The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-20

slow, indeed, has been the progress
leading up to the treaty. proposition
that was accepted by the Bannock and
Shoshone Indians some two weeks ago,
and which is now before the interior
department, and which, beyond any
shadow or suspicion of doubt, will be
/ endorsed by Secretary Bliss and soon
thereafter be ratified by congress.
This treaty result was brought about
! through the direct official efforts of
| Special Commissioners c. C. Hoyt,
/ James H. McNeely and B. F. Barge,
government employees, and from every
point of essential consideration is alike
fair to the government, to the Indians
and to every citizen interested in the
further development of the west, and
the growing grandeur of the nation as
a whole. BY the accompanying map
(Which is correct having been drawn
by the well known engineer, Y. c. Roe
der), it will be seen that the proposed
cutoff (the area within the black
boundary lines), embraces fraction
over Is congressional townships, or 49,
600 acres. The observing reader will
also discover by further examination of
the map that the cutoff territory is
traversed diagonally by the Oregon
Short Line railway and the Portneuf
river, while streams of less volume
than the Portneuf traverse various
other portions OF the region.
To the seeker after farming land we
will say that of the 41S,000 acres soon
to be given up to settlement by the
whites. 60, 900 acres is rich, level ground,
susceptible of irrigation. $1,000 acres
of which lies adjacent to and within
seven miles of the town of Pocatello-
to the east, to the north and to the
west of the city limits. This magnifi-
cent body of land, Immediately after
its purchase by the government, will be
traversed by the extension of the Idaho
Canal companys main canal, from it's
present terminus at Ross Fork agency,
u miles distant from Pocatelio, a canal
partly under governmental supervision
by reason of arrangements previously
entered into with the Fort Hall In
dams, who, it will be seen by reference
to map, retain a large area of agricul-
tural land, lying between the Blackfoot
river and the north boundary line of
the cutoff. The remaining 5000 acres
of agricultural land lies along the var
ious creeks already described.
HOMES FOR 375 FAMILIES.
The writer's estimate of $4,000 acres |
of agricultural land contained in the
proposed ceded territory, is nothing
more than a verifcation of a similar |
statement made by Commissioners
Hoyt, McNeely and Barge in the official
report which accompanied the treaty |
documents when forwarded to Wssh- /
ington, and is. therefore, reliable. II |
this portion of ceded land is to be taken |
up under the homestead act, it is read |
lily figured that it will furnish homes |
for 375 families who may desire to pur-
sue the avocation of agriculture. If |
we follow the federal estimate of five |
members to the single family, we find |
that, after complete occupancy of the |
so, 600 acres, a collective addition to
Bannock county's population of 1875. |
Add to these figures the probable en- /
pleyment of two farm hands for each
100 acres, and we have total increase
of a purely agricultural population of
2, 625. Estimating the average annual I
production value at $40 per acre and /
we find that we are adding to the
worlds wealth every u months $780,
goo, or sufficient money to erase the
original purchase price of the entire
41S,O00 acres. besides increasing the as
sessable real estate within BanDocI
county, after final proof papers have
been issued, to a similar extent. These
are, by no process of rea-
soning, eXtravagant, but will find am
pie verification whenever either COM
parative or illustrative examination is
made by the careful student of agricul-
ture and western land values. After
deducting 10000 from $4,000 we still
have remaining 35S. 900 acres of grazing
and mineral land, from which the gem
eral government, the state of Idaho and
the local inhabitants will receive pro-
portionate annual revenues of no mean
amount.
COPPER AND GOLD DEPOSITS.
In briefly referring to the mineral de-