344 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



HAILEY, IDAHO, AND WOOD RIVER COUNTRY. 



Among the many sections of Idaho interesting 

 alike for their beautiful scenery as well as their agri- 

 cultural development and possibilities, none perhaps 

 stand out more distinctly as representing a combina- 

 tion of the scenic as well as the agricultural features 

 as that of the Wood River country, adjacent to the 

 beautiful city of Hailey. 



Back in 1879 this country was settled, or perhaps 

 it would be better to say discovered, by people inter- 

 ested in mining, from Salt Lake, Utah, among them 

 being Messrs. W. S. McCormick, S. A. Merritt and a 

 man of the name of Lipman, a mining investor and 



and on Lost river, not far from this section, sugar beets 

 pay as high as $100 per acre. Owing to the vast 

 mining operations in the immediate vicinity all local 

 products sell at figures which would be deemed exorbi- 

 tant elsewhere. Eggs range from 25 to 30 cents a 

 dozen. Butter at from 25 to 40 cents, and chickens 

 from 50 to 75 cents; and hay is frequently sold for as 

 high as $20 a ton. Settlers in the valley also informed 

 the writer that cattle come off the winter range fit for 

 the block. 



Less than one-half of the surveyed land of tins 

 vicinity is settled. Various projects are on the way 

 and will soon add half a million acrss to the area of 

 cultivated land, and afford thousands opportunities 



A Handsome Home, Payette, Idaho. 

 Fishing Grounds, Payette, Idaho. 



merchant of that city. This trio of men started out 

 to prospect in that territory, and after many weeks 

 of wearisome travel they reached what was known as 

 the Rock Creek Station in Cassia county. They sub- 

 sequently reached the site of Bellevue, and later on 

 what is now known as the Hailey country, and after 

 undergoing manyi privations and overcoming many 

 difficulties a permanent settlement was established in 

 this section of the valley. Elaine county, in which 

 Hailey is located, is in central Idaho, and extends east 

 and west about 110 miles, and north and south about 

 ninety miles. The soil in this valley is exceedingly 

 fertile and yields about forty bushels of wheat from 

 the sod and fifty to seventy bushels afterward, as well 

 as 100 bushels of oats, while one ranch of the valley 

 holds the record with 115 bushels of oats to the acre. 

 Another ranch, The Drake, near Hailey, has the dis- 

 tinction of having produced 879 bushels of potatoes 

 to the acre. All the fruits of the temperate zone thrive 



A Comfortable Home, Payette Valley. 

 Home of Manager of Farmers' Canal, Near New Plymouth, Idaho. 



for homes. Hailey, which is the county seat, is the 

 financial and commercial metropolis of southern and 

 central Idaho. It has a bank of issue, as well as two 

 other banks, two daily and two weekly newspapers, a 

 first-class electric power and light works with arc 

 lights at street intersections, and here is also located 

 the United States land office. At this point is located 

 also a creamery, a cement block factory, and one of 

 the peculiarities of the town is that it has a large 

 hotel which is run by "absent treatment"; in other 

 words, the proprietor or manager is said to handle it 

 from remote points by letter. Another unusual fea- 

 ture to the easterner is that he must pay 50 cents for 

 a hair cut and 25 cents for a shave. Hailey also has a 

 G. A. R. lodge and lodges of the Masonic and Odd 

 Fellows' orders, as well as many auxiliary lodges. It 

 is stated by those who are in a position to know, that 

 1,000 men can readily secure steady employment in 

 Blaine county or in the country around, of which 



