306 



THE IEKIGATION AGE. 



IDAHO, THE MODERN WONDERLAND 



By W. J. Jackman. 



Away out on the prairies of Idaho, 1,700 miles 

 northwest of Chicago, where seven years ago there 

 were few signs of civilization and, as far as the eye 

 could reach, nothing could be seen except wide 

 stretches of sagebrush, and the principal inhabitants 

 were roving Indians and jackrabbits, there is being 

 constructed an electric railway which, in many respects 

 it is asserted, will be one of the most perfect in the 

 country. This road, which is only 12 miles in length, 

 will cost, including equipment, about $250,000. Vir- 

 tually all of this money will be expended for rails 

 and cars. The work of grading the roadbed is very 

 light and the expense small. The country is prac- 

 tically level, without cuts or fills of any account, 

 while the steepest grade is not over 3 per cent. Strictly 

 speaking the line is only six miles in length, but, as 

 it is being constructed in the form of a loop, taking 

 one course between the termini in one direction and 

 returning by another, it is set down as a 12-mile road. 



What has made necessary and possible the con- 

 struction of such a road in that part of the country ; a 

 road which, for completeness of appointment can not 

 be excelled in the most thickly populated and wealthy 

 sections of the East? This question may be answered 

 in a few words : The development of southern Idaho. 

 The changes wrought in that section of the state are 

 phenomenal. On the sagebrush plain of seven years 

 ago are now to be found hundreds of well-tilled farms, 

 countless orchards, miles of well-made roads, and 

 scores of prosperous towns and cities. It is as if some 

 modern Aladdin had rubbed a magic lamp. The work 

 of transformation has been accomplished quietly ; 

 without puffery or blare of trumpets. 



In this instance the magic lamp was irrigation; 

 a work in which some $18,000,000 has been invested, 

 and the like of which for substantiality, completeness 

 of detail, and practical worth, is nowhere else to be 

 found. And the strangest part of all is that this 

 immense sum of money was raised and invested by 

 private parties who had confidence in the country. 

 There has been no government aid, no graft, no scan- 

 dal. Every promise has been carried out exactly as 

 laid down. Unlike some other irrigation projects 

 there is an abundance of water, and it is delivered 

 as the settler sees fit to use it. 



In southern Idaho, on both sides of the Snake 

 river, reaching from Milner to Clover Creek, is a 

 large tract of rich land. This, so far as it has been 

 surveyed, is about SO miles in width from east to 

 west, and 65 miles in length from north to south. 

 The soil is a thoroughly decomposed volcanic ash, 

 rich in the elements of plant food. Wherever water 

 has been applied systematically and intelligently the 

 crop yields have been enormous. Irrigation in some 

 form has been utilized for many years in scattered 

 sections but the results were not wholly satisfactory, 

 the principal reason being lack of a dependable water 

 supply and scarcity of transportation facilities for 

 reaching markets. It was not until the section re- 

 ferred to was opened up by the Oregon Short Line 



that irrigation on a comprehensive, profitable scale 

 became a possibility. Among the first to recognize 

 this was I. B. Perrine, of Blue Lakes, Idaho. Like 

 most pioneers in great movements he was, in the be- 

 ginning, looked upon as an enthusiast lacking proper 

 mental balance. His idea of transforming the sage 

 brush waste into fertile farms and prosperous towns 

 was a mild, harmless species of lunacy. 



Nothing dismayed by jibes and jeers, Perrine kept 

 at it until he interested H. L. Hollister, of Chicago, 

 and Frank S. Buhl, a rich steel manufacturer at 

 Sharon, Pa. Hollister and Buhl went to Idaho, trav- 

 eled over the land with Perrine, decided his scheme 

 was feasible, and enlisted in the enterprise. Then 

 came the making of the surveys and the drawing of 

 the working plans. This required years of slow, pa- 

 tient work, and it was not until 1903 that the actual 

 work of construction was begun. 



While the country in which this work has been 

 done is known as the Twin Falls section, this name 

 applying indiscriminately, it really embraces four 

 great projects, each independent in itself, but being 

 adjacent and under the control of the one body of 

 men. These projects are designated as the South Side 

 tract, North Side tract, Salmon River tract, and Twin 

 Falls-Oakley tract. The combined area subject to 

 irrigation is 'Something like 650,000 acres. To water 

 this 3,000 miles of main canals and laterals have been 

 constructed, the water being taken from the Snake 

 and Salmon rivers. Some idea of the immensity of 

 the work may be had from the fact the main dam on 

 the Snake river at Milner cost $1,000,000, that on 

 the Oakley tract about the same, and the impounding 

 dam on the Salmon river fully $1,000,000, if not more. 

 The main canal on the North Side tract is 60 feet 

 wide at the bottom, 80 feet at the surface, and carries 

 3.100 cubic feet of water a second. In one section 

 of this canal there are over five miles of solid masonry 

 wall, and two miles more are lined with concrete. All 

 the main headgates and controlling gates are con- 

 structed of concrete and steel. 



A close second to the irrigation enterprise in 

 magnitude and importance is the power which has 

 been and is still being developed. In addition to a 

 fine plant at Shoshone Falls now in successful opera- 

 tion, similar plants are being pushed to completion at 

 Upper and Lower Salmon Falls, and at American 

 Falls, making four in all. The immediate commercial 

 value of these power plants has been appraised at 

 $7,000,000. Mr. Perrine, an agriculturist, naturally 

 had the irrigation project uppermost in his mind. Mr. 

 Hollister, a business man, realized the wonderful pos- 

 sibilities for power development. Conditions were 

 such that the two projects fitted together nicely. 



There was a struggle to raise funds. It was a 

 mammoth undertaking. Money by the millions was 

 required. Mr. Buhl, his brother-in-law, a Mr. Kim- 

 berly. and Mr. A. D. Milner furnished the funds for 

 construction of the dam on the Snake river at Milner. 

 Later, when Messrs. Perrine and Hollister undertook 

 similar projects on adjacent lands they interested the 

 banking firm of W. S. & J. S. Kuhn, of Pittsburgh. 

 Pa., which financed the work. This was the last large 

 enterprise of this nature in which the Kuhns who 

 failed recently were interested. It may be well to 

 explain that the failure of the Kuhns in no manner 

 affects this irrigation project. This is independent of 



