308 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



at the Twin Falls Commercial Club, while the female 

 part of the community supports a number of organi- 

 zations. 



It would not be amiss to call Twin Falls the 

 "Electric City." Current is supplied from the power 

 house at Shoshone Falls, six miles away, and electric- 

 ity is employed whenever possible. The streets and 

 homes and stores are lighted and heated by it, street 

 cars moved by it, factories operated, and most of the 

 cooking done in the same way. In connection with this 

 latter feature there is an interesting story. When 

 the power house at Shoshone Falls was opened and 

 it became known that the current was to be largely 

 used at Twin Falls, a Massachusetts firm engaged in 

 the manufacture of electric cooking ranges had one 

 of its salesmen stop off there to size up the situation 

 and see whether a market could be made for the firm's 

 product. His report must have been satisfactory, for 

 the first shipment to Twin Falls was an even carload, 

 and since then more have been sold. This, as the firm 

 . in question admits, breaks the record for a city of 

 that size. 



Shoshone Falls are located on the Snake river 

 and constitute one of the great natural wonders of the 

 world, in one respect at least greater than Niaraga, 

 as the fall of water is 50 feet more, and the downpour 

 much more turbulent. Niagara's cataract is 164 feet 

 high, while that at Shoshone is 210 feet. Compara- 

 tively few people have hitherto visited this wonder 

 spot because of the difficulty of reaching it. The 

 only available route was over the main line of the 

 Oregon Short Line from Granger, Wyoming, to 

 Shoshone village, Idaho, a distance of approximately 

 322 miles. From Shoshone village the trip to the 

 falls required a ride of 35 miles southward across the 

 prairie to the Snake river by stagecoach or similar 

 conveyance. Arriving' at the falls the visitor found 

 himself at the top of a canyon, facing a precipitous 

 descent of from 800 to 1,200 feet, according to the 

 path taken. Few people had the courage to descend 

 to the level of the river at the falls and contented 

 themselves, after making the wearisome, expensive 

 journey, with looking down from the top of the 

 plateau. 



Now all is changed. Shoshone Falls is brought 

 within easy, inexpensive reach, and the same people 

 who have turned this part of Idaho into a veritable 

 fairyland aim to make the grim Shoshone outrival 

 Niagara as a resort for tourists who desire to see 

 one of the great natural curiosities of the country, 

 while taking in the western wonderland. Shoshone 

 village, as explained, is 35 miles north of the Snake 

 river. The city of Twin Falls is three miles south of 

 the river and six miles from the falls. The Oreg-on 

 Short Line has constructed an extension of its road 

 from Minidoka westward directly through the Twin 

 Falls country, the city of Twin Falls being the main 

 station on this extension. It is now possible to travel 

 from Omaha to Salt Lake over the Union Pacific, 

 leave Salt Lake at night in a comfortable sleeping car, 

 and reach Twin Falls the next morning. 



It is to afford an easy means of reaching the 

 falls that the Twin Falls Railway Company is con- 

 structing an electric road over the six miles of in- 

 tervening country. The right of way is all graded, 

 rails have been laid to a point well beyond the city 

 limits of Twin Falls, and the rest of the work is being 



pushed with the energy which characterizes the peo- 

 ple of that part of the country. There are no idle 

 dreamers there ; to think is to act. Once convinced 

 that a project is feasible and desirable it is carried 

 through, no matter what the cost. An immense 

 amount of electric power is generated at the Shoshone 

 Falls power house, the current being conveyed to 

 Twin Falls by wires strung on poles. As the electric 

 road does not follow the course of these poles, going 

 out one way and returning another so as to cover 

 as much territory as possible, the current-carrying out- 

 fit now in use cannot be utilized. Consequently stor- 

 age battery cars are employed. Two of these cars, 

 costing $11.000 each, have been furnished by the Fed- 



The Needle, lao Valley, Maui, Hawaiian Islands. 



eral Storage Battery Company, of Silver -lake, N. J. 

 (an Edison concern), and are in active use. 



In the early part of May last the 3d inst. 

 these new cars made a trial trip over the rails of the 

 Oregon Short Line from Twin Falls to Buhl and re- 

 turn, a distance for the round journey of 34 miles. 

 Use of the Oregon Short Line tracks was granted 

 as a matter of courtesy, the electric company not 

 having enough of its own rails in place to afford a 

 satisfactory test. Some 90 guests took part in the 

 jaunt, many of them being expert electricians and 

 railway men. The run from Twin Falls to Buhl. 17 

 miles, was made in thirty-five minutes, including stops. 

 There was no attempt at record-making time. ' Re- 

 turning, the distance was covered in forty minutes. 



While the Twin Falls Railway was projected and 

 is being constructed with the principal purpose of 

 exploiting Shoshone Falls by making them easy of 



