Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-08-21
ON THE CLEARWATER.
n Neglected Corner of Idaho
ShOsCn Up.


Lewiston is the center of labyrinth
of stage lines. The old analogy of a
wheel is appropriate. Lewiston is the
hub. and the radiating stage roads are
the spokes of this gigantic wheel. The
route the present scribbler chose was
that leading to Pierce City, the erst-
while county seat of Shoshone county.
1t was edifying to reflect upon the his
tory of the road We were traversing.
Early In the COS what an animated
scene this highway presented. Old
timers tell of those days with enthusi-
asm, when 1900 white miners delved
among the shining sands of Orc Elmo,
and gathered fortunes from the gulches
in day. Then the road swarmed with
traffic. Long pack trains from The
Dalles. the nearest supply point, were
hourly arriving and departing. Pilgrims
afoot, in wagons, mounted upon the
wiry Indian ponies, all we're pressing
forward with feverish impotence. All
carried the recognized insignia of the
gold miner-a shovel and pan.
At the present time the road is used
mainly as a means Of access to the con-
siderable white settlements east of the
Neg Perez reservation known as the
Weeipe country. Mining operations
are still carried ON at Pierce City, but
the old time glory of the camp is de-
parted. In future letter we will touch
upon the present status of the mining
industry there, but for the present we
will confine ourselves to the Nez Perez
reservation and the farming and stock
raising regions Of the Weeipe plateau.
The stage road passes old Fort Lap
wal, some IA miles east from Lewiston,
where In the old days before the Nez
Perce Indian war of 1877 some 400 sol.
diers Of the U. 8. army were quartered.
When Chief Joseph was defeated and
his most belligerent warriors exiled to
the Indian territory, the fort was dis
continued. An Indian school and the
agency are still located here. The site
is a most beautiful one. The Lapwai
and Sweetwater creeks unite close by
and flow past the agency over beds of
bright gravel. Dense groves of cotton
wood and quaking aspens border the
streams. Down the Lapwai creek lit
tie distance, where it empties into the
Clearwater, ia the spot where the first
printing press on the Pacific coast was
set up, and It has been suggested that
the press essociations of the coast should
mark the spot with q suitable monu-
ment. The Indians are carrying on
farming operations in a small way along
the warm creek valleys of Lapwai and
6weetwater, but they do not enter into
their labors with great amount of en-
thusiasm. At the very season when
the crops require attention the red men
prefer to retire to the cool Businesses of
the mountains, shoot deer and grouse
and camp beside the clear mountain
3 streams. Houses they have, but they
do not occupy them in warm weather.
They prefer the open air, or at most the
shelter of conical wigwam. Any &C.
cupation which makes the Indian "heap
sweat" does not appeal to savage fancy.
Twenty-Five miles from Lewiston the
stage road reaches the base of Craig's
mountain, and here the traveller passes
the night at the stage station and home
of William Caldwell, an extensive stock
man and one Of the "old-timers" Mr..
Caldwell's orchard and garden are a
good indication of Idaho's soil and eli
mate. Maize, or Indian corn, which, it
is popularity supposed, can not be grown
west of the Rocky mountains, is produ-
ced here with success almost equal to
Kansas or Nebraska. Grain and hay
are produced on the hills with certainty
year after year without irrigation, and
yet Miss Alice Fletcher, the government
allotment agent, in her report on the
agricultural capacity of the reservation
declared that "crops can not be produ
ced, except in favored localities, with.
out irrigation" Plainly Miss Fletcher
does not "kumtux" the peculiarities o.
the Idaho climate.
The ascent Of Craig mountain is made
upon leaving Caldwell's, and after ira.
yelling few hours through high leve
forest region the road emerges upon &
vast treeless plain or plateau, gently
rolling and everywhere covered with
the tufted bunch grass. The area o
this treeless tract is very great and the
soil uniformly fertile. 1t is another
Palouse country in soil. climate anC
general topography, but as yet total,
untouched by the hand of man. Fol
many hours we journeyed eastward
through this region and saw no sign O
human occupation, save now and ther
little band of Indian ponies, which
scampered away in terror at our ap
proach. This fertile tract of land will
for the most part. fall into the hands o
the white settler when the reservation
is opened, as the Indians prefer to settl,
on the narrow bottoms of the Clearwa
ter river and its tributaries, and Their,
they have nearly all chosen their land,
in severslty.
Miss Alice Fletcher, who has beer
engaged in the work of allotting tn,
lands to the Indians has very nearly
completed her labors, and it is believed
that the opening of the remainder t.
white settlement can not be much long
ar dalaxad Miss Elatchar found III.