THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



55 



CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



Plymouth and the thickly settled farming district be- 

 tween these towns. 



The Independent Company has the best of modern 

 equipment and is owned and operated by Payette Valley 

 people exclusively. It is being extended all over the 

 farming community as rapidly as new lines can be built, 

 and is giving entire satisfaction. 



This, with the recent rural mail routes established 

 throughout the valley, gives the settler the best business 

 and social advantages to be found in any farming com- 

 munity, and the present settlers are in full accord with 

 the President's message where he says : "We can not have 

 too much immigration of the right kind, and we should 

 have none at all of the wrong kind." 



PAYETTE CITY. 



This thriving and prosperous little city has a popu- 

 lation of about 2,000. It has been the principal ship- 

 ping station of the Payette Valley since the completion 

 of the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1883. During the 

 present year it has secured a city charter and is having a 

 very rapid but substantial growth. Brick blocks and 

 elegant residences are in evidence on all the principal 

 streets. It is already one of the busiest little cities in 

 the State. The deposits in its two banks are more than 

 half a million dollars. Its business men are enterpris- 

 ing and industrious, and most of them own their own 

 buildings. 



IMPROVEMENTS. 



An electric light plant is now in operation and 

 water works and sewerage are to be added. In many 

 respects it is is an ideal place for a home. Its graded 

 public and high school is of the best in the State, oc- 

 cupying two commodious brick buildings, supplied with 

 two commodious brick buildings, supplied with modern 

 equipment and accommodating over 600 pupils now en- 

 rolled. 



Payette is a city of churches, eight denominations 

 having buildings of their own, all except the Episco- 

 pal and Catholic having resident pastors. 



A free library association has recently been organ- 

 ized, with gymnasium equipment, games and rest room. 



There is a number of benevolent and secret societies, in- 

 cluding three Masonic lodges, Odd Fellows, Rebeccas, 

 Modern Woodmen of America of over 200 members, 

 Royal Neighbors, and several other fraternal organiza- 

 tions ; also a good musical society. 



Several parties interested in the beet sugar indus- 

 try do not hesitate to say that Payette is one of the best 

 locations in the State for a sugar factory, and if the 

 bounty now offered by the State is found to be consti- 

 tutional, arrangements for such a factory will be com- 

 pleted in 1904 without a doubt. 



Two large saw mills are in active operation, having 

 a capacity of over 100,000 feet of lumber per day. The 

 logs are floated down the Payette river for over 100 

 miles from the almost inexhaustible supply of timber in 

 the mountains near its head waters. Two planing mills 

 and a box factory are heavy consumers of the raw 

 material. 



A creamery has been in operation for several years, 

 receiving the highest prize at the State Fair, and in 

 1903 a first-class canning factory was built and 

 equipped 'with modern machinery, and much of its pack 

 is consumed in the great copper mining camps of the 

 Seven Devils Range, which can be seen in the distance 

 from Payette. and from which its brand "Seven Devils'' 

 is derived. 



A full roller process flour mill of fifty barrels per 

 day capacity is operated by water power. 



A power company has recently been organized to 

 utilize the waters of the Payette river for manufactur- 

 ing purposes, electric lights and operating an interur- 

 ban railway, which will soon be built to connect Payette 

 with New Plymouth, Emmett and the Pearl mining 

 camp. This line will connect with the Oregon Short 

 Line Railway at Payette and will be of standard gauge, 

 equipped to handle freight and express as well as pas- 

 senger business. The demand for such a road has re- 

 cently become very urgent on account of the large or- 

 chards, now in full bearing in all parts of the valley, and 

 the greatly increased population of the surrounding 

 farming district. Local parties are now negotiating for 

 eastern capital, and with the great volume of business 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



