74 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the southern part of the State the settlements are 

 in detached and lengthy strips, while in the north 

 they are in solid blocks. 



In the localities where the settlements are frequent, 

 agriculture is the mainstay, in the south they raise 

 general farm products and in the north wheat. Where 

 the habitations are scattered, mining is the industry, 

 and the raising of hay for the draught animals of the 

 mine, the work of the farmer. 



At the present time, broadly speaking, there are no 

 public lands in Idaho that can be taken up as ranches 

 without a considerable expenditure of time, labor 

 and money. The open plains are in the south and 

 there the expenditure is for water rights and the 

 general route of irrigation. In the north, where dry 

 farming is possible, the lands have to be cleared of a 

 heavy growth of timber. 



It is true that there may be scattered areas suitable 

 for farming, but there are no large bodies of land 

 which do not need capital for development. In the 

 central and comparatively unknown portions of the 

 State, there are several valleys where hay may be 

 raised and cattle run; but heretofore these localities 

 have been unknown or the settlers have been kept 

 away by the fear of hard winters. 



CAPITAL REQUIRED. 



But while I say the settlement of these lands re- 

 quires capital, the amount needed is small and the 

 gains are large. Thousands and thousands of acres 

 of unsettled lands in the State are already " under 

 the ditch" and awaiting settlement, it being esti- 

 mated that there is still available water for four mill- 

 ions of acres. About $20 an acre is the average 

 cost of land, water-right, clearing, fencing and get- 

 ting in the first crop. 



DIVERSITY OF PRODUCTS. 



The harvests are amazing to those who believe 

 Idaho a cold, sterile mining camp, hay requiring 

 three cuttings a year, potatoes 500 and 600 bushels to 

 the acre, hops, apples, apricots, prunes and other 

 fruits in abundance for shipping, both fresh and 

 dried. In the north, where the farms are nearly all 

 upon bench lands, the streams run in deep, narrow 

 canyons, and great crops of wheat are raised, aver- 

 aging 40 and 50 bushels to the acre. 



TIMBER AND MINERAL LANDS. 



Thus far I have been speaking only of the farm- 

 ing lands and known portions of the State. In addi- 

 tion there are the great timber areas and the mining 



lands, and a large region that is almost entirely un- 

 known. 



From the 46th parallel of latitude to the north 

 along the western border there is an almost impene- 

 trable jungle of timber down timber, the young 

 growth and the old giants of the forest so inter- 

 woven that where the pioneers of settlement have 

 not cleared away you cannot go. These forests ex- 

 tend to the south until stopped by the lower plains 

 of the Snake river, but not in such dense profusion, 

 though still vastly valuable. Lumbermen are mak- 

 ing steady inroads upon this vast body of timber, but 

 as yet it is only as the first gnawings of a mouse 

 upon the outside of a cheese. 



The minerals and metals seem to occur wherever 

 explorations have been made, but these explorations 

 are likewise merely superficial. I have accented 

 always the known and unknown portions, for there 

 is a great portion of the area of the State altogether 

 unknown. 



AREAS SURVEYED. 



Of 85,000 square miles the land office has surveyed 

 19,000, the Hayden survey 7,000, the Wheeler survey 

 7,000, and the Geological survey 10,000-a total of 

 43,000 square miles, leaving unmapped over 40,000 

 square miles, and of this 40,000 miles 10,000 miles 

 is not only unsurveyed but unexplored. 



Upon the head waters of the great rivers the 

 Clearwater, the Salmon, the Koos-Koos-Kie and the 

 St. Joseph few have been and few go, for danger 

 and privation threaten and the rewards are uncertain. 



Upon the outskirts of this region are the valleys 

 before spoken of as offering a home and range for 

 the cattleman. 



It is a most beautiful country open, grassy val- 

 leys 30 to 50 miles in length and one to five miles 

 wide, but 6,000 feet above sea; traversed by clear 

 mountain streams ; dotted here and there by crystal 

 lakes and surrounded by great forests, out of which 

 rise precipitous masses of rock, crowned by perpet- 

 ual snow, to a height of 11,000 and 12,000 feet above 

 the sea. 



TO RECAPITULATE. 



The plain lands in the south must be irrigated; 

 uplands in the north must be cleared of timber; 

 large and valuable bodies of timber throughout 

 nearly the whole of the State; a promise of metal 

 wealth everywhere; and a large, unsettled area that 

 is wondrously alluring to the hunter and fisherman, 

 the lover ot the beautiful and the artist, the metal- 

 lurgist and the miner. 



