CHAPTER XXXIII 



IDAHO — TWIN FALLS COUNTRY — UPPER SNAKE 



RIVER 



IDAHO is one of the newest states in the 

 Union, both in point of history and agricul- 

 tural development. As in most of the Western 

 States, mining caused the first immigration. 



Lewis and Clark went through the Snake River 

 Valley in 1805, but in 1860 the state was inhabited 

 only by the Nez Perces, Palouse, and Coeur d'Alene 

 Indians in the north, and the Blackfoot, Bannock, 

 and Shoshone in the Snake River country. 



Irrigation farming is making southern Idaho one 

 of the richest and most famous agricultural sec- 

 tions in the world. The first irrigation was along 

 the small streams where individuals took out 

 ditches to water their small farms and fields. 

 Local consumption took all of the first farmers' 

 produce and more. Even now the people of Idaho 

 import much of their foodstuffs. 



The next stage in irrigation was the company or 

 community ditch system, where a few hundred or 

 thousand acres were watered by a number of farmers 

 working together, doing most of the work them- 

 selves. All of the work performed in these first 

 two stages of the business was done as cheaply as 

 possible, and comparatively little capital was re- 

 quired. 



In the Twin Falls country the first irrigation was 

 alon^ Rock Creek and Goose Creek on the south 



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