine 

 ledges in great number have been opened. The 

 same work is going on beyond the Thunder range. 

 Important discoveries have been made in Ouster 

 and Lemhi Counties. In Elmore County gold was 

 developed in sections not before prospected, espe- 

 cially at Skeleton creek. Elaine County was in- 

 vaded by an army of prospectors, who met with 

 great success about the head waters of Bois& and 

 Wood rivers. Valuable gold properties were also 

 opened in Neal, Pearl, Boise, Owyhee, Washing- 

 ton, and Warren Counties, some of the discoveries 

 in Bois6 County being phenomenal. Several towns 

 have sprung up in the Thunder mountain dis- 

 trict. A postmaster was appointed at Roosevelt 

 in February, and another at the Dewey mine in 

 March. In April the mail-route from Idaho City 

 to Roosevelt and Thunder mountain was selected 

 by the Post-Office Department. The great ore 

 bodies in the Thunder mountain district are all 

 porphyritic. One of them, the Dewey mine, has 

 been explored to a depth of 150 feet. It is several 

 hundred feet wide, and the grade of the ore is 

 such that all the stamps the company can put up 

 can be kept in operation. Nearly two miles east- 

 ward the same belt of ore is found on the Sunny- 

 side group, and it has been traced more than two 

 miles westward. 



Wool. The reports of the deputy inspectors to 

 the State inspector in January show that there 

 were 2,700,000 sheep in the State at the begin- 

 ning of 1901, which number had increased to more 

 than 3,000,000 in January, 1902. The wool clipped 

 was 17,745,000 pounds; the amount received for 

 it by the growers was $1,865,000; the number of 

 sheep and lambs shipped was 796,991 ; the amount 

 received for them was $1,595,000; the total 

 amount received by Idaho sheep men for wool, 

 sheep, and lambs was $3,460,000. As in the mar- 

 kets of the East the wool and mutton realized 

 i> 1,3 15,000 more than was paid to the growers, the 

 total value at the point of consumption was 



i,775,000. 



A proclamation was issued by the Governor in 

 March, establishing quarantine against sheep 

 from neighboring States where scab was preva- 

 lent. The proclamation differed in some respects 

 from those issued in former years, as it included 

 one county in Nevada and one in Wyoming, and 

 made provision under which all sheep approaching 

 the line should be dipped and held twelve days 

 before being permitted to cross, their admission 

 then being optional with the Idaho deputy, who 

 should determine whether there was danger of in- 

 fection from any band. 



Oil. The Fossil Consolidated Land Company, 

 Limited, was organized in March with a capital of 

 $1,000,000 to operate in the Fossil oil-fields. It 

 controls 1,010 acres in the district, and intends to 

 purchase other oil-well lands in the neighborhood, 

 for which purpose it has set aside a portion of its 

 stock. The Idaho- Wyoming Oil Company in- 

 creased its capital stock from $1,000,000 to $2,000,- 

 000. Oil was found in 11 assessment holes in No- 

 vember, in some at a depth of 25 feet. In the 

 Spring valley district several wells had become 

 daily producers; one of them was producing 45 

 barrels a day of a very high grade. This well is 

 300 feet deeper than any in the Fossil district. 



Irrigation. The Irrigation Department of the 

 Census Bureau published the compilation for Ida- 

 ho on June 15. For irrigation purposes the de- 



partment has divided the State into 2 agricultu- 

 ral regions, the arid and the humid the dividing 

 lines beginning at the southern and eastern bound- 

 aries of Idaho County. The humid division con- 

 tains vast areas of forest, and the rainfall is usu- 

 ally sufficient for the raising of general 'farm crops 

 and fruits. The great Camas prairie of Idaho 

 County, the high plateaus of Nez Perc6, and the 

 rolling hills of Latah produce more than half the 

 cereals raised in the State, and yield better crops 

 than are grown in the southern irrigated coun- 

 ties. There were 6,603 farms in the State in 1890, 

 covering 1,362,256 acres. Of other farms, 1,820 

 were in the humid section and 4,783 in the arid 

 section. In 1900 there were 17,471 farms in the 

 State 6,737 in the humid region, and 10,734 in 

 the arid section. Of the 53,945,600 acres of land 

 surface, 5 per cent, were included in farms, and 

 only 2.6 per cent, were improved. Of the improved 

 land 1,385,596 acres were outside the Indian reser- 

 vations. The irrigated land constitutes 42.6 per 

 cent, of the improved land. The investment in 

 irrigation canals increased in ten years from 

 $1,029,000 to $4,168,352. There are 36 canals, in- 

 volving a constructive expense of $947,975, which 

 distributed no water in 1899. Three canals, cost- 

 ing $440,000, were failures on account of misman- 

 agement. But the acreage under these ditches, 

 which will be brought soon under cultivation, will 

 undoubtedly be larger than the area now irrigated 

 by all the ditches constructed since 1899. In 

 1890 the acres irrigated, outside the reservations, 

 numbered 217,005; in 1900, 602,568. At a low es- 

 timate, the farm wealth of the State has been in- 

 creased by $12,000,000 by irrigation. The number 

 of acres of irrigated land for each mile of ditch 

 is 121, while the number of acres under ditch for 

 each mile is 270. The average cost of construct- 

 ing the ditches was about $1,028 a mile, $3.79 an 

 acre of land under ditch, and $8.46 an acre of 

 land actually irrigated in 1899. 



The State Land Board passed in April on the 

 application of the Washington Irrigation Com- 

 pany, which asked for the segregation of 100,000 

 acres of land under tKe Carey act. The land lies 

 along Snake river, between Minnidoka and the 

 river. The company proposes to expend $730,000 

 in reclaiming the tract, which it asked the land 

 board to withdraw from settlement. The board 

 granted the application. 



New Companies. The report of the Secretary 

 of State for the quarter ending Sept. 30 shows that 

 the total amount received as fees for the quarter 

 was $1,782.25, compared with the receipts for the 

 same quarter in 1900, $704.70. The business of 

 the office had more than doubled as a result of 

 the growth and general business activity all over 

 the State. The report shows that 33 notarial 

 commissions were issued in the quarter, quadru- 

 pling the filings of 1900. The receipts for the 

 present year will be more than $6,000. The in- 

 crease in corporations is apparently the beginning 

 of a vast development of the mineral wealth of 

 the State. Among the more important incorpora- 

 tions during the year were the Vindicator Mi- 

 ning Company, of Mullan, with a capital of 

 $1,000,000; the Golden Eagle Mining Company, of 

 Meadows, with a capital of $3,000,000; the Flag- 

 staff Mining Company, of Wallace, with a capital 

 of $1,000,000; the Ida'ho Mining and Development 

 Company, with a capital of $1,000,000; the Black- 

 foot Gold-Mining and Development Company, of 

 Boisg, capital $1,500,000; the Greyhound Mining 

 and Milling Company, of Bois, capital $1,500,000; 

 the Stewart Mining' Company, of Kellogg, capi- 

 tal $1,000,000; the Bullion Mining Company, lim- 

 ited, of Wallace, capital $1,000,000: the Maryland 



