, 1890-10-23

| across ms continent2
Could tho immaculate Benton come
BACK to-day from his grave he would
behold i've great transcon tinental rail-
ways stretching from sea to sea and
Numbering with the ceuseless rush aud
roar Of life and trade and commerce.
He would witness Pullman car start
Ing out from New York city and travel
ing over the Aleghunies ut almost
hreathless rate, speeding on and on for
i've days and nights, through countless
villages towns and crowded cities
through towering forests, over prairies
OF which he never dreamed across the
granite-ribbed Rockies to find a swarm.
ing population on the golden shores
of the Pacific, with wealth in the soil
q wealth in the mines, and a wealth on
tho seas far exceeding tho dreams of tho
widest visionary.
1t is fit and meet. Mr.. President, that
this imperial metropolis-the Queea
City of the Northwest-but yesterday
leveled into ashes under sirocco OF
flame, to-day fnr-famed for lovely
homes ami massive blocks of iron and
brick and granite, and rich in thrift,
capital, enterprise, culture, beauty,
learning, hospitality and all the
graces, virtues and amenities that
make life beautiful and desirable, should
emphasize the progress OF the great
Northwest by conversations of the
people at this marvellous exposition
where We behold the mute but eloquent
evidences of those remarkable develop
ments in our history which have been
so iraught with blessings and manifold
benefits 10 our people. This exposition
is one of the 'miiestones of our his
tory marking an epoch, which, for
grandeur Of frcsults and beneficial advan.
tages conferred on our common
country, stands without u parallel
in the record of century
crowded with history, and richly and
heavily freightod with the interests and
happiness of humanity.
These great facts, this marvellous prog
ross and development, these crowning
plcnties and tccming riches, as we gather
around this fcstal altar. call forth the
ablation Of iervcnt gratitude to tho God
OF nations, in whose hands are tho re-
sources of national wealth, and who, on
land and ocean, quickcns the human gen.
ius of the artilicer, tho artisan, the scho.
ar, the philanthropist and the patriot.
Idaho Is grateful to Washington's great
city for this auspicious festival, and with
hearts ot devotion we hail 'Iduho day"
and tender our humble tribute,
Joaquin Miller invcnts beautiful
legend in connection with the origin OF
the name of Idaho. "Gallop your
horses, says Mr.. Miller "as 1 have Il
hundred times. against the rising sun.
! AS you climb the sweetwatcr mountains
far to your right you will see the name
of Idaho written on the mountain top
ut least You will see q peculiar and
beautiful light at SUNRISE; a sort of dia-
dem, on two grand clusters oi
mountains, that bear away under the
clouds, fifty miles distant.
II called Colonel Craig's attention to
this beautiful and and arched light.
I SIC IN .NtI
E.dah-hoe, which means the light or dia.
dem on the line of the mountain. That
was the first time ! ever heard the
name.' Ii seems u pity to destroy sc
beautiful a conception, though myth
ical one but the Boise Statesman, to
which am indebted for valuable data,
Is doubtless correct.
and from the first time it was heari by
white people, the definition, Gem of the
| Mountains has always accompanied
1t. This Is about all that is definitely
known on the subject. The earliest au-
thentic account OF the word being spok.
en-, written, or used, was in the early
spring of 1890 when in was given as the
name of q vessel to a steamboat built
during the preceding winter, on the
Oregon side OF the Columbia river, just
above the Cascades. The word was
admired for its beauty of form and
sound, and u peculiarly appropriate
name for the mountain gem OF the
republic,
Idaho is imperial in extent. Its area
is greater than that OF New York New
Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hamp-
shire con- oined. The people of the East
have but poor conception Of the di-
mensions OF the new states of the Union.
II has been said that ii Idaho could be
taken from its mountain iastness
and set down on the Atlantic
coast, while touching the middle
line of Lake Ontario ON the north, its
southern boundary would be in the vi
cinity of Raleigh, \. c.; and with its
eastern line at the city OF Washington,
its western boundary would be ON the
parallel OF Columbus, Ohio In area 1t
embraces 81, 22S, 100 acres, or more than
$1,000 square miles, exceeding in size
tweuty-seven other states of the Union.
is adapted to industrial occupation, and
the remainder Is largely covered with
immense forests of timber.
The first mining excitement which re-
suited in permanent settlement was the
ORC Fino stampede of 1861 and 1862.
Probably the first white men that ever
trod Idaho soil, so far as any authentic
record shows, were the party that ac-
companied the famous Lewis and Clarke
dent Jefferson in 1906.
Idaho was created territory by the
act of March 3, 1868, from parts
OF Dakota, Nebraska and Wash
ington territories. AS originally
constituted it embraced 500, ,373
square miles. including all the present
state of Montana and u large portion OF
| Wyoming In 1868 Idaho assumed its
present dimensions.
Idaho's climate is proved by the Off
cial reports of leading nations to he the
healthiest in the world. Its geographic
cal position would naturally suggest the
frigidity OF the polar circles, but no cii-
mate with such equable temperature and
so large an average of sunlit days,
can elsewhere be found on
the American continent. In the
Italy, Spain. Portugal and Switzerland.
and subject to- similar oceanic influences,
il possesses u similar climate Statistics
demonstrate thut Idaho is the heaI,hiest I
country in the world, Its death rate is
less than In any other state or territory
of the Union.
Even California, with its wonderful
climate has death rate nearly tive
times greater than Idaho; Colorado, a
summer land, the resort OF thousands OF
healtl-seekers, has n mortality
ho;" Florida, "where It's spring
all the year" makes q showing three
times less favorable than Idaho. From
| the United States army mortality stats.
tics and the vital statistics ofall nations,
wo CLEAN the remarkable fact that in the
pure atm osphere of Idaho, with its light,
dry soil, pure water, and bright, genial
sunshine is found the healthiest region
in the universe.
| Idaho il i'm reality a mountain land.