342 



THE IBBIGATION AGE. 



LAND A PERFECT BOXANZA. 



"From a farming standpoint, the Payette valley is 

 the realization of the fond dream of perfection that our 

 farmers and agriculturalists tell us of. The soil is 

 so fertile that the hay crop has become a staple product 

 of the farmer; his. alfalfa crops are the envy of the 

 farmers of other states; his clover crop, from which 

 he secures his seed, is rich, so much so that it yields 

 from six to twelve bushels of seed per acre, which sells 

 for $6 to $7 per bushel, and this, together with the 

 hay crop he harvests and the excellence of the pasture 

 makes the land a small bonanza for him. 



"Cereals of all kinds are grown in abundance in 

 the Payette valley. The corn and wheat grown hero 

 contain those gluten and proteids so necessary to life, 

 in great abundance, giving forth besides these things 



at the famous Louisiana Purchase exposition in 1904. 

 And finally, when the whole state held a fruit exhibition 

 at Boise City, where every valley and every county 

 was represented, Payette valley came out on top once 

 more, when M. Charles P. Hartley, of Caldwell, took 

 first honors for the best display and best quality of 

 fruits. At the Lewis and Clark exposition last year 

 Idaho alone took eleven first, nineteen second, twenty- 

 one third and five fourth prizes. Of this number of 

 victories Payette valley alone scored twenty-four, van- 

 ning five gold, nine silver, and eight bronze medals, 

 and two honorable mentions. Her apple orchards sur- 

 pass those of the famous Mohawk valley, New York, and 

 the Baldwin apple crops of the New England states." 

 It will be noticed from the foregoing that there 

 are great chances for prospective settlers and home 



Fruit Pickers, Payette Valley, Idaho. 

 Payette Valley Orchard, Eight Years Old. 



immense crops. But while the grazing and farming 

 lands are abundant and fertile, it is the fruit growing 

 industry of the Payette valley that has attracted the 

 attention of the entire country. There is probably no 

 county in any state in the union and no valley, not 

 even excepting those counties and valleys of California 

 so famous for the growing of fruits, that exceed the 

 productivity of Payette valley. 



"In 1903, when the irrigation congress met and 

 held an exhibition of fruits at Ogden, Utah, fruit 

 grown in the fertile Payette valley won the beautiful 

 loving cup offered by Senator Clark for the best fruit 

 from all irrigated states. Away back in 1893, at the 

 Columbian exposition at Chicago, the Payette valley 

 fruits took prizes, as they did at Omaha, Paris, France : 

 Buffalo, Lewis and Clark exposition, and the gold medal 



Corn Field, Payette Valley. 

 Alfalfa Hay, Payette Valley, Nine Tons per Acre. 



seekers in this valley. Some of the prime points are 

 the possibilities of intense farming, which offer un- 

 paralleled opportunities for smaller farms, greater 

 profits, nearer neighbors, unusual social advantages, 

 and, as above stated, abundant and never failing water 

 supply at one's very door. On the trip through the 

 valley between Payette and New Plymouth, which was 

 taken with Mr. C. E. Brainard, president of the New 

 Plymouth Land & Colonization Company, much of 

 interest was noted. The distance between Payette and 

 New Plymouth is about fifteen miles, and on all sides 

 are evidences of an unusual richness of soil and the 

 slight amount of labor required to produce large money 

 returns from this land. Mr. Brainard informed the 

 writer that when he first attempted to colonize the 

 section through which we traveled, that land was sell- 



