A VALLEY IN IDAHO. 



BY J. M. GOODWIN. 



THERE is a queer country lying west of the 

 Utah & Northern Railway from Pocatello, 

 Ida., northward to the Montana line. Starting 

 westward from Blackfoot we soon cross Snake river, 

 then pass over a level tract six miles wide, which is 

 simply rich " bottom " land which is fast being re- 

 claimed from desert through cultivation and irriga- 

 tion. That district is rapidly becoming a rich gar- 

 den spot because of the activity of settlers in doing 

 just what is required to make the country bloom. 

 The west side of this strip of bottom land, extending 

 up and down the river for many miles, is almost 

 walled in by the lava which in its flow stopped short 

 and left a jagged face which has to be climbed over 

 in getting on to the real lava plains, which extend 

 westward fifty miles to the base of the mountains. 

 These plains have but little to relieve the monotony 

 of their vast territory of waste except the three buttes 

 which rise as if out of a sea, like islands, and are 

 well-known landmarks in this wilderness of desola- 

 tion. In passing over these plains one seldom sees 

 any animal life except such as are by nature spe- 

 cially adapted to such a home, among which are 

 lizards, toads, black crickets and rattlesnakes, the 

 last in the vicinity of the buttes being most numerous 

 as well as most to be dreaded. Snake River valley ex- 

 tends six or seven hundred miles with hardly a break, 

 and yet it possesses the same features throughout. 

 Beginning at Shotgun creek, a point over fifty miles 

 east of the railroad at Beaver Canyon station, all the 

 waters from the mountains for a distance of about 

 two hundred and fifty miles, sink into the lava 

 through crevices and disappear upon reaching these 

 plains. This water is supposed to come to the sur- 

 face in huge springs along Snake river below Sho- 

 shone Falls in such quantities as to about double the 

 volume of the river. To do this means subterranean 

 rivers one to three hundred miles long. About sixty 

 miles west from Blackfoot the western edge of the 

 lava is reached at Arco, located on Big Lost river, 

 thirty miles above its sink. This river rises in the 

 high mountains and has a flow of 130 miles. In its 

 valley the country at places is solid while at other 



points the gravel and sands drink up the water and 

 permit an under-flow for miles, to come again to the 

 surface. Near its lower end the water gradually 

 sinks for many miles not to rise again, and it all dis- 

 appears on reaching the sink. This sink or basin 

 extends several miles. In high water it is quite a 

 lake created by the emptying into it of the waters of 

 Big Lost river, Little Lost river and Birch creek, the 

 three draining a country over 100 miles square upon 

 which the annual snowfall will average over three 

 feet. 



But the writer is not so particular in calling atten- 

 tion to the wonders of this district as to mention a 

 portion of country which offers inducements just now 

 for a good irrigation enterprise. Above and near 

 Arco there is a splendid country where the valley 

 has widened out so as to embrace from 30,000 to 100,- 

 000 acres, which is rich in soil, and by irrigation 

 could be made to produce grains, hay, vegetables, 

 etc. It is, in fact, the best land of all Big Lost river 

 and would be the easiest to cover with water through 

 a canal which would not be expensive to construct. 

 This canal should be taken out near Antelope, where 

 it could not only get the waters of Big Lost river, 

 but also the flow of Antelope creek. Settlers along 

 the river have chosen lands down close to the water 

 bottom lands, they call it which is not nearly so 

 good as the land mentioned above, and which is in 

 no way incumbered by locations or any other claims. 

 There is an abundance of water, and if the copper 

 mining and smelting enterprise at Houston, ten to 

 thirty miles above this land, goes ahead as it prom- 

 ises to do, there will be a railroad through it at an 

 early date, while the country will so prosper as to 

 permit a good market for all products. 



The writer has no interest in the development of 

 this valley outside of seeing the country settled, and 

 having lately passed over the lands referred to, and 

 often been through that country, its importance has 

 impressed itself so favorably as to suggest a descrip- 

 tion of it in THE AGE, that capital might be attracted 

 to it and result in good to the country and to the men 

 who will bring it under cultivation. 



BY MCHENRY GREEN. 



IN a copy of a Western paper which I lately read, 

 I was particularly impressed with an article con- 

 cerning the necessity of large wells from which 

 to obtain water in good supply. In that article views 

 were expressed on the properties of water which I 

 had for a long 'time pondered in my own mind. 

 Water in passing through or against surfaces does 

 not generate "friction" as usually understood, but 

 it has vastly greater gravity and inertia than peo- 

 ple generally allow. Attempts are made to force 

 water through great lengths of pipe and around cor- 

 ners with no adequate regard for its inertia. It is 

 squeezed through turbine wheels and water motors 

 as if it was air. In irrigation ditches we note how 

 greatly even a growth of a weed or a tangle of grass 

 checks the flow of water. In time of a flood a wide 



stream is still insufficient in space to prevent the 

 water filling up many feet deep, because it cannot 

 run out fast enough. 



After observing all these things it seems astonish- 

 ing that men will attempt to raise or distribute water 

 by means of a pump. To do so is a dead loss of at 

 least one-fourth of the power available. Do not 

 laugh at a Mexican wagon or an Egyptian plow so 

 long as you use so clumsy a contrivance as a pump. 

 Now a light wooden pump in a shallow cistern is a 

 handy affair, and a pump is good enough where there 

 is but a bucket or trough to be filled; but when it 

 comes to lifting a large quantity of water it is absurd 

 humbug to force it through intricate valves, pipes and 

 suctions. To watch such a process is painful. It is 

 like digging a well without a windlass toiling up a 



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