Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1895-03-08
ROOM FOR COTTONWOOD
Il Discriptire Circular Issued bU
Demham Of Chicago.

4 Discriptire Circular Issued bU
Demham Of Chicago.
"When one speaks Of Idaho, the
inauguration ordinarily pictures
a country which is two-thirds
mountains and one-third arid
waste which can only be cultivated
by the aid of irrigation. There is
a very large amount of truth in
that picture, and yet it is not the
whole truth.
"In central Idaho there is in a
compact body nearly two million
acres of the finest agricultural
land to be found in the United
States. 1t has a deep, black soil,
lies at an elevation of about three
thousand feet above sea-level, is
we'll watered by three large rivers
and their tributaries, has such a
sufficiency of rain that there has
never has been a failure in the
crops; it is prairie land, inter
spersed with heavily wooded bills,
and is surrounded by lofty noun
tains which are clothed with a
virgin forest ofmagnificent timber.
Protected on the east by the Bitter
Root mountains, it escapes the
cold winds of Montana; on the
west the Cascade and Coast ranges
shut out the dampness Of the Pa
cific coast. The air is dry, pure
and bracing, the climate mild and
equable, the water soft and health
full and found in abundance at
depths of ten to twenty feet. The
short winter, often sharp with
plenty of snow, is followed by a
spring, summer and fall which are
delightful. Wheat. oats and bar
ley are staples, wheat yielding
thirty to sixty bushels per acres !;
potatoes $50 bushels to the acre !;
other root crops in proportion.
The harder fruits flourish. The
native bunch grass provides abund-
ant range for stock both summer
and winter. Timothy once set
meyer runs out, and alfalfa pro-
duces fabulously. Immense num-
bers of hogs, cattle and horses are
raised with very little trouble or
expense for feed and shelter, hog
raising being particularly safe and
profitable, as disease is unknown,
and there will always be an active
demand for the entire supply from
local packers and shippers. Large
numbers of fattened cattle are driv-
en- out each season, over 100000
being paid out at Cottonwood
alone by drovers for cattle and
hogs during 1894.
Lands are still cheap; improved
$1,000 to $4,000 per acre; unim-
proved, $3.50 to $500; government
land for the demonstrating. The
ranges which surround
this plateau are rich in gold. AL
ready from 1000 to $4,000 miners
arc at work digging for the yellow
metal, and their number will be
year by year as the ex-
richness of the ore becomes
more widely known. These mi
ners draw their supplies from the
towns and farms of the plain, and
pay cash for them. Long lines of
pack-horses laden with food and
necessaries of mining life climb the
mountain trails leading from plain
to mine. All that this country
needs to make it one of the garden
spots is more people and more
capital.
"But where is it? Look on your
map for Idaho county. The north
ern part,of Idaho county, Idaho;
usually called the Camas Prairie
together with Nez Perez county
forms the great central plateau Of
Central Idaho, and is the land
referred to. Joined to it, like fling.
ers to the palm of the hand, are
many smaller plateaus running
toward the center of Idaho county
and over into Shoshone county
The northern half of thisplateau hal
hitherto been shut out from settle
ment because it was the Nez Perc,
Indian reservation. These Indians
who for twenty years have live,
peaceable lives acquiring the arts O
civilization, and now about clever
hundred in number, have accepte,
lands in severalty, selecting thei
location largely in body on til
Clearwater river, in the extrem
northern part of Nez Perez county
The whole central and southern
portion of the county will b
thrown open to homesteaders in tn
summer of 1895. The government
will then pay these Indians $3.50
900 in cash, and each year 70
twenty years will give them $3.50
600 more. Thus there will nc
only be 100000 acres of the mos
desirable land open for white sci
tiers, but a very large sum {
money will be put into circulation
THAT part OF Camas Prairie ly
ing In Idaho county, and that i
Nez Perez county outside of tn
Indian reservation, has a town an
farm population of 5000 or O.OOl