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THE IRRIGATION AGE 



SOUTHERN IDAHO IRRIGATORS 



What the Forty-Acre Farmer is Doing in the Twin 

 Falls Country, Idaho. 



By Herbert Shearer 



This year I finished my Pacific Coast trip by. making a 

 final stop in southern Idaho. I wanted to know from per- 

 sonal observation if the progress in this irrigated section could 

 possibly have been as rapid as indicated by the stories I had 

 heard. 



People living in the Twin Falls country often indulge in 

 such expressions as, "Seven years from sage brush and jack 

 rabbits to a prosperous farming community where 90 per 



a furrow, keeping pace with farmers from the older sections 

 of the United States. In some instances I thought the city 

 man was having the best of it. Some of them were farm 

 boys who went to the city, learned business methods through 

 close competition and carried their knowledge with them 

 back to their irrigated farms. Their business training sup- 

 plied what some farmers are deficient in. 



On raw land the general plan is to remove the sage 

 brush in winter, plow in early spring and sow oats, putting 

 in alfalfa seed at the same time. 



This plan gives a crop of oats in four months. After 

 the oats are cut the alfalfa is irrigated and immediately 

 springs up and grows rapidly. It is ready to cut for hay four 

 weeks after the oat harvest. 



Two crops from the same land within six months of sage 

 brush was a new proposition to me. Of course, it meant work 

 and plenty of it. Besides removing the sage brush the land 

 was graded for irrigation and corrugated to lead the water 





HOME OF J. A. WATERS, NEAR TWIN FALLS, IDAHO. 

 No Region Excites Greater Interest than this in the Minds of Those who are Looking for the Best Results Under Irrigation. 



cent of the land is producing valuable farm crops and the 

 farmers are living in comfort and luxury." 



This sounds like a fairy story, but it is not putting it too 

 strong. In less than a week I had made up my mind that 

 the most optimistic reports of this wonderful irrigated section 

 were all truth and a yard wide. Local historians informed 

 me of the time when the water was turned on from the 

 ditches. The development today shows the progress of five 

 years on the south side tract and three years on the north 

 side of the Snake river. 



The Twin Falls section is peopled by native Americans. 

 There are a few foreigners. Former city and rural residents 

 have taken up their abode as farmer neighbors and are 

 prospering together. I found city men who had never plowed 



5n the right direction. The land in every part of the tract 

 shows that good work has been done. 



Before driving out to see the farms I had driven pretty 

 well over the city of Twin Falls and had wondered what 

 built up such a thoroughly substantial town in the short 

 space of six years. When I saw the farms and realized 

 that each acre is producing annually from $20 to $100 worth 

 of grains, alfalfa and other farm produce, the question was 

 answered. With a thickly settled farming community of 

 money-makers, the support of a lively distributing center like 

 Twin Falls is assured, not only for the present, but for all 

 time to come. 



I traveled hundreds of miles on the main line and 

 branches of the Oregon Short Line Railway. The road is a 



