Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-05-22
n Colorado Opinion.

himself concerning the posi-
bilities of our state as follows:
~ believe Idaho to be a
better state than Colorado, be-
cause it contains millions of
feet of lumber, and is the third
mineral producer in the Uni
ted States, with the country
scarcely prospected. The mines
are from fifty to 200 miles
from the railroad, and some of
them have been packing ore
on mule back the latter dist
ance for twelve years. With
the building of railroads into
these sections they are destin-
ed to become wonderful pro-
ducers. Many properties that
cannot now be worked owing
to the cost of transportation
would then become producers
The agricultural resources of
Idaho are unsurpassed. The
bulk Of the land outside of the
mountains is asfine as anything
in Colorado, and even what is
called the desert, now covered
with sage brush, will when wa
tered, yield four to six tons of
timothy and clover to the acre.
The average yield Of wheat all
over the state is twenty-five
bushels, while heavy crops of
oats and all kinds of vegetables
are the rule. Potatoes are even
finer than those of Colorado.
As a fruit country Idaho can
not be surpassed by any in
that latitude.
Prunes yield from $3.50 to
$500 an acre per year. Three
cars of prunes were shipped to
Denver from Boise last year /.
Apples, pears, peaches, plums,
nectarines and all kinds of
small fruits are abundant.
Now, as to water, the Boise
river is larger than the Arkan-
sas at Pueblo, and is formed
entirely from melting SHOWS, as
there is no rainfall to maintain
the supply; Payette river,
twenty miles north, is twice or
three times as large as the
Boise; Snake river, running
thirty miles south, is almost
navigable, thus showing that
the state will always have an
abundance of water. The Phyl-
lis canal, twenty miles, and
Ridenbaugh, forty miles long,
are completed, and o good
many thousand acres under
them have been planted. The
great New York canal, which
will be over seventy miles long,
will be completed next year.
This canal will be forty feet
on the bottom, eighty feet on
top, and will cover 100000
acres of land"
Every word of the foregoing
is all true, but after all, the
correspondent was only wri-
ting about an insignificant and
by no means the best part of
the state. The country drained
by the Boise and Payette is no
better than the Weiser coun-
try, and not so good as any of
Lhe agricultural regions north |
Of Salmon river. 1t is general
" conceded by those who
know whereof they speak that
the future center of popula-
ton in the state will be located
in the great Clearwater basin,
Of which Camas Prairie forms
! part. AS a matter of fact
there are more acres of arabic
land-better land for agricul-
sural purposes-between the
Salmon and Clearwater rivers
han in all the rest of the
state put together. True, the
greater part of this region is
;o-day under the lock and key
If an Indian reservation, but
his state of things will not
endure much longer, and then
his great Clearwater basin,
Trained by the only navigable
treams in the state, with its
asst areas of matchless soil, its
inc forests of the best timber,
is salubrious climate, and vast
niporo1 1opas in tho surround